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.
J
Delicious and fast and easy to make. Sooo much better than biscuits in a can!!! Flaky and warm from the oven is best!! They look just like the picture!!! Amazing!
Kellie
Rated 5 stars!
Kellie
Amazing! Buttery, with nice layers! I mixed the dry ingredients and butter in the food processor since I don’t have a butter cutter and then transfer to a bowl to mix in the milk with the wood spoon. I didn’t have whole milk so I did about an 1/8 heavy cream with a little lemon juice and the rest almond milk and they turned out great!
frank
I used the grater on refrigerated butter and then froze the butter shavings. Faster and much easier on the hands.
Delicious!
Do you have any suggestions for mix ins or variations?
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! Cheese is a great addition. 🙂
Joy
I just made these and honestly these are the best biscuits I’ve ever tasted. My husband says they are better than any southern restaurant he’s been too! I will be making these again. The tip about freezing the butter and grating on box cutter is genius! I froze the butter for one hour before starting the recipe which was super easy.
Ameer
Made these for Thanksgiving and they turned out amazing – not as photogenic and nicely-shaped as these, of course, but so delicious! Mine ended up a little on the pale side as well, but I’d chalk that up to my oven rather than an issue with the recipe. Definitely going to be making these again. And the butter grating tip was a stroke of genius!
Sarah
I’ve made these multiple times. I made triple batch for Thanksgiving breakfast this year and froze them a week ahead of time (unbaked). They are baking up perfectly and are so amazing and everyone is impressed!
Rosanne
I’ve made these numerous times and they always come out perfect and delicious! This recipe is a keeper!
Frank
Did you thaw them before baking or put them in oven directly from freezer? And how long did you bake them then?
Sam
You could bake straight from frozen but they will take considerably longer to bake. I would personally probably thaw overnight in a container in the refrigerator, then bake. They will still take longer to bake than indicated, but not as long as they would from frozen.
garykaminsky@ca.rr.com
Best biscuits that are so easy to make. Wife loves them and compares them to the best biscuits she had when visiting South Carolina. Thank you for sharing this recipe
Marianne Buzo
Can I make the dough tonight, refrigerate, and then cut them out and bake them tomorrow?
Sam
Hi Marianne! I typically recommend cutting out the biscuits when making the dough and then storing the cut out biscuits in the refrigerator. You can bake them straight from the refrigerator. 🙂
Katherine McPherson
hi,
could I use almond milk that I make into ” vegan buttermilk”?
Sam
Hi Katherine! I haven’t personally tried it, but I know others have done so with success. 🙂
Random Woman
what a brilliant idea to freeze them before baking; to make ahead
Cherokeepheonix
Needed that validation on not being the only one who grates butter with a cheese grater 😂🥰😁🙌🏽 fantastic recipe
biscuitquestion
Can I make these the night before thanksgiving, store them in the refridgerator covered in plastic wrap and then bake them the next day?
Sam
Yes, they may need a bit more time in the oven when baked from cold but this will work just fine. Enjoy!
MegC
I doubled the recipe based on the reviews, this is a great recipe and definitely did not disappoint.
Cindy
Hello
I don’t eat processed sugar, can I just leave it out?
Sam
Hi Cindy! You can leave it out or substitute coconut sugar or honey (with honey you may need a pinch more flour). Enjoy!
Teresa
First time making home made biscuits. I added 2 diced scallions and 1/3 cup grated cheddar to the dry mix. These are delicious! I’ll freeze most of the unbaked biscuits and bake them for Thanksgiving!
Caroline
So good! Doughy, crispy, and buttery. And, the recipe was so easy!
Kristopher
I’ve tried so many biscuit recipes in the past without success. I was excited to try this recipe this morning and I am absolutely thrilled. I think there are two things that make this amazing. First, the grating of the freezer cold butter for ease of distribution in the flour mixture. Second, working the dough carefully only by hand ensure that these stay soft. This is such a wonderful recipe and definitely a keeper for me. Thank you so much for sharing.