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.
Sarah
Really fantastic recipe. Simple, great biscuits.
Tami
I followed to the letter, found them crumbly, and not flakey. I am sure it’s me, others loved them. also, I even gave them an extra minute or two they did not brown. I had to brush with melted butter and broiled till the color turned a golden brown…which was fine. I have had my oven calibrated, it’s only a few years old and a top brand. I will probably try a different recipe. ext time. they tasted fine but a bit dry.
Sam
Hi Tami! I’m sorry to hear they were crumbly! It sounds like they were slightly over-baked. They won’t get really browned because there is no baking soda. 🙁
Ashley
The best!!! My very critical husband and very picky toddlers, loved these!!! Thank you so much!
Kerri
I found this recipe several months ago, and I haven’t bought biscuits from the store since! My husband says they are the best biscuits he’s ever had, I’d have to agree because they are SO good. Our toddler loves them as well!
Bethany
This is probably a silly question, but is it easy to double this recipe? I’ve never made homemade biscuits before, but want to give these a try for about 10 people coming to my house for a brunch. Should I make 2 separate batches or just double it and work with more dough?
Sam
Hi Bethany! You shouldn’t have any issues doubling it in one batch, but if you are worried it is perfectly acceptable to do it in 2 batches. 🙂
Shadey
My family loves this recipe
Unsatisfied
I made these for my family, and these biscuits left a bitter taste in their mouths (same with me) and almost a chemical like taste. Also there is too much baking soda, and not enough milk in this recipe.The only one who liked them was my cat. Highly do not recommend
Sam
I’m so sorry to hear this! The recipe does not call for baking soda so that could have been an issue. If you have a metallic taste your baking powder could be bad so try replacing that. 🙁
Jeff
Used salted butter and skim milk because that is what I had and they tasted really good. Simple to make and everyone enjoyed them. Will make again.
Ha
this sounds like user error lol grow up
Lyn
It sounds like there may have been a mix-up with your choice in ingredients, which could be why it didn’t turn out as expected. The negative review is unnecessary if that’s the case. I’ve made these a handful of times and not once have mine tasted that way.
Kim Renee
This recipe doesn’t call for baking soda. Maybe that is what went wrong. I made them and they were tall, beautiful and delicious. I am making them for the second time today! Made with buttermilk.
Lisa
So easy, so delicious, so amazing! Can’t believe how good these are compared to how easy they are to make. Totally worth the effort!
Sandy
These are the best homemade biscuits I have ever tasted.
They are simple to prepare and crispy and flakes and scrumptious.
Thank you for sharing your recipe with us.
Emily F
I haven’t made these yet, but I just wanted to say…..I LOVE the fact you list the ingredient measurements with the directions 🙌. I can’t tell you how much scrolling back and forth I’ve done on recipes 😂. 10/10 already 💕…I’ll come back later to let you know how the family liked them. 🥰
Megan
Wow. perfect. Every attempt has tuned out. And so EASY.
Stephanie
Can these be frozen before baking to pull out as needed?
Sam
Hi Stephanie! That will work just fine. Make sure to cut out the biscuits and wrap tightly then store in the freezer. 🙂
Rita Braddock
These were the BEST I have ever made!!! I used my mixer to mix the butter and dry ingredients. It worked just fine. Biscuits were perfect!!!!
Kate
Great biscuits- easy to make/ clear directions and measurements in the recipe:)
I combined cream and 2% milk for my liquid as its what was in the fridge for my 3/4 milk.
The recipe yielded 6 as indicated.
My 2 year old grandson loved them too- I was able to shape it into a letter for his name.
Overall- these are probably the best biscuits I have made and for sure beat any mix or premade dough I have tried.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So glad they were a hit for you, Kate! Enjoy 😊
Sky Top
I currently have pneumonia from the flu virus and haven’t been hungry in over a week. Today I was CRAVING my favorite biscuits and gravy from Ozark Cafe where my sister in law works. She had already left so unfortunately she couldn’t bring me any.
So I set out to make it myself. I have never made home made biscuits before and my husband thought it would be too much on me.
I found this recipe and it took me 5 minutes to put together. I did not freeze my butter but I did use the cheese grater and was careful not to over work.
THESE WERE A PERFECT DUPE FOR MY CAFE BISCUITS! Flaky, fluffy, flavorful. And most of all EASY! As I said I was able to make them with little energy as I have freaking pneumonia!!
Sam
I hope you recover quickly! I’m glad they were such a hit. 🙂
Doris Tumlin
Oh my goodness, these are the best biscuits I’ve ever made!! They were so light and fluffy and you could actually see the layers. My boyfriend wants these from now on! I’m so glad I came across your recipe!
Leticia
Love these biscuits!!! this has been my go to recipe since I discovered it. My family loves them especially my husband. Thank you!!