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.
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Thanks so so so much for this tip!!!
By the way ‘FIRST’! hehe!
Thank you so much for this! I was just at foodgawker, went to a blog with cake that had buttermilk in it and just thought, oh, great, where am i gonna buy that, then i said to myself, let’s see what Joy has written and imagine my delight when i saw the title. :) Again, thank you! :)
Thank you for this! I haven’t found buttermilk here in Korea, so I’ve been using lemon and milk and it works great. I had no idea yogurt and milk was another option!
Thanks for the info! I can’t get buttermilk here where I live (or fresh milk either – grr!) so I’ve been using vinegar and milk. I also make my own yogurt, so I’ll remember that for the future. I would’ve never thought to use cream of tartar!
I had heard of the lemon and milk substitution, but as I strangely never seem to have lemons on hand, that solution hasn’t really been an option for me. But Cream of Tartar – that’s brilliant!! I always have that on hand (hello, snickerdoodles!), so that would be a fantastic solution. Thanks for the amazing tip!! :)
Sure Shauna! If you don’t have lemon on hand, a tablespoon of white vinegar also works per one cup of milk.
It’s a good thing you archive this website, which absolves me of the responsibility of writing all of these golden nuggets down. ;) Thanks!
I used a tablespoon of white vinegar for every cup of milk to substitute for buttermilk.
Perfect!
I’ve always done it as milk and white vinegar – in the same way as the lemon as described above. :)
M
oh i love it when i learn me sumfink!
Thank you for this. A question I have is how long is it safe to use buttermilk? I’ve been told it’s way past the expiration date, but I always struggle with how long is too long?
Good question. I use my buttermilk up to two weeks past the expiration date. It it smells extra sour or looks extra chunky then I pitch it and get a new carton.
Thanks! That helps.
I LOVE baking with buttermilk but so many times I don’t have it or it is expired. I read on your site once that your do use it when it is expired…but how expired??
I’ve started to always keep a jug of buttermilk around. I can’t do without it for pancakes, salad dressings,cakes and buns. I love that tang taste that it brings to food!
cool – thanks!! in your opinion, where does powdered buttermilk fall on the spectrum?
you know…. I’ve never used powdered buttermilk, but Kate of SavourFare uses the stuff with success. Just add water, right? Presto… buttermilk!
thanks for another great & informative post…lemon & skim milk…always in my frig!
joy, where did you get the slice of tree prop…i have the lemon, i have the 1 cup china measure (mine from anthropologie)…but the slice of tree looks so perfect(pls do not tell me you chopped it & cleaned it & sealed it!). thanks.
the board is from a company called Boards by Joel. and yes.. i love the little measuring cups from anthro… super precious.
thank you so for your reply!
googled & found on vermont avenue in la….
I use vinegar as well. Now I never have to buy buttermilk again!
May the great goddess above bless you and all of you endeavors. Thank you so much Joy!!! Now all I have to do is look back through all of your many buttermilk posts and find a few free hours to spend in my kitchen.
Jody in Japan
you’re uber sweet jody! i’ve owed you this post for a long time! thank you for being so patient!
Great tip, thanks :)
ive read about the milk and vinegar thing before, but ever since my friend made a mango milkshake and curdled the milk ive been under the impression curdling is bad… but i trust you joy, im going to make my own buttermilk. curdled milk, i no longer fear you.
Sister – I made butter with cow and goat milk waaaaay back in the day but I’m only 45 you make it sound like we had no running water ;-)
We did live in the country though and one time my brother was making a cake and we had no buttermilk or vinegar. He walked down the hill across the road (not dirt) to the neighbors with his tablespoon measurer to borrow some vinegar. He carefully walked home with that tablesppon level – makes me laugh still – thanks for the memories!
ps. I love ALL your tutorials and your writing is EXTRA special to me.
pss. I live in the big city of Chicago now and miss the farm
hahahaa! i guess growing up in the big city, i feel like the only time anyone every made their own butter was waaaay back in the day.
i stand corrected. i didn’t mean to make you feel waaaay old, because you’re so not.
I remember my mother always making her delicious banana bread with “buttermilk” only she wrote the recipe with lemon and milk. So when I was not yet able to see the counter without using our mustard yellow step stool with the olive green cushion, I always thought buttermilk was lemon&milk combined. :) It wasn’t until I was making my own banana bread after I married that I learned the truth.
Websites like yours passes on the knowledge that society isn’t inclined to share in family environments much anymore. I’ve started teaching my children (2boys) to cook/bake since they couldn’t reach the counter, passing on all the knowledge to make them well-rounded foodies. Although our stool is a far more fashionable white. ;)
BIGHUGS!
You’re a star, thanks so much for posting this! When I was very young (‘very’ due to my having ‘moments’ quite often)I tried to make my own…with actual butter. It gave my mom a good laugh!
The buttermilk info is great, but I also LOVE that cutting board!
thanks for the buttermilk recipes! also i’ve been curious for awhile, where are your adorable measuring cups from?
oh! those little beauties are from Anthropologie.
Hey, thanks! This is great–not only are you talented and endearing, but now you’re dropping lactic acid knowledge! I love it!
I had no idea cream of tartar would work, too! Thanks for the tip :)
One question, though: sometimes when I have a recipe that calls for regular milk, I would love to substitute some buttermilk. But I’m never sure how to adjust the baking powder and baking soda. How do I know how much of each to use?
yikes! that sounds like a whole other post. let me do some research and get back to you!
I knew the lemon variation (as well as a plain vinegar one) but that’s all.. .Thanks for the other options !
Thanks so much! I loved learning the science and history of buttermilk:)
I always do the lemon/milk substitution, but I never knew about the other two methods! Thanks for the tip. Always helpful because I never seem to have buttermilk on hand when I need it.
While we’re on the subject of substitutions: what would you use in place of light molasses? I made cookies that called for 1/4 cup of it the other day and couldn’t find it anywhere. I ended up using almost a full 1/4 cup of golden syrup with a splash of dark molasses to finish it off. Any other suggestions?
hmmm.. molasses is a whole other ball game. let me think on it.
Thanks for the info! Is there a reason you didn’t suggest the vinegar and milk version? Not as good? Bad for you?
I know it’s been asked but I will as well, how do you adjust for subing milk with buttermilk? Thx!
~ingrid
oh no ingred… i didn’t mention it simple because it slipped my mind. i was thinking that the acids were covered with the lemon. vinegar works wonders too!
Excellent article. I have seen recipes that tell you to substitute yogurt in equals amounts for the buttermilk, but I think adding 1/4 of milk would make it a better consistency.
Love the use of the wood in your pic, btw.
TWO THUMBS UP!!! Thank you for this valuable substitute info. I love that I can get all these fabulous advice in one spot! Thank you, thank you!
Excellent read! I used to do the vinegar or lemon juice in milk, but I found that the milk was still thinner than if I had used buttermilk and it affected the consistency of whatever I made. Then I started switching to the yogurt and milk combo. I never heard of the cream of tartar variant before!
A question: I saw on Mark Bittman’s site that he heats up the milk either before or after adding the lemon juice/vinegar. What does that do differently than just adding it to the cold milk?
hm… allow me to consult mr. bittman and get back to you.
This will make buttermilk pancakes on a Saturday morning SO much easier. No trips to the store = more time to sleep in :-)
Also, are the measurements the same for the vinegar and cream of tartar option?
Thanks!
vinegar is 1 tablespoon to one cup of milk.
cream of tartar is 1 3/4 teaspoons to one cup of milk.
Thanks for the info on buttermilk! I never really knew what it was, but I did know to substitute yogurt for it! I do that all the time because I have a hard time finding it in the UK. Mmm buttermilk pancakes!
I’ve heard about the lemon juice and milk substitution but never the yogurt! I will definitely be trying it out- thanks!
I’ve heard of using vinegar before but not any of your tips above. Now I have something new to try. I’m really bad with buttermilk… I usually buy a carton, use it for a recipe, and then for buttermilk pancakes the next day, and then it sits around until it’s not good anymore, and I throw it out. I really should be more resourceful and make my own.
I’ve had good luck with keeping powdered buttermilk in the fridge for muffin emergencies.
Hi Joy-
Thanks for educating us! I recently made butter for the first time and was excited to have both butter and buttermilk that was homemade. However, I didn’t know why everyone always said buttermilk was so great for baking. Now I get it. Can’t wait to use it some more.
you made your own butter!? awesome…. that is sooo on my list of things to tackle.
I accidentally made my own butter when I was 12. I was making whipped cream and foolishly thought whipping it into oblivion was the way to go. Soft peaks became stiff peaks then stiff peaks became butter and whey. I was sad, but I learned a lesson that day!
oh yay! i never have buttermilk at home – this post saved me!! :) thanks joy, you rock!
I also found powdered buttermilk at my store you just add water to it.
Man, what a timely post for me. Just last night I so badly wanted to make buttermilk biscuits but was too lazy to run to TJs to get buttermilk. This tip will definitely come in handy when I have my next midnight biscuit craving! Thanks, Joy!
Thank you so much for posting this article! I don’t find buttermilk here in Spain so I have been unable to make recipes that have buttermilk as an ingredient…but not anymore!
Buttermilk is one of those ingredients one sees time and time again in American recipes, but never in British ones. Thank you for the helpful explanation.
I love using milk and lemon in a pinch. Does anyone use the dried buttermilk? It’s easy to keep, but clumpy to use. It’s also so expensive and I’m not sure it flavors well. A second opinion?
Hardly ever having fresh buttermilk, I’ve always used the vinegar and milk concoction with success. But in the past few years I’ve been keeping a package of powdered buttermilk in my frig (once opened). Thay way, I always have buttermilk ready with the simple addition of water. Love your site!
I use skim milk and a splash of vinegar instead. This works especially well in scones, in place of buttermilk or half-n-half. Something about the consistency. I don’t know; is there a binding thing that goes on when you combine milk & vinegar and your dry ingredients?
I’ve also used this sub with 1 tablespoon of vinegar with 1 cup of milk. Thanks for the other ideas! I bake for a living so i’m positive i will use these!
Great tip! I actually just threw out some buttermilk last night because it was 2 days over expiration and smelled sour….but I didn’t realize that it’s supposed to be sour!
Fantastic Ideas.
Regards
Olguis.
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