Homemade Biscuits are so easy to make and these are the fluffiest biscuits you’ll try – buttery and soft with an impressive rise. This Biscuit Recipe has just 6 simple ingredients that come together fast, and there is no rising time required.
Watch the video tutorial and you’ll see how easy it is to whip up a batch of biscuits from scratch – you won’t want the storebought version again! Once you master the art of making biscuits, you’re well on your way to enjoying Strawberry Shortcake or Biscuits and Gravy.
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Biscuits Recipe Video Tutorial
Why You’ll Love This Biscuit Recipe
If you love homemade bread and fresh dinner rolls, but don’t like to wait for them to rise and proof, this biscuit recipe is for you. They’re perfect for any cooking skill level and taste way better than store-bought biscuits out of a can.
- QUICK – No rising time
- Simple ingredients – using pantry and refrigerator staples
- No fancy equipment needed – just a bowl and a pastry cutter or knives, etc (options below)
- Fail-proof and forgiving – even if make them ugly, they will taste awesome
- Make-ahead – to make busy mornings convenient
Ingredients for Biscuits
- Flour – all-purpose flour works best for a tender crumb
- Baking Powder – use aluminum-free and make sure to sift if you see clumps in your baking powder.
- Salt and sugar – add just the right amount of flavor.
- Unsalted Butter – be sure it’s cold, right from the refrigerator.
- Half and Half – this is also called “light cream.” Keep refrigerated until ready to use.
Pro Tip:
If you don’t have half and half, you can make it by combining equal parts of milk and heavy whipping cream.
Tips for the Best Homemade Biscuits
- Measure flour correctly – spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level the top. Read our post on how to measure ingredients.
- Dip your pastry cutter into flour between each cut. This will create a cleaner cut for a better rise.
- Cut Biscuits straight down. Don’t turn your cutter side to side and do not use a sawing motion. Cutting straight down will help the biscuits rise better.
- Use cold butter. The key to making great biscuits is to use cold butter. We dice up the butter and then refrigerate it until ready to use. Cold butter will produce the fluffiest layers in your biscuits.
- Do not over-mix – once liquids touch the flour, mix just until dry ingredients are moistened.
Tools for Making Biscuits
The best thing about making homemade biscuits is that you don’t need any fancy equipment. Here are the tools we use to make the process super quick and easy:
- Baking Sheet – line it with a sheet of parchment paper
- Biscuit Cutter – we used a 2 1/2″ diameter round cutter.
- Pastry Blender – to cut butter into the flour. You can also use a fork with wide tines, two knives, or a food processor.
- Mixing Bowl – this dough comes together in 1 bowl (we used a 4 qt).
- Wooden spoon or spatula – to stir in the liquid ingredients
How to Make Biscuits:
- Dice butter – Cut into 1/2″ cubes and refrigerate until needed.
- Whisk dry ingredients – In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Whisk until really well combined before adding butter and liquids.
- Add diced butter to the flour mixture and cut it into the flour until the largest pieces are pea-sized. It’s easy with a pastry blender.
- Add liquids -Pour in all the half and half at once and stir it in until the dry ingredients are just moistened then transfer to a floured surface. If the dough is too moist, dust the top with flour.
- Shape the dough into a rectangle and fold in half. Shape into a rectangle again and fold a second time. Shape dough into a 5×10″ rectangle and cut out 8 2 1/2″ diameter circles. You can pull together the scraps to form 2 more biscuits.
- Bake – Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 450˚F for 12-15 minutes or until golden. Brush hot biscuits with melted butter.
Pro Tip:
For the Softest Biscuits, be sure not to overmix the dough so it doesn’t release gluten strands which can cause the biscuits to be tough. You should be able to see bits of butter in the dough.
Common Questions
If you don’t have a round biscuit cutter, you can use a knife or a bench scraper to cut biscuits into squares. Just be sure to cut straight down and don’t use a back-and-forth sawing motion.
We use unsalted butter in all of our baking and cooking since we can control the salt. You can substitute with salted butter and use a little less salt.
To use a food processor, pulse together dry ingredients, then add chilled diced butter and pulse just until the largest pieces are pea-sized. Add just 3/4 cup half and half and pulse only until combined.
Overworking the dough can release gluten strands and cause biscuits to be tough. Also, be sure not to over-bake which can dry out the biscuits.
Absolutely! You can easily make a double batch. It will take a little more time to cut the butter into the flour but the bake time should remain the same. If using a food processor, you may need to make the dough in two separate batches depending on the size of your food processor bowl.
Serve Biscuits with
- Gravy – there’s nothing more classic than biscuits and gravy.
- Jam – spread sweet jam over biscuits and enjoy them with tea.
- Honey Butter – we love how butter melts onto a warm biscuit
- Breakfast Sandwiches – break the biscuit in half and use it for a sandwich.
Make-Ahead
It’s easy to make biscuits in advance. You can prep them in advance and enjoy freshly baked biscuits in the morning.
- Overnight Biscuits – Cut the biscuits, place them on a baking sheet then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. Uncover and bake before serving. Bake the cold biscuits in a fully preheated oven.
- Storage – once the biscuits are cooled, store in an airtight container for up to 2 days at room temperature or up to a week in the refrigerator. Biscuits can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
Homemade biscuits truly are easy and such a treat. These always disappear fast and are a hit with our whole family. The kiddos can’t resist a warm buttered biscuit.
More Quick Bread Recipes
Quick Breads are great because they don’t need rising time. Instead of using yeast, they use baking soda or baking powder for leavening to give them a beautiful rise. If you love these homemade biscuits, then you won’t want to miss our top-rated quick-bread recipes.
Fluffy Homemade Biscuits Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 Tbsp baking powder, (aluminum free)
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 3/4 tsp salt, (we use fine sea salt)
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold (8 Tbsp = 1/2 cup)
- 1 cup half and half (minus 2 Tbsp)*
- 1/2 Tbsp melted butter, to brush the baked biscuits
Instructions
Make the Biscuit Dough:
- Dice butter into 1/2" cubes and refrigerate until needed.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Whisk thoroughly.
- Add diced cold butter and cut it into the flour using a pastry blender (or two knives or a fork), until the largest butter pieces are pea-sized.
- Add 1 cup – minus 2 Tbsp of Half and Half all at once and stir until mixture comes together and is mostly moistened. Do not over-mix.
Fold Dough and Cut Biscuits:
- Turn dough out onto a floured surface. If dough is very sticky, lightly sprinkle the top with flour.
- Pat dough into a rectangle then fold it in half and pat into another rectangle. Fold a second time and pat into a 5"x10" rectangle or 3/4" thickness. Dip a 2 1/2" round biscuit cutter into flour and cut out 8 biscults. Pull together scraps and form into a rectangle to cut an extra 2 biscuits.
Bake Biscuits:
- Place biscuits on a parchment-lined baking sheet 1-inch apart and bake at 450˚F for 12-15 minutes or until tops are golden brown and biscuits are baked through. While biscuits are hot, brush tops with 1/2 Tbsp melted butter. Transfer to a wire rack to cool 10 minutes then serve.
I have never made biscuits from scratch but tried them this morning and your directions were so easy to follow. Biscuits were wonderful. I’m doing them for our thanksgiving breakfast. Thank you so much.
That’s wonderful, Linda! Thank you for trying my recipe! I’m so glad you enjoyed it.
Hi,
I usually make biscuits in cast iron pan in my Oster counter oven. Have you ever tried these in cast iron pan?
Hi Sandra! I have not. Please let us know how they are if you experiment.
So easy and so good!!
Love your recipe, comes out perfect every time very moist and flaky
Glad to hear you’re enjoying it! Thanks for sharing.
This recipe is horrible! 1 1/2 Tbls b soda and 3/4 tsp salt. The biscuits taste like solid salt! They look beautiful but that’s it!
Hi Mary! Be sure to use baking powder, not baking soda. We use baking powder in this recipe.
I made these biscuits today. This is the best biscuit I have had in a long time. I have been looking for an easy go to biscuit recipe. Thank you so much! I used buttermilk, but I thought the taste and texture came out perfect.
About to make these, my secret for the butter, is that I shred it and then put it in the freezer for like 15 minutes. Makes them perfect, and is easier to cut in.
Love your style… your cooking speaks to me and encouraged me to cook at home more
Thank you, Maria!
possible to use gluten free flour? If so what kind is best? Almon?
Hi Lois! I have not tested GF flour, but one of my readers reported good results using GF 1:1 flour.
Hi Natasha – this may sound like a silly question but I have to ask 🙂 I have square stainless steel cutters in various sizes. Can I use those for cutting the biscuits or must they be round in shape?
Hi Beth! Yes, you can cut them in any shape.
1 ¹/2 tablespoons of baking powder is far too much. My family did not like them at all. They are very fluffy i would cut down the amount of baking powder.
Hi Natasha! I made your biscuits a couple months ago (before a pregnancy sick period) and came back to try to make them again and test to freeze them. Any suggestions? Hoping to stock the freezer once baby comes! They’re delicious and my 5YO asks for them every chance he gets!
Hi Ashley! They can be frozen. If you’re baking them from frozen, you do not need to thaw. They’ll likely take a few more minutes to bake.
Super excited to try this again……mistakenly used Baking SODA and not POWDER! They looked superb but tasted awful!
Oh no! So sorry to hear that. Let us know how they are the next time you try!
Hi Natasha, I want to make these biscuits but I don’t know if there is technical problem on your site today . The metric measurement is not working. Hope to get a reply. Thanks
Hi Mirella, I just tested it for this recipe and the metric conversion worked just fine on two separate devices. I recommend running a restart or clearing your cache before trying again. I wish I could be more helpful from afar.
The biscuits turned out like soup mixture. Waste of tume
Hi Beth! That’s definitely not normal. I would look over the ingredients and instructions again to see if you missed anything. Watch my video to see my process. Be sure to measure your ingredients correctly and use “cold” butter. Do not overwork the mixture. I have a tutorial on How to measure ingredients here. I hope that helps.
Natasha! I just love your enthusiasm for cooking! A lot of people are out here cooking just for a dollar, and not for the love of it. I tried your biscuit recipe and it turned out AMAZING!
I can’t wait to make it for Thanksgiving! You are my go to for recipes now!
Hi Natalie! Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback. I’m glad you’re enjoying the recipes!
The best! I was accused of cheating!!! My mother told me they weren’t homemade. I had to Jesus promise her they were homemade and I did them! Next time I’m taking pictures of me and my kitchen making these biscuits!
Hi Carrie! That’s so great to hear. Glad they were a hit!
To Natasha and the rest of the production team.
Your biscuits are very good. They brought back old memories from my past. When I was a boy scout, I would make my biscuit over an open fire. A challenge in itself but do able. I was delegated as camp chef. Boy I can tell you stories. Anyways, such a style of biscuit can be matched up with anything from fresh caught fish to stews. Such a joy with simple cooking. I wish you and everyone the very best. Keep cooking and keep singing with a smile on your face.
God Bless and take care.
Your friend from Canada
Dennis
Hi Dennis! Thank you so much for the kind words. I’m so glad you’re loving the recipe. Be blessed!
These are my new go-to biscuits! They’re pretty much fool proof and I was making them once a week for a few months last winter to go with the chicken pot pie soup. My whole family gobbles them up. I’ve taken to making them mini (on accident, but now on purpose) so that it feels like we have more to eat 🙂
Hello I used regular 2%milk put a cap full of mrs dash everything seasonings in it it was a very good biscuit I will make again
Turned out so good! My husband said the were buttery light and airy! Do-over