This is the most delicious homemade biscuit recipe we’ve ever made! It calls for milk or buttermilk and guarantees tall and fluffy biscuits!
The secret to the best biscuits is using very cold butter and baking powder. They turn out tall, tender, fluffy, and perfect for breakfast, sandwiches, and more! We genuinely cannot wait for you to make them!
This easy method is the one we turn to the most (they are so fluffy!). I love them topped with sausage gravy, and Adam loves using them to make homemade breakfast sandwiches with our breakfast sausage in the middle. If you are looking for more freeform drop-style biscuits, we love these easy drop biscuits or cheese biscuits.
Key Ingredients
- Flour: We use all-purpose flour, but soft white wheat flour like White Lilly, Martha White, and Bob’s Red Mill Fine Pastry Flour is excellent for biscuits. Its lower protein content shuts down gluten formation, making them even more light, fluffy, and tender. You can also use self-rising flour, but you will need to add extra baking powder–see the tips in the recipe below.
- Cold Butter: We use European-style salted butter, like Kerrygold or Plugra, since they make our biscuits tender and delicious. If you don’t have European salted butter, plain butter works (salted or unsalted). We prefer the slightly more salty flavor when using salted butter, but you can always hold back on some of the salt called for in the recipe if you aren’t looking for more savory/salty biscuits. Whatever you use, make sure it is COLD. Just like when making our pie crust recipe, the cold butter puffs in the oven and adds that amazing flaky, tender texture.
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda: We use 5 teaspoons of baking powder in this biscuit recipe. I know that seems like a lot, but trust us. The extra baking powder makes our biscuits fluffy and tender, and baking soda helps them brown nicely. One note on the baking powder, though. Use aluminum-free baking powder (like Rumford or Bob’s Red Mill), which has less metallic flavor. I use Bob’s Red Mill baking powder in this recipe with great results.
- Milk or Buttermilk: This recipe works with milk or buttermilk. If you love the tangy flavor of buttermilk, use it. You won’t need to change anything in the recipe. We also love this buttermilk biscuit recipe, which was intentionally developed with buttermilk.
- Sugar and Salt: Both add flavor. We don’t add a lot of sugar (just 1 tablespoon).
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make the Best Biscuits
We’ve made so many batches of biscuits over the years and now want to share all our secrets with you! These tips will help you achieve the same unbelievably tasty, tall, and fluffy results.
Tip 1: Keep your butter cold. Cold butter creates pockets of steam in the oven, which puff and lead to that tender, fluffy texture (which gets even better when you add in baking powder). We use a food processor to quickly cut in the butter, which helps keep it nice and cold. You can absolutely do this by hand. Just work quickly, especially if your kitchen is warm. The same is true when making scones!
Tip 2: Don’t overwork the dough. Your biscuit dough should look a bit shaggy with lots of specks of butter (see photos). Those little butter pieces are what puff up in the oven, giving you that amazing, fluffy, buttery, and flaky texture we all love. Overmixing or kneading too much will develop too much gluten, resulting in tough biscuits.
Tip 3: Fold the dough for extra layers. For incredibly flaky biscuits, gently press your dough into a rough rectangle. Then, fold the sides into the middle, just like you’re folding a letter. Rotate the dough, press it out again, and repeat the fold. There’s no need for a rolling pin, simply use your fingers to press out the dough. If you’re not clear, watch our video to see me do this on camera. It’s easy, promise!
Tip 4: Bake biscuits close together. This one was a total game-changer for us. Biscuits actually rise taller when they’re closer to each other in the oven. We use a cast iron pan or an oven-safe skillet, but you can achieve the same effect by placing them close together on a baking sheet. If they rise and spread enough to touch, simply use a small knife to separate them for serving.
Our Favorite Ways to Enjoy Them
There are so many options, with the simplest being eaten warm from the oven with some salted butter brushed on top (homemade honey butter is even better!). They work beautifully with jam (try our peach jam), apple butter, and this maple pumpkin butter.
Then for something more savory, we love turning these into breakfast sandwiches with scrambled eggs and breakfast sausage (made with maple and sage). They are incredible with sausage gravy, and of course are perfect for dunking into soups and homemade chili.
More Easy Baking Recipes
Easy Fluffy Homemade Biscuits
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
These are the most tender and fluffy biscuits from scratch we’ve ever made. These baking powder biscuits are big, tall, tender, and delicious. Our preferred method is to get out the food processor. It’s an excellent tool for cutting the cold butter into our flour mixture since it’s quick. If you don’t feel like getting your food processor out, you can use your hands or a pastry cutter to work the butter into the flour (tips are provided below). Our family loves these with homemade honey butter or this easy sausage gravy.
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
2 cups (260 g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
5 teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder, leveled
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
6 tablespoons (85 g) cold butter
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons (210 ml) whole milk or well-shaken buttermilk
Directions
1Heat the oven to 425°F (218°C). Set aside an oven-safe 10-inch or 12-inch skillet, preferably a cast-iron skillet. If you do not have a skillet, a standard rimmed baking sheet will work.
2In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt. Pulse three to four times to mix.
3Cut the cold butter into small cubes or thin slices and scatter them evenly over the flour mixture. Pulse 5 to 7 times, just until the butter is broken down into tiny, distinct bits resembling coarse meal with a few pea-sized pieces remaining—see our photos and video for reference.
4Transfer to a large bowl. Make a well in the middle, then pour in the milk and stir gently with a fork or spatula just until a cohesive, shaggy dough forms and the flour is mostly hydrated.
5Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Sprinkle a bit of additional flour over the top, and gently bring the dough together with your hands. If the dough feels overly sticky, dust it with an additional tablespoon of flour as needed.
6Without overworking the dough, gently pat it into a rough rectangle about ¾ inch thick. Fold the dough into thirds, bringing one short side over the center, then folding the opposite side over it like a letter. Rotate the dough 90 degrees. Repeat this patting and folding process two more times to create multiple flaky layers.
7Pat the dough down a final time into a rectangle between ½ and ¾ inch thick. Press a 3-inch round biscuit cutter straight down into the dough and lift it cleanly away. Do not twist the cutter (twisting pinches the edges of the dough together, sealing the pockets of fat and preventing the biscuits from rising properly).
8Place the biscuits in the prepared skillet (or on the baking sheet), arranging them close together to help them rise higher. Gently press the scraps together and use them to make more biscuits, but be careful not to overwork the dough, or the biscuits will be tough.
9Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the tops are deeply golden brown and the biscuits have risen tall. Serve warm from the oven.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- No Food Processor: Add the dry ingredients to a large bowl, and use your hands or a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour until the mixture is crumbly. If your butter is softening too much or your kitchen is warm, place the bowl with flour and butter into the fridge for 5 to 10 minutes before adding the milk.
- Measuring Flour: Too much flour makes these dense. Use a digital scale or the spoon-and-level method: fluff the flour in its container, gently spoon it into the measuring cup until slightly mounded, and sweep the top flat with a knife.
- Salt: We use salted European butter in this recipe and enjoy its extra saltiness, but you can reduce the salt to ¾ teaspoon if you prefer.
- Baking Powder: Choose an aluminum-free brand, such as Rumford or Bob’s Red Mill, to prevent a metallic aftertaste. Level the measuring spoon against a flat edge for the perfect amount.
- Self-Rising Flour: Use 1 ½ cups (195 g) of self-rising flour. Then reduce the baking powder to 2 teaspoons and the salt to ½ teaspoon.
- Baking Soda: In the video, I mistakenly say ½ tsp. This is incorrect. Use ¼ teaspoon.
- Buttermilk Biscuits: Use the same amount of buttermilk as milk called for in our biscuits recipe. Buttermilk adds a tangy flavor to the biscuits and makes them slightly more tender.
- Recipe inspired and adapted from Sam Sifton’s All-Purpose Biscuits as well as our Buttermilk Biscuits
- The nutrition data provided is an estimate.
This is an easy and great recipe! The ingredients are always in my cupboard so no visits to the grocery store. Thank you!
Always a wonderful bonus! So happy you enjoy the recipe 🙂
Great recipe made just like it said then made it with chocolate milk. Was actually really good. Had to add 1 cup of milk to get everything together. Definitely adding it to my bookmarks. Thank you….
I found this recipe and will use it in my next biscuit adventure… can’t wait I’m so tired of hockey pucks! Thanks
I just made those Biscuits and I have to say, they are Good. I have been trying in the past and this is the best recipe. I am saving it in my book as my go to recipe. I love the way they turned out. Light, fluffy and flakey just like they said they would be. I love this recipe. I signed up for the news letter. Thank you again.
I am learning how to cook/bake since I am moving out and getting my own place. These are the biscuits I tried and a 10/10. My little sister ate 2, and she never eats what I make LOL!
I don’t know if my first message went out. The baking soda ruined the entire breakfast. I should have made 2 biscuits to rest it.
Just made these biscuits this morning for my grandkids and they are absolutely amazing! I was thinking because I have such a large family (8 kids and 17 grandkids) that I can maybe freeze the dough and take out what I would need or should they be cooked and then froze?
Yes, freezing the unbaked biscuits is a great idea!
THANK YOU! I have never made biscuits before, but was craving biscuits this morning, and yours happened to be the very first internet search return. I did not have cow’s milk or regular butter, but instead soy milk and whipped butter. The metric units really helped me make sure that I used the right quantity of butter, so that was much appreciated. I did not know until I read your notes at the bottom (after putting the biscuits in the oven… oops) what “spoon and level” meant, so my biscuits are perhaps more dense than they could be, but honestly, theyre so good that I don’t even mind! If they could be even better than this, I think I may shed a tear lol. Can’t wait to try this recipe again!
Last weekend I made another biscuit recipe and the biscuits came out hard and flat. I was on a mission this weekend to find a better recipe and this was the first one that popped up and I am so glad! This recipe is amazing and the biscuits came out absolutely delicious and fluffy! Thank you!!!!
Yay! We are so happy that you found our recipe 🙂
Made the recipe for the first time! Love the recipe, but have a few questions. Do you grease the iron skillet?? Mine didn’t get very brown on top. I left them 25 min, and a little longer. Maybe I should have left them until they totally browned. Also I think I will grate the cold butter into the flour, since the food processor didn’t make them into small pieces. Love, love the recipe, will make them again.
So happy you love the recipe! No, we don’t grease the skillet. Grating the butter is a great idea. If you use the processor again pulse a little longer and the butter should break down into smaller pieces. Finally, make sure your oven is preheated before baking.
I’ll be 70 in June & this is the 1st time I have ever succeeded in making great biscuits. I had given up many years ago because I just couldn’t get them right. This recipe changed that. They were layered, as I kept folding the dough over. They turnred out almost perfect. I made them with beef stew last nught & thought I’d have one for breakfast thid morniing, but someone got up in the night & ate them..
Please tell me what is did wrong. Tried not to work it too much so looks lumpy and not golden brown on top.
Hi Jazmin, It is really hard for us to say what happened. Did you watch our video. That should help guide you with how the biscuit dough looks at each stage.
Can I use Almond milk? Or fat free half n half?
You can but less fat means that your biscuits will be a bit less tender.
If I you dont have a processor or pastry cutter definitely shred the butter with cheese grater. A game changer on getting butter worked in perfectly. I try to cook homemade on everything. Cheaper and i have control on what’s in it. These biscuits not like mamas but definitely in the ball park. Husband liked them and their easy and quick. And they come out the same everytime. Consistency is like. 🙂
Can I cut them into squares instead if I don’t have a round cutter?
Yes.
I bake a lot but my biscuits never really got the fluffy height I wanted, similar to my Grandmas. Girl, this recipe WORKED! I just made this recipe and I’m definitely keeping it. I’m so happy I found you guys. Thanks you for a wonderful biscuit!
I bake a lot but my biscuits never really got the fluffy height I wanted, similar to my Grandmas. Girl, this recipe WORKED! I just made this recipe and I’m definitely keeping it. I’m so happy I found you guys. Thanks you for a wonderful biscuit!
Wonderful! We are so happy you loved the recipe and thank you for coming back to leave this review 🙂
I just made these and they were incredible!! I use freshly milled flour for everything and after your flour suggestions, I used soft white instead of hard white. They came out so fluffy and tender!!
These biscuits are so delicious!! They came out so perfect,and were very easy to make. I would definitely use this recipe again!
This is crazy but I’m sort of emotional right now. I’m 47 and married ( 27 years ) with 4 children. ( 3 are grown and out of the house 1 still at home ). I’ve been trying for 25 +years to make homemade biscuits. And because of your recipe, I FINALLY GOT IT!!! They’re perfect! I followed your recipe and it worked. It really really worked!!! Thank you!! Now I can share it with my kids. This is something I’ve wanted to do since I became an adult. I know this sounds crazy but it’s been a challenge for me to make homemade biscuits for some reason but NOW this struggle is O V E R. On to the next. . . . . . Cheesecake, Peach Cobbler,
Oh my goodness, thank you so much for leaving this review! We will be smiling for weeks now 🙂
I have made these several times now ! We’ve been making biscuits for a long time and this one is by far the best one yet! It’s easy and so good! I don’t use sugar but thats the only thing and I shred my butter with a cheese grader. Thanks for this delicious recipe 😋
I’m southern and have been making biscuits for a very long time. My husband said these are the best biscuits he has ever tasted. I used White Lily self rising flour with 2 tsp extra baking powder. Rest of recipe I followed exactly. Thank you for the recipe.
Great recipe! I made these with 10 little kids and they turned out great! Thank you, will definitely make again.
Yay! How fun! 🙂
I just made these. They were perfect. Fluffy and delicious.
Guys these are so good. I ended up making them small the first time and they were such a hit for breakfast. For a second round of these, I made them pretty big and used them as burger buns. WOULD RECOMMEND. 10/10
This is my go to recipe for American biscuits! Absolutely delicious, fool proof, and perfect every time. Also, thank you so much for including metric units!
You are so welcome! We want to make sure the recipe is easy for everyone to make 🙂
I made a double recipe. So easy and flaky. Better than grands biscuits.
Just got done making this recipe followed it to the best of my ability and came out phenomenal very delicious recipe nothing like home cooking thank you for sharing such love
Can these be frozen and used later
Hi Donna, They can. I like to cut the dough into biscuits, and then freeze them unbaked. You can bake them from frozen, just expect them to take a little longer.
I followed the directions, weighing flour and mixing by hand (as I did not have a food processor). I only had 2% milk so I added a tablespoon of vinegar, waited 10 minutes and placed the container in the fridge so it could become ice cold. I made sure and chopped my butter into extra small pieces, also placing in the fridge to become ice cold. This recipe came out, absolutely perfect. I am so not a baker and this recipe was very easy to follow in. The results were wonderfully delicious. I have learned to read the author’s tips and also tips from the reviews. I think this makes all the difference in the world. Thank you for a great recipe. I can hardly wait to make again.
I followed the directions, weighing flour and mixing by hand. I only had 2% milk so I added a tablespoon of vinegar, waited 10 minutes and placed the container in the fridge so it could become ice cold. I made sure and chopped my butter into extra small pieces, also placing in the fridge to become ice cold. This recipe came out, absolutely perfect. I am so not a baker and this recipe was very easy to follow in. The results were wonderfully delicious. I have learned to read the authors tips and also tips from the reviews. I think this makes all the difference in the world.
I have cooked the biscuits in electric oven 20 minutes…still not sure they are done inside. First time making them. Super easy recipes. Should I increase the temp next time? How do I test to see if they are done?
These are the BEST biscuits , ever. Ive made biscuits before and they were tough. I made these, they’re so easy. I also made the honey butter to go with it. Ill be making these for every holiday. Yummm!
Too much baking powder for Colorado. Flattened out and no body. Made for chicken soup and couldn’t eat them. Taste the baking powder. Now don’t want to waste them. Bummer.
These were amazing! “these are so good” said the husband in slow motion. My go to now. Made a second batch right away for the freezer to use up expired milk.
Well, you made me the hero!! Now I am the biscuit maker for our family!! lol! These turned out absolutely perfect, Joanne! I watched your video and read your instructions; your tips on how and what to do and your “why” to do this or that were SO helpful! Absolutely delicious!!! Thank you!!
That is quite the compliment 🙂