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
I have made both these biscuits and the cheddar cheese also. They were delicious. I would like to know how much should they rise and should you grease the cast iron skillet? I followed the recipe exactly, but they didn’t rise a lot. Everyone raved though of how good they were. Thank you!
The absolute BEST!!! Will make again new family recipe!!
Everyone seems to have gotten big yummy biscuits, but mine were dry and flat. I followed the recipe and I think my dough was not right from the start. I used a pastry cutter to mix the ingredients and I didn’t want to mix too much, but it was so crumbly and most of it wouldn’t stick together. Not sure what I did wrong. I’m going to try again though. I really want to make homemade biscuits!
Being a Texan, biscuits and gravy are a staple of our diets and I have been on the lookout for too long to find a great recipe till I found yours! I love how tender and flaky these biscuits are, and they go great topped with sausage gravy! I love all your recipes but this one and your herbed rolls are two of my favorites ♥️
Love this recipe – easiest way to make really great biscuits. The two keys I’ve found are 1: lots of folding and 2: DO NOT twist the cutter (as Sally said, this kills the rise).
Has anyone tried this recipe at altitude?
Hi Bryan, We are so glad you enjoyed the biscuits! I wish I could help, but we have no experience baking at high altitude. I know some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
I would give this recipe a 10 if it were possible. Thank you so much. My sons-in -laws love biscuits and gravy and I make this for them for their birthday breakfasts. I triple the recipe because the whole family loves these biscuits. They are light and flaky and they rise well. They are fabulously yummy.
I veganized this recipe and they were incredible. I was able to find unsalted vegan “butter” sticks so this was the perfect recipe to try them. My non-vegan southern partner said they were the best biscuits he’s had in forever and took him back to his youth. They were super flaky, fluffy, tender., a little crispy on top. Just perfect. I used almond milk/vinegar but I’d use maybe soy milk or oat milk next time. I also added a tbsp of sugar.
I’m writing this review probably 10 minutes after these biscuits came out of the oven because they are just THAT GOOD. So delicious! I got a nice crispy bottom and a soft, tender inside. Love that it’s only 6 ingredients!
When my kids who don’t even like KFC or Popeye’s biscuits ask for second and third helpings of this, I know this is a winning recipe! Yum, it was delicious. The only thing I would comment on is that it took another 10 minutes more cooking time when I baked in the iron skillet (I used my trusty Lodge). My extra biscuits that I had leftover I made in another oven on a baking sheet and that took the time you approximated (15m).
I made these and they turned out great! I forgot to put honey in and didn’t have a skillet so I used a cake pan with parchment. I also double stacked them since I think I rolled them out too thin. Still came out!
I was worried these would have that salty metallic taste with so much baking soda but thankfully they didn’t. They are absolutely light and fluffy and layered!
I like the turn and fold technique too!
Yet another keeper from your recipes! Thank you!
WOW. The recipe is super easy to follow and seriously, the best biscuits we’ve had. No joke. I’ll be making these in big batches and freezing from now on. I see us making these at least 1-2x a week. SO GOOD!!
This recipe is amazing. I will definitely keep making these . Thank you !!
I’ve made these biscuits several times, and it’s amazing. I’ve gotten so many compliments from friends and family (that is, when I’ve felt generous enough to share!). Even my Southern grandma complimented the recipe!!!
Sally–have you ever tried using this as a base recipe for sweet potato biscuits? Paula Deen’s sweet potato biscuit recipe is okay, but not as flaky as I’d like. I’d like to adapt this recipe, but I’m not sure how much flour (?) I should add to compensate for the wetness of the sweet potato.
Hi Ansley! So glad that you enjoy these biscuits. I’ve never tried making sweet potato biscuits before, so I can’t give any confident advice. Let me know if you try adapting this recipe though!
Thanks for this great recipe!! I made it twice, once with All purpose and then with Whole Wheat and both came out great. Neither really rose as much as yours, but that might have been because of my cutting technique with a knife, who knows. Either way, tasted great, thanks!
Made this recipe with my 10-year-old son (so lots of spills and uneven measurements) and still turned out great! Thank you!
Thanks for this recipe, excited to try it!
I don’t have a biscuit cutter, can we just cut square ones after rolling out the dough in a rectangular shape?
Also, I don’t have any plastic wrap, would it be okay to just put it into a glass pyrex and into the freezer if we plan to freeze the dough?
Hi Jenna, yes, you can simply cut the biscuits with a very sharp knife instead. You can freeze the dough in any closed/covered container.
I just made these biscuits and they came out absolutely amazing! I do not have a food processor so I made the dough in a bowl by simply mixing together the ingredients. It was actually super easy. The biscuits came out soft and buttery and my layers were perfect! I used a cutter that was 3 1/2 inches and got 6 normal sized biscuits plus one baby sized biscuit from the dough. The only question/issue I had was after cutting the biscuits from the dough and re-working the scraps for more biscuits – I wasn’t sure if I should re-do the folding process again as Sally had mentioned in the steps prior. I did it anyway (better safe than sorry) and they came out beautifully.
Made these for the first time and used them to make breakfast sandwiches with organic sausage, eggs, and Wisconsin sharp cheddar. They came out amazing and my husband declared them as “the best breakfast sandwich ever!” Recipe is awesome and I watched Sally’s video first to make sure I was doing the dough folding technique properly. Great recipe and tips! Very easy to follow. These were so flaky and delicious. I will definitely make these again! Thanks for another great recipe, Sally!
Hands down the best biscuit recipe ever! Mine even look like the picture! Thanks for all of the handy tips. Absolutely delicious
I’ve been trying to find the best biscuit recipes all quarantine. This is it!
I am making these now and I have questions: What size cubes are we going for when cubing the butter? Is the size of the skillet important? One of the photos shows 4 biscuits across and that wouldn’t be possible using 3″ biscuit cutter in a 10″ skillet. Another photo shows 8 biscuits in a skillet; how/when do you cook the remaining biscuits since the yield is 9-10 biscuits? (I am going with an 11 3/4″ skillet and putting all biscuits in at once.) The video shows a greased skillet but there is no instruction in the recipe to grease the skillet; with so much shortening in the recipe, I wouldn’t think greasing the skillet is necessary. You also suggest chilling the flour first; would you do this after adding the baking powder and salt? I am a pretty experienced baker but it has been years since I made biscuits. I can wing it with my own answers but a novice baker might need more specific instructions and photos that are consistent with the instructions. I have never used honey in the dough but there’s a first time for everything and I’ll go with your recommendation. Thanks.
Hi Gail! I’m glad to help. The cubed butter can be anywhere around little 1/2 inch cubes (see note). I recommend a 9 or 10 inch skillet, which will hold the 10 biscuits nicely– any larger and the biscuits won’t be close and compact, which may prevent them from rising all the way up. If your cast iron skillet is seasoned, there’s no need to grease it. You can chill all of the dry ingredients together or just the flour itself. It doesn’t make a huge difference since the flour is the bulk of the dry ingredients anyway. Hope you enjoy these!
Amazing my family loves them!
I am delighted to get your tips in making biscuits. I’m 78 and have made quite a few biscuits in my lifetime but have never seen the fold method in regards to biscuit dough Only in bread dough. I always end up with quite a bit of flour left in the bowl that won’t incorporate into the ball of dough I’m working with to roll out to make biscuits. Looking forward to making this change and getting on with beautifully flakes high biscuits. Thank you soo much!
Amazing!
These are great. I don’t have a food processor so I cut the butter into the flour using a cheese grater, which still gave me a great rise. I also leave out the 2 tsp honey from the dough, and the melted butter/honey mixture because I like to lather honey on by itself later after baking – so if you don’t have any honey at home I think this recipe works great even leaving it out completely.
I’ve made these biscuits many times now, just to use up any buttermilk before it spoils. Perfect every time. Tall, flaky, golden brown. Real whole fat buttermilk makes a difference, as does shredding frozen butter. (I’m addicted to Sally’s Baking Addiction, really. My bride of 43 years is amazed at “my” success with your recipes.)
I got the flaky layers and incredible flavor and golden color but my biscuits are relatively flat. What could have happened there?
Hi Katie, I’m so glad you enjoyed the flavor of these! My best tips for tall biscuits are in the blog post above in the section “Tips for the Best Biscuits”. Be sure you are using a sharp biscuit cutter and pressing straight down (no twisting!) and that they are pressed snuggly against each other on the pan to bake.
Turned out amazing! I have 5 kids so we doubled it and it turned out amazing. 24 biscuits and there isn’t one left!
I have been trying to make perfect biscuits for the past 3 months, these were ALMOST there, I just didn’t get the height I was hoping for. I did NOT get to chill my flour and my butter wasn’t frozen so “maybe” that will be the answer. As far as flavor these were best of all my test subjects lol! I think the honey butter on top was a phenomenal suggestion if you are eating these with butter and jam. The layers were there in the dough, these were extremely moist on the inside and crispy on the outside. I used whole fat buttermilk, and a cast iron skillet I coated with butter. I didn’t have really class A butter on hand so I just used land of lakes and it was good. I cubed it on the tinier side. Grating it doesn’t work out for me. I used 1/2 cup pastry flour and 2 cups all purpose. I’m gonna keep toying with this recipe though cuz it is GOOOOD!