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.
Ronnie
My husband is very particular about bisquits and gravy…VERY particular. He mentioned it as dinner for tonight and I knew what that meant a hot house and some disappointment. I just hadn’t found a good recipe since my Gma’s. I closed my eyes and picked this one..literally and well….he LOVED THEM! He even did the dishes 🤗. This recipe is a keeper. Thank you.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that my biscuit recipe exceeded his expectations (enough to even make him do the dishes!), Ronnie! Thank you so much for commenting. I hope that you enjoy them for years to come! 🙂
Michelle
I made these and they tasted doughy to me. I even left them in the oven a few minutes longer. The only substations I made was Almond milk and a few extra tablespoons of butter ( I chopped the whole stick instead of only six tablespoons). What could have gone wrong? Thank you
Sam
Hi Michelle, I think it might have been the extra butter.
Jessica
I have tried tons of biscuit recipes. This is by far the best, I’ve been making this recipe for a couple of years now and it never goes wrong.
Sam
I am so happy to hear this recipe was such a success for you, Jessica! Thank you so much for commenting, I appreciate it! 🙂
Amanda
Disregard my question. I saw you answered it in the comments.
Thank you!!:)
Amanda
Hi,
I am new to cooking and am excited to try my first biscuit baking experience. I’m just curious- could I make the dough, cut the biscuits out and freeze them unbaked? To bake in the morning quickly?
Thank you for any help:)
Patty
Do you have high altitude recommendations? Thanks!
Sam
Unfortunately I’m not familiar with high altitude baking. I’m hoping someone else who is and who has tried it can chime in, though!
Jessica
I am at about 5000 ft. This recipe has worked perfect for me every time and I’ve never made any changes to it.
Kelly
Can you make the dough ahead of time and freeze it before baking?
Sam
Hi Kelly, yes you can but I recommend cutting it out into biscuit shapes before freezing. Make sure to store in an airtight container, and just keep in mind that the biscuits may need a bit more time in the oven when baking from frozen. Enjoy!
Miatta McGraw
These came out super good. Actually better than mom’s. I used European extra creamy unsalted butter (making sure it was super rock hard solid), and 2% lactaid free milk. They had a crispy buttery exterior and a flaky inside, after 12 minutes of baking. I was amazed. Thank you!!!
Sam
I’m so happy to hear this! Thank you for letting me know how the biscuits turned out for you, Miata! 🙂
Peggy
Biscuits came out perfect. Came out good and flaky.
Sugar Spun Run
That is wonderful, Peggy! I am so glad that you enjoyed them! 🙂
maria
So, I made this recipe this past weekend and I am still amazed about how ridiculously easy the recipe is and the amazing results once I baked my biscuits….. This was my very first time and this is a must-have recipe.. Thank you so much for the video and the extra steps for successful results (love your banana bread recipe also btw :D)
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much for the sweet comment, Maria! I am so glad that you really enjoyed the homemade biscuits and the banana bread. Thanks for trying my recipes. I am excited to hear what you bake next! 🙂
Norman
This biscuit recipe is so simple and so tasty that I will be making them for now on. Amazing!!!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the biscuits, Norman! Thank you so much for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂
Dee Boggas
Amazing! I have tried a few recipes and none has been as easy and have actually turned out right! My husbands give this a thumbs up 🙂
Sugar Spun Run
Dee, I am so happy that you found a recipe that worked so well for you. I am so glad that you and your husband both enjoyed the biscuits. Thank you for commenting. 🙂
Miriam Rose Blanar
These biscuits are amazing! So soft! I’m eating them now and my girls are devouring them! Thank you!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that everyone enjoyed them, Miriam! Thank you for commenting. 🙂
Mark
I made these and they are absolutely amazing! I grated the ice cold butter and chopped it further into the dry ingredients using a whisk. I also used a scale ( thanks for the gram measurements). They came out looking like tall stacks of fluffy biscuit wafers – layers for days! LOL Thanks for the perfect recipe…
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the biscuits, Mark! Thank you for commenting. 🙂
Maureen Esposito center
I made them vegan, using coconut oil and oat milk. Yummy!
Sam
So happy to hear the substitutions worked for vegan biscuits, Maureen! Thank you for commenting 🙂