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.
Sherri
This recipe is amazing!!!! They come out so flaky. I also add rosemary to the flour before mixing (with butter and honey, it’s a divine combination). I don’t want to waste a single crumb, so after the laminating and patting out the dough, I just sliced it into 6 pieces. Square biscuits are just as delicious as round ones 🙂
Kasey
Can I sub milk for creamy oat milk? My daughter has a dairy allergy so I am curious is anyone has tried different butter/milk?
Sam
Hi Kasey! A few readers have commented they’ve substituted almond milk and it’s worked well and I honestly think oat milk would work just as well. If you try it let me know how it works for you! 🙂
Paige
This recipe makes PERFECT biscuits. Flavor is amazing, perfect moisture, flaky, delicious!
Ashlee
Thinking of making this recipe tonight, could I replace the sugar with honey?
Sam
Hi Ashlee! I haven’t tried it, but I think that could work. You may end up needing a little more flour. I think I would add it in with the milk. 🙂
Kayla
I’ve made biscuits before, nothing like this! So fluffy and amazing. my husband took one bite and said it took him back to his grandma’s house as a kid. Thank you So Much for sharing this recipe!
Sam
Thank you so much for trying my recipe, Kayla! I’m so happy you enjoyed!
Tanya
Great recipe. I made two batches, and my daughter loves them:)
I used a food processor on pulse for steps 4-6 continued with your instructions with the flattening.
Thank you so much for sharing a quick and easy recipe for those on the go!
Michelle
I’ve never made homemade biscuits but was in a lurch! These were easy and delicious!!!!!
Ben
Can I store these for a couple hours in the fridge prior to baking? Wanted to prep them beforehand but worried the butter won’t be cold enough.
Sam
Sure thing! Make sure they are stored in an air tight container. 🙂
Krystal
Delicious! Can I use whole wheat flour with this recipe?
Sam
Hi Krystal! Whole wheat flour is a little bit “thirstier” so your biscuits may be a bit on the drier side.
Kewanee
AMAZING biscuits! This by far is the best recipe I have tried for biscuits. My husband and two boys loved them. My husband even made the comment that I should go ahead and prepare for these biscuits to be requested often😊. Thanks for sharing!
Patti
I have made this recipe now 4 times in the last 2 weeks and I am always amazed by how delicious they are!! Thank you for sharing this recipe with me
Mona
I’ve made these biscuits several times. Each time they have turned out perfectly. The recipe is so easy to follow as well. These will always be my go to.
Hannah
Only thing different I do is add a pinch of cream of tartar, but other than that this is my go to recipe every time. This was also the first baked goods recipe I’ve ever used. Love it!
Traci
Made these biscuits this morning. They were super easy to put together. Followed the instructions and did not change ingredients. This is a great recipe. The biscuits looked and tasted awesome! I used them for biscuits and gravy ( which was a shame to hide them under the sausage gravy lol), scrambled eggs and diced fried potatoes. It was definitely a hit with all at the breakfast table this morning! Thanks for the recipe! It will be the one I go to for biscuits.
Teely
When I was a child, my grandmother made homemade biscuits every Sunday. They were the best! My mom and I used her recipe for years. Then I tried this recipe. Oh. My. Goodness. This recipe makes the best biscuit ever! The perfect crisp on the outside. Butterfly and flaky on the inside. Granny would be proud.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks so much for the sweet comment, Teely! We’re so happy our recipe brought back some special memories for you ❤️
Barb Nichols
Just made these & they are awesome. I used 1% milk, followed the directions except I used 400 degree oven which took 13 minutes. In the past I have used sugarspunrun recipes and they are no fail. Thank you,
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So glad the biscuits were a hit for you too, Barb! Thanks so much for the review ❤️
Christy
These biscuits were a huge hit with my family tonight! Thank you for this simple recipe.
PJ
Best biscuit recipe I’ve tried! Thank you!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for the review, PJ! Enjoy 😊
Star Skenandore
Taste test fresh from oven:
Flaky, crispy, salty, done, edible, needs tweaking to be perfect.
One hour later cold taste test:
Salty flaky, crispy, edible, better warm but still good cold.
Let’s start out with the fact that I am the personification of novice in any kitchen.
This is my third biscuits recipe attempt, the first two were terrible.
Those two recipes included egg, Sam’s does not have egg thus my attempt.
I followed the recipe almost exactly up to the butter, I only have salted.
It was my mistake to add the teaspoon of salt as the salted butter would have been enough.
I’m not deducting stars for my mistake, let’s keep going.
I froze my butter for half hour then dropped it into the unmixed ingredients.
Next, I used a potato chopper thing to chop up the butter, and mix the ingredients together.
This required a little aggressive brute strength but it didn’t take long to mix.
I don’t have a biscuit cookie cutter so I just put the glob on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet.
Then I used my favorite spatula to semi quasi flatten it out.
I don’t like the feeling of any type of dough on my hands, gloves or not.
Next I used a stake knife to cut the flattened glob into squares.
Then I took the four round corner pieces and combined them.
I took this an flattened it out with my spatula, and cut it in half with the stake knife.
They were not biscuit shaped or sized but I got fourteen biscuits.
I baked them at 425 for 12 minutes, 425 seems to be to much or maybe the time.
I’m saying this because the bottoms were a little scorched.
The sides an tops were perfectly golden, and the biscuits were soft, and flaky.
I’m going to give four stars because it’s a good recipe but I think the heat or timing needs to be adjusted.
I’m keeping this recipe for biscuits & gravy, and I’ll tweak it to perfection!
Sam
Glad you enjoyed, Star! The heat and timing are correct (assuming your oven is running true to temperature), however this recipe should only make 6 biscuits. Since you got 14 out of your dough they must have been much smaller, meaning the bake time should have been reduced and this is likely why the bottoms were scorched. I hope that helps! 🙂
Eileen
I have never made biscuits before, the video made it look easier than I expected. They were delicious. Thank you. I was wondering if they could be made ahead and put in the freezer to bake as needed.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Eileen! We’re so happy you liked the biscuits! Yes, absolutely; you can wrap them in plastic and store in a freezer safe container. No need to thaw before baking, but they might take a minute or two longer from frozen. Enjoy!
Beth
That is such a great idea! We are having a big family breakfast tomorrow and I am making biscuits and gravy. I was wondering how I could get some of this done ahead of time- looks like I’m prepping today, freezing tonight and baking in the morning! Which will be perfect because I fear if I bake them tonight they will disappear by the morning! Can’t wait to give this a try- LOVED the video!
Elizabeth Hettig
hello! thanks for the recipe! I think I did something wrong. the inside of my biscuits were a little dense and cakey. any idea of what happened? 🤦🏼♀️
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so sorry this happened, Elizabeth! A few things that could cause this are over-working the dough or potentially having bad baking powder 🙁
Crystal Martin
I made these and they were delicious but very dense. I put the butter in the freezer for 20 and grated it fine. Can you offer tips for light and fluffy? TIA.
Sam
Hi Crystal! I have lots of tips in the post and video that can help. 🙂
Kensey
I made these this morning and they were DELICIOUS fresh from the oven. I think I will make a double or triple batch next time, flash freeze them, then keep them in a freezer ziplock so I can grab them from the freezer and easily make fresh biscuits any morning I want to! I’ve been doing that with frozen cookie dough lately and they come out perfectly, so I imagine this will work the same way. 😊 Thanks for the recipe!!
Amy E Wasserman
Perfect! I doubled the recipe and made these to feed 8 hungry people and they were delicious. Everyone loved them!