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.
Treat yourself to a FREE E-BOOK!
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
Penny likes to supervise the photography process. Fortunately, this setup got her vote of approval.
Barbara
This is not my first biscuit rodeo, but it is the first one I feel I’ve won! I made a seriously small batch — only four biscuits — but the recipe held up perfectly. For the first time in a long time I was able to enjoy moist, flakey, flavorful biscuits, with my mom’s Red Eye Gravy — delicious in its own right. Thanks, Sam! This has been a long time coming.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed my recipe, Barbara, and that you finally created the perfect biscuit! Thanks for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂
Jessica
I made these biscuits and they were picture perfect. The taste, not so much. All I could taste was baking soda, it was a brand new box so it wasn’t old or outdated. What do you think happened?
Sugar Spun Run
Hmm… I have never heard of this issue before, Jessica. I am sorry that you experienced this. This recipe does not use baking soda. Could it be possible that you confused baking powder (listed) for baking soda? 🙁
Cristal
Is it possible to use buttermilk rather than whole milk?
Sam
Yup! Enjoy 🙂
Marivel Serna
Great recipe five star
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Marivel! I am so glad that you enjoyed the biscuits. 🙂
Lynn Geremia
Mine came out flat and hard, was there supposed to be an egg in the recipe?
Sam
Nope, no egg! It sounds like either the baking powder may have been bad or the dough was accidentally over-worked. If the baking powder is OK I would recommend checking out the video in the post, that may be helpful.
Andrew
Can the dough be preformed and then frozen? And then baked frozen?
Is there any quality loss?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Andrew! Yes, that will be fine. However, it will take longer to bake. I hope that you enjoy the biscuits. 🙂
Lisa
Wonderful recipe!! Thank you!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Lisa! I am so glad that you enjoyed the biscuits. 🙂
Marty
I made your biscuits today my husband loved them, but I could still taste a little flour any idea what I did wrong
Sam
Hi Marty! I’m so glad your husband enjoyed the biscuits. Was there any flour visible on the outside of the biscuits still when they were finished baking? From when you were shaping them? That might have been it.
Melissa Lawrence
I made these today, and they were amazing! I wondered why do you NOT recommend using a rolling pin? My thought was that using a rolling pin would reduce the amount of time you’re touching the dough and thus warming the butter, but I’m sure there’s a good reason to use your hands! Thanks for sharing this recipe and taking the time for such detailed instructions.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you found the directions detailed and easy to follow, Melissa! I don’t recommend using a rolling pin because it flattens the dough layers you’ve created and you will not achieve fluffy biscuits. Thanks for trying my recipe, I am glad that you enjoyed them! 🙂
Hope
Can I leave the dough in the refrigerator for a while before cutting out the biscuits and baking? I was thinking of making the dough in the morning but waiting to bake until dinnertime. Thanks!
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Hope! Yes, that will be fine. I recommend storing it in an airtight container. I hope that you enjoy the biscuits. 🙂
Taisa
This is the first time I’ve made biscuits that have turned out just like in the photos! This is now my go-to recipe when I make biscuits and gravy. Your tips made all the difference. Thank you!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that your biscuits turned out perfectly and that you found the tips helpful, Taisa! Thank you for commenting. 🙂
Stéphan
THIS WAS MY FIRST TIME EVER TRYING TO MAKE BISCUITS AND THEY
TURNED OUT ABSOLUTLY FABULOUS . THANKS FOR THÉ RECIEPT !!
Sugar Spun Run
Congrats, Stephan! I am so glad that they turned out perfectly! 🙂
Katelyn
Hi there
Am I able to substitute the milk for an alternative?
Thank you!
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Katelyn! Others have used buttermilk in place of milk. If you don’t have that on hand, I have a buttermilk substitute you can try. 🙂
Korin
Can I use sour cream instead of milk?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Korin! I have never tried it so I am not sure how it will do, therefore, I can’t recommend it.
Maryann
Thank you, thank you, thank you for this great recipe! My whole life I’ve tried to make good biscuits but got only little disks 🙁 . But I used your recipe AND followed the tips and my biscuits were wonderful … flaky and tender. My husband called them a masterpiece. I’m a happy baker.
Sugar Spun Run
Congrats on making masterpieces, Maryann! I am so glad your biscuits turned out perfectly and that you enjoyed them! Thanks for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂
Wanda
Thank you. With and without buttermilk they are perfect.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you have enjoyed the biscuits, Wanda! Thanks for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂