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.
Maria Russell
This is my go-to recipe for biscuits. I recently discovered that putting my grater in the freezer along with the butter ensures that *every bit* gets into the mixture. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Love that idea, Maria! Thanks for the review 🥰
CJ
Came out great. I turned mine into cheddar biscuits. 8 oz or cheddar and an extra 1/4 of milk.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Yum! That sounds tasty, CJ. Thanks for sharing! 🥰
Karen
I make these biscuits two or three times a week, so that soon-to-be 97-year-old mom can have one whenever she wants. She loves them, and so do I! They’re perfect, and perfectly delicious, every time. (I am literally eating one right now!) Thank you so much!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We are so happy our recipe has become a staple for you and your mom, Karen! Thanks so much for the sweet review 🩷
Nicole Elkind
LOVE these!! I would like to make them for our Easter brunch this year. Could I pre-make the biscuit dough, refrigerate overnight and bake them in the morning? Would that negatively affect how the biscuits turn out?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Nicole! This will work just fine. Make sure to store the biscuits in an airtight container in the fridge, and you’ll be good to go 😊
Autty
Literally never fails me. So quick and easy and I love that I don’t need buttermilk because we never have that on hand. Biscuit cutter is a worthy purchase if you make these frequently. I will say these worked a lot better for me once I started weighing sifted flour to get to 250g rather than rely on the cup measurements.
mary p
I can’t believe I finally made soft, fluffy biscuits that taste great! Mine have always had some major flaw or another, but not these! Glad I doubled the recipe! Thank you!
Nikki Gudgell
Excellent biscuits. I grated the butter into the dry ingredients and put in the freezer until the family was ready for sausage gravy and biscuits.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
W’re so happy they were a hit, Nikki! That’s one of our favorite breakfasts 😊
Briana
Absolutely love this recipe and anyone who’s tried them has asked me to make more!
Mister Washington
I did this recipe for the first time this morning, the only thing I did differently was that I used foil and I cut the dough into squares (I do not have a biscuit cutter).
Jenny
I have biscuit cutters, but today I was lazy and did it the old fashioned way. You can get round biscuits without a cutter by using a glass! 🙂 If it ever matters, that is.
Devon Kempton
HI! Love this recipe!!! can i freeze these than bake?
Sam
Sure thing! 🙂
Kristin
What is the best way to freeze the biscuits and steps to baking after freezing?
Sam
Hi Kristin! You will want to store in an air tight container. You could wrap the biscuits individually. The baking temperature will remain the same, they will just take a minute or two longer in the oven. 🙂
Matthew Cox
We make these almost every week. We keep boxes of butter in the freezer so we are ready for all biscuit emergencies – which are becoming more and more frequent. I actually memorized the recipe – that is how good this is.
We make two batches, bake them, and freeze the left-overs in a ziploc for busy school mornings. We wrap a couple of frozen ones in foil, “bake” in the toaster oven at 350 for 5 minutes, then cut them in half with a steak knife, wrap back in the foil, back in the toaster oven for 3 minutes at 350. Some butter and raspberry jam and suddenly getting up for school isn’t so bad. Or, microwave one of those breakfast sausages and a slice of cheese – much better than store bought sandwiches and we know what is in these (which is SSR passion).
Sam
I love premaking breakfast sandwiches with these. Such a great idea and easy to grab breakfast. 🙂
Emilia
I have made this recipe many times and it is just so good! I also doubled the recipe, and instead of giving me only 12 it gave me 24! I had it with soup one night and in the morning had it for breakfast again. Thanks again for the great recipes Sam!
Malene
This definitely my new go-to recipe for these!!
Roslyn Scruggs
I LOVE, LOVE this recipe. I have made these biscuits two days in a row. The first time, I followed your directions to a T. The second time I did your recipe in a food processor. The results were the same. At last, I have found a biscuit recipe that will be my #1 go to recipe for all times to come. Thank you. Thank you.
Amanda
I love this recipe my go to ! I’ve made it many times already. But I’m wondering if I could add chocolate chips?
Sam
Hi Amanda! You shouldn’t have any issues folding chocolate chips into these biscuits. 🙂
Denise Johnson
This recipe was quick and easy! Manageable for my first time making homemade biscuits! I will definitely build on it from here!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy it was a hit for you, Denise! Enjoy 😊