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
- Biscuit cutter
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.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
Jess
I never leave reviews… but these are the freaking bomb. 😀
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So glad you loved them, Jess! We really appreciate you trying our recipe and coming back to leave a review ❤️
Karen W
Absolutely delicious! I made a half-recipe with non-fat dry milk, and got 5 small biscuits plus one larger one from the leftover scraps. I baked them in the toaster oven, and they were done in 8 minutes. I couldn’t believe how much they rose. Next time, I will try the recipe without the sugar.
Thank you, they’re great!
Wendy
I tried this with my 60/40 organic flour without adjusting liquid and still yummy.
Bryan Blake
Made this today with Honey Flavored Almond Milk. Came out great, highly reccomend Almond Milk as a substitute.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Oh, that sounds divine! Thanks for sharing, Bryan 😊
Jennifer A.
Quick, easy, and delicious!!! I used buttermilk and my family absolutely loved them. I got 8 biscuits plus one ‘scrap ball.’ Yum!
Katie
I AM SO THANKFUL FOR THIS!!! I’ve literally NEVER made biscuits from scratch. I did it on a whim for dinner and ahhh I’m so happy!! Perfect!! Thank you!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you found our recipe, Katie! Homemade biscuits are the BEST! ☺️
Raul Sanchez
Great biscuits made gravy with sausage
Thank you. I was done in 1/2 hour delicious breakfast
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
One of our favorite breakfasts! Enjoy, Raul ☺️
Bonnie Jo Cobb
This recipe is wonderful. The French technique really worked well with folding in the butter. Tyty, biscuits are so buttery scrumptious.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So glad you enjoyed, Bonnie! Thanks for coming back to leave a review 🥰
Miranda Buckner
These are very tasty thanks for sharing! Do you think they would keep if I made them the night before and left them in the fridge?
Miranda Buckner
I mean before baking them. So I would bake them in the morning.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yes! Just keep them in a sealed airtight container and that will work just fine 😊
Kathy
I haven’t made these yet but want to! I live at 4700’…any special instructions for high altitude? Thank you!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Unfortunately we don’t have much experience with high altitude baking. Hopefully someone else can chime in and offer some advice 🙁
Liz
First ever attempt to make homemade buiscuits and I have to admit, I was nervous. I’m a great cook but lousy when it comes to baking. The buiscuits turned out perfect. They were super high, fluffy and yummy. I am making them again tonight but substitute the milk with buttermilk.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yay! We’re so happy they turned out so nicely for you, Liz 😊
Ieshaa
Just wanted to let you know these biscuits are awesome I followed your recipe to the T. And it came out amazing! I even used unsalted European style butter from Danish Creamery as you suggested and my best friend who is 75 from Kentucky said that the biscuits came out just like his momma used to make them and he’s black…so cool I was so happy I said I must share this with you. And say thank you for sharing your recipe with us all. We are all truly grateful unto you! Thanks again! So how can I share the pictures with you I want you to see these love heart biscuits I made I used a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut the biscuits and they are now love heart biscuits 2 cute!
Molly
So excited to make these! Can I make the dough, and then refrigerate/freeze to use later? It seems like I should be able to but I don’t want to mess it up!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Absolutely! Just store in an airtight container and you should be good. You can bake straight from the fridge or the freezer, just note that the freezer biscuits might need a minute or two longer in the oven 😊
Claire Blum
Delicious!! Looks great–and pretty easy to make!
Carmen Bergman
Can I omit the salt and use salted butter?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Carmen! You can use salted butter and reduce the salt to a scant 3/4 teaspoon. Enjoy!
Ann Czeiner
This recipe sounds simple and easy..one question..if I wanted to make more than 6 biscùits, do I double the ingredients? Thank you for making my life a little easier.😁
Sam
Hi Ann! You can certainly double this recipe without issue! 🙂
Charles
I’ve made these 3 times (first home made biscuits) everytime I make them they don’t rise very well. What am I doing wrong??
Sam
Hi Charles! I would try replacing your baking powder. 🙂
Linda
What about using self-rising flour?
Sam
I don’t recommend self rising flour for this recipe.
Monica
I’ve tried other recipes with no success. I followed this recipe exactly. That came to an exquisitely perfect melt in your mouth biscuits. Thank you 💜
Sandra L Griefenstine
I am ashamed to say that I am a 77 yr old that should know how to make biscuits. My hubby (passed now, but was married 57 yrs.) always said my biscuits made good driveway filler and wouldn’t even eat store bought biscuits because I ruined it for him. However, I felt like biscuits today and after surfing the web found your recipe. I did not have real butter and only had 1% milk, BUT I did have the rest including a pastry cutter. No biscuit cutter. I put my margerin in freezer for a few minutes, followed the recipe, used a small plastic glass as my biscuit cutter and WALLA. Beautiful, beautiful, perfect biscuits. Thank you so much. Sandy from OHIO.
Michelle
These biscuits are amazing!!! The recipe was easy to follow. Thank you for also posting a video.
Morning Reda
Can you leave out the sugar?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yes! Enjoy 😊
Sam
That should work. They won’t be as moist and flavorful but it will work. 🙂