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.
Laura Sneed Clark
Can these be made ahead of time and kept cold for baking later?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Laura! You can premake the biscuit dough, cut them, then store them in an airtight container for a day or two in the fridge. Others have made them, baked them, then reheated as well. I hope that helps! 🙂
Lizzie
What does rotate the dough 90 degrees mean? Also, is there a substitute for a biscuit cutter, because I’m not sure I have one…
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Lizzie! Rotate 90 degrees means, make 1 quarter turn so it bakes evenly. If you don’t have a biscuit cutter others have cut them into squares and have had success. I hope that helps! 🙂
Vickie
You can also use a glass if you want the round shape.
Karla K.
I am using k a bread flour instead of all-purpose. How should I alter the recipe to compensate?
Also I would like to do drop biscuits. How would you suggest to do that, so that I get the same great results?
Thank you for a lovely recipe!
Sam
I wouldn’t recommend bread flour with this recipe. I do have a garlic cheese drop biscuit recipe, you can leave out the garlic and the cheese for plain drop biscuits. I hope that helps! 🙂
Debra L Steele
Why would you use a cookie cutter if you want to handle the dough as little as possible? Cut them into squares with a knife to avoid having to handle dough multiple times.
Sugar Spun Run
The cookie cutter (biscuit cutter) gives them the desired round shape. Others have just cut them into squares and the results are still enjoyable. You are welcome to do whatever method you’d like, Debra. I hope that you enjoy them! 🙂
Vicki receveur
I just got Done making these biscuits and this is an awesome recipe I definitely give it five star
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much for the 5-star review, Vicki! I am so glad that you enjoyed them. 🙂
Jolcheese
These biscuits are no fail. I have never gotten taller biscuits than these turned out to be. I didn’t have time to chill anything, either. I’m dairy free, so I used organic vegetable shortening straight out of the pantry and coconut milk and it still turned out amazingly! I can’t imagine what they would be like if I followed the recipe to a T!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the recipe, Jolcheese! Thanks for commenting and sharing what substitutions worked well for you. 🙂
Tammy
I’m struggling. Every time I make biscuits they are never tall and fluffy. They taste good but there’s so height to them. What could be causing this?
Brandon Mueller
Very tasty and so easy. Just personal preference for biscuits and gravy they are too salty. Cut salt in half then let the gravy shine, other than that a little bit of peach or jalapeno jam (seriously try it) and they where perfect.
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much for trying my recipe, Brandon! I am so glad that you enjoyed the biscuits. 🙂
Paul
As a good southern boy, I know my biscuits and I can tell you these are amazing. Crispy on the very bottom and flaky in the middle. They are also one of the best looking biscuits you’ll ever see. I doubled the recipe and they were gone in 20 minutes!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Paul! I am so glad that the biscuits were such a hit. Thank you for commenting, I appreciate the feedback! 🙂
Paula
These are great! I make them similar to my pie crusts. I put parchment or wax paper on the counter so I don’t have to add any flour. Added flour takes the flakiness out of the dough. I serve them with my homemade muscadine grape jelly.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the biscuits, Paula! I am sure they paired perfectly with your homemade muscadine grape jelly too! Sounds delicious! Thank you for trying my recipe. 🙂
Shaunda
I made these for my family and they absolutely loved them. They’re light and fluffy and I’ll be making them again soon. Thanks for this recipe.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the biscuits, Shaunda! Thank you for trying my recipe! 🙂
Diane Henze
I made them for dinner tonight. Delicious.
Finally a flaky biscuit instead of a hockey puck
Sugar Spun Run
Congrats on making perfect (non-hockey puck like) biscuits, Diane! I am so glad that you enjoyed the recipe! Thanks for commenting. 🙂
Cheryl
Thank you so much! They were delicious. I’ve been looking for the perfect (& easy) biscuit recipe using the same ingredients as my MOM used. This is my first time writing a review because I usually change things but not this time!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment, I really do appreciate it, Cheryl! I am so glad that you enjoyed the recipe. 🙂
Zoe
What is the best way to store these? Canno make the night before?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Zoe! I recommend storing the biscuits in an airtight container. They will be fine to make the night before. You can either bake them or store the dough to bake fresh in the morning. I hope that you enjoy them. 🙂
Debi
Hi Sam,
I was looking for scone recipes and came across yours. Thanks for sharing this nice recipe. I am yet to try it out. I have a question and that is how much sugar is one tablespoon and looking at other recipes with similar amount of flour is the sugar enough? I am a novice baker so thanks a bunch in advance for your help.
best,
Debi
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Debbie! The recipe you are commenting on is for biscuits, but I do have a scone recipe as well. It includes a video with step by step directions that you should check out. The scone recipe that I have linked uses 1/4 cup granulated sugar which is just the right amount. I hope that this helps. Let me know if you have any additional questions that I can assist with. 🙂
Debi
Thanks a lot Sam for responding so quickly and pointing me in the right direction. Now I understand that biscuit can be combined with something savoury or sweet as it is more neutral in taste than scones which in turn are more on the sweet side.
Sugar Spun Run
I am glad that I can help. Biscuits pair perfectly with sausage gravy, apple butter, or homemade jams. Scones are more on the sweeter side and can have fun mix-ins. In the search bar of my website, you can type in scones and find more ideas. I hope that helps. 🙂
Leslie
If I only have salted butter can I just skip the salt ingredient and use the salted butter.
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Leslie! Yes, that will be fine. 🙂