Buttery, soft, and made completely from scratch, this easy homemade biscuit recipe deserves a permanent place in your recipe repertoire. This recipe is made with all butter, no shortening!
With just 6 ingredients that I bet you already have on hand, these homemade biscuits are so simple to make and I’ve included plenty of tips (and a video!) to make sure you end up with perfect biscuits every single time.
Two reasons I’m super excited to share this homemade biscuit recipe with you today:
One: because homemade biscuits are delicious (obviously) and they’re so easy to make. So many people buy the canned version without realizing that they already have all of the ingredients to make them from scratch in their pantry.
The taste of a pre-made biscuit doesn’t hold a candle to a homemade biscuit. Not. even. close. Preservatives and artificial flavors, you aren’t welcome here.
Two: because ever since I started working on this biscuit recipe a few weeks ago, “Mind Your Own Biscuits” by Kacey Musgraves has been stuck in my head and I’ve been singing it off-key relentlessly.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Kacey Musgraves and her music, but every time I start singing my dog starts actually crying. It’s sad and hilarious, and if I wasn’t so embarrassed by my terrible singing voice I would have shared a video of it by now. Hopefully, by publishing this recipe I’ll release myself from the endless refrain and the animal abuse will finally stop.
But let’s talk more about the first reason.
Homemade biscuits call for just six ingredients: all-purpose flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, butter, and milk. And then more butter once they’re finished baking because of course we need more butter.
I mentioned that these biscuits are easy so do not be alarmed by all the tips that I have for you below. These biscuits are easy, but technique matters and I want to arm you with all the information that you need so that you can make these easily and have them come out perfectly the very first time.
The tips are simple but important, and while some more seasoned bakers already know them, I want to give everyone an even playing field.
Tips for Making Homemade Biscuits
- The butter and milk for this recipe need to be as cold as possible for fluffy and soft biscuits. I freeze my butter before using it and recommend keeping the milk in the refrigerator right up until it’s time to add it to the dry ingredients.
- Don’t overwork the dough! Keep in mind that you want your butter to stay as cold as possible when making these biscuits, and the more you have your hands on the dough the softer the butter will become. Definitely don’t use an electric mixer for this recipe.
- We’re going to do a little bit of laminating. This means folding the dough over itself multiple times (5-6 times here) to encourage flaky layers in our biscuits. You can watch the video below to see exactly how this is done.
- Don’t use a rolling pin, use your hands to gently work the dough into a flat rectangle before cutting out your biscuits.
- Don’t be afraid to add flour to the dough if it’s too sticky while you are handling it (and make sure to work on a lightly floured surface).
Visual clue: If you look at the pre-baked biscuit below, you’ll see that you can actually see the butter pieces in the dough. This is what you want, the ingredients won’t be well-combined like with a cookie dough and seeing bits of butter means you’ve actually done everything right here. Hooray!
A Few Notes on Butter in Homemade Biscuits
The butter is possibly the most important part of this recipe, and the way you handle it can make or break your homemade biscuits.
While you can certainly use a pastry cutter to cut your butter into the dry ingredients, I recommend freezing your butter for about 30 minutes before beginning. Then, use a box grater to grate the butter before combining this in with your dry ingredients.
I use this technique in my scone recipes and highly recommend it with these biscuits, too. Not only is it much easier than using a pastry cutter, but it does a great job of finely shredding and distributing the butter throughout the mixture without overworking the butter (remember, you want to manage the butter as little as possible so that it’s as cold as possible when going into the oven).
Alternatively you could also use a food processor (like I do with my pie crust recipe), but it’s just so easy to grate in the butter that I always use this method instead.
And yes, I do recommend using unsalted butter in this recipe and then adding salt. If you want to know more about why I write my recipes this way, you can read all about it (and an easy substitution if you only have salted butter on hand) in this post that I wrote about salted vs unsalted butter.
I know I’ve mentioned to you guys a few times that I’ve been working on a baking contest/challenge/I’m really not sure what to call it, but I’m planning a post where I encourage all of you to bake along with me. The goal is to get people baking recipes they may have not tried before, and I’m encouraging everyone to share their results for a chance to win a small prize.
Well, today’s homemade biscuit recipe is essentially the base for the baking challenge that I’ll be sharing in exactly one week, so take this as a hint that making today’s recipe is a great way to get a jump start for the challenge!
To make sure you’re among the first to be notified of all new recipes and baking challenges, make sure you’re subscribed to my e-mail list. It’s free, and you get a free e-book of 8 of my favorite cookie recipes.
Enjoy!
How to Make Homemade Biscuits
I know I talked a lot in this video, but I really feel that the tips are so important, and will help ensure your biscuits come out perfectly!
Homemade Biscuits
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (250g)
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter very cold (85g), unsalted European butter is ideal, but not required
- ¾ cup whole milk¹ (177ml) buttermilk or 2% milk will also work
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- For best results, chill your butter in the freezer for 10-20 minutes before beginning this recipe. It's ideal that the butter is very cold for light, flaky, buttery biscuits.
- Preheat oven to 425F and line a cookie sheet with nonstick parchment paper. Set aside.
- Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and mix well. Set aside.2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon baking powder, 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon salt
- Remove your butter from the refrigerator and either cut it into your flour mixture using a pastry cutter or (preferred) use a box grater to shred the butter into small pieces and then add to the flour mixture and stir.6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- Cut the butter or combine the grated butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Add milk, use a wooden spoon or spatula to stir until combined (don't over-work the dough).¾ cup whole milk¹
- Transfer your biscuit dough to a well-floured surface and use your hands to gently work the dough together. If the dough is too sticky, add flour until it is manageable.
- Once the dough is cohesive, fold in half over itself and use your hands to gently flatten layers together. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and fold in half again, repeating this step 5-6 times but taking care to not overwork the dough.
- Use your hands (do not use a rolling pin) to flatten the dough to 1" thick and lightly dust a 2 ¾" round biscuit cutter with flour.
- Making close cuts, press the biscuit cutter straight down into the dough and drop the biscuit onto your prepared baking sheet.
- Repeat until you have gotten as many biscuits as possible and place less than ½" apart on baking sheet.
- Once you have gotten as many biscuits as possible out of the dough, gently re-work the dough to get out another biscuit or two until you have at least 6 biscuits.
- Bake on 425F for 12 minutes or until tops are beginning to just turn lightly golden brown.
- If desired, brush with melted salted butter immediately after removing from oven. Serve warm and enjoy.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Penny likes to supervise the photography process. Fortunately, this setup got her vote of approval.
Danielle
I made them this morning and they were so tasty! I’m never going back to store bought biscuits lol, thank you so much for sharing!
Tina
Just WOW!! Turned out wonderfully delicious, plump and fluffy.
Cliff
Im an almost 40 yr old guy with little baking experience. These are the first biscuits I’ve tried to make, and they came out AMAZING! Your tips were very helpful as well, especially putting the butter in the freeze and using a grater. Thank you so much. Cheers!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy they turned out so nicely for you, Cliff! Let us know if you try any of our other recipes ❤️
David
Absolutely 5 stars. Use butter; keep it cold and keep it simple including the box grater. Get it done quick and get it in a hot oven. The perfect recipe.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy the biscuits were a hit for you, David! Thanks for the review 😊
Christi
Deliciously fluffy!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So glad you enjoyed, Christi! ❤️
Brenda
Followed recipe to a tee but they didn’t rise. What am I doing wrong
Sam
I’m so sorry this happened, Brenda! I would try getting some new baking powder as that may be causing your issue here. 🙁
Faith
My favorite biscuit recipe!! Turns out amazing every time!
Tommy
Some of the BEST biscuits I’VE EVER MADE GREAT RECIPE!!!
Sam
Thanks so much for trying my recipe, Tommy!
Sue
Made these this morning! Turned out perfectly. Hubby said they are the best biscuits I’ve ever made! Thank you!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yay! We appreciate you coming back to leave a review, Sue ☺️
Constance
Can you use almond milk or a milk alternative?
Sam
Other readers have with success!
LizzyG
OmBiscuits this recipe I will pass on to my granddaughter. Making sure she weighs the flour and that her ingredients are fresh! Because I absolutely love these biscuits! I have been making them once a month for a year now!!! Tea n biscuits with a good book or movie. Yes that makes me happy! Or Christmas morning with my lil family and these Biscuits hot chocolate life is great! Family tradition!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re SO glad you love the biscuits, Lizzy ❤️ Thanks so much for commenting!
Alicia
I made these today and my kids who don’t like anything liked ’em. I loved ’em they really do taste better than the premade biscuits. So buttery. Mines was falling a part a bit but they were delicious. I’m adding this to my book of recipes. Thank you!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad everyone enjoyed the biscuits, Alicia! ❤️
Anne Drescher
I didn’t give this any stars because they didn’t turn out at all. The dough was dry after adding the milk. I added a little to make it workable. I kneaded it as directed and cut them. They didn’t rise at all.I checked the baking powder before starting and it was fine. Help!
Sam
I’m so sorry this happened, Anne! Did you weigh your flour? If not there may have been too much flour added, making the dough really dry. You don’t want to over-work the dough, more of a light gentle hand to form it into foldable shape. Your baking powder may have just been bad if it had been open for a while causing the biscuits not to rise. 🙁
A
Try again with more milk. Something is off if you added all the ingredients. I can’t bake to save my life and I never had a problem with this recipe.
Hugo
reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeely good
Van
This is our only recipe for biscuits! I make a batch every week and it is such a treat. It’s become a breakfast staple in our home, even on weekdays! Thank you so much for sharing this lovely recipe. My daughters eat your biscuits every day before school and it brings them so much joy. These are so delicious and truly so easy to make, thanks to your tips.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy your family loves our biscuits, Van! Thank you so much for leaving a comment 😍
Shanel
I don’t normally leave recipe reviews but I can’t resist. I’ve used this recipe close to 20 times now, and they’ve come out perfect every time! Butter vs margarine, milk vs buttermik, honey butter vs plain butter, I’ve tested them all, still comes out soft and flaky. Really great recipe 👏🏽
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy the biscuits are such a hit for you, Shanel! Thanks so much for the review ❤️
Bethany
Loved these! I don’t usually do homemade biscuits because store bought ones are pretty good, but my family was craving biscuits and gravy and I didn’t have any biscuits. I occasionally make homemade drop biscuits but they’re only so-so in my opinion. So I went looking for a new recipe online and found this one and I’m so glad I did. Turned out delicious and really easy. I liked that I didn’t have to roll out the dough but they still came out really nice looking and uniform (in a good way). This one’s going in the binder!