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.
Regie McLain
Just letting you know that you’ve been adopted ; this immediately became my secret family recipe that I’ve told EVERYONE about.
Thanksgiving, that jerk relative who always complains about everything – his best gripe was that the biscuits were ‘too flaky & the butter slides off of them,’ Bridge neither of which was true.
Made me so happy to see him stumped, I immediately made more.
So I can say that after they’ve cooled, put them into an airtight baggie,& 3 or 4 days later they’re still excellent.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that your family enjoyed the biscuits enough to adopt me! lol. I hope that you continue to enjoy the recipe to use for years to come, Regie! Thank you for commenting. 🙂
Carrie
10 years I’ve been trying to get biscuits like this! Thank you!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that after 10 years you have finally found the perfect biscuit recipe, Carrie! Thank you so much! I am so glad that you enjoyed them. 🙂
Michelle
I made this for dinner tonight and it came up excellent (well that’s exactly my hubby’s word lol)! This is super easy to follow and tasty! I have always wanted to make homemade biscuits for so long and your recipe is perfect! Thank you Sam for sharing!!!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the biscuits and that they were husband approved. Thank you for trying my recipe, Michelle! 🙂
Jordan
Excellent recipe! They turned out great!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the biscuits, Jordan! Thank you for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂
Shayna
These are soooo good! Came out perfectly and were great reheated the next day. Bravo!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Shayna! I am so glad that the biscuits were such a hit! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Bonnie Spiker
This didnt wotk at 6800ft above Sea level.
I added more liquid to compensate but they were very dry.
High altitude baking is challenging.
Sugar Spun Run
Oh no! I am so sorry that you experienced issues. I do not have experience baking at high altitude to advise but hoping someone else with this experience will chime in. Thanks for commenting, Bonnie! Again, I am sorry you had issues. 🙂
Jan
We live at 4500ft altitude and I put in 2 T more flour to a cake mix and it turns out beautifully! Hope this helps
Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for sharing, Jan! 🙂
Tammy Reed
I have one question to all…was your dough, after combining with milk, crumbly? Mine was until I worked in together on floured surface.
Bonnie Spiker
Mine was very dry.
I used buttermilk in place of milk, added more but still came out more like Scones than bisquits unfortunately
Monica
They came out delicious!!!! Followed the recipe to a T! It was a little working grating the butter, but it was well worth the work.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the biscuits, Monica! Thank you for commenting. 🙂
Crystal
My husband is allergic to wheat so I used a gluten free flour instead. They came out delicious and I rarely ever say that about gluten free bread! He was so happy he got to eat biscuits and gravy with biscuits that aren’t rubbery. Thank you.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that he enjoyed the biscuits and that the gluten-free flour worked so well, Crystal! Thank you for commenting. 🙂
Gart
Great recipe. And I’m not much of a cook. But they came out fantastic. I didn’t use a cutter. Used my hands to form them. They were great. Thanks again
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much for commenting, Gart! I am so glad that you enjoyed the biscuits. 🙂
Sandra Y
So easy, tender, flaky and delicious. Love the concept of grating the butter. I did add 1 tsp. of sugar and 1/2 tsp baking soda because I have been looking at several recipes and I used 2% milk instead. Not sure if it made a huge difference but this will be my go to biscuit recipe. Do not overwork the dough!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the biscuits, Sandra! Thank you for commenting. 🙂
Doretha Flint
Biscuits were rubbery and hard. I think too much butter is used. I followed the recipe to the tee. I could taste the baking powder too.
Sam
Hi Doretha, most likely the biscuit dough was over-mixed if they came out rubbery and hard.
Lynn
Best Biscuits I have ever had. light, fluffy, super easy to make.
Thank you!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Lynn! I am so glad that you enjoyed them. 🙂
Kim
I have used this recipe/technique 3 times now. It’s a winner! I love the idea of box grating the butter because it incorporates to evenly! The laminating process is a must—-don’t skip! Great biscuits, great recipe, and great technique, Thank you for sharing!!!!!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Kim! I am so glad that you enjoyed the biscuit recipe and found the techniques helpful. 🙂
janelle holloman
I made these biscuits lastnight however I used a larger biscuit cutter (that’s what I had) and they turned out extremely underbaked in the center. By the time they were fully cooked the outside was quite hard and the biscuits were pretty dense. The flavor was good, so I would like to try again. Any suggestion on baking temp/time for larger biscuits?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Janelle! I am so sorry that they didn’t bake all the way through. I personally haven’t used a large biscuit cutter with this recipe so I can not give you an exact bake time. Maybe someone who has will chime in. I recommend just keeping an eye on it. Regardless, I am glad that they had good flavor. Next time you try it, let me know how they turn out and how long they took to bake. 🙂
Kim
Janelle, you might try reducing oven temperature to 400F and baking 12-15 minutes. Good luck!!
Charles Musick
The Best. I had given up making homemade biscuits, after trying many recipes. Tonight we ran out of Pillsbury frozen, so I tried these….. finally heard those words from my wife, “These are really good”
I think grating the frozen butter is key. It enabled me to combine ingredients without over working the dough. Thanks you for all your hard work.
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Charles! I am so glad that you enjoyed the homemade biscuits! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Linda Deloach
I just finishing eating my best homemade biscuits I’ve ever made!! (and I have tried many recipes) I followed the recipe exactly. They came out fluffy, soft, beautiful, and delicious!! Thank you!
Sugar Spun Run
That is wonderful, Linda! I am so glad that you enjoyed the biscuits and that they turned out beautifully. 🙂