Enjoying a big homemade breakfast on the weekend is one of my favorite things ever and no weekend breakfast is complete without buttery homemade biscuits. These easy biscuits are my “basic” biscuit recipe that I’ve been using for years. They’re quick, simple, and perfect alongside some fried eggs and bacon on a lazy Sunday morning. Slather on some butter and honey, or maybe your favorite jam, and that’s breakfast heaven.
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Ingredients for Homemade Biscuits
The best part about making homemade biscuits is that you only need pantry staples, which means you can whip up a batch at any time without any planning. Here’s what you’ll need to make this easy biscuit recipe:
- Butter: We use salted butter in our biscuits because that’s usually what we have on hand. If you have unsalted butter, add an extra scant ¼ tsp to the dry ingredients. To make this recipe easier, freeze your butter 30-60 minutes before you begin.
- All-Purpose Flour: Nothing fancy here, just your average everyday flour. If you want to add some whole wheat flour to the mix, you can substitute up to 50% without affecting the texture too much. Or, you can substitute with self-rising flour and leave out the baking powder and baking soda.
- Baking Powder & Baking soda: These two ingredients are responsible for making the biscuits nice and fluffy. Because we’re using vinegar to create a faux buttermilk, we us a combination of baking soda and baking powder to prevent the dough from being overly acidic.
- Salt: The master ingredient that helps every flavor become more bold. Salt is especially important in breads and baked goods that are comprised mostly of bland ingredients, like flour.
- Milk: Whole milk adds moisture and a little more fat to keep the biscuits soft and moist.
- Vinegar: Instead of having to buy buttermilk just for this recipe, we “faked” buttermilk by combining milk and vinegar. You can use any light vinegar, like apple cider, rice, or white vinegar. Lemon juice can also be used in place of vinegar.
Use Buttermilk for More Flavor
The recipe below uses a buttermilk substitute (milk + vinegar or lemon juice) because I don’t often have buttermilk on hand. But if by rare chance you do have buttermilk use that in place of the milk and vinegar and you’ll have the most delicious biscuits ever. While buttermilk substitutes provide the same acidity as buttermilk, they don’t quite have as much flavor.
The Biscuit Method
This recipe uses a cooking technique called The Biscuit Method. This technique involves working butter or another solid fat into flour. When fat is combined with flour in this way the fat prevents the flour from forming a gluten matrix (like you have with kneaded bread), which leaves the dough quite soft and tender. To keep your biscuits as soft and tender as possible, you’ll want to avoid kneading the dough and work with it as little as possible as you shape and cut your biscuits. You can read more about the mechanics of the biscuit method here.
How to Store Leftover Biscuits
If you have a smaller household don’t skip this recipe just because it makes 8 biscuits! You can either freeze the baked biscuits or freeze the unbaked biscuits to cook later. To freeze the unbaked biscuits, simply freeze them on a lined baking sheet until solid, then transfer them to a freezer bag. Label, date, and freeze up to three months. To bake the biscuits from frozen, simply bake them straight from the freezer and add a few minutes to the baking time.
To freeze the biscuits that have already been baked, allow them to cool completely to room temperature. Place the biscuits in a freezer bag and freeze for up to three months. Thaw the biscuits at room temperature or microwave for 15-30 seconds.
What to Serve with Homemade Biscuits
Biscuits go with everything. -Signed, a Southerner.
But in all seriousness, if you’re not used to eating a biscuit with every meal let’s start with the classics. Biscuits are great with fried eggs and bacon, they pair famously well with sausage gravy, and you can use them to make delicious breakfast sandwiches.
Aside from breakfast, homemade biscuits make a great side dish for any dinner, served in place of a classic dinner roll. They’re especially good with thick soups, stews, and chilis.
Homemade Biscuits
Servings 8Ingredients
- 8 Tbsp butter (salted) ($1.12)
- 2.5 cups all-purpose flour ($0.39)
- 1 Tbsp baking powder ($0.06)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda ($0.02)
- 3/4 tsp salt ($0.05)
- 1 cup whole milk ($0.38)
- 1 Tbsp vinegar* ($0.06)
Instructions
- Freeze the butter for 30-60 minutes before you begin the recipe to make it extra cold and more solid for grating.
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF. In a large bow, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir until well combined.
- Use a cheese grater to grate the butter into the bowl with the flour. Once grated, use your hands to work the butter into the flour until it resembles cornmeal.
- Stir the vinegar into the milk. Pour the milk into the bowl with the butter and flour mixture, then stir until a dough forms.
- Place the dough on a lightly floured surface, then press it into a large rectangle. Fold the dough in on itself in thirds, like folding a letter. Then press it into a rectangle once again, about ½ to ¾-inch thick.
- Use a biscuit cutter or a drinking glass (about 3-inches in diameter) to cut biscuits out of the dough. Gather up the scraps, press them down again, and cut a few more biscuits until all of the dough is used up.
- Place the biscuits on a parchment lined baking sheet. For extra brown tops, brush a little milk on top.
- Bake the biscuits in the fully preheated 425ºF oven for 15-17 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Enjoy warm.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Homemade Biscuits – Step By Step Photos
Before you begin, freeze 8 Tbsp butter (1 stick) for 30-60 minutes to make it extra cold and solid. This makes it easier to grate into the batter. When you’re ready to start making the biscuits, begin to preheat the oven to 425ºF. In a large bowl, combine 2.5 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 Tbsp baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda, and ¾ tsp salt. Stir until they are well combined.
Use a cheese grater to grate the semi-frozen butter into the flour mixture. Once grated, use your hands to work the butter into the flour until it kind of resembles cornmeal.
Combine 1 cup whole milk and 1 Tbsp vinegar (or lemon juice). Alternatively, you can use 1 cup of buttermilk. Pour the milk into the butter and flour mixture.
Stir until it forms a cohesive dough. Be careful not to over-stir. Don’t worry if there is a little flour left on the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too sticky, you can add a little flour in the next step.
Place the dough onto a floured surface and press it down into a large rectangle. Fold the dough in on itself into thirds, like folding a letter. This helps create a few layers in the biscuits. Finally, press it down into a rectangle once again, this time about ½ to ¾-inch thick.
Use a biscuit cutter or a drinking glass to cut the biscuits out of the dough. The glass I’m using is 3-inches in diameter. When you’ve cut all you can from the one piece of dough, gather up the scraps, press it down into a rectangle again, and cut a couple more. I got 8 biscuits out of my dough.
Place the biscuits on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. If you want the tops to get extra browned, you can brush a little milk on top.
Bake the biscuits in the fully preheated 425ºF oven for 15-17 minutes, or until golden brown.
Enjoy your homemade biscuits warm, slathered with butter, and drizzled with honey or a dollop of your favorite jam!
Can I use almond milk in this recipe instead of regular milk?
I haven’t tried using dairy substitutes for this recipe.
Can you freeze this dough?
Yep. :)
For the buttermilk, get yourself a jar of powdered buttermilk. You do have to refrigerate it after you open it, but it works out a good bit cheaper than any variety of fresh milk or buttermilk and it keeps for a very long time.
Just made these this morning and used them with some breakfast biscuits. Holy cow, amazing. Thanks!
Hi Beth! I made these this morning and they were so easy and fabulous! Thank you for this great recipe! I did use real buttermilk and doubled the recipe, but I have used the vinegar/milk combination for a buttermilk substitute in the past and that works just fine….Just a tip for people that don’t like to buy buttermilk for recipes because they never use it all…… I pour 1 cup measurements into ziplock freezer bags, label and freeze….then next time you need some, just get a bag out ahead of time and you have a cup of buttermilk! Easy, handy, & non wasteful!
Tall, light, fluffy, and tasty – even when I substituted white whole wheat for the all-purpose flour.
I’m at high altitude (which can make for iffy results when baking biscuits), and here are my alterations: add 2 T. milk, add 1/2 T. flour, cut back to 3 1/2 t. baking powder and 1/8 t. baking soda, bake for 9 – 10 minutes instead of 15.
This recipe is a keeper!
Made these this morning ! I have a gas oven which isn’t ideal, and the parchment paper burnt ahaha BUT they did turn out really well ! I was afraid they wouldn’t because they didn’t rise as well as yours (I might have made them a little too thick), but they were soft on the inside and absolutely delicious ! I can’t wait to make these again and experiment with my ancient oven.
We don’t have milk OR buttermilk in our house. I substituted 1/2 c of plain greek yogurt mixed with 1/2 c of water and it worked great! Finally a biscuit recipe that doesn’t require lard or crisco (neither of which are staples in my pantry!) Thank you!
Just made these for brunch and they came out wonderfully! I subbed white whole wheat flour and they didn’t rise quite as much as the pictures, but they were fluffy and slightly crispy, and very soft in the middle. They were also done at around 12-13 minutes, instead of the full 15. Tasted amazing with honey and jam. Thanks for the recipe!
Have you ever tried frrezing these before baking them? I was thinking about making a batch of these for my breakfast sandwiches (instead of the store-bought english muffins I normally use) but I only want to use one a day. Can you prepare the dough, cut them out, then freeze them so that I can bake them individually each morning instead of in a batch? Or would it be better to just cook them all at once THEN freeze them and warm them up in the microwave as needed?
You can actually do it either way. :) I find it easier to bake in one batch instead of heating the oven every day just for one, but they’re definitely better fresh out of the oven instead of the microwave. So, there’s a trade off either way!
I thought I had biscuit mix on hand but, when I checked, it turned out it’s only the mix that makes pancakes…so I’m grateful that you had this recipe! I used the dough to top your veggie pot pie, but I was too lazy to roll it out, so I made drop biscuits :-)
I made these tonight and they were fantastic. Mine didn’t puff up like yours did (maybe I flattened the dough out a little too much?), but the flavor was great. So buttery and light. Definitely making these again.
I have made these almost every weekend for the past two months to go with my sausage gravy. The whole family looks forward to me making these! These are the best biscuits I have ever tasted! Turns out perfect every time! Thanks for the recipe!
Perfect biscuits!
Tonight, I used your biscuit recipe to replace canned biscuits in this recipe (http://www.monicawantsit.com/2013/09/rustic-cast-iron-breakfast-pizza-recipe.html). I probably should have used 1/2 of the recipe, but I do love biscuits!
I loved these biscuits! Having a southern Mom, I have eaten a lot over the years. These are wonderful and couldn’t be easier. I found that they were better when I left the dough 2 inches thick and made them larger. I think I got 8 solid biscuits that puffed perfectly and were wonderful with molasses and butter. I’m wondering though if I could use part wheat flour though and oats. Like a somewhat sweet oatmeal biscuit? Maybe I’m better off with oatmeal scones and good old plain biscuits. Thanks a bunch!
I made these this morning and used 1/2 all purpose flour and 1/2 whole wheat and they came out just fine :) No oats, though.
Jessica, Ive been making 1/2 whole wheat biscuits for a long time now, I put a couple teaspoons of cinnamon and a couple tablespoons of sugar in the recipe. They are a favorite around the house