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.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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.
Trish
Dang near 70 years old and the first time I was proud of my biscuits! Thanks for the box grater hint – success at last!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits, Trish! 🙂
Fernando Mello
Hi Sam – made these biscuits this past weekend and they turned out AMAZING. Have you ever frozen the dough after cutting the individual biscuits?
Sam
Hi Fernando! I have not frozen the biscuits, but I know others have with success. 🙂
Susi
Hi Sam! These biscuits were the BEST! I write a retro 50s blog and was looking for the perfect biscuits to go with a family recipe for Chicken a la King. These biscuits were exactly what I was looking for. Thanks so much for sharing!
Sam
Thank you so much, Susi! I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits so much! 🙂
Ann
My biscuits turned out like sad little hockey pucks. Any thoughts on where I went wrong?
Sam
Hi Ann! There are two big things that can cause this. Your baking powder could be bad, or the dough may have been overworked. I’m sorry they didn’t turn out. Hopefully you’ll give them another shot. 🙂
MH
It could also be the flour if you’re using hard wheat instead of soft wheat.
Shannon Harpain
my name is Shannon hi my name is Shannon I live in California and it is Sunday and so on Sundays I like to have biscuits and gravy well I decided to make them from scratch and so I chose this recipe and they turned out pretty good I thought that the temperature was a little too high cuz the bottom to the biscuits and started to get a little bit more Brown than the top so I turned it down and when are the little golden on top and a couple others did not but they all raised and they look very delicious me I mean I’m going to let you know in one second how they actually turned out so thank you for the recipe and I enjoy looking forward to more recipes
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits, Shannon! 🙂
Anita
Never made biscuits before and tried this recipe this morning for sausage gravy, they turned out great! No more canned dough for me! Thank you for sharing.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits so much, Anita! Homemade is always better if you ask me. 🙂
Nancy Haan
I just made these biscuits for dinner tonight and they turned out outstanding! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe. I will definitely be making these again.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits so much, Nancy! 🙂
Shelly
Absolutely love this easy recipe! Made these two days ago and I am making these again right now! Super easy and delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits so much, Shelly! 🙂
Carol M
I had never made biscuits before & now this is the only recipe I use. They’re simple & delicious! Thanks for all the great tips!!
Sam
Hi Carol! I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits so much! 🙂
Patrick A Hurley
Is there anything that can be used (like Honey or Real Maple Syrup) instead of sugar?
Sam
Hi Patrick! I haven’t tried it, but I would be worried it may make the dough a little too wet. If you try it, I would love to know how it turns out. 🙂
Tammi
Can I use margarine instead of butter?
Sam
Hi Tammi! They won’t turn out the same. They won’t be nearly as flaky.
Renate Stapley
First time making them from scatch… wonderful! Turned out amazing….Now I actually have to get a biscuit cutter to make these again!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits so much, Renate! 🙂
Lois
These are simply divine Sam! Really appreciate that you shared this recipe. 🙂
Sam
Thank you so much, Lois! I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits. 🙂
Matt Watson
Exceptional, simple recipe. I liked that you used a tablespoon measure on the butter. Very flaky and noticeable homemade flavor and texture. Thank you.
Sam
Thank you so much, Matt! I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits! 🙂
Jennifer
Simply wonderful. Thanks for sharing!
Sam
Thank you so much, Jennifer! I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits. 🙂
Robin & Sasha Grayce
Thank you for this amazing recipe! My seven year old daughter (she wants to be a chef 🙂) and I made these this morning. They were the best biscuits I have ever made. I’ve made lots of recipes and usually they end in disaster—too hard, too salty, etc. . In our home, great recipes are laminated and placed in a special place for future frequent use! This recipe will get the honor also. **I didn’t have whole milk—just 2-percent milk….so I mixed with a little regular whipping cream to balance out the fat. Made 9 medium biscuits. It worked beautifully! So simple and delicious.
Sam
Thank you so much! I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits so much! I am honored to have a special place in your home. I hope you daughter makes her dream a reality. You will get to be the lucky one tasting all of the good food. 🙂