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.
Sarah Elizabeth Veselka
I have not yet made these, but am curious about if anyone, or if you, have tried to freeze these? Like before cooking so i can make a batch extra for the freezer? Any ideas? Suggestions??
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Absolutely! They may need just a minute or two longer when baked from frozen. Make sure to store them in an airtight container–we like to individuality wrap them in plastic first to make sure they don’t absorb any freezer odors 😊
Chef Stev
Just made these for our large crew of Milton evacuees. Everybody LOVED these! A nice comfort food breakfast (with a little homemade milk gravy) hit the spot and allowed us all a brief interlude before moving on with our plans. I doubled the recipe and cut the biscuits in squares and baked them to GBD. Wonderfully crisp outside, light and fluffy layers inside. DELICIOUS! Thanks Sugarspunrun!!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy everyone enjoyed them! Comfort food means so much more during times like these 🩷
Taryn
This recipe also works with fat free Lactaid milk! Probably not AS rich in flavor as it would be with a fattier milk, but still excellent! Mom says they are better than her grandmother’s biscuits from when she was a kid.
Sam
Thank you so much for the feedback, Taryn! I’m so glad everyon enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Robin
Hey there Sam 🤗 this recipe was the absolute best for me to successfully make . Last night was my very first time making biscuits from scratch . I decided to pair it w/ my meatloaf , garlic butter mashed potatoes & corn on the cob ! It was absolutely fantastic, my family of 9 loved every bite . But the biscuits got sooo many compliments, now they expect me to make biscuits w/ every meal . Lol , Thankyou so much for sharing this recipe w/ everyone & your instructions were worded perfectly ! I will most definitely be making this again over the weekend .
With Love,
Robin.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy everyone enjoyed them so much, Robin! Keep in mind they do freeze well (baked or unbaked), since it sounds like you will need to keep them on-hand from now on 😉
Samantha
Best biscuit recipe out of the 10+ I’ve tried. Sky-high rise and super tender. Definitely double this if you’re making for more than 1-2 people. The dough can also take mix-ins before the milk stage like cheese, herbs (sharp cheddar + chive is delicious.)
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy ours was a hit, Samantha! Love the cheddar and chive variation 😋
Aaron
These come out right in every time. I have the recipe saved under title “Go to biscuits ” I always have salted butter so for these i cut the salt to a thin half teaspoon and its right on. What im looking for now is a pie crust that is flaky…I have zero luck getting mine flaky
Sam
I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed the biscuits so much, Aaron! Have you checked out my pie crust recipe yet?
Jeremy
I love this biscuit recipe. Baking is not my forte. I’m 50yo and have tried many recipes without success. I just never could get things right. Thanks to you I’ve found the perfect biscuit for me and my family. Thanks!
Spring Juarez
Love this biscuit recipe. can this be doubled? Or tripled?
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! You can double or triple this recipe. The only caution is that you don’t warm the butter too much during the mixing/folding process. 🙂
Andrea Barton
This was the first time I’ve ever tried making homemade biscuits and these were delicious! The recipe was easy to follow. This recipe is definitely a keeper.
Cynthia Hoopes
10 out of 10! I accidentally pressed them to thin so I just cooked them a little less and they were perfect! Such a simple recipe be so delicious!
Mel
The worst biscuits I’ve ever had
Sam
I’m so sorry to hear this, Mel! What went wrong? I rarely see complaints on these. The most common complaint is from a metallic taste which is from your baking powder being bad. If they were too dry and crumbly there was likely too much flour in the dough. 🙁
Wendy S
I stated using aluminum free baking powder for these. Some people taste the aluminum more than others. They turn out just great. I only use aluminum free any more. Makes a difference in pancakes and scones too
Jean
Great biscuits! The tips for using a grader for the butter and folding while mixing produced the rising biscuits I’ve ever made and I’m pretty good at biscuits
Lisa
Can I make the dough and cut the biscuits, and leave in fridge, but bake the following morning?
Sam
Sure thing! Make sure they are in an air tight container so they don’t dry out. 🙂
Shayconta M Zastawnik
finally a biscuit recipe I can cook
Paula Augustyn
Wow, best biscuits ever! Thank you for an easy and great tasting recipe. My biscuits came out perfect, full of layers and great flavor. Cannot wait to make them again.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So glad our recipe was a success for you, Paula! 🥰
Carrie
I have been buying canned and frozen biscuits forever to use with our rabbit sausage gravy. Those biscuits always had a weird flavor. Making these has changed everything. Super easy and turn out every time. Thank you.
JM
What do your recommend for storage and can these be made ahead of time and frozen?
JM
Sam
If baked they will last several days in an air tight container. They can be frozen before or after being baked. 🙂
Mara
So exited to try then realized I only have self rising! 😔
Sam
Hi Mara! Unfortunately I’m not sure how they would turn out with self rising flour. 🙁
Joann
Mara,
Self rising flour has 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt per cup of flour. It looks like you could just use your flour and omit the baking powder and maybe bump up the salt a little.
Sara
I made cinnamon apple biscuits using this recipe. When it was time to fold and flatten the dough I put finely chopped apples mixed with brown sugar and cinnamon on half the dough, folded and flattened. Then turned, repeated, turned repeated. I saved back much of the juice that developed from the apple mixture not wanting to overload the biscuits with additional liquid. while the biscuits baked I added powdered sugar to the left over syrup in the bowl to make icing. So biscuit took 12 minutes to bake. They are iced and waiting for samplers to try them out. Hope you don’t mind. It’s an easy to put together recipe that I’m sure I’ll use when I want plain biscuits too!
Ioana
Hi!
I am planning on making these with all these lovely reviews! I was wondering if it’s possible to prepare the dough the day before and leave it in the fridge before baking ?
I am planning a big dinner and trying to see what can be prepared before!
Thank you in advance
Sam
Sure thing! You will just want to cut out the biscuits and store in the refrigerator in an air tight container. 🙂
John G
very nice. What about regular salter butter? Nice job miss.
Sam
Hi John! You can use salted butter. You will want to just reduce the added salt to about 3/4 teaspoon. 🙂
Kelly Buthy
I’m nursing and cannot have dairy… has anyone used oat milk and vegan butter in place of the butter and buttermilk? Any changes to how the biscuits are prepared?
Sam
Hi Kelly! I have not personally tried it so I can’t say for sure how it would turn out. If you do try it, I would love to know how it goes. 🙂