Homemade Bisquick Baking Mix Recipe

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Do you like to keep a box of Bisquick baking mix in the pantry for a quick and easy way to stir up some biscuits or pancakes? If you do, here’s an easy way to make your own homemade version of Bisquick that will save you money too!

A jar and a cup of homemade bisquick baking mix

The Bisquick brand of baking mix has been around since the 1930’s and was created to make cooking biscuits easy and convenient by using their mixture that already contained the baking powder and the shortening. You can usually just add some water or milk to the Bisquick and that’s all it takes for some basic biscuits, waffles, or pancakes.

When I set out to make my own Bisquick, I soon discovered that there were quite a a few versions of this mixture, and they were all just a tiny bit different. After comparing lots of recipes, I decided on a mixture that uses flour, baking powder, salt, and shortening. You should use white all purpose flour rather than whole wheat as whole wheat will give different, heavier baking results.

Ingredients to use to make homemade Bisquick

A few things I left out were:

Sugar: Some recipes called for a few tablespoons of sugar but many recipes did not. I feel that if you can eliminate some sugar from your diet the better off you are, so I did not include any sugar in my mixture.

Dry Milk Powder: A few recipes had you adding in some dry milk powder, but again several recipes did not include that ingredient. Because the biscuits or pancakes are often made by adding milk, I decided to opt out on using any dry milk powder.

Butter: If you want your homemade Bisquick mixture to be shelf stable, you will need to use shortening rather than butter or margarine. If you have objections to shortening you can substitute butter, but you will then need to keep your homemade baking mix in the refrigerator.

Sifting: I read one recipe that said to sift your mixture – twice! I don’t always take the time to sift and and in this case I believe my mixture still came out OK as I’ve had good results whenever I’ve used it.

This is a new mixture for me but I’ve used it in my Copycat Red Lobster Biscuits with good results.  I did give in to temptation the other day and bought a new cookbook called Best Bisquick Recipes so that I can have some new recipes to use with my homemade Bisquick. (Some recipes I’ve bookmarked are the Easy Chicken Pot Pie, the Cornbread Sticks, and the Two Cheese Straws).

Do you have a favorite Bisquick recipe to recommend? I would love some more ideas!

Click here to see more – – > DIY Baking Hacks

Homemade Bisquick Baking Mix

Making your own baking mix with pantry ingredients is quick and simple to do, saves money, and can be used in any recipes calling for a store bought baking mix such as Bisquick.
Course: DIY Baking Hack
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Baking Mix
Author: Beverly

Ingredients:

  • 5 cups All Purpose Flour (I used unbleached)
  • 3 Tbl Baking Powder
  • 2 tsp Salt
  • 1 cup Vegetable Shortening (such as Crisco)

Instructions:

  • Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl.
  • Next, add in the shortening.  You can use a pastry blender to get the shortening well combined into the dry ingredients, or you can also just use your hands to get everything mixed together really well.
  • Store your homemade Bisquick mix in a container with a lid. You can use this mix in the same way as you would use store bought Bisquick in a recipe.

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61 Comments

  1. I have used this recipe for years and have saved so much money because of it. Glad to see it on here.

  2. Where is the buttermilk flavor? I would add buttermilk powder as well. That’s what makes Bisquik different than other “pancake mixes”.

    1. If the ghee is a stable ingredient at room temperature (like shortening is), then it could be substituted in this recipe.

  3. Just add sugar and melt butter over the top after baking. Used a similar recipe forty years ago.

    1. You can use the homemade Bisquick mixture the same as the store bought. I believe on the Bisquick box it says to use 2-1/4 cups of the mix with 2/3 cup milk. (I use this mixture the most for my copycat Red Lobster biscuits rather than plain biscuits).

  4. So excited I found this, Just one thing I don’t like to use shorting can I use coconut oil instead of it and do you use the same amount or a little more?

    1. Without having tested it myself I can’t say for sure Kim, but I would start by substituting it in the same amount as the lard.

    1. I’m not familiar with dry shortening (sorry!) but it seems to me it should work and function like solid shortening and could probably be substituted.

    1. Yes, you can substitute butter in the same amount. However if you use butter, then you should keep your homemade bisquick in the refrigerator.

  5. Has anyone tried using lard instead of the shortening? I prefer to render my own lard and use that when ever shortening is called for.

  6. I prefer not to add the butter/shortening, and add that when I mix up the pancakes, and then use olive oil, milk and an egg, for pancakes. This way the mix is good for shelf life and I keep it in a ziplock. Is there a problem with this?

    1. If you use self rising flour, I would leave out the baking powder in this recipe. Self rising flour already contains baking powder, so I think it would work best if you just added the salt and shortening to make your homemade Bisquick.

  7. I need to know a few things. How many buscuits does this recipe make in total and how much mix to how much liquid do i need to make busicuits ?

    1. You would use this homemade Bisquick the same as a store bought box of Bisquick. I believe the recipe on the Bisquick box is 2-1/4 cups of Bisquick mixed with 2/3 cup of milk so you could use that same ratio with this homemade version. I believe that recipe would yield about a dozen biscuits (depending on the size you make your biscuits). So you should be able to get close to 3 dozen biscuits from this recipe.

  8. Hello Beverly
    Thanks for this useful recipe. I was thinking about using extra virgin coconut oil instead of shortening and leave the mix at room temperature. Can it work? By the way I use coconut oil for my traditional scones recipe(instead of butter) and it only does it work perfectly but I get the extra yummy flavor from the coconut

    1. I think coconut oil would probably work Khady! Because it is stable at room temperature it will be OK in this mixture, and it will also provide the “fat” component needed in recipes using Bisquick. If you try it, let me know how it turns out!

    1. Yes, you can use this homemade mixture the same way, using the same directions, as you would use the store bought Bisquick in a recipe.

  9. I have a large family and I usually keep a big box of Bisquik on hand for biscuits, chicken and dumplings, pancakes, and chicken pot pie. This morning I was going to make biscuits and horror of horrors, my big (expensive!) box of Bisquik was full of weevils. Not wanting to make a trip to the store or spend so much on a new box, I did a Google search and found several recipes. I chose yours and the only change I made was to add some baking soda because I like the extra leavening. My biscuit recipe (5 C mix, 3/4 C buttermilk, 1/4 cup club soda, 1/2 C melted butter, 1 egg, 1 tsp salt, 2 Tbsp sugar baked at 450 12-14 mins) came out even better than when I use Bisquik. My sons declared then the best biscuits they’ve ever had. I never need to buy Bisquik again. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!

    1. That’s awesome Tamara! I’ve saved your biscuit recipe too and will be giving it a try – but maybe in a smaller version 🙂

        1. You could try cutting the recipe in half as follows: 2-1/2 cups Bisquick, 1/3 cup buttermilk, 2 Tbl club soda, 4 Tbl melted butter, 1 egg, 1/2 tsp salt and 1 Tbl sugar. You might need just a bit more buttermilk as a 1/3 cup is not exactly half of 3/4 C. in the original recipe, but it’s close. I also just left the 1 egg in, same as in the original. I hope it turns out if you try it . . . I might give it a try too!

  10. Happy Holidays Bev!

    I just browsed through these tips on making your own Bisquick, as I needed some for a no crust egg quiche I’m making for tomorrow. I have Aunt Jemima pancake mix and was wondering if I could used that in place of the Bisquick?
    I know you can make pancakes out of Bisquick, but wasn’t sure if you could use pancake mix in place of Bisquick.
    I’m serving it for company, so I’ll make my own Bisquick for now.

    Thanks for your tips.

    1. A mixture like Bisquick has some kind of fat/shortening added to it, and also has some kind of leavening (like baking soda or powder) added to it. I think most pancake mixes have those two features as well so you should be able to substitute pancake mix in a pinch.

  11. have been looking for this for ever and my daughter is married and is low income with 2 children so any diy mixes packets ect. woruld so bee helpful for her and I will be shareing your page wither and her family it is great thanks

  12. i stumbled upon a great bisquick recipe for biscuits as follows. 2 cups bisquick, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup 7 up and a 1/4 cup melted butter. put melted butter in a small baking dish, mix the remaining ingredients together in a bow. the mixture will be sticky. make balls of dough and place in pan of melted butter, evenly spaced apart. bake 400 for about 15 minutes. so good! and easy! will for sure use your recipe for this…

  13. Hi Beverly,
    Thanks for the recipe! I have a couple of off-topic questions for you- what font did you use for your jar label and did you make the label or purchase the labels and print them?
    Thanks so much!

    1. The label was made in the free photo editing software Picmonkey using the Overlock font. I uploaded a plain white square (that I made in Paint) to Picmonkey, then used one of the shapes in the Labels (which you find in the Overlay section) and then typed in the words for my label. Once I had it saved, I printed it off on a clear label that I bought at the office supply store. I bought the labels that are a 8.5×11 full sheet size that you cut down to any size you want. I was a little bummed, however, that the “clear” labels actually looked kind of frosted when they were stuck on glass.

    1. This mixture is very shelf stable. I keep mine for several months at room temperature with no problems at all. However if you use butter instead of shortening, then you should keep it in the refrigerator where it will also keep for several months.

  14. Would you by chance know if a gluten free flour will work for your bisquick recipe? I know they now sell gluten free bisquick…expensive! I too am new reading your blog….thanks for ll the great info…love it!

  15. I wasted about an hour looking through every cookbook I owned trying to find a substitute for Bisquik baking mix. Yours is the best one I found on the internet. Bless you!

    1. Thanks, It has saved me a bundle and Its so great to make biscuits and my family’s fave coffee cake.

  16. Terrific blog, Beverly! I found you via Pinterest and am having a great time reading. I haven’t tried anything yet but I wanted to give some insight on Amber’s question. When you make this mix, check the date on your baking powder and be sure to use it by that date. I had poor results once making a tried-and-true scratch cornbread recipe, and then found my baking powder to be expired. Good luck to all!

  17. Hi! Just found your blog via Pinterest, and am keeping busy checking it out!
    Are there any recommendations on shelf life for this DIY bisquick?

    1. Nice to hear you are having fun looking around the site Amber! I have kept this DIY Bisquick for several months without any problems. After a few months we have usually used it up. All the ingredients are very shelf stable though. My “guesstimate” would be six months to a year of shelf life.

  18. I was checking out your Baking Mix post and I’m always looking for new ideas. I’ve been using a Quick Mix from the Utah State University Cooperative Extension website. It’s mix uses Canola Oil or Shortening and you don’t have to sift the mix and if you use Canola Oil you have to refrigerate but with shortening there is no refrigeration. To check it out type quick mix with canola oil.pdf in your search engine I use google and also check out quick mix with shortening.pdf.
    While viewing pay attention to the page numbers it will make it easier to follow and it also has recipes to try.

    extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/FNP_102.pdf

    https://extension.usu.edu/…/…

    Please read Article

    https://extension.usu.edu/fsne/files/uploads/…/february%20scoop.pdf

    Hope this helps

    1. I have not tried this with vegetable oil, but I would wonder if it would affect how the baked goods turn out. It would probably mix in OK and look about the same, but when you go to make biscuits or something, you might not get the same fluffiness or rise to the baked goods.

  19. I stumbled upon your blog today & have been gobbling up all the different posts. I recently made my own Bisquick and loved it. I used it just like the store bought stuff and we didn't notice a difference at all.

  20. Is Bisquick the same as Jiffy? I have been using up my Jiffy store lately. Their 'rich' pancakes….. I make up double batches and just freeze them. I also use the Jiffy recipe, slightly altered, for banana bread…. a total favorite! Jiffy for the topping on cobblers….terrific! I am starting on Bisquick, to use it up, today with a batch of pancakes. As soon as it is all used up I will switch to your formula. It will be fun to compare all three……
    Totally enjoy your site!

  21. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe.. just got a 5 lb bag of flour and ran out of bisquick..Know what I'm making today!!