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.
SmartCookie
these biscuits were really easy to make and they’re a nice quick snack to have after lunch! I used my hands instead of a biscuit cutter (I don’t have one) and rolled the dough into balls and it worked quite well! I’m just wondering if biscuit cutters make a difference?
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! Rolling them may make the layers not as noticeable. You can always use the top edge of a glass and press it down into the dough to cut out the shapes. 🙂
Yvonne Stewart
Hi Emily,
I am 81 years old and these are the best biscuits I have ever made! Thanks so much for the recipe! My husband and sister loved them!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy they were a hit, Yvonne! Thanks for using our recipe 😊
Nicholas Stein
I don’t have a biscuit cutter. I wonder if I can cut the dough slab into squares with a knife?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Absolutely! Enjoy, Nicholas 😊
Rebekah
I cook this in a cast iron skillet, takes a bit longer to cook, but tastes amazing! These are the first biscuits I’ve made, super easy, especially if you’ve made pie crusts before.
Jacob
just use a cup.
Julianne
I’ve made these in the past and they’ve always been successful. 🙂 Question: If I make them ahead, like by a few hours, should I let them rest on the counter for a bit before putting them in the oven? Thanks you! I use a lot of your recipes!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Julianne! No need, you can bake them straight from the fridge 😊
Ale
The best!!!
Mollie Casserly
These are great! Could I make the dough ahead of time and freeze? Trying to move away from canned biscuits so it would be great to have dough on hand for last minute biscuit cravings!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Absolutely! They might just need a minute or two longer when baked from frozen. Enjoy! 😊
Amber
Huge,fluffy, and the best tasting biscuits ever! Your tips and tricks make ALLLLL the difference! THANK YOU!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you like the recipe, Amber! Enjoy 😊
Brittney Lonas
If I only have salted butter, can I swap and omit the salt? 🙂
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Brittney! One stick of butter usually has ¼ teaspoon of salt, so you will just need to reduce the salt in the recipe to roughly ¾ teaspoon. Hope that makes sense!
B
After you stamp them out, can you freeze them to bake the next day?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Absolutely! They’ll just take a few minutes longer to bake from frozen. Enjoy 😊
Cammie
I’ve always been intimidated with making biscuits. I decided to give this one a try because it seemed relatively easy and I had all of the ingredients in the house already. Oh my goodness. These were the best biscuits and they turned out so so well. Thank you so much for creating a recipe that’s easy to follow and delicious as well.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you took a chance and made our recipe, Cammie! Enjoy your biscuits 🩷
Jennifer
These were easy and they came out amazing. 10 out of 10 would recommend
They were so fluffy and soft
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sounds like your biscuits were perfect, Jennifer! We’re so happy you enjoyed the recipe 🥰
Moxie
my daugther (7) has been enjoying helping to plan and cook dinner. she got some “chicken and gravy” into the crock pot this morning and thought biscuits would be great to serve it over.
after we parted it out with our hands we just used a bench scraper to cut the biscuits into squares so we didn’t have to worry about leftovers when using a cookie cutter. they smell delicious!! easy to make 🙂
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We like how she thinks! Sounds like a tasty pairing and a fun day in the kitchen 🥰
tiffany
I had to leave a review because I have made this recipe SO many times. It is perfect, no changes needed. I used to omit the sugar but it makes it taste so much better and it’s only a small amount 🙂 I will never stop using this recipe. I have honestly memorized it by now
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We really appreciate the review, Tiffany! So glad to hear that our recipe has become such a staple for you 🥰
Jackelope
I have tried making biscuits from scratch in the past, and they always turn out horrible (so horrible in fact, that I made a back up can of biscuits today just in case). I am so glad I found this recipe, though, because they turned out awesome! So good that no one ate the sad canned biscuits. Since I have already tried several other recipes on your site, I should have known that no insurance would be needed, ha.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yay! We’re so happy you found our recipe and had such great results 🩷
Hakeem
Can you use the dough to make empanadas?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We haven’t tried it, so we honestly aren’t sure how it would go 🙁
Victoria
Thank you for this recipe and the great tips. I’ve made them once before and they were great, today though they came out kind of dense and tasted like they had too much flour. Do you think it could be from the laminating process since I had flour on the counter? Or could this be a symptom of “overworking”. Can’t quite figure out what I did wrong this time. Thanks for your help!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Victoria! Are you weighing your flour? It could be that you are over-measuring or adding too much during the lamination process. Overworking can absolutely cause the dense texture. Hopefully they turn out better next time!
Victoria
Thank you so much for your response. No I don’t weigh it that’s a great tip and I do think I overworked it. Will try again 🙂
SCC
Fantastic! My kids love these biscuits
Tina
I added about 1 ½ cups of shredded cheese to the biscuits 😋👍100% recommend👌
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sounds tasty, Tina! Thanks for trying the recipe 😀
Anna Jane
I followed the instructions exactly they were amazing. Definitely the highest rise I’ve had on a biscuit. Thank you for the recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed them, Anna!