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.
Chasity
Amazing
Sam
Thank you so much, Chasity! 🙂
Derek
Going to use your recipe to do some venison style Biscuits and gravy!!
Sam
That sounds delicious Derek! I hope you love it! 🙂
Nicolle
Can’t wait to try tonight..my kids will be thrilled!! Tyvm
Sam
You’re very welcome, I hope everyone enjoys! 🙂
Jeff
OMG! Only took me 52 years to try biscuits from scratch to go with my homemade sausage gravy! Guess I never thought I could best the results from Pillsbury so why bother. I’m so glad I chose your recipe for my first attempt. I did cut the sugar by half but followed everything else exactly as you recommended. The video and detailed instructions were so helpful. And the end result was just as you pictured…. light, fluffy, flaky and delicious! I will NEVER buy canned biscuits again thanks to you! Who says you can’t teach and old dog new tricks?
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits, Jeff! Not only do they taste better than Pillsbury, but you made them yourself, so you have something to be proud of! 🙂
Tina
Thank you for the great idea of grating the butter. Ingenious! The texture is great. Flavor-wise, I find them much too sweet. I’ll use this recipe and technique again, but reduce or omit the sugar.
Sam
I’m glad you enjoyed the texture. The sweetness can definitely be cut out without an issue. I just have quite the sweet tooth. 😉
JaDawn Christian
Amazing 😉 thanks for the recipe
Sam
Thank you so much, JaDawn! 🙂
Trisha
My son decided last min he wanted biscuits and gravy. I googled quick easy biscuits and a few recipes popped up including this one. I looked at the ingredients and reviews and decided to try this one out. I am so glad that I did! Theg came out PERFECT! Super easy and quick! I will definitely be adding this recipe to my go to book! Thank you!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them Trisha! 🙂
Rita
I usually make biscuits with buttermilk but these were amazing!!! I blended the dough in food processor and as suggested I didn’t use a rolling pin like I have in the past (never will use one again though after this).
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Rita! 🙂
Rachael
Awesome recipe!
Sam
Thank you so much, Rachael! 🙂
Christopher Marrara
Hi Sam,
Super easy to make. Great recipe. The box grater and frozen butter was a unique solution. I’m now hooked on Sugar Spun Run!!!!
Sam
Thank you so much, Christopher! I am so glad you enjoyed them. 🙂
Linda Wolken
I am a culinary teacher for high school students. Each year I try different biscuit recipes hoping to find the keeper recipe. Your recipe is going to fall into this category. All the labs were successful and the biscuits are flaky and doubled in size. Thank you for sharing your tips.
Sam
O wow that’s awesome! I am so happy to hear that, I think that is a first! I hope everyone who makes them loves them for years to come! 🙂
Bella
Hi,
Thank you so much for this biscuit recipe! They come out amazing everytime! I was wondering if it it would work to freeze the raw dough after I’ve cut them into circles, or do you think that doing that would ruin them?
Thanks!
Sam
Hi Bella! I think freezing them after cutting them into biscuit shapes would work fine. Just make sure to wrap them individually so they don’t stick together. They may need a few more minutes when baking. 🙂
Oma
Just used your recipe to make biscuits.
It came our perfect
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Beth Churchman
Wow! These are awesome! First time biscuit maker and it was a success!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Beth! 🙂
Lorrie Howell
They are the best ever!!! Yummmmmy. We love them. Thank you for sharing this recipe. They are quick.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Lorrie! 🙂
Urtsi
First time doing biscuits. Baking in the oven as we speak. Looking amazing. I bet the taste is awesome! Wish I could send a picture 🙂 thank you, so easy!
Can’t wait to give these to my wife that loves southern chili with biscuits.
Sam
I hope everyone loves them! 🙂