Buttery, fluffy, soft homemade biscuits from a recipe completely made from scratch with only six ingredients. Made from all butter and no buttermilk, you have all the ingredients you need on hand to make delicious, flaky biscuits in the morning.
These biscuits are perfectly served with sausage biscuits and gravy or for dinner with chicken pot pie.
For years I tried different recipes to get the best homemade biscuits on the table for weekend breakfast. While on busy mornings I loved to make ahead these sausage and egg biscuits, when it came to the traditional homemade biscuit I was at a loss. Everything I tried failed until I had success with making up my own recipe from trial and error. This biscuit recipe makes the best soft, but fluffy with a little bit of crunch biscuits. They are worth the effort to make them from scratch. (And if you love these, you’ll love them with pumpkin!)
Ingredients For Homemade Biscuits
- flour
- salt
- baking powder
- sugar
- butter
- milk
And by effort, I mean very little of it as you can see by these simple ingredients. I make these in a half awake stupor in the morning- and they turn out great! That’s proof enough for me.
Biscuit Making Tips
- Keep the butter cold. The key is paying close attention to how much time you handle the butter. And cold butter is key. The butter is what gives it flakiness. Keep the butter in the refrigerator until you need it. And if your biscuits are ready to bake before your oven has fully preheated, put the baking pan in the refrigerator to keep the biscuits cold until baking time.
- Handle the dough as little as possible. Because the butter needs to stay cold, you’ll want to handle the dough as little as possible with your hands so as not to warm the dough and melt the butter.
- Use more flour if needed. If you find the dough is a bit sticky after mixing the ingredients, use flour liberally to fold it so it won’t stick to the surface.
How To Make Homemade Biscuits
Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
Cut in the cold butter with a pastry cutter until the butter is smaller than pea size.
Add the milk and slowly mix until well incorporated.
You can see what the dough should look like. It’s a little sticky but combined. Add the dough to a very floured surface and knead it about 10 times. No fancy kneading is needed! I fold it in half and smooooooosh it. I’m fancy like that.
Flatten the dough using your hands, so it’s pretty even and about 1 inch thick.
Cut the biscuit circles using a biscuit cutter. I’ve used a drinking glass for years. I purchased this biscuit cutter at an Amish Auction and many other items that came in the same box. The biscuit cutter I kept, and I love it.
How long do I cook biscuits?
Bake in a preheated 425° F oven on an un-greased pan for 12 – 15 minutes. Keep an eye on them. When they turn a nice golden brown, they are ready! This recipe makes six medium biscuits.
These biscuits have the best crunch on the exterior but have that pull apart flakiness that makes them the best ever! I make these on weekends and even on weekdays now since these homemade biscuits are so easy to make! Enjoy!
How to Make Homemade Biscuits Video
Homemade Biscuit Recipe Tips
Can you make biscuits ahead of time? Yes. Make the biscuits and then freeze the pre-cut biscuit dough separately in the freezer. Once frozen, you can store them in an airtight container or bag in the freezer. When ready to bake, bake frozen following the baking instructions but add more baking time until they are full baked and golden brown.
How long do homemade biscuits last? They will last at room temperature in an airtight container for 1 to 2 days.
Do I need a biscuit cutter to make easy homemade biscuits? While a biscuit cutter like this is great, you can use a drinking glass to cut the biscuits into shape.
Do you use unsalted or salted butter to make biscuits? For this recipe, I use salted because that is typically what I have on hand. If using unsalted, you can add 1/4 teaspoon additional salt.
More Breakfast Recipes
- Crockpot Breakfast Casserole Recipe With Sausage
- Make Ahead Wine & Cheese Omelet Breakfast Casserole
- Breakfast Burrito Recipe (Freezer Cooking!)
- The Best Homemade Waffle Recipe
Easy Homemade Biscuits Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 Cups all-purpose flour
- 1 TB baking powder
- 1 TB granulated sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/3 Cup salted butter cold
- 3/4 Cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425° F.
- Combine dry ingredients in bowl.
- Cut in the cold butter until resembles small peas.
- Slowly add 3/4 Cup of milk and mix with fork until dough is just slightly sticky. Use more milk if needed.
- Remove dough from bowl and fold over 10 times on floured surface.
- Flatten the the dough using hands until about 1 inch thick. Cut biscuits using biscuit cutter.
- Place biscuits on un-greased dark baking pan. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Comments & Reviews
Great recipe. I am just learning to bake and this recipe has made me a believer in my biscuit making skills. I did add a TB more sugar than called for just as a preference. I will be using this recipe to make biscuits from now on!
I was looking for a biscuit recipe to use for shortcake today. You’re pie looked simple, but I only had skim milk, which is not good in biscuits. After some thought, I remembered my husband uses French vanilla creamer in his coffee, so I used 1/2 cup of skim and 1/4 cup of creamer. Absolutely delicious and not too sweet, so would still work with a savory dinner. Thank you so much for this recipe. Next time, I’ll double or triple the recipe. Kudos to you!
I love these.
Great recipe. I have followed other recipes and have had no luck.. These were just like Grandma used to make. Thank you!
Awesome! I’m so glad you had success! They are just a great biscuit!
Easy and delicious!
It. Made some pretty big biscuits but overall they tasted great
So glad you enjoyed them! You can cut down on the biscuit size with a smaller biscuit cutter. 🙂
Second attempt ever at making biscuits. Mine didn’t turn out as purdy but they were still delicious.
I just turned 57 and for my birthday I decided to try and conquer my arch nemesis, the biscuit. *20 plus years of failure* LOL
Though I didn’t follow this recipe (didn’t know it was out there) I did manage to finally manage to make edible biscuits.
The next time I make biscuits this recipe will be in front of me. : ) no butter milk
Thank you very much for sharing.
Doug
Southern Indiana
Made a little larger batch because I wanted to use up the last of the flour, also increased the baking powder and butter some. Used half and half , the biscuits reminded me of my Mother’s and Grandmother, both were excellent cooks. The flakiest I have made and I highly recommend this recipe.