How to Make Buttermilk Substitute (Bold Baking Basics)
Save RecipeHi Bold Bakers!
Working as a professional chef I have learned a lot over the years and I’m excited to share what I’ve learned with you.
How to Make Buttermilk at home is a very important Bold Baking Basic I think you need to know. I use Buttermilk a lot in my baking, however not on a weekly basis. I find myself using half a carton in a recipe and then by the time I want to use it again it is bad I would have to throw it away. I hate waste so my simple solution to eliminate waste is to make the amount that I need using just milk and lemon juice.
Buttermilk is an important ingredient in baking. It adds flavor and makes moist, rich cakes. I love using it to bake. Once you know how simple it is to make you never have to leave it out of your recipes again.
This Homemade Buttermilk makes a great addition to any pancake recipe, like my Best-Ever Buttermilk Pancake recipe, Red Velvet Pancakes and even my Churro Waffles. Plus, I use it in my Best-Ever Chocolate Cake and traditional Irish Soda Bread.
Buttermilk is widely available in Ireland as it is a main ingredient in traditional Brown Soda Bread. However since moving to the U.S I realized it’s not as readily available. If you are in this situation you now know that you can whip up a great substitution is minutes.
Use my Buttermilk Substitute Recipe with:
- Gemma’s Best-Ever Buttermilk Biscuits
- Gemma’s Best-Ever Buttermilk Pancakes
- Traditional Irish Soda Bread
Get more Bold Baking Basics recipes!
Learn how to make Buttermilk at home so you always have it on hand for my Buttermilk Biscuits, Pancake recipes, and even Irish Soda Bread.
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice or white vinegar
- 1 Cup (8oz / 224g) milk (full or low fat)
- Measure the milk into a jug
- Stir in lemon juice or vinegar into the milk. Stir to combine. Let sit for 30 minutes at room temperature until the milk begins to curdle and becomes acidic.
- Use in place of buttermilk in the recipe as it calls for. And if you don’t use it straight away store it in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Watch the Recipe Video!
I don't recommend freezing Buttermilk. Dairy doesn't always defrost the same way.
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I cant get buttermilk in Ecuador and unless i use raw milk the only kind available in stores is the UHT which is never refrigerated. It doesnt work for cheese of any kind. But, I can get tons of yogurt, even fresh made. it is not thickened so am wondering about the ratio of this yogurt to water to lemon juice that i would use. BTW I have no idea what buttermilk looks like or its texture.
Hi Karen,
The texture is supposed to be slightly thickened. You will see some lumps of curds.
Best,
Gemma.
Hi. I like u recipes v much.these r quite easy to make.i want to request u if u share a recipe of a carrot cake – Ferraro roshar cake- , lotus cheese cake and biscof cheese cake.
Thanks for the requests, Anna.
I’ll add them to my baking. I already did make a biscof cheesecake :
Best,
Gemma.
Thanks so much! Not having buttermilk when I want to make a quick soda bread has been a problem before, so this is a lifesaver. 🙂
Hi Christina,
Good! I am happy to know this. I do know myself how frustrating this can be. Sometimes I use a plain natural yogurt, the strained/Greek style one, with added milk to get a good result. You will not be stuck!
Thank you for being in touch,
Gemma 🙂
Hi gemma i really love all your recipe specially the crazy dough but here in philippines its so expensive the yogurt is there any substitute thanks in advance and hoping to try a lot of your recipe
Hi Theresa,
For this crazy bread you can use buttermilk, or failing that plain milk.
I hope you enjoy this recipe,
Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma,
I was wondering if the way you make buttermilk is the same way as i make it.
So my recipie is to add some yoghurt in a bowl and then add some water until you get a thick liquid.
So, i tried your recipie and it turned out to be like the way i make it.
So…..is it the same thing….could i use it for baking?
Thanks,
AJ
Hi Daisy,
yogurt is cultured, with various good bacteria. This buttermilk substitute has had an acid ingredient added, to give a sour effect to the milk, it is different to yogurt, but in a bake it will give a similar result. good question!
Gemma 🙂
My daughter can’t have any dairy or gluten too. Is there anyway you can use a dairy free substitute for buttermilk? We recently found out and she so miserable because she what to eat all the wonderful food she knows. So I been trying to figure out how to substitute things but buttermilk is a hard one. Thanks cell.
You absolutely can use a dairy free milk where I use buttermilk in my recipes. That’s no problem, Cell.
Best,
Gemma.
Hi Gemma
I was wondering i dont keep fresh lemons i dont use them and they go bad . Can i use lemon juice in the bottle will that work.
tyvm Dottie
Hi Dottie,
Yes, you can do this, it is less acidic than real lemons but it will work. A good white vinegar is worth having in the larder too, cider vinegar is good for you too! and it will work well in this recipe.
Thank you for being in touch,
Gemma 🙂
Hi, Gemma. How about limes? Can limes be used in place of lemons? Does it change anything? I don’t always have lemons around. I always have vinegar (which I currently use); however, I have a lime tree and it’s finally producing good limes. So, I thought I’d ask the question. Thanks in advance.
Yes you can use limes but noting it will have a lime flavor. it will be good.
Use the same amount of lime juice as the recipe gives for lemon juice.
Best,
Gemma.
Thank you!
Can I use lime juice instead of lemon juice?
Hi Julie,
Lime juice is less acidic, but it will work, use a little more. Vinegar will work quicker for you too,
Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma
Greetings…
I tried the buttermilk from your recipe.. But it didnot thicken.. I followed same instruction… Instead of lemon juice i added vinegar.. I didnot have lrmon juice that time… Can u advice please….
Thanks…
Nab
Hello, great question. Even with the lemon, it doesn’t thicken much so what you made should work just fine. I hope that helps 🙂
The milk taken should be cold, warm, hot or at room temp…. thanks in advance…love from india.
Hi there,
I start with milk from the fridge, then allow to stand at roon temperature for about 30 minutes before using.
greetings to you in India, it is great to have you here with us,
Gemma 🙂
Thank you Gemma,
I just love your FB feed & all of the wonderful videos, recipes and shortcuts.
Never stop being you!
}}hugs{{
Lisa G
Thanks Lisa 🙂
Can I used watered down yogurt as a buttermilk substitute?
Yes you can Alex. That will work no problem.
Gemma.
Hi..can i use buttermilk made out of sour curd mixed with water?
Hi Meeta,
I am not sure what the sour curd is!
If it is from milk from the cows which has not been pasteurized, then it is sour milk, and super for baking.
If it is bad milk, which is what happens to old milk which has been pasteurized, then it is bad, and needs to be disposed of.
Sour milk was used to make soda bread in Ireland for centuries, prior to pasteurization, and home refrigeration. You cannot get this now unless you get milk straight from the farm.
I hope this is of help to you,
Gemma 🙂
If I make more than 1 cup of buttermilk, do I just double the recipe? so 2 cups of milk, 4 tablespoons of lemon juice? Would the wait time be longer or would it still be 30 minutes? Thanks!
Yes Kamille, Double everything in the recipe. And you still just let it sit for 30 minutes minimum.
Best,
Gemma.
Hey Gemma
I tried your buttermilk recipe and it totally works! Thanks a million.
Could you make a recipe for homemade heavy cream?
I barely find heavy cream in my country and even when I do, they are expensive.
Thanks!
Thanks so much, I’m really glad you like this recipe. The heavy cream is a tricky one. It really needs to be store bought.
Best,
Gemma.
Hi Gemma,
I am new in baking, and I wanna thank you for giving me tips in baking also tips for making some ingredients myself, which I can’t buy in my country, since I live in Indonesia.
I used my homemade buttermilk for making crazy muffin already and it works.
Thank you once again Gemma.
I’m delighted you’re enjoying my recipes, Victoria! It’s important to me that anyone can get baking no matter where you live. I look forward to seeing you around the community. 🙂
Hi Gemma,
Love love all your recipes!!!!! thank you!!!
Is there a substitute to buttermilk in your recipes?
My son is allergic to dairy, I have been making pancakes with almond milk but they dont come out creamy and fluffy.
Is there a way to work around this?
Thanks
Simone
Hi Simone,
Yes! You can add a teaspoon of lemon juice to the milk. If there is a yogurt he can have add a tablespoon of that to the milk, a plain one of course. Allow to stand for a few minutes and use. This should help the texture of the pancakes. Always so difficult to get around allergies! but not impossible. There is a vegan margarine now which will be of help to you too. hope he enjoys his pancakes now.
Gemma 🙂
Hello Gemma, I was wondering if I could use full cream milk powder which is what is readily available to me in my part of the world. If so, in what ratio can I mix with water to make up one cup.
Hi Michael,
Unfortunately you can’t use milk powder for this recipe. It has to be fresh milk that will curdle when you add the acid.
Gemma.
Hi Gemma. Love your recipes. I have learned so much from you. Please tell me if this recipe can be used to make buttermilk ranch dressing? Thank you in advance.
– Susie
Hi Susie,
Really glad you like my recipes. Yes you totally can use this to make ranch. No problem 🙂
Gemma.
Hi, Gemma! I would like to clarify what difference it will make with the amount of lemon juice or white vinegar you combine with the milk because based on my experience in making buttermilk substitute, I only use a 1-1 ratio with the milk and white vinegar (since lemons are too pricey in the Philippines).
Hi Mariza,
When you sat 1:1 do you mean one part milk to one part vinegar?
I would suggest 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar to 8ozs milk. If oyu are allowing it to stand for any time one tablespoon will work well for you. This will culture the milk really well.
I hope this is of help,
Gemma 🙂
Yes, that’s what i meant 🙂 and yes, I do let it sit for a long time before using it. Thanks for your response, Gemma! Looking forward to more baking basics that you could share so that I could add more to my notes <3
Thank you Mariza, it is good to have you with us,
Gemma 🙂
Does it have to be whole milk or can it be 2%?
Hi Barbara,
It can be 2% :), no problem.
Best,
Gemma.
Can I use lactaid milk for this?
I don’t think so Jamie as it won’t curdle. You need dairy milk.
hope this helps,
Gemma.
thanks for this substitute for buttermilk Gemma, it has saved me from buying expensive ones… i tried this twice already in your chocolate cake recipe and my family loved it.. what i used thos coz lemons here in the philippines is also expensive is apple cider vinegar.. thanks again
Hi Mila,
yes, it is an interesting thing that lemons are not grown so much in South East Asia, though they are widely distributed through the world there are places just not suited to growing lemons, and in these places they are expensive.
A good vinegar, such as cider vinegar, or white wine vinegar is a big help.
thank you for letting us know,
Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma
I am very new to baking world, I never bake anything but I found you via google search how to make my own butter. Now you inspire me so much I want to learn how to bake great hah! I live in UK but we go to India where butter is not easily available and my kids love butter so much. Good news is Cow’s milk available. I am excited that I learnt how to make butter from you but I am wondering whether it is enough to use cow’s milk straight from the cow. Is it thick enough to use it?. I see you using a lot of cream. What is the different between cream and milk? Cream added something else? I understand double cream is thicker then milk. Any advice please.
thank you
Glyn
Hi Glyn,
How lovely to have you with us.
Milk from the cow contains 3.5% fat (cream).
Separating this cream from the milk allows you make butter easily at home. In the old way the butter was indeed made from the milk, in a large churn, which was agitated to separate the cream into fat globules. This was then strained, washed, and formed into butter. Salting it was a way to preserve it prior to refrigeration. The residue was buttermilk, which could be used in baking or consumed. Usually it had a fermented/sourish taste, which was from the natural bacteria, and good for the gut.
In India, Pakistan and other places Malai was a way of making cream. This South Asian cooking ingredient is made when non-homogenized whole milk is heated to about 180°F for about an hour.Then it cools. When preparing it, a thick, yellow-toned layer of fat will form on the surface. It is then skimmed off, and the process is repeated to remove the majority of fat. There is about 55 percent of butterfat in malai.
Typically, buffalo milk produces better malai. Buffalo milk has a fat content of about five to 12 percent and cow’s milk has three to five percent of milkfat. This is why most people prefer buffalo milk when they make malai.
Clotted cream is a similar thing to this.
This is mostly use in savory spiced foods, and produces a mild flavor.
So, in this modern world we shorten the process by using cream, the higher the fat content the higher the yield of butter. If you can get cream from buffalo milk in India you will make great butter.
I hope this lecture helps, and I did not give you too much information!
Gemma 🙂
This so is a bit of a lesson around dairy milk/cream/butter.
Hey..all your recipes are simply amazing!! Thanks a lot once again for this one too!! Gona use it for the chocolate cake recipe..I wanted to as if it’s ok to replace the oil with butter?
Thanks so much! Yes you can, just sub it out with the same amount of melted butter. 🙂
Best,
Gemma.
Hi Gemma, Can I use lemon juice if I don’t have fresh lemons?
Ronni
Hi Ronni,
It does not seem to be as effective somehow. Vinegar will be a better choice. If you have cider vinegar, or white wine vinegar it will help.
Do try this, it is worth a shot,
Gemma 🙂
Thank you so much for this recipe! I come from Croatia so we don’t have it to buy! Best regards from Croatia!
Hi there,
Greetings to you in Croatia too, I have it on my bucket list to visit.
I am happy to have you with us, lots more to come!
Gemma 😉
Wow. Thank goodness I came upon your website to chance upon this DIY recipe!
This would definitely save me quite a fair bit of money as well as not wasting the leftovers as my recipe only calls for a few spoons of buttermilk!
Thanks for sharing!
Hi there,
Yes, this is really the idea, now you can make just what you need,
Gemma 🙂
Thank you very much for this recipe. I’m only giving it 4 out of 5 because I haven’t tried it yet :-). In the past, I’ve avoided recipes that call for buttermilk because a carton of buttermilk is too expensive to use one or two cups for a recipe, then throw away the rest. I’ll give your substitute a try (I always have lemons) and let you know how it goes.
Hi Greg,
Yes, you are right, and this is what I have found too, buy a carton, then look at it in the fridge until it goes out of date.
The buttermilk we buy is cultured too, in much the same way as we do in this recipe, so it is perfectly fine to make as you go.
Thank you for being here with us,
Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma. Thank you for helping us make these products at home. I live in Ug where they are so expensive. Now i can make my own right at home n yet fresh👍
Hi there,
I have no idea where you live! Is it Uganda?
Yes, some of the non traditional ingredients we talk about here are really expensive in other places, and I try to get over that by showing you a way to make these at home.
That is the idea behind the BASICS series, we will add to this as time goes on too.
Thank you for being in touch,
Gemma 😉
Yay! This recipe saved my life! Thanks so much Gemma!
Thank you Sky 🙂
Hey! Is it possible to use amond milk?
Unfortunately no, it has be fresh milk
I must confess…. I love bold bakers. I mostly use their recipe.
Hi there,
I love you Bold Bakers too, great for giving help to each other, and advice to me, well done,
Gemma 🙂
Can i use whole wheat flour in these recipies. If so is the amount the same.
Hi Misty,
(https://www.biggerbolderbaking.com/irish-soda-bread/) try this recipe!
The problem with whole wheat flour is that, though it is high in gluten, the gluten is not so available, because of the way it is milled.
For some recipes this is not a problem, cookies for instance can work well with this flour, but it is a different thing, and will give a different result.
In most cases there is a need to mix it with plain/all purpose flour to get a good result. The banana bread here is a good example of where this will work.
Fine cakes, like Vanilla birthday cake for instance will be less successful, these types of cake are designed for white flour.
Adjustments may also need to be made to the liquid ingredients for wholemeal flour.
So, you will need to match the flour to the recipe, think about it!
Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma
I am from India, a pure vegetarian.
We don’t use lemon in milk as per Ayurveda.
Can I use real buttermilk(left after butter is made) for your muffin recipes?
Does it have to be sour or as it is?
Also, please give egg substitutes in crazy muffin recipes.
Thanks a lot
Hi Monika,
Are you saying that you use dairy milk? The buttermilk residue left behind by the butter making process is a lovely thing, and different as you say from the ‘cultured’ buttermilk we make here. It does need to develop the acid. Organic, unpasteurized milk will naturally ‘sour’ and can be used in baking, this is what was traditionally used to make soda bread in Ireland. Now, because of the way milk is treated is goes bad, rather than sour, and cannot be used in the same way. So, natural sour milk can be used, and buttermilk too, but it needs to be allowed to stand, until it slightly thickens through fermentation, and the development of the lactic acid, then it is as good as it gets!
Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma, would distilled white vinegar work for this? Thank you 🙂
Hi Vicky,
Yes, that will work perfectly,
Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma, How are you? I am glad that I can learn every recipes that you shared, thank you. And I love to know more. I would like to ask, can I used milk powder by adding 1 cup water in it + 2 tablespoons lemon juice to make buttermilk? Thank you.
Hi there,
Yes! Remember this is really a cultured buttermilk, so it will work well too.
Real buttermilk is the milk residue left after butter has been made from milk, a different thing really.
Gemma 🙂
How much tablespoons of buttermilk does this recipe make ?
Eiman
Hi there,
You can make this to what you need. I used one cup/8oz of milk for this one, but you can reduce it, or increase it as you wish.
In one cup of milk there are about 12 tablespoons.
Gemma 🙂
I’ve made buttermilk twice now. The first time in banana bread and the taste was bitter. I’m using it again today and the batter is again bitter. I am baking the bread anyway thinking something magical will happen. Any thoughts?
hi Sandra,
I really do not think I have ever tasted buttermilk in a baked food. I am a bit mystified by this. You can perhaps lighten this, by mixing it with fresh milk, or reducing the acid and allowing more time at room temperature to curdle it. Let me know how this works, I am interested in this,
Gemma 🙂
Do you use warm or cold milk ?
Hi there,
It does not really matter, allowing it to stand is what matters here,
Gemma 🙂
Do you prefer to use one acid over another?
can i use full cream milk?
Hi Melray,
Sure, that will be good,
Gemma 🙂
thank you very much
Can this be used to make buttermilk fried chicken?
Hi there,
YES! this is what is known as a cultured buttermilk, which is what we generally buy in the store too. Go for it!
Gemma 🙂
Thank you and yes I shall go for it… 😉
;-D
Hi, will this work on soy milk? Thanks
Hi there,
Actually yes, this really is about adding the acid ingredient to your baking. The curding of the milk is not so important,
Gemma 🙂
Hi good day,can i use sterilized milk?
Hi Cris,
Good day to you too! Yes, you can, what you are looking for is the acid ingredients, which buttermilk/yogurt/lemon juice/vinegar are. Usually it is to balance with an alkaline ingredient for leavening, such as bicarbonate of soda, or indeed cocoa!
Happy baking,
Gemma 🙂
Did yu use boiled milk or raw one ?
Hi there,
Where I live milk is pasteurized, hardly ever bough raw these days.
You can use milk you know to be safe to drink, either one will work,
Gemma 🙂
I would like to ask, can I used evaporated milk instead of milk if it is fine? thank you.
hummm, you know I don’t think that would work. Sorry. Real milk is best.
Gemma.