Light, fluffy homemade biscuits, as made by my dad! His biscuits are seriously the best. We’re sharing all of his tips and tricks below. Scroll down to get straight to the recipe or keep reading to get all of his tips for the PERFECT biscuit!
I recently shared a photo of my dad’s famous homemade biscuits on Instagram and you guys ate them up. Figuratively, of course. Literally, I did the eating.
I wanted to be sure that I had his biscuit recipe down pat before I shared with you, so I spent the next few weeks making batch after batch. We ended up making 10 batches of 10 biscuits each. It took me awhile to be sure I had them juuuuuust right.
I also wanted to make sure that I could answer any questions you guys might have and I knew that meant mastering the homemade biscuit.
What Readers are Saying!
“I have never made homemade biscuits before so this was my first attempt. Oh my goodness! They turned out amazingly delicious. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe and tips!!” – Christen
Ingredients for Homemade Biscuits:
The flour: You’re going to use a mixture of all-purpose flour and Bisquick. I haven’t tried this with any substitutions and I haven’t tried it with homemade Bisquick myself, so I can’t tell you how well that will work. If you do try it, please report back so I can update this!
The butter: We’re using softened butter instead of cold butter. I know, I know. Your whole life you’ve heard that you need to use cold butter. Some of you are probably grating frozen butter into your biscuits. This recipe works perfectly with room temperature butter. It shouldn’t be at all melted, so don’t try softening it in the microwave. Let it sit on the counter. It should be just softened enough that when you press your finger into it, it’s still firm, but it leaves an indent where your finger was.
The leavening agents: Look, I know there’s a lot of baking powder in this recipe. When my dad shared his recipe with me, I was actually pretty surprised by the amount. But, no. I don’t think this has a metallic or soapy taste. I do not find any issues with using this amount of baking powder in this recipe. It has always worked great for me! As for the baking soda, generally it’s only used when there is an acid present – like buttermilk or lemon or vinegar. There is no acid in this recipe, but my dad still adds a bit of baking soda. I’ve tried these without it and they just aren’t the same. Add the baking soda.
The milk: You can use buttermilk if you really feel the need to, but my dad uses regular 2% milk and so do I. I actually prefer the biscuits that way. They get too tangy for me when you use buttermilk. But, because buttermilk is so traditional, I won’t throw a fit if you want to use it here. Just know that it’s thicker than traditional milk and you may need to use a little more/less. 😉
Helpful Tip!
Don’t be shy about re-rolling the dough!
Get in there and re-roll that dough to get extra biscuits. You’ll probably get about 5 biscuits from your initial pat down of the dough. Definitely pat it back out and cut out the remaining biscuits. My dad isn’t at all shy about re-working the dough and you shouldn’t be either.
FAQ:
These brown spots are happening because you’re not mixing the dry ingredients together well enough. I won’t make you sift things (heaven forbid), but do really stir everything together, more than you think you probably need to. At least 30 seconds of non-stop stirring things around with a fork. Trust me. Even if you do end up with brown spots, the biscuits will taste great, they’re just not quite as pretty.
Is your baking powder old? It does eventually stop working well and you may need to replace it. If it’s definitely not that, are you mixing in your butter really super-duper good? Because you need to. I take a spoon and smear the softened butter into the flour against the sides of the bowl. I keep at it long after I’m bored of it, until the entire bowl looks like lightly damp sand. Almost like if you grabbed a handful of it and squeezed it, it *might* stick together.
No big thang. Add in more flour, a tablespoon at a time, until it’s juuuuuuuuust workable. The very least amount of flour you can get away with is the best in these biscuits, but don’t be killing yourself trying to roll out dough that is just too sticky. When you touch it, your hand should come away clean. When you pinch it, you should have a bit of dough left on your fingers.
Sounds like you overworked the dough or added too much flour. I had this problem the first few times I made these too. Just use a light hand when mixing and add just enough flour to hold the dough together.
Some days these guys only take ten minutes and other days they take 15. I can’t explain it (Humidity? Magic?), but I’m aware of it. I’m also aware that every oven is different. Some heat evenly, some do not. Some can’t hold a temperature and are fluctuating like crazy. So, get to know your oven and react accordingly. Or just set the timer for 10 minutes and start babysitting them. Pull them when the tops are just lightly golden. Nobody likes a crunchy biscuit, so don’t over bake these guys.
How to serve these biscuits:
- Cinnamon Honey Butter is the perfect topping!
- Pimento Cheese makes a fun sandwich.
- Sausage Gravy is a classic.
- Use these biscuits in my biscuits and gravy casserole.
- Chocolate Gravy is a Southern favorite and the kids will love it!
- Of course, butter and jam is always a win.
Easy Homemade Biscuits
Ingredients
- 1 cup flour, plus more as needed
- 1 cup Bisquick
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
- 1 cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Add the flour, Bisquick, baking powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda to a large mixing bowl. Stir well to combine the dry ingredients thoroughly.
- Add two tablespoons of the butter to the dough and use a spoon to press it into the flour mixture. I find it easiest to smear the butter against the sides of the bowl while working it into the flour. Once the first two tablespoons are completely incorporated, add in the last two tablespoons and repeat the process.
- Pour in the milk and stir with a spoon until just combined. The dough will likely be too wet. Add in more flour, one tablespoon at a time, until the dough is just dry enough to handle. Dough should come away clean from your fingers when you touch it, but stick to your fingers if you pinch it.
- Dump dough onto a well floured work surface. Sprinkle lightly with flour.
- Fold dough over on itself three times.
- Use your hands to pat the dough to 3/4 of an inch high.
- Cut dough out with biscuit cutter and place on baking sheet. Let sit 5 minutes before baking.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes or until tops are just beginning to turn golden. Do not overbake these!
Tips & Notes:
Nutrition Information:
This recipe was originally published in March 2016. It’s been updated with a new video and FAQ section in March 2018.
Cynthia O'Sullivan says
Cant wait to try. Is the butter in the recipe unsalted?
Karly says
It’s salted butter. We always use salted unless otherwise called for. 🙂
Mary says
At 66, this my first time making home made biscuits, they had to be fluffy. These were the easiest. lightest and fluffiest biscuits ever. I know one restaurant who makes biscuits this good. THANKS FOR SHARING.
Karly says
Love to hear that! Thanks, Mary.
Jeanne Amundson says
You are soooo right! We had these tonight with chipped beef and gravy! Light and flaky biscuits. This recipe is a keeper! Thank you!
Karly says
Yay! Love to hear that! 🙂
Shetterley says
This was just okay. Perhaps I had higher expectations due to the rave reviews. I found the biscuits to be “doughy”, probably due to the extra flour that I had to use to get the dough not to be so wet (3 Tbs). I’m wondering why you couldn’t adjust the amount of milk, instead of adding so much more flour.
Nikkole says
This is the best biscuit recipe I have found! Thank you so much for sharing!!
Karly says
Yay! Love to hear that! <3
L says
Good recipe and very easy to make
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DToole says
Appearance wise, these biscuits are awesome. However, following the instructions & hints exactly as written, I found the crumb to be too airy & bread like. Additionally, the taste was too flat. After doing some research on cold vs. room temperature butter, found that cold butter improves the crumb and flakiness……..so the second time around I grated in freezer stored butter, which gave me the perfect biscuit consistency I was looking for. I also added a little extra sugar and salt (25% increase) which rendered a more satisfying flavor. I think I’ll continue to experiment with the flavor profile using dry spices……. cinnamon / etc. for a breakfast biscuit or dessert……. garlic / etc. for chicken & biscuits or other meal application. Thank your dad for a wonderful that’s easy to work with!
Karly says
Thanks for sharing! Love to hear how others are changing things up to suit their tastes. 🙂
Addie says
Biscuits were delicious ,pretty easy to make and my son raved about them saying he didn’t even need to butter them they were that good. Perfect with a nice hot beef stew.
Karly says
Love to hear that!