These are the most delicious, fluffy homemade biscuits we’ve ever made! Our quick and easy biscuit recipe calls for milk or buttermilk and makes the best tall and fluffy biscuits!
This recipe makes amazing American-style biscuits. It’s super simple and makes tall, fluffy biscuits ready for breakfast, sandwiches, and more!
The secret to the best biscuits is using very cold butter and baking powder. We’ve made a lot of biscuits, but this easy biscuits recipe is the one we turn to the most (they are so fluffy!). See our easy drop biscuits and cheese drop biscuits for even easier biscuits. Or, if you have buttermilk, we highly recommend these buttermilk biscuits!
Key Ingredients
- Flour: I 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.
- 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 me. The extra baking powder makes our biscuits fluffy and tender, and baking soda helps them brown nicely. I also use baking powder for my strawberry shortcake recipe (it’s so good!). 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.
- Sugar and Salt: Add flavor. We don’t add a lot of sugar (just 1 tablespoon).
- Cold Butter: I love using 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). I love the slightly more salty flavor when using salted butter in our recipe, 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.
- Milk or Buttermilk: I love how 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. I also love this homemade buttermilk biscuit recipe, which was intentionally developed with buttermilk.
How to Make the Best Biscuits
Cold butter = flaky, tender homemade biscuits, so I use my food processor to make them. Of course, you can do this by hand (and I have provided tips for this in the recipe). The food processor just does a great job of quickly cutting the cold butter into our flour mixture, which means the butter stays cold.
You want biscuit dough to look shaggy and have lots of specks of butter, so be careful you aren’t overmixing or processing it. All those specks of butter will puff in the oven and give you that fluffy, buttery, flaky texture we all love.
For extra flaky layers, press the biscuit dough into a rough rectangle and then fold the sides into the middle, like a letter. Then we rotate the new rectangle, press it out, and do it again. I don’t use a rolling pin to roll out the dough. I press the dough out with my fingers instead. Watch me press and fold the dough in our video!
My last tip for the best biscuits is to bake them close together. Biscuits rise taller when they are baked close together. So, I use my cast iron pan or an oven-safe skillet, but you can bake them on a baking sheet (but place them close together to get the same effect).
Easy Fluffy 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. My preferred method is to get out my 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 in the notes section).
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
2 cups (260g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
5 teaspoons baking powder, use aluminum free baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
6 tablespoons (85g) cold butter
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (207ml) whole milk or buttermilk
Directions
1Heat the oven to 425°F (218°C) and set aside an oven-safe 10-inch or 12-inch skillet like a cast iron pan or, if you do not have one, set aside a baking sheet instead.
2Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse three to four times so that it is mixed.
3Cut the cold butter into cubes or thin slices, then scatter it over the flour in the food processor. Pulse 5 to 7 times or until the butter turns into tiny bits — see our photos and video for reference.
4Empty the butter-flour mixture into a large bowl. Make a well in the middle, and then pour in the milk (or buttermilk). Stir until a shaggy dough forms.
5Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Sprinkle a little flour on top, and then bring the dough together with your hands. It might be a bit sticky, so add flour as needed.
6Without working the dough too much, pat it down into a rectangle about 3/4 inch thick. Fold the dough into thirds, like a letter — see our photos and video for reference. Rotate the rectangle 90 degrees, and then repeat this process two more times.
7Pat the dough into a rectangle between 1/2 inch and 3/4 inch thick. Then use a biscuit cutter to cut out your biscuits — we use a 3-inch round cutter. Do not twist the cutter, as this will seal the edges of the biscuits and prevent them from rising.
8Place the cut-out biscuits into the skillet (or onto a baking sheet). Place them close to each other (this helps them rise taller).
9Gently press together the scraps and use them to make more biscuits, but be careful not to overwork the dough, or else they will be tough.
10Bake the biscuits until golden brown and have risen, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve warm.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Serving them: I love serving these biscuits while they are still warm with melted butter brushed on top or honey butter. These biscuits are also incredible with jam, apple butter, homemade sausage gravy, or turned into a breakfast sandwich with scrambled eggs and breakfast sausage! They are also amazing for dunking into soups and homemade chili.
- 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 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 the flour: Too much flour makes these less fluffy. To ensure you have the right amount of flour, weigh it or use the spooned and level method. Fluff the flour in its container, gently scoop it into your measuring cup until slightly mounded, then level off the top with a knife for accurate measuring.
- Butter: We use salted European butter in this recipe. It will work with unsalted or salted butter. I like the extra saltiness of salted butter, but you can reduce the salt to 3/4 teaspoon if you prefer.
- Best baking powder: 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.
- Self-rising flour: If you use self-rising flour, there won’t be enough baking powder added to the biscuit dough. So, whisk in 2 extra teaspoons of baking powder. Use 1/2 teaspoon salt instead.
- Baking soda: In the video, I say 1/2 tsp of baking soda. This is incorrect. Use 1/4 tsp.
- How to make 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 facts provided below are estimates.
These biscuits are so simple and quick to make and have come out perfect the 4 million times I’ve made them. I just made some and stood at the counter and ate 2 of them with a glass of milk .I’m getting a belly. Lol Seriously
You made us smile with this wonderful review 🙂
I don’t even know how many batches of these I’ve made! YUM!!! Can these be frozen before baking or do you recommend only after baking? Thanks!
Hi Aleshia, So happy you love them! Yes, you can freeze before and after baking. If you freeze before, cut them out and then freeze. Then, bake from frozen (they may take an extra minute or two).
Love these biscuits!! The flaky layers, the buttery flavor, and the beautiful color makes these the best biscuits I’ve ever had! I can’t wait to share these with my family.
Yay! You have made our day with this review 🙂
These were very successful. I substituted half and half for the milk and they came out really fluffy and delicious. Using the cast iron pan was also a great suggestion. I’ll be making these again. Thanks!
Yum! I bet half and half was delicious 🙂
These biscuits were DELICIOUS! They are one of the best and easiest I’ve ever made. I had to substitute whole milk for almond milk because that’s all I had on hand, but I can imagine what they would taste like with buttermilk. The recipe is a keeper.
Thanks for letting us know that your biscuits worked with almond milk! That has been on our list of things to test. Glad you enjoyed your homemade biscuits! 🙂