Name: Buttermilk Substitute
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 1 cup milk; 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice; 1 tablespoon vinegar; 1 3/4 teaspoons cream of tartar

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Make your own buttermilk substitute for when you don’t have any using this easy recipe! Milk, yogurt, sour cream, and nondairy substitutes are all given.

Sour milk

The most common buttermilk substitute is sour milk.

Sour milk is made by adding an acid (lemon juice, vinegar, cream of tartar) to milk and then letting it sit for 5-10 minutes to “sour”.

Sour Cream + Milk

To make a buttermilk substitute from sour cream and milk, mix 3/4 cup sour cream with 1/4 cup milk.

I don’t recommend using fat-free sour cream, but lite or full-fat sour cream is fine.

Also, anything from skim to whole milk will work.

Yogurt + Milk

Plain yogurt (not Greek yogurt) can be substituted for buttermilk in a 1:1 ratio.

So, for every cup of buttermilk needed, use 1 cup of plain yogurt.

To make a buttermilk substitute Greek yogurt and milk, mix 3/4 cup Greek yogurt with 1/4 cup milk.

I have used everything from fat-free Greek yogurt to full-fat Greek yogurt with good results.

Also, anything from skim to whole milk will work.

However, your best bet is to follow the recipe. If it calls for full-fat buttermilk, use whole milk-Greek yogurt or full-fat sour cream and a higher fat milk (i.e. 2% or whole milk) will give you a closer result.

Nondairy Substitutes

You can make a nondairy buttermilk substitute by following the directions for making sour milk and substituting nondairy milk for dairy milk.

I’ve made nondairy substiututes using almond, cashew, and coconut milk, and all have worked well.

More how to’s!

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