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.
Bobbie Jo
Took me two tries and I made perfect biscuits with this recipe!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you for trying my recipe, Bobbie! I am so glad that your biscuits turned out well and that you enjoyed them. 🙂
Tim Ledford
Very easy delicious recipe for biscuits. Thank you so much. Never been able to make good biscuits before.
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Tim! Thank you for commenting!
Steve
Wow! Wow! Wow! They were perfect on my first try! Biscuits in a tube no more.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the Biscuits, Steve! Thanks for trying my recipe. 🙂
Jen, The Reluctant Baker
I have tried several recipes for biscuits and they never come out well. I assumed it was “Baker error”; however after finding this recipe (with the grated butter), I realized it wasn’t me!!! My biscuits turned out great and I even think I over worked it a bit. Next time they will be PERFECT! Why am I confident? Because there will be a next time.
Sam
I’m so happy to hear this, Jen! Thank you so much for commenting and letting me know how the biscuits turned out 🙂
Michelle
Can i use buttermilk instead of whole?
Sam
Yup! Enjoy 🙂
Liz
Love this recipe! They disappeared in the blink of an eye, so safe to say my family loves them too. Great tip on grating the butter – thank you for sharing, this will be a repeat for sure!
Sam
I’m so happy to hear the recipe was such a hit, Liz! Thank you for commenting 🙂
Debbie
I only have 1% milk. Not whole milk, will that be a problem?
Sam
I haven’t tried with 1% milk, I’d be a little concerned about the decrease in the fat for the final outcome. However, I do know people have successfully made these with 2% milk. If you try them I’d love to hear how they turn out for you!
Haley Thomas
I love these! Am I able to refrigerate? I would like to make them tonight so that they are ready for the oven first thing in the morning. Thank you for this recipe! I appreciate the time and effort you took in making this perfect and writing it down.
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Haley! Yes, you can make the homemade biscuits the night before. I recommend storing them in an airtight container until you are ready to stick them in the oven. I hope you enjoy them! 🙂
Tesha
This is my go-to recipe for biscuits! They come out delicious every time! I love how quick and easy they are to make. Thanks for sharing this great recipe with us!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so happy that you enjoy the homemade biscuits, Tesha! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Kaitlyne
Is it possible to make a lot of dough at once and freeze it? These turned out amazing- love them with some honey!!! Thank you
Sam
Yes! I’ve never more than tripled a batch at one time but you can certainly freeze. Just do so in an airtight container and the biscuits may need an extra minute or so in the oven when baking.
Joe
A good recipe, simple, came our perfect.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you found the biscuit recipe easy to follow and enjoyable. Thanks for commenting, Joe! 🙂
Dawn Hudson
Great!! Doubled the receipe and it turned out amazing!!
Sugar Spun Run
That is wonderful, Dawn! I am so glad that it worked out and you enjoyed the homemade biscuits. Thanks for commenting.:)
Karen
My FIRST time making biscuits and im so pleased, thank you for the recipe it was well laid out and easy to follow..and they were delicious!
Sugar Spun Run
Congrats on your first time making biscuits, Karen! I am so glad that you found the recipe easy to follow and the end result enjoyable. Thanks for trying my recipe. 🙂
Charlene
I have never made biscuits before from scratch, but I love the simplicity of this recipe.
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Charlene! Thank you! I hope that you have success with my biscuit recipe. Keep me posted on how they turn out. Enjoy! 🙂
Cynthia
Wanted to try something new….Mine were hard as rocks☹️….I don’t know what happened. I’ve been making biscuits for years…I was careful not to work them too much…just enough to get dough together and then did the 5-6 folding and turning…any idea?
Sam
Disappointed to hear that! If they were hard my guess would be that they baked too long. Is there any chance your oven is running hotter than it’s letting on?
Kimberly Derrick
Easy to make and delicious. I love the golden brown crust and buttery sweet taste. Yummy
Sam
So glad you enjoyed the biscuits, Kimberly! 🙂