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.
Alicia
Best biscuits I have ever made. Grating the cold butter was the key. I had been softening it before and I didn’t like the texture of the final product. I also used self-rising flour that I had on hand and just formed the biscuits with my hands. They were sooo good!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Alicia! 🙂
Veronica
Mine weren’t nearly as picturesque as your buscuits but they taste great and my 2yr old (notoriously hard to please, naturally) and husband love them. I call it a win! It was also nice that the recipe is so basic that I had everything needed to make them on handnd could whip them up in between moments of running after my toddler. 🙂
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them Veronica! You deserve extra points for tracking down a toddler while making them! Kudos to you! 🙂
Robert
Best biscuit recipe I’ve tried. If you follow directions, I’m not sure how you could not get this right. Biscuits poofed right up…soft, tender and buttery.
Sam
So glad you enjoyed, Robert! 🙂
Tammy T
I hit post comment without leaving my rating. Definitely 5 stars!
Tammy
I just made these and followed your recipe to a T. I’m happy to report that these were the best and easiest biscuits I’ve ever made! This recipe is definitely a keeper! Thank you!
Sam
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed! Thanks for commenting, Tammy! 🙂
Gail
best biscuits I’ve ever made. Tried both food processor and grating the butter. Grated turned out just a bit better, but both ways excellent. I have made these several times and evry time great!
Sam
So glad to hear you enjoyed, Gail! Thank you for commenting 🙂
Marla
I found your recipe yesterday and made them for breakfast this morning. By far, the best biscuits I’ve ever made! Thanks for all of the helpful hints! Delicious!!
Sam
So glad to hear you enjoyed, Marla! Thank you for commenting 🙂
Elizabeth Birchfield
I bake frequently, never have I been able to get biscuits right ! This recipe was easy , fast and came out beautifully! I used 2% milk , still perfect biscuits! They were tall and fluffy !!! This will be my recipe for anytime I need biscuits! We try to eat homemade foods as much as possible.
Sam
I’m so happy to hear this! Thank you for commenting, Elizabeth!
Crystal
Omg, these are the best biscuits I’ve ever had! They were so easy and quick to make, I will never buy store bought biscuits again!! Five stars all the way! I didn’t have whole milk, and used the 2% milk we had instead, they still came out fluffy and amazing. Do you think I could use gluten free flour and still get the same results??
Sam
So happy to hear you enjoyed, Crystal! Unfortunately I’ve never baked with gluten free flour before and am not familiar enough with it to say. If you do try it out I would love to know how it works, though!
Rebecca Caldwell
These are so good! I replaced the all purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour and the milk with 2% milk. My family devoured them! The grater for the butter is genius. Will make them again♥️
Sam
So happy to hear they were such a hit! Thank you for commenting, Rebecca!
Trisha
Made these biscuits using the food processor and they came out great ! Will be making them again. Thanks for sharing !
Sam
So glad to hear this! Thanks for letting me know how they turned out for you, Trisha! <3
Karen Salander
I was too intimidated to make biscuits until I stumbled upon your recipe. The frozen butter and chilled milk tips convinced me you were dedicated to make your readers successful. The delicate flaky texture was perfect. Technique is everything, and I can apply this new wisdom to other recipes. I look forward to exploring your site further.
Sam
I’m so happy to hear that the biscuits were such a success! I hope you love the other recipes just as much! Thanks for commenting, Karen.
Vanessa
I just finished them. They are in the oven baking. What an easy recipe to follow. Thank you so much, Sam. 😊
Sam
Thank you so much, Vanessa! I am so glad you enjoyed the recipe! 🙂
Tiffany Deardeuff
Can I use 2% Milk?
Sam
Hi Tiffany! I think it will work, but I would be worried they wouldn’t be as tender. 🙂
Alicia
We use2% because that is what was in the refrigerator and they came out great!
Darlene Guidroz
Followed to the letter….worst biscuits I ever made
Sam
Really!? I’m so sorry to hear this, Darlene! I think you might actually be my first negative review on this recipe lol. What was wrong with them, maybe I can help you troubleshoot?
Carrie Cabral
I’m making them now… I’ll let you know how they turn out. I used my food processor to do my butter and popped in a bit of flour so it didn’t stick together.