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.
Melissa
Okay, this is it, the recipe I’ve been looking for. My grandma and dad make incredible southern biscuits and gravy, but they use shortening in their biscuits and it just doesn’t cut it for me. I’ve tried countless recipes for biscuits, using shortening or butter or both, but this one was the winner. As soon as I took them out of the oven and they were tall and layered, and tasted flaky and delicious, I was so excited! Now I just keep a stick of butter in the freezer all the time, in case I want to make these!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Melissa! I am so happy to hear that your homemade biscuits turned out so well. 🙂
Charisse
Can I use buttermilk instead of whole milk?
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Charisse! Yes, absolutely fine to substitute with buttermilk. Let me know how they turn out! 🙂
Janice
These are the best biscuits I’ve made! So light , fluffy and rich.
I need to make a larger quantity. Can I triple or quadruple the recipe or should I make several smaller batches?
Sugar Spun Run
I am so happy that you loved the homemade biscuits, Janice! You can double, triple, or quadruple the recipe if you’d like.
If you bake them all at the same time, you may need to add an additional minute or two in the oven. 🙂
Janice
I tripled the recipe and they were perfect!! They did require more time in the oven but not much. My guests liked them so much I promised I’d send them the link to your website. Thank you again.
Sugar Spun Run
Janice, I am so happy that it worked so well for you! Thank you for sharing the recipe. I am glad the biscuits were enjoyed by all! 🙂
Val
My new go to. Simple and delicious. Thank You!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Val! I am so happy that the Homemade Biscuit Recipe is such a hit! 🙂
Greg
I just made a test batch, this is an easy and tasty recipe! Do you know if there’s any cooking adjustments needed if I scale up the recipe (i.e can I double the ingredients to make 12, and cook for the same time/temp?)
Thanks!
Sugar Spun Run
Greg, If you double the biscuit recipe you shouldn’t have to make any adjustments. If you bake them all at the same time, you may need to add an additional minute or two in the oven. Let me know how they turn out! 🙂
Jessie
Could I use skim milk in this instead of whole? It’s just what I have on hand. Would they be completely ruined?
Sam
Hi Jessie! I know others have used it with success.
Cassie Collins
My family loved these! We were hoping for biscuits that we could have for strawberry shortcake so I added more sugar than in the recipient and it worked out great! I added about a half cup and the biscuits worked just as food as I hoped! I highly recommend these for desert biscuits! Thank you!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed the biscuits so much, Cassie! I actually have a strawberry shortcake recipe that uses a very similar biscuit, but adds a little more sugar, like you did, and I use a mixture of milk and cream. 🙂
Jennifer
I loved the way these came out! Super flaky. I cheated and just sliced out the dough to approximate the same size cuts. Perfect with peppered gravy.
Sam
Thank you so much, Jennifer! I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits. 🙂
Theresa Capri
I “cheated” like you in just cutting the biscuits into squares (no overworking of this dough!) and also “cheated” in that I put the dry ingredients in my kitchenaid (like the red one on the counter in the video)and put the butter that I cut into about 10-12 pieces (not frozen and slightly more room temp) into the flour and using the wire whisk attachment, let the kitchenaid do the work while I did other things in the kitchen. Looked just like the crumbs of flour demonstrated in the video. Turned out fabulous using these time saving measures. We also had some peaches and since we don’t like to eat a lot of sugar, the sweet peaches with whipped cream made for a yummy dessert as well. Thanks for the recipe!
Sugar Spun Run
That is awesome, Theresa! I am so glad that the biscuits turned out well. Peaches and whipped cream sound like the perfect addition! Yum! 🙂
Adele mcLaughlin
Good morning!
I am just about to start making your homemade biscuits but first I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed your how to video. It was so simple. Your explanations and descriptions were great. Your speaking ability is admirable. So many people use word whiskers…ummm….ohhh….ahhh…. Your video did not have any. Hurah for you.
Good job!
Sam
Thank you so much, Adele! I really appreciate the kind words. 🙂
Jerald
I make this recipe all the time ,it’s my wife’s favorite,and they stay soft and fresh for 3 days in a plastic bag, and perfect with gravy.
Sam
Hi Jerald! I am so glad you enjoy the biscuits so much. 🙂
Tasadar
I am finding these biscuits are on the bland side.
Ralph B. Braseth, Jr.
I’m an aspiring baker with zero experience and so I tend to stick with easier recipes right now. Not only was this recipe easy, but the end result is a half dozen biscuits that please my friends, family and me. The video was helpful as well. Thank you for the education and the great biscuits. Count me as your newest fan.
Sam
Thank you so much, Ralph! I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits. 🙂 I hope you’ll try more recipes, and love them just as much. 🙂
Lou
My biscuits (your biscuits) are the best I’ve made. Thanks
Sam
Thank you so much Lou! I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits! 🙂
Kera
Made these and used margarine and they were amazing turned out perfect! 💕
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed the biscuits, Kera! 🙂
Bobby
Very good biscuits mine turned out really good first time thank you!😋
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the biscuits, Bobby! 🙂
David and Tessa
My three year old lives to help me make these! This recipe is truly fantastic, they’re better than you get at a restaurant!!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoys the biscuits so much! 🙂