Easy Baking Powder Biscuits

This is a classic no-fail recipe to make the Best Baking Powder Biscuits, passed down from generation to generation. These are flaky and buttery. Actually, one of the first things I ever baked as a kid!

Food on a table, with Baking Powder Biscuits

Easy Baking Powder Biscuits

This biscuit recipe is fantastic when paired with a warm comforting main dish like Classic Chili Con Carne or Taco Chili. I also love this recipe with various soups like Three Cheese Broccoli Soup or a Creamy Potato Soup.

If you took home economics in middle school, do you recall the very first thing you ever made in that class?

Taking this class and thus the meals in the class wasn’t the first time I ever cooked per say, since I’d helped my Mom in the kitchen for years prior.

Yet, this class in middle school was the first time I made a recipe without Mom by my side, and her kitchen tools laid all around.

I think it was a form of reality smacking me in the butt to be honest.

I needed to cook in life and I had to learn to cook anywhere. Thats what this class was for.

The very first thing I made in this class was Baking Powder Biscuits. The recipe is from an old coiled book from parents of kids years prior, with the school logo on the cover.

To give this person full credit for this original recipe, I’ll say: Thanks Jane.

I do love this book, all those tried and trues from various families. Passed down from the unknown, like the best kept secrets all in one coiled book.

I think of this time and that book every time I make this type of biscuit, a time of learning. Hey Ma, look at me now!

These baking powder biscuits are way better than refrigerated biscuits from the grocery store, you’ll love the flaky layers. They have the best flavor.

Even after all these years, this is one of my favorite recipes.

best baking powder biscuits

Ingredients to make Homemade Biscuits

The answer to how to make fluffy biscuits is to follow this simple recipe, of course! The first part is finding that perfect recipe, and it’s this one right here.

You need the following simple ingredients to make soft flaky biscuits:

  • All Purpose Flour – for best results
  • Baking Powder
  • Salt
  • Shortening
  • Milk

How do you make homemade fluffy biscuits?

The full recipe is below in the printable recipe card yet here are the following steps (and simple steps) to make this easy recipe.

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Sift dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.

Cut in shortening with a pastry cutter (or pastry blender) or use two knives until the mixture has the appearance of fine crumbs.

Add milk to the large bowl. Add in a small portion at a time to the dry mixture, stirring with a fork or spoon.

You’ll want coarse crumbs, and until the dough forms a ball around the spoon.

Turn raw biscuit dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently 10 times.

Pat or roll dough with a rolling pin until about 1.5-2 cm thick.

Cut with floured cookie cutter, with even pressure.

Let the unbaked biscuits stand on an ungreased cookie sheet for 10 minutes before baking.

Bake in a preheated oven for about 15-20 minutes. Actual baking time will depend on the size of biscuits, and your oven. They are done when the tops turn lightly golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack and enjoy these best biscuits. We like to enjoy a fluffy biscuit while still warm.

What to Serve with Biscuits

Oven biscuits are a perfect side dish with any kind of soup and stew. They are popular to serve with sausage gravy too.

They pair nicely with holiday dinners like Crockpot Ham, Beef Stew and Chicken Pot Pie. We serve ours alongside Garlic Pork Roast and Crockpot Chicken Pot Pie.

You can also use these to make delicious breakfast sandwiches. They are also the best tea biscuits, alone or topped with jam.

How to Store Biscuits

Homemade biscuits have a tendency to dry out really fast when exposed to much air at room temperature. Once warm biscuits have cooled, it’s time to get them covered as their shelf life clock starts ticking.

The best way to store biscuits is to put them in an airtight container or wrap individual biscuits with plastic wrap or saran wrap.

If these flaky baking powder biscuits will be eaten rather quickly, a resealable freezer bag will do. This is so they don’t dry out.


A basket of Baking Powder Biscuits

How to Reheat Biscuits

It only goes without saying, you’re going to have some leftover biscuits to enjoy at a later time. You’ll want them warm and moist later as well. Hard biscuits aren’t preferred, after all.

So how do you reheat biscuits to avoid them being soggy or dry? There are a couple of different ways and different methods to get once again hot biscuits.

Reheating Biscuits in a Microwave:

Place biscuits on a plate or in a microwave safe container. Cover or wrap them with damp paper towels (squeeze out excess moisture first) or a moist towel and reheat in the microwave oven until warm.

Using a damp paper towel gives them moisture and prevents drying, without the reheating process causing them to be too soft inside and too hard outside.

The microwave method once might be the best option just for convenience in being the quickest way.

How to Reheat Biscuits in the Oven:

On a cookie sheet (or baking sheet) with parchment paper, bake your biscuits for 5 minutes at 350 degrees F. You could also wrap an individual biscuit in aluminum foil (tin foil) and put them directly on the oven rack.

When warm, take them out and brush with butter or olive oil. While this method takes longer, it’s the best method.

Reheat biscuits in a toaster oven:

You can also reheat biscuits by cutting them like a bagel and placing them in a toaster or toaster oven. This way the reheated biscuits are warm and also crispy!


This Easy Baking Powder Biscuits recipe is just that. I actually made the perfect batch on my very first try years ago, its no-fail.

Since then, this homemade biscuit recipe is still made often – a favourite of mine. Simple, SO FLAKY, and buttery good.

My entire family thinks they are so much better than the Red Lobster Biscuits mix and cheddar bay biscuits you can buy in stores.

Easy enough for a teen, but great enough to be my one and only biscuit recipe from then on. They made the best fresh biscuits ever, I simply adore this easy biscuit recipe.

And yes, I still bring out that very same coiled book of recipes when I make delicious Biscuits.

Though I know the recipe by heart, I don’t want to risk missing an ingredient. Plus I just love pulling out this book.

Because this recipe? Perfection just as it is.

As I said, I make Baking Powder Biscuits most often with my Classic Chili. In fact if you head over to the chili recipe, you can see the biscuits in the corner of the photo.

Do you remember the first recipe you ever made, solo?

best baking powder biscuits
best baking powder biscuits

Easy Baking Powder Biscuits

Yield: 6
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

a classic no-fail recipe to make flaky and buttery Easy Baking Powder Biscuits, passed down from generation to generation. This is the best biscuit recipe!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Flour
  • 2 tbsp Baking Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1/2 cup Shortening
  • 3/4 cup milk {approx}

Instructions

  1. Sift dry ingredients into a mixing bowl
  2. Cut in shortening with a pasty blender or two knives until the mixture has the appearance of fine crumbs
  3. Add milk, a small portion at a time to the dry mixture stirring with a fork or spoon until the dough forms a ball around the spoon
  4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead gently 10 times
  5. Pat or roll out dough to 1.5-2 cm thick. Cut with floured cookie cutter with even pressure. Let stand on ungreased baking sheet for 10 minutes before baking
  6. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes depending on size of biscuits, or until tops lightly brown. Cool on rack and enjoy {we like them still warm}
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 6 Serving Size: 6 Servings
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 325Saturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 3mgSodium: 212mgCarbohydrates: 35gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 5g

Did you make this recipe?

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Created by Tammi Roy

Tammi Roy is the founder of My Organized Chaos, a Canadian food and lifestyle blog. She lives in Alberta, Canada and is the mom of three beautiful teenage girls. Tammi’s passions are her family, creating and sharing delicious recipes, travelling and photography. Learn more about Tammi.

49 Comments

  1. Haven’t made scratch baking powder biscuits in years. Cool weather and this recipe are putting me in the mind to see if I haven’t lost my touch.

  2. I always buy canned biscuits, but nothing’s better than homemade biscuits. These look great.

  3. These biscuits look so good! I am going to make these. I love eating them warm with butter.

  4. We recently were told by our 9-year-old daughter that she loves biscuits. We’re not sure where that came from because she’s never really been a fan. I should have her help me make some. Would be fun.

  5. I’m not sure what recipe I baked my first time baking solo, but I still use the Baking Powder Biscuit recipe I used in my home economics class. It’s a bit different than the one here, so I plan to give yours a try.

  6. I think they were the first thing I made alone as well (except we called them scones and I believe what we call biscuits you call cookies)

  7. Simple indeed! I love the fact these have so little ingredients – perfect for a quick meal!

  8. I have no idea what the first thing I made in home economics was. We actually did the class in grade 9 or 10. My first on my own recipe was banana bread. Aged bananas and there really wasn’t much to go to waste if I failed. I remember my biggest confusion was the dial for the oven and the 2 rows of numbers. Apparently, I was not paying attention in home economics!

  9. “Buttery goodness”…. BUTTER!
    The first recipe I remember making a lot was lentil soup, but in reality the first thing was probably pancakes

  10. Actually I don’t remember the first dish I made solo but I am sure it was a baked goodie since I used to bake almost all our Xmas cookies when I was about 12 years old so it would have been before that. I remember the first cooking I did when I was 8 years old but it was with the help of one of our family friends. We made chocolate chip oatmeal cookies from a Quaker oatmeal cookie mix at her house. These Baking Powder Biscuits look good.

  11. These look yummy! I think my kids would LOVE them. I can’t remember exactly the first recipe I made, but it was probably chocolate chip cookies! Thanks for the recipe.

  12. These were also my first home economics project and tasted like dead fish. There were 4 girls making one batch and I think we all added Baking soda haha. Thanks for the memory and inspiring me to try making them again since I do make biscuits all the time but never attempted Baking Soda ones again lol 🙂

  13. these are some “old school” biscuits. My mother had me do biscuits like these growing up.

  14. OOOO i love biscuits but have never tried to make them from scratch! I could just imagine how great they taste just coming out of the oven! gotta give these a try

  15. Have been searching High and Low for a good Tea biscuit recipe – to compliment my night of comfort food – Stew. Attempted two recipes on allrecipes.com, too tart. Think I will give this recipe a try. They look great, so thanks for posting and will be enjoying these little morsels of delight later. Thanks.

  16. I love, love, love a good powder biscuit. These sound yummy and I will definitely be making them!

  17. That recipe looks a lot like the one I use. I don’t make then as much anymore because my husband doesn’t like them (or any biscuits for that matter). I now realise how ridiculous this is and I’m going to make them more often now!

  18. I haven’t made biscuits in such a long time but these look so good I am going to give them a go!

  19. I made these yesterday. I used cold butter instead of shortening and they were light and flaky.
    Thanks for posting. They are excellent.

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