Have you ever needed buttermilk, but you forgot to buy it or ran out? With my 6 Buttermilk Substitute options I can show how to make easy buttermilk substitutions with ingredients you probably have on hand!
Here are my 6 easy buttermilk substitutes for all of your favorite buttermilk recipes!
In most cases, any milk product will work as your base for buttermilk substitutes. Heavy cream is actually my preferred base milk product when making my buttermilk at home. I find that the creamy texture with the tangy flavor is best achieved with my heavy cream and lemon juice method.
Since I almost always have heavy cream and lemons on hand, this works wonderfully for any of my baking needs! But I think most would almost always have milk on hand. I think in that case, picking up a can of buttermilk powder from the baking aisle at your local grocery store would be ideal if you like the taste of buttermilk without having to always keep it stocked at home 🙂
How To Make A Buttermilk Substitute
- Option #1 Plain Yogurt and Milk: Mix about 3/4 cup of plain yogurt with 1/4 cup whole or 2% milk.
- Option #2 Buttermilk Powder and Water: Mix about 1/4 cup buttermilk powder with 1 cup water.
- Option #3 White Vinegar and Milk: Measure out almost 1 cup (just shy of a full cup) of whole milk (2% milk works great too) and add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar. Mix completely, let rest at room temp for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Option #4 Lemon Juice and Milk: Measure out almost 1 cup (just shy of a full cup) of whole milk (2% milk also works) then add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Mix completely, let rest at room temp for 10 to 15 minutes. *Both fresh lemon juice and the bottled lemon juice will work for making this buttermilk substitution.
- Option #5 Sour Cream and Milk: Mix about 3/4 cup sour cream with 1/4 cup whole milk, 2% milk, or water.
- Option #6 Milk and Cream of Tartar: Use 1 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar, added directly to your dry ingredients (as Cream of Tartar will clump when added to liquids) with each 1 cup of milk (whole or 2% milk).
Traditional Irish Soda Bread (white bread) consists of only flour, buttermilk, baking soda and salt and is super easy to make!
The best recipes using buttermilk
- Traditional Irish Soda Bread (pictured above)
- Strawberry Shortcake
- Buttermilk Pancakes
- Strawberry Buttermilk Crepes
- Raspberry Crepes
- 4th of July Pancakes
- Apple Cider Pancakes (pictured below)
Expert Tip: Opened cans of buttermilk powder will dry and clump up making it difficult to use, if not stored in the refrigerator. Keep your buttermilk powder in the fridge and it will be perfectly scoopable when you need it!
Buttermilk Substitute
Ingredients
Option 1
- 3/4 c plain yogurt
- 1/4 c whole milk (or 2% milk)
Option 2
- 1 c water
- 1/4 c buttermilk powder
Option 3
- 1 c whole milk (or 2% milk - not quite a full cup)
- 1 Tbsp white vinegar
Option 4
- 1 c whole milk (or 2% milk - not quite a full cup)
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice (fresh squeezed or bottled lemon juice)
Option 5
- 3/4 c sour cream
- 1/4 c whole milk (2% milk, 1% milk, or water will also work)
Option 6
- 1 3/4 tsp cream of tartar (combined with your dry ingredients)
- 1 c whole milk (or 2% milk)