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.
Susan
My first time ever making biscuits and these came out delicious I added half milk and half and half for the rest came out so flaky and crisp but soft in the middle thanks for posting this recipe.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so happy that you enjoyed the homemade biscuit recipe, Susan! Thank you for your feedback!:)
Deanna
Can you make these the day before and warm them before eating? Will they be as good? I’m hosting a party of 45 this weekend, short on time day of party making it hard to cook fresh (I make all food for party and ask no one to bring anything, I like a cohesive menu) Let me know your thoughts.
Any good cornbread recipes?
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Deanna! Yes, you can make them ahead of time, but I personally find that they only stay fresh for a day or two after baking. I recommend storing them in an airtight container at room temperature. I have two cornbread recipes you may want to try as well, buttermilk cornbread or ssweet jalapeno cornbread. Let me know how they turn out. I hope that you have a wonderful celebration this weekend. 🙂
JD
1 tablespoon of baking powder? Should that be 1 teaspoon? I like the idea of using the grater…clever!
Sugar Spun Run
Yes, you will want to use 1 Tablespoon of baking powder for this recipe. I am happy you liked the grater idea, it makes it easy! Let me know how your biscuits turn out! 🙂
Kristina
Haven’t had much luck in making biscuits, hope I succeed with your recipe!
Sugar Spun Run
I’m so sorry to hear that, Kristina! I hope my homemade biscuit recipe works out well for you. Let me know how they turn out. Enjoy! 🙂
Sonia
I loved this recipe. Thanks.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so happy that you enjoyed the homemade biscuits, Sonia!
Brenda Wilkins
I made these biscuits this morning and they did not turn out well at all. I halfed the recipe because it was just me and the only milk I had was almond milk. Do you think that that had anything to do with them not being fluffy and then they did take much longer to bake so finally I gave up as they became hard as rock as I extended the cooking time.
Sugar Spun Run
Oh no, Brenda! I am so sorry to hear that your biscuits did not turn out well. Yes, more than likely it was the almond milk. I do not recommend it. I hope that you give this recipe another try. 🙂
Shannon
Sorry to be nosey but I had the same idea Brenda because I’m vegan so I substituted the same amount of water instead of milk. They came out perfect and fluffy just not as brown on top. Hope this helps and thanks sugar spun for the recipe!
Sugar Spun Run
That is awesome, Shannon! Thank you for your feedback. I am so glad that you enjoyed the biscuits and they turned out so well. 🙂
Snow
Will they come out just as good if I use vegan butter and almond milk instead of animal milk?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi! It should work fine, however, I have not tried it myself. If you do, let me know how they turn out! 🙂
Janet
They came out ok but a bit heavy will try again
Janet
Can I do the dough the nite before and put it in the fridge
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Janet! Yes, that will be fine. 🙂
Jennifer N
Great biscuit recipe! Super fluffy and delicious. I love the tip for grating the butter. I have a salad shooter electric grater that makes this a breeze.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the biscuits, Jennifer! 🙂
Sarah Anne
Just made these with my Mom! This recipe reminds my mother of her mother and grandmother from Nova Scotia and PEI who made these everyday. The smell of the house when these are in the oven is so comforting! Thank you!!!!! Great recipe!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so happy that they brought back so many great memories, Sarah! Enjoy the biscuits! 🙂
Debbie Bezdek
Can’t wait to try your biscuits recipe recipe.
Sugar Spun Run
Awesome! Let me know how you like it, Debbie! 🙂
Erin
My first time making biscuits, success!
Sugar Spun Run
That is awesome, Erin! I am so happy that your homemade biscuits turned out so well. Enjoy! 🙂
Teresa
Could I use self-rising flour ?
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Teresa! I don’t recommend self-rising flour for this recipe. I hope that you enjoy your biscuits! 🙂
Mike Higginbotham
I have only ever used white lily SRF and salted butter (without additional salt) for this recipe and I use a cheese grater for the butter. They have literally been the best biscuits I’ve ever been able to make!
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Mike! I am so happy that the biscuits have turned out so well for you. Enjoy! 🙂
Linda L Hill
Great tasting and easy to make.
Sugar Spun Run
Linda, I am so glad that you enjoyed the homemade biscuits! 🙂
Jamal
Would this be okay to make this ahead of time and cook straight from the freezer /refrigerator?
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Jamal! These should hold up well in the freezer. I would make the dough, cut out the shapes, and then store in an air tight container in the freezer. You could then put them in the oven from there but they will probably need a little more time to bake. They should be good for about a month. 🙂