The Best Buttermilk Substitutions
Written by joythebaker on October 7, 2009 – 1:59 am -
Let’s take a quick minute to talk about buttermilk.
What is buttermilk? Buttermilk is a slightly sour milk. The sourness of buttermilk comes acids in the milk, most notably, lactic acids. Because the proteins in buttermilk are slightly curdled, buttermilk is slightly thicker than regular milk, but not quite as thick as cream. Buttermilk is also usually much lower in fat than regular milk and cream.
Say you wanted to make some butter and buttermilk waaaaay back in the day. First you’d take your fresh milk from the cow, let’s say a big old bucket full… and you’d leave it out at room temperature for a few days. After a few days the rich cream would separated and formed a thick layer on top of the milk. During these few days, the milk would fermented a bit from the lactic acid forming bacterias in the milk. Gross? Not at all! The bacteria produced would help lower the pH of the milk and protect with milk from icky microorganisms, making the butter easier to churn. Once the butter is churned the residual liquid that’s produced…. that’s buttermilk!
Nowadays, buttermilk is a whole other production. Cultured buttermilk, as it is called in the United States these days, is a pasteurized milk product. Instead of letting the milk ferment naturally, most dairies now add a culture of lactic acid bacteria to produce the same thickening and curdling of the milk. Many dairies also add tiny yellow colored flecks of butter to simulate the old fashioned product.
Buttermilk is an important part of baking. The acidic milk combined with baking soda in a recipe is a baker’s dream. See… when baking soda is combined with the lactic acids of buttermilk, the soda releases carbon dioxide that when heated, released tiny bubbles that expand and lift and lighten whatever you’re baking.
But what if you’re plum out of buttermilk? There are solutions…. let’s talk.
In a pinch and you’ve run out of buttermilk?
Lemon and Milk
In a 1-cup measuring cup, add 1 Tablespoon of fresh lemon juice. Top the lemon juice with with skim, low fat or whole milk. Stir and let sit for two minutes. After two minutes, your milk is both acidic and curdled. Perfect!
Yogurt and Milk
Mix 3/4 cup plain yogurt with 1/4 cup of milk. Stir and make it a quick substitution for buttermilk.
Milk and Cream of Tartar
Mix 1 cup of milk with 1 3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar. To ensure that the mixture doesn’t get lumpy, mix the cream of tartar with 2 Tablespoons of milk. Once mixed add the rest of the cup of milk. Cream of tartar is an acid and will simulate the acidic environment of buttermilk in a pinch.
Tags: buttermilk, kitchen tips
Posted in In the Kitchen, Tips and Tricks, tips | 99 Comments »
Fantastic Ideas.
Regards
Olguis.
Hi, Joy! Love your blog. SO cute.
I’m too lazy to read through all the comments, but Food Blogga (Susan) turned me onto powdered buttermilk, which I keep because the real stuff always goes bad on me before I use it all!
Great post!
oh my goodness! yes yes yes! now i dont have to keep begging my dad to buy me buttermilk, when i’m only going to use a little! thank you thank you thank you!
-catherine eng, 11, 12 on october 16!
[...] *I was out of buttermilk so I used the following substitution: Place 1 1/2 t lemon juice in a 1/2 cup measuring cup and fill to the top with milk. Allow to sit for 2 minutes. Use in place of buttermilk! Thanks Joy! (substitution found on Joy the Baker) [...]
wow! thanks! I can never find buttermilk here and now I don’t have to ^_^
I love your blog! Thanks for all your help!
Thanks for the tips – I’d never heard of the yogurt or baking powder. My mother taught me to add one-quarter cup of milk with one tablespoon vinegar in cake, muffin, and quick bread recipes to make them moist. I love your posts like this, and make your own cake flour (and, of course, your recipes rock.)
Oops! Cream of tartar, not baking powder.
Sour cream works in a pinch…
This is awesome advice!!! Just think of all of the money I’ll be saving now :O)
Hi Joy!
Thanks a lot for posting these great ideas, here in South America, cultured milk is sweetened and flavored, no chance to get plain buttermilk, i used to add 1 Tablespoon of vinegar to whole milk .Will try with these buttermilk substitutions and prepare again those amazing buttermilk pancakes( that my family loved!)
I’m so glad you wrote this Joy! I’ve heard of various ways to substitute for buttermilk here and there, but I have yet to hear anything definitive from a real baker. Thanks for that
Thank you for these substitutions. I had heard of the milk and lemon juice, but not the others. This will definitely help me when I’m in need of buttermilk
Hi Joy, my husband is allergic to dairy (anaphylatic) so instead of buttermilk I use coconut milk with apple cider vinegar and it works wonders. You can also keep your buttermilk supply going by adding a T of cultured buttermilk to regular milk and let it sit out at room temp to culture for 24-48 hours. It must be cultured buttermilk though to work…it will say on the carton. You can also buy buttermilk cultures online. I guess you have also used buttermilk to make your own creme fraiche??? You do essentially the same thing: add a T of buttermilk to whole heavy cream and let it sit out to cultue for 24-48 hours- it is the thickest, nuttiest, dreamest creme fraiche I have had since drowning my frites and steak in it in La France!:)
Cool!! Thanks for sharing these tips. Have you tried out all 3 methods before? Which do you supposed produce the best consistency?
Thanks for this info and the substitutions, great post. I don’t buy buttermilk so when I see it in a recipe, I often add a tiny drop or two of vinegar to milk. Would Vinegar be similar to lemon juice, or would lemon juice do a better job making it more buttermilk-like?
In a commercial muffin bakery setting I’ve used both the “add vinegar” and the “add lemon juice” trick. I will tell you that the milk + lemon juice is infinitely better. Even an added squirt of the pre-packaged lemon juice is better consistency and taste than the vinegar solution. It makes noticeably better “blueberry buttermilk bliss muffins”, that’s for sure.
You can also do 3.5 tsp. of white vinegar in a 1 cup measuring cup and then fill to the 1 cup mark with milk.
I love not having to buy buttermilk! Great post!
Thanks – this is going to come in very handy! I don’t regularly keep buttermilk and it’s not always convenient to go to the store especially to buy some.
Your timing couldn’t have been better… I am a vegan and I just found a delcious dessert recipe for Thanksgiving and the only non-vegan ingredient is buttermilk! So I am definitely going to try these options out:)
I use lime and milk. Never heard of the cream of Tarter one before, great tips
Do you think that kefir would work? We’ve been making that at home – so easy!- and since it is slightly sour tasting and cultured, it seems like it could be a good substitute. Any opinions?
Another quick substitute would be to use 1 tablespoon of vinegar (I use apple cider) and enough milk to equal one cup.
I’ve always used distilled vinegar that you often use to dye eggs. I add that to the milk and allow to sit for about five minutes-hopefully I haven’t been damaging my cooking reputation with this-will have to try some of your suggestions! thanks
add 1/2 tsp vinegar to 1/2 cup milk and you have buttermilk
[...] Joy the Baker » The Best Buttermilk Substitutions [...]
Thank you, it works and now I can see what a difference it makes!
What about the substitutions for sour cream? I can’t find it in Italy.
THANKS! I live in the Middle East and there is no buttermilk to be found here, so I really appreciate it.
Now I just need you to explain how to make/produce brown sugar…
Great advice for buttermilk substitution. I always ended up throwing away most of the buttermilk. To top it off where I live I can never find small containers so always have to buy a big one. I felt bad throwing it away, NOT ANY MORE! THANKS TO YOU!! LOVE YOUR RECIPES AND COOL IDEAS! AWESOME!!
thank you for these tips,
i never have buttermilk when
i need it.