Biscuit Recipe
The BEST biscuit recipe! These homemade biscuits are full of flaky layers and perfect for slathering with butter and honey.
We just can’t get enough of these biscuits! As I’ve been testing this recipe, my family has been enjoying batch after batch of these homemade biscuits. Now that I’ve perfected the recipe, we’ll be making them even more often. These biscuits are just too good!
This biscuit recipe makes the very best biscuits. They are fluffy, soft and tender, with lots of flaky layers. The tops brown nicely in the oven, and the bottoms become deliciously crispy. They are delicious as is, and even better when you spread them with butter and a drizzle of honey.
We’ve been enjoying these biscuits as a side dish at dinner. They complement almost any meal! Try them with baked chicken thighs, slow cooker beef stew or butternut squash soup. They are also great for breakfast, alongside some eggs and baked bacon.
Milk or Buttermilk?
You can make these biscuits with milk or buttermilk, or a combination of the two. I’ve tested the recipe all three ways, and the biscuits are delicious no matter which you choose.
When you make this recipe with buttermilk, the flavorful tang of the buttermilk comes through in the buttermilk biscuits. If you use milk, the biscuits turn out especially tender. My favorite is to use half buttermilk and half milk for the best balance of flavor and texture.
Whole milk is best in this recipe, but you can use lowfat if that is what you have on hand. You can also use homemade buttermilk substitute.
How to make Biscuits
You won’t believe how quick and easy this biscuit recipe is to make! I’ll walk you through the steps, including my tips for success. You’ll find the full recipe with ingredient amounts below.
Freeze the Butter: At least 20 minutes before you plan to make the biscuits, you’ll want to freeze the butter. Freezing makes sure that the butter is really cold, which is important for creating flaky layers in your biscuits. Frozen butter is also easier to shred using a box grater – more on that below.
Combine Dry Ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Be sure to use baking powder (not baking soda), and use the full tablespoon (not teaspoon) called for in the recipe. You can adjust the amount of sugar to your taste preferences. We prefer less sweet biscuits, so I usually use just 1 or 2 teaspoons.
Grate the Butter & Stir it in: This is my favorite biscuit making trick! Once the butter has gotten really cold in the freezer, you’ll grate it on a box grater. This is really quick and easy to do. Then you can quickly mix the grated butter into the dry ingredients, using your hands or a fork. If you’re like me and don’t enjoy the process of cutting butter into dry ingredients, you are going to love this trick! The grated butter also gives you perfectly sized pieces of butter throughout your biscuits.
Mix in Milk or Buttermilk: Pour 1 cup of milk or buttermilk (or a combination of the two) into the bowl with the other ingredients. Use a fork to mix until a dough forms. It’s ok if a little bit of the dry ingredients aren’t incorporated at this point. If the dough seems very dry and you are having a hard time getting it to come together, you can add 1 to 2 tablespoons more milk or buttermilk.
Fold the Dough: Turn the dough (and any flour bits) out onto a lightly floured work surface. Pat the dough down into a rectangle that is about 1 1/2 inches thick. Fold the dough in half on top of itself and press it down into a 1 1/2-inch thick rectangle again. Repeat this step, folding and pressing the dough 4 to 6 times total. This is called laminating the dough and it creates those flaky layers that we all love in biscuits.
Cut the Biscuits: After you fold the dough the last time, press it out until it is about 1-inch thick. Press a round biscuit cutter straight down into the dough to cut the biscuits. Do not twist the biscuit cutter as you cut. Place the biscuits on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
Brush the Tops and Bake: Before baking the biscuits, brush the tops with milk, buttermilk or cream. This helps the tops of the biscuits to brown as they bake. Bake the biscuits until they are lightly golden on top, 13 to 16 minutes.
Biscuit Recipe Tips
- When baking biscuits, it is important to keep the butter and milk or buttermilk as cold as possible. Keep the butter in the freezer and the milk in the refrigerator until you are ready to use them. Avoid letting the dough sit at room temperature before baking the biscuits.
- Freeze and grate the butter using a box grater. The small pieces of shredded butter will create little steam pockets in the biscuits as they bake, giving you great rise and flaky layers.
- Don’t skip the step of folding the biscuit dough in half and pressing it out 4 to 6 times before cutting your biscuits. The folds help to create flaky layers, much like when making croissants.
- Press straight down with your biscuit cutter and do not twist or turn it. Twisting the cutter seals off the edges of the biscuits and keeps them from rising as much.
- For golden brown biscuit tops, brush them with milk, cream or buttermilk before baking.
Biscuit Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup whole milk, or buttermilk
- milk, buttermilk, cream or melted butter, optional, for brushing on biscuit tops
Instructions
- Place butter in the freezer for at least 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 425° F with a rack in the upper third of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Whisk together until well combined.
- Grate the frozen butter using a box grater. Add the butter to the bowl and use a fork to mix it into the dry ingredients.
- Pour the 1 cup milk or buttermilk into the bowl and use a fork to stir until the dough comes together. It is ok if there are a few bits of flour not yet incorporated, but if the dough seems very dry and is not coming together add 1 to 2 tablespoons more milk or buttermilk.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Pat the dough into a 1½-inch thick rectangle. Fold the dough in half on top of itself and pat it down into another 1½-inch thick rectangle. Repeat the folding process 4 to 6 times. Then press the dough down into a 1-inch thick rectangle.
- Use a biscuit cutter (mine measures 2 ¼-inches) to cut out the biscuits, pressing it straight down into the dough without twisting. Once you've cut out as many biscuits as you can, gather the scraps and pat the dough out to 1-inch thickness a second and third time to finish cutting out all of the biscuits. Place them on the prepared baking sheet.
- If desired, brush the biscuit tops with milk, buttermilk, cream or melted butter. Bake for 13 to 16 minutes, until the tops are lightly golden brown.
Notes
- Store biscuits at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Biscuits are best right after baking. Leftover biscuits can be reheated in a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes.
- Recipe updated 4/25/23 to increase salt from 1/2 teaspoon to 3/4 teaspoon for even more flavor. If using salted butter, use only 1/2 teaspoon of added salt.
I’ve searched and searched and searched for the perfect biscuit recipe, could not find it until now! I just made a batch and Omgs they are so good!!!! I cut mine out with a cup so there like mini ones but Omgs there so good! Definitely putting this in the cookbooks in the kitchen to make again!!!! Thank you so much!!!!!
Taste great. I’m Gluten Free and had to use GF one to one flour blend. So disappointed that they didn’t rise. Followed the recipe to the latter. Perhaps I’ll add baking soda next time?
Gluten free flours can be heavier and denser than all-purpose flour, so perhaps that is why they did not rise. If you used gluten free flour you did not follow the recipe to the letter. I have only tested this recipe with all-purpose flour and the biscuits rise very well according to the recipe as written. I’d suggest searching for a gluten free biscuit recipe. Good luck!
These were delicious, and came out beautifully. I would just add more salt for my personal taste. This recipe is definitely a keeper.
Very easy, very yummy, great results, lots of layers (I got more than she did in the pictures)
Can you make them a day ahead?
These are best freshly baked, but can be reheated the next day. The texture isn’t quite as good on day 2.
I don’t recommend making the dough a day ahead and refrigerating because baking powder activates right away when the milk is added to the dry ingredients, so the biscuits won’t rise as well.
You can try making the biscuits ahead and freezing them. First freeze the unbaked biscuits in a single layer on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and then transfer to a zip-top bag or other container and store in the freezer. You can bake from frozen, but may need to add a few minutes to the baking time. Or you can freeze and then thaw & reheat baked biscuits.
These are so quick to make, though, that they are definitely doable in the morning, too. 🙂
Hello can u use delf rising flour?
Yes, I think that will work. You should omit the baking powder and salt in this recipe, since self-rising flour already has those two ingredients added to it.
Love these. My only problem is trying to figure out a good way to measure the dough to 1 inch thick when cutting the biscuits out. But that’s really a me problem.
These were the hardest biscuits I’ve ever made in my life 🥺 I wanted this recipe to be the one!
I’m sorry to hear that was your experience! I know that must have been disappointing. These should turn out tender and flaky. It sounds like the dough may have been overworked. When mixing and folding the dough, you want to be gentle with it, and not fold it and press it out too many times.
Jessica. The first time I made them them they were hard. I think I rolled them to flat. The next time I used buttermilk and did a lighter flaky texture and used spray butter on top while cooling. They were excellent!
I made this recipe using Cup 4 Cup gluten free flour, and the biscuits turned out beautifully. I live at 5000 ft and I did not make any adjustments for the altitude. Printing this recipe for my binder!
I am not a cook and this was my first attempt at making biscuits. I had a couple of minor mishaps, but the biscuits were delicious. My second batch looked better because I was able to better manage the batter. I will definitely make these again.
This is by far my favorite, easy biscuit recipe. I can mix them up quick and they rise beautifully. Light, fluffy and delicious every time!
I just baked biscuits using this recipe and it was perfect-this is
Just made these, fantastic! I put the milk in the freezer till almost frozen too.
Highest rising, flaskiest, as any I’ve made.
Safety tip: when you’re getting down to the last nubs of butter, just use a fork! I managed to grate off some skin on my thumb…2x tonight.
And I train professional pilots for a living. 😁
Pretty yummy. I used salted butter and left out salt instead of unsalted and salt. Kids seem to love them.
This recipe is perfect! I’ve used a combo of 1% and heavy cream for the milk, also have made with both salted and unsalted butter and still perfect either way!
Can I use whole wheat or buck wheat flour instead of white flour?
I’ve tried this recipe with whole wheat flour and the biscuits are quite a bit more dense, but still good.
My first time making biscuits and they turned out delicious. I used buttermilk and we all loved the flavor and texture. They were crispy on top, fluffy inside and didn’t feel heavy. I will make them again and again.
Hello! I am using these biscuits for an egg bake.. the egg bake calls for raw biscuits, adding gravy and eggs overtop and then baking. I froze your biscuits ahead of time… do you think it’ll turn out okay if I thaw the biscuits overnight and then bake them in the egg bake? Or should I just bake them in there from frozen? Thank you!
Hi Brandi,
I’d try baking them from frozen. You may need to increase the cook time just a bit. If you thaw them overnight, the biscuits may not rise as much because the baking powder may activate before the biscuits go in the oven.
These aren’t bad, but mine turned out VERY dense, not light and fluffy. What did I do wrong? I also ended up having to bake them around 20 minutes.
I’m sorry to hear that, I know it’s disappointing when a recipe doesn’t turn out how you had hoped. I’ve made this recipe dozens of times; based on that and the other reviews I’m confident that it works to produce light and fluffy biscuits.
It sounds like you might have overworked the dough. You want to mix just until the ingredients are combined and then be gentle when doing the folding process and not fold too many times. If the biscuits didn’t rise well, it could be that you twisted the biscuit cutter, rather than pressing it down straight to cut the biscuits. Have you tested that your oven is at proper temperature using an oven thermometer? These typically take 13-14 minutes in my oven.
This came out better than I thought.
These biscuits turned out amazing, I did as suggested in the comments double the amount of sugar and salt, and they where amazing my family really enjoyed them as well,
Just found this recipe, it’s easy and delicious!! I used homemade oat milk buttermilk and they tasted great!! The family loved them too!
Can I omit the sugar when making this? I’ve tried researching sugar-free options, and your recipe uses the LEAST amount of sugar of the ones I found, but I still would like to leave it out or replace with honey. Is this possible? What does the sugar add to the recipe?
Yes, you can leave out the sugar. It’s primary purpose is to add a little sweetness.
Would you suggest to double the recipe or make 2 separate batches of biscuits. I am needing quite a few biscuits for a brunch.
You can double the recipe. Enjoy!
Delicious! Nice flaky layers. The only problem I had was several of them ended up leaning and falling over. Not sure what caused that. Any ideas?
That happens to me sometimes, too. I find that patting out the dough a little thinner can help.
They were quick, easy and turned out yummy, even though I accidentally used lowfat milk instead of whole milk! ; )
Making them again this morning!
Excellent biscuits!
Best biscuit recipe I’ve ever tried! They were so soft, fluffy and layered! Absolutely delicious. I really appreciated your easy to follow recipe and tips. I just made mine a rectangle and cut them in twelve squares as I didn’t have a biscuit cutter. Thank you!
These turned out great!! Thanks for the recipe and the tips. It really helps to use frozen butter and to turn the dough several times!!
I made these this morning and they were delicious! They were light and fluffy. The bottoms were crisp and just the way I like them!
These are amazing & easy to make! So light and fluffy. I make them all the time now.
I made this recipe and they came out delicious! They look just like the picture!
I always make a recipe as written for the real test. These are delicious! I think I did use salted butter in error, but they were perfect – even with whole milk instead of buttermilk. I slapped some butter on two – just to “test” them.
I think folding the dough is the real trick.
I’ve made a gazillion biscuits in my lifetime, from dozens of recipes. These are the absolute lifetime winner! The lamination is beautiful! I only had 1% milk, so I whisked 2 Tbsp of buttermilk powder into it. Also, I’ve been cutting my biscuits square from the final pat-out and there’s no recombining the dough that way. Every biscuit has the same quality. If you don’t mind square biscuits, that’s a really good method.
Can you freeze the biscuits if so, how long are they good for?
You can freeze the baked biscuits for up to 3 months.
This recipe made the best biscuits! The grandkids made breakfast sandwiches, and I enjoyed some butter and honey on them.