These homemade biscuits are soft and buttery with dozens of flaky layers. This biscuit recipe requires just 7 ingredients and they’re ready in about 35 minutes.
I originally published this recipe in 2017 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, and more helpful success tips.
One reader, Marcia, commented: “Finally, a biscuit recipe that worked for me. I especially appreciated the notes which, in fact, had me change some things I had been doing. The detail at all levels, both visual and written, is very helpful. ★★★★★“
Another reader, Maggie, commented: “One of my favorite biscuit recipes! They are so consistently flaky and delicious, every single time! ★★★★★“
It’s quite serendipitous that this “side dish” may taste even more remarkable than the main event. No, no… it WILL taste more remarkable. Just look at the big buttery layers! Nothing can compete.
What Are Biscuits?
The term “biscuits” has different meanings depending on where you live in the world. In the U.S., biscuits are similar to a dinner roll, but are denser and flakier because they aren’t (typically) made with yeast. Since there’s usually no yeast and the rising agent is either baking soda, baking powder, or both, biscuits are considered a quick bread, like banana bread and no-yeast bread. In other parts of the world, people may consider these American-style biscuits to be more similar to scones, and what they call “biscuits” are more like what we call cookies.
7 Key Ingredients in Homemade Biscuits
You need just 7 basic ingredients for my homemade biscuits recipe:
- All-Purpose Flour
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Salt
- Cold Butter
- Cold Buttermilk
- Honey
With so few ingredients, it’s important to reach for quality ingredients and avoid any substitutions.
Baking Powder AND Baking Soda
Until recently, this biscuits recipe called for just baking powder as the leavening agent. In recent years, I’ve found that the texture, color, and flavor excels when using a combination of both baking powder AND baking soda. If you’ve always made this recipe using 2 Tablespoons of baking powder, you can certainly continue to do so! However, by reducing the baking powder to 1 Tablespoon and adding 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, the biscuits brown more, have a flakier texture, crispier edges, and you don’t risk a bitter chemical aftertaste.
Success Tips for the Best Homemade Biscuits
After perfecting this recipe over the past 8 years and developing other biscuit recipes, let me share what I’ve learned along the way. I’ve made plenty of mistakes so you don’t have to. These tried-and-true tricks will turn your flat, dry biscuits into the best biscuits ever. And that’s a guarantee.
- Cold Fat: For flaky layers, use cold butter. When little pieces of butter melt as the biscuits bake, they release steam and create little pockets of air—this makes the biscuits airy and flaky on the inside while remaining crisp on the outside. It’s the same thing that happens when making these ham & cheese scones.
- Buttermilk & Honey for Flavor: Buttermilk and a teeny drizzle of honey balance out the salt. Buttermilk creates the most tender biscuit! I have plenty more on this topic in my Baking With Buttermilk post (including a buttermilk substitute recipe).
- Don’t Over-Mix: Never overwork biscuit dough. Overworking and over-handling biscuit dough will result in tough, hard, and flat biscuits. Mix the ingredients together *just* until combined. Dough will be crumbly; that’s normal.
- Flatten & Fold Method: The most important step of all is folding the dough together. Turn the scrappy dough out onto a work surface and flatten it with your hands. Fold, flatten, turn, and repeat.
- Don’t Twist the Biscuit Cutter: When cutting the dough with a biscuit cutter, do not twist the cutter. Press the cutter down into the dough firmly. Twisting it will seal off the biscuit edges, preventing the biscuits from rising.
- Bake Close Together: Biscuits rise up nice and tall when they are touching, pressed snuggly against one another in the oven.
How to Make Your Homemade Biscuits
Whisk the dry ingredients together, then add the cubed butter. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter, like when making pie crust or this savory quick bread, or pulse in a food processor. Cut/blend in the butter until you have coarse crumbles, like this:
Add the buttermilk and honey. Mix everything together until you have a shaggy dough, like this:
Pour it out onto a work surface and bring the dough together with your hands. It will be dry and shaggy with some moist spots. That’s all perfectly normal:
Fold & Flatten the Dough
Flattening and folding biscuit dough creates multiple flaky layers, just as it does when we make homemade croissants, rough puff pastry, homemade cruffins, mille-feuille, and croissant bread. This step will take you no more than 2 minutes and you’ll be rewarded with the flakiest biscuits in the world. First, shape dough into a rectangle, about 3/4-inch thick:
Then fold one side into the center:
Then the other side:
Turn the folded dough 90 degrees so it’s now horizontal, gently flatten, and repeat that folding process 2 more times.
After you’ve folded and flattened 3 times, flatten into a 3/4-inch rectangle once again, then use a biscuit cutter to shape into rounds. If you don’t have a biscuit cutter, you can cut into 8 to 10 squares.
Arrange close together in a cast iron skillet (no need to preheat it), or on a lined baking sheet. Again, make sure the biscuits are touching so they will rise nice and tall.
Before baking, brush the biscuits with buttermilk to help the tops brown evenly.
Honey Butter Topping
The honey butter topping is optional, but will set your biscuits apart from the rest. When the biscuits come out of the oven, brush with melted butter + honey. You use both ingredients in the biscuit dough, keeping the count at 7 ingredients total.
Serve your homemade biscuits with jam or homemade raspberry sauce, cinnamon butter, or biscuits and gravy—I love this particular recipe. Or a swipe of homemade honey butter really kicks it up a notch! You could also create delicious breakfast sandwiches with these breakfast sausages.
So Many Variations
I bake biscuits often, and use the same process and success tips when making all of my favorite variations including cheddar biscuits, everything bagel biscuits, and zucchini biscuits. I also make biscuit-topped vegetable pot pie and biscuit breakfast casserole. And you can absolutely turn these into dessert with my recipes for biscuit-topped berry cobbler and homemade strawberry shortcake.
I make these biscuits on almost a weekly basis, and what makes them a hit every single time is the combination of very cold butter and buttermilk. Additionally, the careful folding and flattening method helps produce dozens and dozens of flaky layers. Follow the recipe below closely.
Bake the biscuits in a cast iron skillet, which helps the edges crisp up beautifully. Additionally, use a pastry brush to coat the tops of the biscuits with a little buttermilk before baking.
You can use a food processor to cut the cold butter into the dry ingredients, but if you do not own one, you can use a pastry cutter instead. A pastry cutter is an extremely helpful baking tool.
Homemade Biscuits (Popular Recipe!)
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 8-11 biscuits
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These homemade biscuits are soft and buttery with hundreds of flaky layers! This biscuit recipe only requires 7 simple ingredients and they’re ready in about 35 minutes.
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/2 cups (313g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed for hands and work surface
- 1 Tablespoon baking powder (see Note)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (see Note)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, cubed and very cold
- 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons (270ml/g) cold buttermilk, divided
- 2 teaspoons (14g) honey
Optional Topping
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) butter, melted
- 1 Tablespoon (21g) honey
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C).
- Make the biscuits: Place the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl or in a large food processor. Whisk or pulse until combined. Add the cubed butter and cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or by pulsing several times in the processor. Cut/pulse until coarse crumbs form.
- If you used a food processor, pour the mixture into a large bowl. Make a well in the center. Pour 1 cup (240ml/g) buttermilk into the well and drizzle honey on top. Using a large spoon or spatula, fold until it begins to come together. Do not overwork the dough. The dough will be shaggy and crumbly with some wet spots.
- Pour the dough and any dough crumbles onto a floured work surface and gently bring together with generously floured hands. The dough will become sticky as you bring it together. Have extra flour nearby and use it often to flour your hands and work surface as needed in this step. Using floured hands, flatten into a 3/4-inch-thick rectangle as best you can. Fold one side into the center, then the other side on top. Turn the dough 90 degrees, so it’s now horizontal. Gently flatten into a 3/4-inch-thick rectangle again. Repeat the folding again. Turn the dough horizontally one more time. Gently flatten into a 3/4-inch-thick rectangle. Repeat the folding one last time. Flatten into the final 3/4-inch-thick rectangle.
- Cut into 2.5- or 3-inch circles with a biscuit cutter. (Tip: Do not twist the biscuit cutter when pressing down into the dough because this seals off the edges of the biscuit which prevents them from fully rising.) Re-roll scraps until all the dough is used. You should have about 8–11 biscuits. Arrange in a 10-inch cast iron skillet (see Note) or close together on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Make sure the biscuits are touching.
- Brush the tops with remaining buttermilk. Bake for 18–20 minutes or until tops are golden brown.
- Remove from the oven. If adding the optional topping, whisk the melted butter and honey together. Using a pastry brush, brush the warm biscuits with honey butter topping. Serve warm.
- Cover leftovers tightly and store at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Baked biscuits freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or in the refrigerator, then warm up to your liking before serving. You can also freeze the biscuit dough. Prepare the dough in steps 2 through 4. Wrap up tightly in plastic wrap (plastic wrap is best for freshness) and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then continue with step 5. Also, after step 4, you can wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days before continuing with step 5.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Pastry Cutter or Food Processor | 2.5- or 3-inch Biscuit Cutter | 10-inch Cast Iron Skillet (or Baking Sheet with Parchment Paper) | Pastry Brush
- Baking Powder: In 2025, I updated this recipe to use both baking powder and baking soda. I’ve found that the texture, color, and flavor excels when using a combination of both. If you’ve always made this recipe using 2 Tablespoons of baking powder, you can certainly continue to do so! However, by reducing the baking powder to 1 Tablespoon and adding 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, the biscuits brown more, have a flakier texture, crispier edges, and you don’t risk a bitter chemical aftertaste.
- Butter: Cut into 1/2-inch cubes. Keep butter as cold as possible until you need it. I recommend placing the cubed butter in the freezer for about 15 minutes before you begin.
- Buttermilk: You can substitute whole milk for buttermilk if desired. However if you’d like the tangy flavor, which I highly recommend, you can make your own DIY buttermilk substitute. Add 2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice or white vinegar to a liquid measuring cup. Add enough milk to make 1 cup. (You need 1 cup in the recipe, plus 2 Tbsp for brushing—you can use regular milk to brush on top.) Whisk together, then let sit for 5 minutes before using in the recipe. Whole milk is best for the DIY sour milk substitute, though lower-fat or nondairy milks work in a pinch. (In my testing, the biscuits don’t taste as rich or rise quite as tall using lower-fat or nondairy milks.)
- Cast Iron Skillet: If your cast iron skillet isn’t well seasoned, I recommend greasing it with a little vegetable oil or melted butter. Brush a thin layer of either on the bottom and around the sides. No need to heat the cast iron skillet before using, though you certainly can. Place in the preheated oven for 15 minutes before arranging the shaped biscuits in it.
- Flavors: Try my flavorful biscuit variations: cheddar biscuits, zucchini biscuits, and everything bagel biscuits.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 biscuit
- Calories: 212
- Sugar: 2.4 g
- Sodium: 283.5 mg
- Fat: 9.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 27.5 g
- Protein: 4.1 g
- Cholesterol: 25.4 mg
Reader Comments and Reviews
The BEST biscuit recipe!!!!!! I was so impressed with how easy it was to follow the directions, and how amazing they came out!!!! My husband loved these! Thank you thank you thank you for allowing so many to have access to your recipes, and for being intentional with how detailed the directions are! The tips are also very helpful!!! I tell everyone about your website!!
Finally, a biscuit recipe that worked for me. I especially appreciated the notes which, in fact, had me change some things I had been doing. The detail at all levels, both visual and written, is very helpful.
It was my first time making biscuits and was terrified. This recipe was approachable and tasted great!
I have to agree with many of the others who commented, these were the best biscuits I ever made! The only thing I did a little different was after cutting out the biscuits I put the on a cookie sheet and placed it in the refrigerator until I was ready to bake them. Because they were so cold it took a little longer to bake, but they were GREAT!
I use a grater with large holes for the butter, then put it in the freezer while I get everything else ready. When I use my hand pastry blender it cuts right in without too much time for the butter to warm. Works great! Love the recipe!!!
Thanks for sharing the tip about the butter. I’ll have to try it when I’m brave enough to make these!
This is a great recipe and the only one I use. I add blueberries and increase the amount of baking powder by adding 1 teaspoon. My husband & friend LOVE them. 11/2 cups berries.
Maybe it was something I did. As a person whose been cooking for years, never have I tried a recipe that resulted in biscuits as heavy, doughy, and tasteless as these; went straight to the garbage. An expensive mistake as high as food is.
If I were you, I’d chalk it up to user error and give this recipe another try. I’ve been using it for a little over a year, and thirty or so batches later, it’s pretty much bombproof… in fact, I made a batch this morning (took about 30ish minutes) and they were perfect, as usual. I use cubed, partially frozen butter and pulse it with all the dry ingredients in my food processor. Also, if you don’t want to spend the money on fresh buttermilk, I’ve used Saco dry cultured buttermilk in this recipe, and they’re still tasty :).
Odds are it was user error. I too have done this biscuit recipe 50+ times and the only time I messed up the batch was making mistakes like twisting the cutter (which it clearly says not to do) or rolling them too much (which it clearly says not to do). One other gotcha spot is if you are in a very high elevation, you’ll have to modify to recipe to account for it.
I finally made great biscuits… Not resembling hockey pucks at all! They were flaky and so tasty. Thanks for all of the extra pro tips! This is my go-to biscuit recipe now.
One of my favorite biscuit recipes! They are so consistently flaky and delicious, every single time!
These may have been the best biscuits I’ve ever made and I’ve made a lot of biscuits in my day!
Can I add fruit – like blueberries or peaches into the dough?
Hi Lilly, we don’t recommend it. Both will release quite a bit of their juices into the dough, so it would take some recipe testing to determine what other ingredients would need to be tweaked.
Very good and that’s saying something because I’m not at all handy in the kitchen we sure enjoyed these thanks
They taste so good but I had a problem with them browning too much on the bottom almost right away. Any tips?
Hi Brenda, if the heating element is on the bottom of your oven, you can try moving the rack up to a higher position when you bake them. Any chance you are using a darker colored baking sheet? A lighter colored baking sheet will help prevent burning, too. Hope these tips help for next time!
The flavor of these biscuits is so good but for the life of me I can’t get them to rise as beautifully as in your pictures. I even came back to this recipe after I started baking with yeast, as I feel more confident in *not* overworking the dough now that I know what *really* working the dough is like. All this said, I followed exactly and I have flat, flat biscuits! Any advice you have will be so welcome! (I am in south Louisiana if that makes a difference!)
Hi Kelli, I’m glad to help. Is your baking powder expired? It may be worth getting a fresh bottle. With this much baking powder, it’s odd that the dough isn’t rising. Are you flattening and folding as described in step 4?
Make sure you don’t twist your biscuit cutter at all. Press it into the dough and lift it straight up and off. If you twist the biscuit cutter, it seals the dough, which prevents the biscuits from rising. I speak from experience.
I only have salted butter. Is it ok to use? Thank you
Hi Beverly! Is using salted butter, reduce down the added salt to 3/4 teaspoon.
I don’t have whole milk or buttermilk, can I use heavy cream?
Hi Erin, we don’t recommend it. Buttermilk (or whole milk in a pinch) makes for the softest, most tender biscuits. Heavy cream will be a bit too heavy.
Have tried a several different biscuit recipes and this is the best so far. Came together very easily and the biscuits came out beautifully. Maybe not quite as beautiful as the picture but pretty darn close. Definitely will be my “go to” biscuit recipe. Question: Can you make this dough the day before and refrigerate? And would that enhance the flavor?
Hi B. We’re so glad you love these! After step 4, you can wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days before continuing with step 5.
Although a very confident cook, I’ve struggled with anything even vaguely pastry related my whole life. I made these to top a chicken pot pie and was absolutely stunned when I peeked in the oven and saw the most beautiful flaky layers forming before my very eyes. I CAN make biscuits and I couldn’t be happier! Thank you!!!
I made these today for a bridal shower . I used heart shaped cutters and they came out so cute. Very light and fluffy. Only thing I was disappointed in, is the rerolled (I handled VERY lightly) were not nearly as fluffy. Any suggestions for keeping scraps fluffy?
Hi Lea, we’re so glad the heart-shaped biscuits were a hit at the bridal shower! That can tend to happen with the re-rolled scraps — just be as careful as possible to not overwork the scraps as best you can. Thank you for giving these a try!
Super late, but the best thing I’ve found to do is to not re roll, but to strategically very closely to the edges of the previous cut-outs cut to limit scraps and to stick the scraps together lightly and gently shape with your hand or the cutter. Don’t force perfection here, just enough to not fall apart. Theyll back together and be ugly, biy fluffier than re-rolling. If the imperfect bother you, keep the ugly ones at home. Cook’s treasure!
Best recipe ever! Placed biscuits in preheated cast iron skillet with some left over smoked lard (from smoked ribs yesterday) melted in pan. Perfect crispy bottoms and tops with very flaky middles. Grand kids love them. Gave Sally all the credit.
Thank you for this recipe ! I am French and it has been approved by my American boyfriend
I was wanting to use up some leftover buttermilk from making your delicious red velvet cake so gave this recipe a try! I cube the butter first & place in freezer & then assemble everything else. I don’t have a cast iron skillet so I used a 9 inch nonstick cake pan that I greased with butter. My biscuit cutter is 2 1/4 “& I keep that cold , then dip in flour before using. When the biscuits came out of the oven, I brushed the tops w/honey butter( 1 tablespoon of butter melted w/2tablespoons of honey) Using the food processor to combine the butter & flour mixture makes this recipe so easy! One 9inch round cake pan held 6 biscuits, & they puffed up nice &tall with great layers! Baked the other 2 biscuits in that same size pan touching each other. Remember not to twist your biscuit cutter to show off those pretty layers! Just perfect! Will be my go to biscuit recipe from now on! Thank you!!
These turned out so beautifully that I am abandoning my usual recipe. I especially appreciated the directions on folding and was happy to see that making the dough the day before and then cutting and baking the next day really worked. Can you freeze unbaked cut scones and then bake from frozen? I do this with my other recipe.
Hi Tia, we’re so glad you enjoyed these and you sure can freeze the shaped biscuits! But we do recommend baking them thawed, not frozen. After shaping them in step 4, place them on a plate or in a freezer-friendly container, cover tightly, then freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator, then bake as directed.
These are such perfect, flaky biscuits! I did not have buttermilk on hand, so used yogurt (3.5% MF), and it worked fine. Since there are just two of us, I cut the recipe in half, and added just about a tablespoon of ground flax. Wonderful and simple – Thank-you!
Hi!
Can I make these ahead, cut into rounds and then wrap and keep in fridge until ready to bake? I love your recipes and look forward to trying these out. I have never made anything but drop biscuits befroe.
thank you!
Hi Kat, We recommend refrigerating the dough after step 4. You can wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days before continuing with step 5. We hope you love them!
I don’t have a cast iron skillet. What should I use instead? Would I have to change the temperature and/or the time to bake these?
Thanks!
Hi Louise! If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, you can use a baking sheet. Arrange the biscuits close together on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. (Make sure they’re touching.) The bottoms may not be quite as crispy.
I love these biscuits I’ve taken the liberty to add herbs before cutting the butter and cheese after. They turned out delicious thank you
I’m planning on making these. I have buttermilk left from making fresh butter. The honey is throwing me though, as I want to make make biscuits and gravy. Can I just leave the honey out or will the recipe work as is?
Hi Erin, we recommend keeping the honey in the dough (you can use just plain melted butter instead of honey butter on top) but you can leave it out if desired. However we do often make these as-is for biscuits and gravy! They aren’t sweet biscuits.
Can this recipe be made the night before baking them (and left in the fridge)?
Hi Dan, yes, after step 4, you can wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days before continuing with step 5.
So far have used this recipe three times and it’s been heaven each time. The last time I used it was today when my hubs said “oh on my trip to Louisville, I had pimento cheese biscuits”. Used this for it, just spread some sharp cheese and very dry cut up pimentos in the folding process. SO GOOD! Thanks for this easy to follow and very good quality recipe! E. H.
Perfect biscuits! So delicious and easy to make. This will be my new go-to recipe. 🙂