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.
Jana
My husband is from the south and he says these are the best biscuits he’s ever had. I grate the butter into the flour and they’re perfect every time.
Teresa Hanson
These are the best biscuits I’ve ever made! I used my freshly milled soft white flour and it worked perfectly. Thank you for all your tips- I never knew the information you provided. And this is the first time I ever used unsalted butter in recipes- now I understand why you prefer it. Thank you!!
Lisa B Dashiell
Can you make these Sweet Potato Biscuits. What would you recommend for this?
Thanks in advance.
Sam Merritt
Hi Lisa! I’m not sure how that could be accomplished.
Gabby
I have been using this recipe for a number of years and am now beginning to teach my granddaughter how to make these. I want to bring these to a Christmas party and would like to double or maybe triple the recipe.
Question – do I just triple everything and mix all at once or make three separate batches? Thank you.
Sam Merritt
I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed them so much, Gabby! You can make a triple batch, you just want to be careful to not warm the butter up too much while mixing together.
Nina
I have to 3x the recipe bc my two sons devour them. I usE HEFTY TBS of baking powder, mix all my dry ingredients, grate butter in a bowl and pop it back into the freezer for abt 10 min. I measure my milk and put it in the freezer while I work the butter into the dry ingredients, then it’s ice cold (but not frozen) when adding to the mix. I also laminate/fold my dough, turn, press, fold 3-4x. I’ve made a bazillion batches and they never fail! Btw, might be a good idea to get a suction mount rotary grater off amazon- mine makes grating the butter FAST. No time to thaw!!! I usually measure, grate, and put a double batch (or several double batches) of butter in ziplock bag(s) and freeze so I always have butter ready to go!
Paul Stephens
Hey Sam… This was delicious!
I made a slight deviation by making this with extra creamy oat milk and sweet cream (I ran out of whole milk 😅).. but the result was the same!
Thank you!
Evelyn
I’ve been a baker for over 50 years, and the tips provided regarding the butter and milk is spot on. It took me years to figure that out. I’m happy to see these baking secrets are actually being published. Happy Baking
Teresa Hanson
I agree!! I’ve baked for many years and didn’t know these helpful tips!!
Maggie
Wow!! I’m a home baker and love good food. These are incredible! Easy to make and so good. Will be keeping this recipe and making often.
Kara
Made these on a whim and they were delicious!!!
Do you think I could use this same recipe in chicken & dumplings? Basically as a “drop” biscuit??
Sam Merritt
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Kara! These will work well in chicken and dumplings. 🙂
Hannah
I’ve been using this recipe for years. Delicious.
Hadar
Hi!
Can I make it using out-milk instead? Butter is fine and much loved but the milk is a problem.. the amount I put stays the same?
Thank you!
Sam Merritt
Hi Hadar! Did you mean oat milk? I know others have done it with success. 🙂
Ig
Simple, yet very tasty! Saving this recipe for sure!
Julie
could you put cheese and ham?
Sam Merritt
Hi Julie! You could certainly fold in some cheese. I’m not sure how the ham would do, but it’s worth a shot! Enjoy! 🙂
Deb
Husband said ” best biscuit I have ever ate”.
Ashley
These are REALLY good. it’s my go to recipe. Thank you!
Lauren
This recipe rocks. I use it at least once a week. Simple, delicious. Got me back into cooking again.
Roxanne
After 4 1/2 years of marriage and dozens of biscuit recipes, who knew, this simple recipe is the best..btw I’m 71 years old and love to bake..this is a keeper!
Sam Merritt
I’m so glad it was such a hit, Roxanne! 🙂
Elizabeth
can I freeze these for grab and go biscuits?
Sam Merritt
Sure thing! 🙂
Stacey
Can I use bread flour?
Sam Merritt
Hi Stacey! I wouldn’t recommend it. 🙁