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.
Lacie
This recipe is fantastic. I froze the butter as suggested in cubes then added into food processor. Baked for 14 min and these come out perfectly. Ive saved this recipe and will make again.
Peggy
So many things I’ve been doing wrong all these years; using a pastry cutter to work in butter, rolling out dough with a rolling pin…no wonder my biscuits are not the best! Just made a half batch and they are GONE! Thank you for all the suggestions. Made all the difference in the world!
Kimberly
Simple recipe and easy to follow. I did however use a different baking pan. I used a buttered 7 inch cast iron skillet to bake these in. Turned out better than I thought they would!!!! Thank you for sharing.
Kaleen
I’ve always made this recipe in the past and loved this, but I just made it twice and both times they came out super salty. Did the salt measurement somehow get changed? I did 1t then I did 1/2 t and made sure to use unsalted butter.
Sam Merritt
Hi Kaleen! That’s odd that it’s coming out salty if you are only using a teaspoon in the whole dough. Is it possible it was accidentally mismeasured?
Leni
I’ve made this biscuit recipe several times and my husband loves them! my question is can I freeze the biscuits once I bake them? Or should I make them and freeze them before baking?
Sam Merritt
Hi Leni! Either way will work here. I prefer a freshly baked biscuit so my preference is to freeze the dough, but it really doesn’t matter. 🙂
Monique
Great recipe. Family loved them.
Christian
Day after thanksgiving brunch was rounded off perfectly with these
Tom
All right, who DIDN’T give this recipe 5 stars.
I’ve been using this recipe every Thanksgiving and Christmas and whenever we have beef stew or chicken and dumplings going on 7 years now.
Everyone loves these biscuits. Everyone wants/has the recipe. Double/triple batches are the norm, everyone wants two biscuits, never any leftovers.
This is the best biscuit recipe and merits 5 stars.
Melanie
I made these many months ago and they were fabulous! I did have an awfully hard time trying to grate the frozen butter. I eventually gave up and I can’t remember what I did – a large butcher knife(?). Anyway, do you have any recommendations? I was just thinking I wanted to make these this morning and I’d forgotten about the butter challenge. Thanks!
Lisa
This recipe made the best biscuits and was so easy for a nice homemade treat!
Shoshana
Ive actually made this using oat milk and vegan butter to make them dairy free and it worked out great 🙂 can I freeze the dough for a few days and then thaw in the fridge over night to make the next morning?
Sam Merritt
I’m so glad you enjoyed them, Shoshana! You can bake the biscuits from frozen. They will likely just need another minute or two in the oven. 🙂
Leah Wilson
Can I make dough ahead and time and put in fridge overnight?
Sam Merritt
Sure thing! 🙂
Phyllis
love this recipe! I use it all the time. thank you!
Melissa Baker
easy and delicious! I also don’t bother with making the round biscuits and just cut them into six squarish squares. I have also substituted buttermilk powder.
Jenn L.
Love this recipe! It’s been my go to for years! I’ve eved adapted it for freezer to have a few on hand when the hankering for a biscuit occurs! I just freeze them after cutting them into biscuit shapes,freeze them on a baking sheet then place them in a freezer bag. When it’s time to fix that craving for a biscuit, throw it on the cookie sheet while the oven is preheating then set timer for 10 minutes as soon as the preheat is done. Prefection!
I do have a question though,we’ve switched our diet to whole wheat flour insteadof all purpose flour. Is it a one to one ratio or do I need to adjust other ingredients?
Thanks for help!
Sam Merritt
I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed them so much, Jenn! Unfortunately whole wheat flour is a lot “thirstier” so the biscuits would be a lot drier and you may not even be able to form them properly. You would have to make some alterations and without having tried it personally I can’t say for sure how to do it. 🙁
Jenn L.
Ok,thanks! If I find a good ratio, I’ll let you know! 😊
Melissa
These are my go-to biscuits and always a huge hit. I’m hosting a larger group this year, anyway to prep early? Maybe dough and shape and bake the next morning? Thanks!
Sam Merritt
Hi Melissa! That will work just fine. Store the cut out biscuits in an air tight container overnight. 🙂
MELISSA
Perfection!! Thank you much for writing back! Store in the fridge right? Then come to room temp before baking? I want to make sure not the mess with the grated butter.
Sam Merritt
Oh sorry! Yes! In the refrigerator overnight. You can bake them straight from the refrigerator. 🙂
Rhinegold
Good recipe, tasty biscuits. I don’t bother with a round cutter, I cut it into 8 pieces. They rise nicely have a good flavor and at 400° convection they still take 12 minutes to be golden and delcious. Please to finally have a good recipe
Regina Grimes
Love this recipe! It is so easy to make and they come out perfect every time!