Homemade Biscuits

Easy homemade biscuits are buttery, deliciously flaky, and SO simple! They make the perfect side dish for any meal.

Homemade biscuits are perfect for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! Bake them for a meal, like Biscuits and Gravy, or simply use the dough for Biscuit Donuts or Biscuit Egg Casserole.

Soft + Flaky!

Homemade biscuits might be my biggest weakness. Is there anything more tempting than a warm, flaky biscuit right out of the oven?

Topped with a little butter and a little jam? Or honey? It’s definitely one of our favorite bread-type recipes to make.

I recently returned from a trip to Waco, TX where I visited Magnolia Table – Chip & Joanna’s Gaines’ new restaurant. When I tried their Biscuits and Sausage Gravy, I decided that the biscuits were the best I’d ever tried.

After waiting anxiously for her cookbook, we tried them, and now crave this recipe frequently.

They go with almost anything. Plus, this recipe is totally easy, and will become your go-to biscuit recipe!

How to Make Homemade Biscuits

I guarantee you have each one of these ingredients in your house to make these easy homemade biscuits TONIGHT!

PREP. Preheat oven to 450°F.

DRY INGREDIENTS. In a large bowl, mix the baking powder, baking soda, and flour.

BUTTER. Use a pastry cutter (or a couple of forks) to cut the butter into the flour mixture. Mix it all together until it forms coarse crumbs (pieces about the size of a pea).

WET INGREDIENTS. Make a well in the center of the mixture and pour in the buttermilk. Stir with a wooden spoon until dough begins to come together. Press dough together, but use your hands as little as possible, since it will warm up the butter in the dough.

PREP. When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400°F and flour the surface you want to work on.

CUT. Form the biscuit dough into a circle that is about ½ inch thick. Use a thick round cutter to cut out the biscuits. (Try not to overwork the dough, to ensure tender biscuits!)

BAKE. Place biscuits on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the tops of the biscuits are golden brown. Brush the biscuit tops with melted butter as soon as they come out of the oven.

ENJOY, and try not to eat all of them in one sitting!

Missing Ingredients

If you’re missing ingredients for this recipe for simple biscuits, use these tips.

Make your own buttermilk. Measure 1 tablespoon of white vinegar into a measuring cup. Fill with milk to the 1 cup line. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Check out some other substitutions in this post. 

Biscuit toppings:

• Honey Butter
• peanut butter
• Nutella
• Chocolate Gravy
• fruit jams (Strawberry Jam is a favorite)
• Jalapeno Jelly
• sausage Gravy

Recipe Tips

Making a perfectly flaky soft biscuit recipe starts with butter!

Butter. The butter must be cold, and stay cold! You can even use a box grater to grate a cube of frozen butter. 

Cold dough. Never use your hands to mix the dough, it will warm up the butter.

Cutting biscuits. Do not twist the cutter when stamping out the biscuits. Twisting the cutter can cause the sides of the dough to close, and they’ll cook unevenly and keep the flaky layers from forming properly.

If you don’t have a biscuit cutter, use a cup about the same size. Push straight down and pull the cutter straight up and out.

I like to use holiday cookie cutters to make fun-shaped biscuits. If you change the size, be sure to bake similarly sized biscuits with each other and adjust the baking time if needed.

Sticky dough. Add a bit of flour if the dough is too sticky to handle, but not too much otherwise it can create a hard and dry biscuit.

How to Get Flaky Layers

You can tell a good biscuit when you pull it open, and you can actually see the flaky layers. Here are a few keys factors to get those flaky layers:

• Don’t use an electric mixer. Use a wooden spoon and a pastry cutter or fork until the flour mixture forms coarse crumbs.
• Fold, roll, repeat. The folding process will help develop the flaky layers. Remember not to press the rolling pin too firmly. Also, don’t overwork the dough. Folding and rolling 5-6 times should be perfect.
• Use cold butter and cold milk. You can even chill the dough as needed, to keep everything cold.

storing info

STORE leftovers in an airtight container. They will stay fresh for 1-2 days on the counter and up for to a week in the refrigerator.

FREEZE. These biscuits are so delicious you probably won’t have any leftovers. But if you happen to have a few, throw them into a freezer-safe container/Ziploc bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.

Make it ahead of time. You can make these ahead of time, before cooking them.

1. Cut the biscuits from the dough. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place the cut-out biscuits on top.
2. Cover it lightly with plastic wrap and put the cookie sheet in the freezer.
3. Freeze the biscuits until they are frozen solid.
4. Remove from the freezer and stack in a plastic freezer bag.
5. Keep them frozen for up to 3 months.
6. Thaw at room temperature. Once thawed, bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

These Biscuits Work Great for These other Recipes:

Take note that some of these recipes require only the biscuit dough and not fully cooked biscuits.

• Biscuits & Gravy
• Breakfast Casserole
• Breakfast Biscuits
• Biscuits and Gravy Casserole
• Chicken Dumpling Soup

Recipe FAQ

For More Bread Recipes, Check Out:

• Homemade Dinner Rolls
• Cheesy Garlic Bread
• Olive Garden Breadsticks
• French Bread
• Sourdough Bread
• Buttermilk Biscuits