Homemade Biscuits

You know how it is when you get into a dinner rut: protein, veggie, starch over and over again. Quick and easy dinners are amazing, but sometimes you need a little something extra to liven them up. That’s where a simple homemade biscuit recipe comes in.

Everyone loves warm, fluffy biscuits straight from the oven. While you can rely on refrigerated biscuit brands, a recipe for homemade biscuits is easy to make from scratch with just a handful of ingredients, most of which you have right in your cupboard and fridge. That’s right—you’re never more than five ingredients and 30 minutes away from amazing homemade biscuits that can liven up any meal.

Learning how to make homemade biscuits is such a worthwhile endeavor, and it doesn’t need to be challenging. This simple homemade biscuits recipe is a snap to put together, and you probably don’t even have to leave the house to buy ingredients.

Ingredients for Homemade Biscuits

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• All-purpose flour: Chill your dry ingredients. No, really, Taste of Home culinary producer Josh Rink recommends it! “I like to throw my dry ingredients in the freezer to get super chilled. When that cold biscuit dough hits the hot oven, you get nice puffy, flaky layers,” he says.
• Baking powder: Make sure your baking powder is fresh. We want these biscuits to rise, rise, rise! Test your baking powder if you’re unsure of its expiration date.
• Butter: One of our Test Kitchen pros’ top biscuit tips is to use the best butter you can find. Good-quality butter will make a huge difference in this homemade biscuits recipe. Opt for European butter like Kerrygold or Plugra, or give Amish butter a try.
• Milk: Keep your milk in the fridge until you need to mix it into the biscuits. One of the most important tips when learning how to make homemade biscuits is that cold ingredients will help your biscuits turn out nice and flaky. You can use 2% milk, whole milk, heavy whipping cream or buttermilk.

Directions

Step 1: Get the dough going

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Preheat the oven to 450°F. In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Then, grab your cold butter and cut it into cubes. Cut these butter bits into your flour mixture with a pastry blender (or work the butter in with your fingers) until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.

Stir in the milk until the dough is just moistened—no need to overwork it.

Editor’s Tip: I love to cut my butter into cubes first and stick them in the freezer while I prep the rest of the recipe. You want your butter to be as cold as possible to create flaky layers.

Step 2: Knead the biscuit dough

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Next, sprinkle your clean work surface with a bit of flour (just so the dough doesn’t stick) and turn the dough out. Knead the biscuit dough gently eight to ten times. Then, press the dough with your hands until it’s 1/2-inch thick.

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Grab a 2-1/2-inch biscuit cutter and cut out your biscuits.

Editor’s Tip: If you don’t have a biscuit cutter or round cookie cutter, use a glass or cup with a thin rim. Dip the edge into some flour and use that as a cutter. It works just as well.

Step 3: Bake the biscuits

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Finally, place your biscuits about 1 inch apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake the biscuits until they’re golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve them warm and enjoy!

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Recipe Variations

• Swap in buttermilk: Buttermilk biscuits are marvelous. The acidity in buttermilk creates a tangier-tasting biscuit while tenderizing the dough by breaking down the flour’s proteins. You can use buttermilk as a 1:1 substitute for the 2% milk in this recipe for homemade biscuits.
• Sprinkle in shredded cheese: I mean, who doesn’t love a cheesy biscuit? Just after working the butter into the flour, sprinkle shredded cheddar, Gruyere, Parmesan or Asiago cheese into the flour-butter mixture, then toss in the milk.
• Add in fresh herbs: Fresh chives, rosemary, sage and thyme create herbaceous and colorful biscuits. Adding these herbs to the flour mixture is such an easy way to elevate them into bakery-quality biscuits.
• Make ‘em sweet: Dessert-y biscuits are completely underrated. Whether you simply add fresh fruit or chocolate chips to the biscuit dough or turn them into full-blown cinnamon fruit biscuits, we think you’ll love the indulgence.

How to Store Homemade Biscuits

First, let the recipe for homemade biscuits cool completely to room temperature. Then, pop the biscuits in an airtight container and keep them on the countertop for up to three days. You could also store them in the fridge to extend their life for up to five days, but know that the fridge will dry out the biscuits a bit.

Can you freeze homemade biscuits?

Yes, you can freeze homemade biscuits. Place room-temperature, baked biscuits in an airtight container and freeze them for up to three months. Revive them in a 250º oven until warmed through, 5 to 10 minutes.

Homemade Biscuit Tips

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How do you make homemade biscuits fluffy?

The key to making a fluffy homemade biscuits recipe is not to overwork the dough. The more you stir or knead the dough, the tougher the biscuits will be. The trick is to stir the milk in until just combined and then knead the biscuits very gently.

Also, be sure that you’re measuring flour correctly. If you add too much flour, you can make the biscuits heavy and dense.

Are biscuits better made with butter or shortening?

There are some recipes out there that call for shortening (like these fluffy biscuits), however, most call for butter. Butter provides more flavor than shortening and can create more flaky layers, just as butter creates a flakier pie crust.

What should you serve with biscuits?

Our homemade biscuits recipe makes a great side with any dinner and can make even simple weekday suppers special. I especially love these biscuits with a hearty stew or creamy soup.

However, you don’t need to save biscuits for dinnertime. They’re great served up at breakfast with sausage gravy or topped with good honey, homemade jam or even a little more butter. Flavored butter, like honey butter or garlic lemon butter, is lovely on them too. During autumn, indulge in the flavors of the season and smear apple butter or pumpkin butter on these biscuits.