It's easy to make a very quick buttermilk substitute in less than 10 minutes. Here's how.
Makes1 cupPrep5 minutes to 10 minutes
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How many times have you found yourself in desperate need of Southern-style biscuits, but without the requisite buttermilk in the fridge? Or there’s the other scenario: You have a hankering for Nashville hot chicken, but you’re reluctant to buy an entire carton of buttermilk when you only need a cup.
For either situation, I have a solution: It’s easy to make a very quick buttermilk substitute in less than 10 minutes. The closest buttermilk substitute is milk with a spoonful of lemon juice or white vinegar.
Why Do We Need Buttermilk Anyway?
Whether we’re talking pancakes or quick breads, the role of buttermilk in almost any baking recipe is to add tenderness and lighten the batter.
Making a Substitute for Buttermilk
If we don’t have buttermilk in the fridge, the closest substitute would be another dairy product with a little acidity added; milk with a spoonful of lemon juice or white vinegar does the job quite nicely.
This mixture won’t get as thick and creamy as buttermilk, but it will perform its role in the batter just as well. Incidentally, yogurt or sour cream thinned with milk (or plain water, in a pinch) also work well as buttermilk substitutes.
Thank goodness for buttermilk substitutes, because a good pancake craving should never go unsatisfied.
Try These Buttermilk Recipes
Now that you can make a quick and easy buttermilk substitute, go ahead and make these delicious recipes.
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How To Make a Quick & Easy Buttermilk Substitute
It's easy to make a very quick buttermilk substitute in less than 10 minutes. Here's how.
Prep time 5 minutes to 10 minutes
Makes 1 cup
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
1 scant cup
whole or 2% milk, or heavy cream
1 tablespoon
freshlyl squeezed lemon juice or distilled white vinegar
Combine the milk or cream and acid. Stir 1 scant cup of milk or cream and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar together in a measuring cup.
Let stand 5 to 10 minutes. Let the mixture stand at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes. When it is ready, the milk will be slightly thickened and you will see small curdled bits. This substitute will not become as thick as regular buttermilk, but you will also not notice the curdled bits in your finished recipe.
Use the buttermilk. Use this substitute (including curdled bits) as you would buttermilk in your recipe.
Recipe Notes
Other Buttermilk Substitutes:
Yogurt: Mix 3/4 cup plain yogurt with 1/4 cup water to thin. Use as you would buttermilk.
Sour cream: Mix 3/4 cup sour cream with 1/4 cup plain water to thin. Use as you would buttermilk.
Kefir: Thin kefir as needed with milk or plain water until it reaches the consistency of buttermilk. Use as you would buttermilk.
Cream of tartar: Mix 1 cup of milk with 1 3/4 teaspoons cream of tartar. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes until slightly thickened and curdled.
The simplest way to substitute buttermilk is to pour 1 Tbs. of vinegar into a 1 cup measurer and then fill the rest of the measuring cup with milk. Then gently stir the mixture and let it sit for about 5 minutes. If you don't have vinegar, lemon juice and cream of tarter also work as great buttermilk substitutions.
To make 1 cup (250 mL) sour milk for baking, use 1 tbsp (15 mL) vinegar or lemon juice and enough milk to equal 1 cup (250 mL). Stir and let stand for 5 minutes before using. This will give the right amount of acidity for the recipe.
Mixing vinegar and lemon juice creates a safe and natural cleaning solution with antibacterial properties, suitable for various household cleaning tasks. However, it should not be mixed with bleach due to the release of toxic gases and should be avoided on delicate surfaces like marble or brass to prevent damage.
For every 1 cup of milk, stir in 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes. You can scale the recipe up or down depending on how much you need.
If your milk is too cold it might not curdle properly. If this happens then don't worry, it can be fixed. Just let it sit on the counter until room temperature and then add more lemon juice and let it curdle. Distilled white vinegar also works as an alternative to lemon juice.
If your sauce or soup contains an acidic ingredient like wine, tomatoes, or lemon juice, the milk is more likely to curdle. To counteract the effect of the acid, you can use a starch along with the acid.
Tips: Before you add the acid, stir the milk so that the milk is moving when you add the acid. Don't stir the milk after you add the acid. Turn off the heat and wait up to 15 minutes for the curdle. It doesn't happen immediately.
Yes, you can substitute sour cream! Thin it with milk or water to get the right consistency. For each cup of buttermilk needed, use 3/4 cup sour cream and 1/4 cup liquid. Editor's Tip: Sour cream has a higher fat content, so this will result in richer-tasting foods.
While the quantity of acid could be fine-tuned, the consistency of milk-based substitutions will be unavoidably thin. Compared to cultured buttermilk, plain milk is watery, making the dough so heavy and wet that it oozes into a puddle, turning the biscuits flat and dense.
While the baking soda in your baked goods will react with both types of acid, the flavor simply won't be the same. So, when buttermilk is called for, especially in baking recipes, you're better off throwing on some sneakers and making the extra trip to the store.
Store-bought buttermilk is thicker, tangier, and more acidic than traditional or homemade buttermilk. If you're preparing a recipe that calls for buttermilk, it's best to stick with store-bought, especially in baked goods that depend on precise leavening.
This is a chemical reaction. In this activity, the milk is heated and then mixed with the white vinegar or lemon juice, which is an acid. The heat and the acid cause the protein casein in the milk to denature, or break apart. This is a change on the molecular level.
The lactic acid in cultured buttermilk is “very mild, round, and buttery,” says Shilpa. When you use vinegar instead (like in the commonly recommended swap of white vinegar and milk), you're getting acetic acid instead. Shilpa finds the flavor “very sharp and harsh,” compared to the mellow tang found in buttermilk.
Introduction: My name is Van Hayes, I am a thankful, friendly, smiling, calm, powerful, fine, enthusiastic person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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