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.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.
Rhonda B.
Great biscuits! I did use half butter and half lard. Also used buttermilk. So Beautiful! Will use this recipe always!
Sam
I’m so happy to hear this, Rhonda! Thank you so much for trying my recipe, I hope you find more recipes on my site that you enjoy just as much! 🙂
Samantha Carney
I turned mine into drop biscuits and I can’t wait until I get to eat them, they sure do smell good!
The Midwest Baker
your recipe is amazing! have you ever made them the night before and baked in the morning? could they be refrigerated overnight and then placed into the freezer for a few minutes prior to baking?
Sam
Thank you so much! These can certainly be made the night before, stored in an air tight container, and baked in the morning. 🙂
MzQuita
Tried making homemade biscuits for the first time. Taste was a little bland. I used less salt since I had salted butter. I will keep the salt and add a tad more butter. They were a tad dry.
Thanks for sharing.
Shannon Jr
Love it keep up the good work🫡
Neasha
I have made biscuits many times before but they never come out this good. thank you so much!!!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Neasha!
Joe Johnson
I’m down with the tips. I was onboard feeling the hug of encouragement. and I did everything in prep you said. I put my butter in the freezer for like 45 min. it was pretty solid. unless that butter is frozen hard… It mushed all over the grater… needless to say I have butter in place it shouldn’t have been. soooo freeze it completely….🤣🤣🤣🤣
Mel
Initially they were good. Later that night when I had one they taste terrible and leave a terrible aftertaste. Is this normal?? What the heck.
Sam
Hi Mel! Sounds like an issue of bad baking powder. Sometimes if it’s old, happens to get exposed to moisture, (or sometimes if it’s generic brand) it will get tiny clumps in it that don’t break down when you’re making the dough. If you bite into one of these, tiny as they are, they’ll leave a terrible aftertaste.
Al
Mel, try aluminum free baking powder. If you notice metallic taste, it’s because of aluminum. Hope this helps.
Dee
Finally!!! I’ve been looking & testing for over 30 years for a great biscuit recipe. Tried yours for first time tonight. So amazingly fabulous, I had one for dessert! The BEST ever!! I’m finally done testing.
Lacey B
This is my go to biscuit recipie! My family is obsessed! I use it for biscuits and gravy, with my stew, or to add something special to supper! Thank you!
DIY Missus
easy and delicious. I made a half batch. I don’t have a biscuit cutter so I shaped them into a 1″ thick square and cut it into quarters. quicker and no waste! They were still plenty big enough for us.
Walter Enos
Best biscuit, pancake, waffle and french toast recipes. I’ve become a top chef baker in my family, no more Bisquick for us.
Elizabeth
Amazing biscuits and a very easy to complete recipe! Will definitely be saving this and making again.
Dj
Delicious biscuits but timing is off for me. My oven runs a bit cool so I bump it up to 440. Baking for 15 minutes leaves the center of the biscuits undercooked. Always end up cooking them for about 20 minutes
Jake
Can these be made, frozen before baking, and then baked from frozen?
Sam
Hi Jake! That will work just fine! 🙂
Jake
Thank you Sam!
Any idea what time/temperature to bake them at?
Sam
The temperature will remain the same they will just need another minute or two in the oven. 🙂
The Brandt
SO GOOD!
I added some bacon bits and cheese. came out great, thanks!
Donna
Hi Sam, I’m having a party and need more than 6 biscuits. Can I quadruple the recipe or do I need to do them separately?
Thank you, Donna
Sam
Hi Donna! While the recipe doubles or more well, I would only be concerned you might run into an issue with the butter getting a bit too soft or the dough being difficult to work with at such a large volume. I think I personally would probably do 2 double batches, but if you can work quickly and feel like you can still manage the dough well there’s no reason you can’t quadruple the recipe. I hope that helps!
Michelle
How much cheese did you put in and did you have to change anything to add the cheese?
Caitlin
Amazing biscuits!! Didn’t notice it said unsalted butter so I used salted but they were delicious!
Trevor
First time making homemade biscuits and I’m very satisfied with how they turned out! Nice and soft with a crispy bottom, just how I like it!
Bonnie
My husband and I find that 1 teaspoon salt was too much. I would cut back at least half to a quarter next time. I added cranberries to mine.
Amy Huerta
I’ve made this recipe several times and it always comes out amazing. This time around I used another brand of all purpose flour unbleached and lactose free milk and the taste was off. Had more of a wheat taste. Are there specific brand ingredients that I should look for?
Sam
Hi Amy! It does sound like an ingredient was off. I’ve never used lactose free milk, does it usually have a different taste? I have made these using just about every brand of all-purpose flour and have tried bleached, unbleached, organic and not and have not noticed any significant difference in taste, so while it’s possible the flour was bad or “off”, the brand should not really matter in this instance.
Holly
These are literally the BEST biscuits ever and so easy! I have tried recipes for years and the buck stops here! I have never achieved layers like this before! Thank you for sharing!