Are you a fan of Bisquick? This homemade Bisquick substitute works amazingly. The homemade baking mix can be used in place of Bisquick in recipes and uses all-natural ingredients.
Bisquick was created in 1931 and has been called a miracle mix for years because it’s made many homemade recipes easier and given homemakers more time to do other things.
Bisquick started after a General Mills salesman was on a train and was hungry. He asked the chef if he could make him something quick. And what he was served was a plate of hot biscuits.
The salesman asked how the chef made them so fast and he said his secret was a pre-mixed blend of lard, baking powder, flour, and salt. This allowed him to wipe up biscuits in no time.
The salesman took this idea back to General Mills and they came up with what we now know as Bisquick. At first, they advertised it as a quick way to make biscuits that could beat even their mother-in-law’s homemade biscuits.
Soon home cooks were coming up with all kinds of ways to use the mix to make cakes, pies, cookies, and more. Bisquick jumped on this as well and created Bisquick cookbooks with all kinds of recipes.
One of my favorite vintage cookbooks is a vintage Bisquick cookbook, I’ve found so many recipes I love in it. I’ve even shared several of my versions of these recipes on the blog.
However, I don’t use Bisquick when I’m making these recipes. I’m not a big fan of some of the ingredients and make my own version that is likely closer to the version used on the train, only I use butter in place of lard.
It’s really easy to make and works as a 1-to-1 substitute for Bisquick. This is also great if you can’t find it where you live and it’s really cheap to make.
Homemade Bisquick Substitute
This homemade baking mix has just five simple ingredients you likely already have flour, butter, baking powder, sugar, and salt. And with it, you can make everything from biscuits to cakes.
You can store it in the fridge for up to 5-6 months or freeze it to store it even longer. If you freeze it you’ll want to put it in the fridge overnight before you use it but then it’s good to go.
This recipe makes 3 cups of baking mix but I really like to double it because I use it so often. I’ve used it in dozens of Bisquick recipes and they always turn out perfectly.
How to Make Bisquick
You can make homemade Bisquick in just three simple steps. Just grab your flour, baking powder, sugar, butter, and salt.
Mix your dry ingredients first, the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Make sure it’s all well mixed. After that you will want to add your cold butter, it’s important that it’s cold.
Next, you cut in your butter. If you’ve never done this before it’s really simple. Cutting in butter just means working large chunks of butter into dry ingredients, in this case, flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt.
You use a fork or pastry cutter to break the butter down into smaller places that are coated in the dry ingredients. For this recipe you want the mixture to be crumbly and to have no bigger than pea-size pieces of butter left.
Once it’s mixed you simply use it in your recipe or store it in the fridge for later. You’ll never need to buy Bisquick again.
Homemade Baking Mix
A great, natural, substitute​ for Bisquick​.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter, cold
Instructions
- Mix flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.
- Cut in cold butter with pastry cutter or fork, until mixture is crumbly.
- Store in fridge up for up to 5-6 months. It can be stored in the freezer for longer storage.
Free Muffin Cookbook
One of my favorite ways to use this baking mix is by making muffins. I have created several delicious muffin recipes using this mix over the years and I’ve put them into a printable cookbook for you to use.
It includes chocolate chip muffins, blueberry muffins, pancake muffins, apple cinnamon muffins, and several other delicious options, there are nine recipes total.
All you have to do to get the muffin cookbook is sign up below. You’ll get the cookbook in PDF form in your inbox and you can print it off or view it on your device and start baking.
More Recipes
I’ve got even more delicious recipes that use this baking mix that you can check out and enjoy. All of these recipes can use this baking mix or Bisquick if you already have that on hand.
Farrah says
Yay! Love how simple and easy this is to make! 😀 I’ll never have to buy baking mix again! :]
Lisa Sharp says
Right? The baking mix companies don’t want you to know just how easy it is. 🙂
Tiffany (NatureMom) says
How is it I have never seen a recipe calling for baking mix? Strange!
Lisa Sharp says
May have seen “Bisquick” in the recipe instead. 🙂
retrorganic says
Really great tips!
Lisa Sharp says
Thanks!
Jessica Cangiano says
How timelessly lovely! This instantly makes me think of the kind of thing that our grandmas/great-grandmas would have gone through by the bucketful, so to speak.
Thank you for sharing your tasty, classic recipe with us.
Happy baking!
? Jessica
Lisa Sharp says
You’re welcome! And yes past generations would have thought it was strange that we buy something so easy to make pre-made. Of course companies want us to think they are saving us so much time and work. 😉
Thanks for stopping by!
Melanie says
I never buy baking mix because of the hydrogenated oil in them, so I’ve just avoided making any recipes that call for a baking mix. Your recipe looks easy though…and the recipe for the cheddar biscuits looks SO good! I’ll have to make those this fall to go with some soup or chili.
Audrey says
I just used a similar recipe to make pancakes yesterday, but I think I like yours better.
Thanks for sharing on Creative K Kids’ Tasty Tuesdays link up. Hope to see you back next week.
Lisa Sharp says
I’d love to know what you think of this one compared to the other, if you use it. 🙂
Donella Crigger says
What a wonderful idea! I need to make my own baking mix; it would make it so much easier for me to make a batch of biscuits or coat chicken, etc. if I already had some made up. Your post has been featured at the Get Your Shine On linky party and pinned to our features board. We hope you’ll join us again this week!
Lisa Sharp says
It is so nice and easy. I have a really wonderful recipe that will feature it coming up tomorrow, so be sure to stop back by. And thanks so much for featuring this post!
Carole Mackenzie says
This looks promising. I tried a recipe for muffins, thawed & sweetened & drained the blueberries… I even put the crumb topping on after 10 minutes, as directed. OMG! They could’ve been hockey pucks! All that work & expense in the trash! SO, I have a new bag of frozen blueberries. Please tell me how & when to add them to the muffin recipe?
Lisa Sharp says
What recipe was it? When you add them will depend on the recipe.
VICTORIA L TROUP says
Could you use a food processor to mix with the cold butter?
Lisa Sharp says
That should be fine. I just always do it the old-fashioned way.
Valerie says
This is exciting. I have a couple of favorite bisquick recipes but I live in the UK now and Bisquick is terribly expensive. One question, I happen to have a bag of self-rising flour, do you think I could use that in place of regular flour or no?
Lisa Sharp says
I wouldn’t use self-rising flour. You maybe could if you adjusted the baking powder but I can’t give any advice for how much to reduce it.
Elaine Mejia says
I just realized that it needed to be stored in the refrigerator! It’s been on my counter for a few weeks. Would I have to make a new batch? It’s been cold lately so maybe it’s okay?
Lisa Sharp says
I would make a new batch. Some people are fine with butter at room temp but I’d say better safe than sorry.
Linda says
I have to watch my sodium intake. I don’t add salt to anything. Do you think this would still be good without it?
Lisa Sharp says
I personally have to eat a lot of salt so I haven’t tried removing it. It is very little salt per serving so I’d leave it in and adjust it when making recipes with it. In general, making food from scratch has much less sodium than packaged food so if using this to replace a packaged food it likely already has less sodium.
Rhiamom says
Lard won’t go rancid at room temperature, but butter will. I have made my own “Bisquick” using organic shortening made from Palm oil, but regular shortening would work as well, if avoiding saturated fat is necessary for you. And refrigeration not needed. But then you get some of the additives you are trying to avoid by making your own mix. Do what fits your diet and time.
Lisa Sharp says
Great tips, I personally don’t use shortening but for those that are fine with it, it’s a good diea.
Elle says
What I love about this, is if you are trying to avoid transfats this is a freeing alternative where we can still make all those delicious recipes that ask for Bisquick! 🙂 Thank you!
Sarah says
Great recipe! What are the instructions for actually making it after the mix is made up? What do I add to get them to become biscuits haha?
Lisa Sharp says
I have lots of recipes on the site with things you can make with it or any recipe that calls for Bisquick works. You can search the site for Bisquick to find them. And here is how to make just simple biscuits- https://retrohousewifegoesgreen.com/homemade-biscuits/
Lisa says
Do you use All-purpose flour with this recipe?
Lisa Sharp says
Yes, I do. I want to try using sprouted white wheat soon but so far I’ve just used all-purpose flour.
Maggi says
Is 2 T baking powder correct, or a misprint?
Lisa Sharp says
It’s correct, you need two tablespoons of baking powder for the full recipe.