Substitutions – Buttermilk

Ever get started on a recipe and hit one ingredient, one tiiiiny little ingredient that you just don’t have? Yea, that is buttermilk to a T. It’s a product that most people just plain never buy, and often your recipe will only call for half a cup or less which barely warrants going to the store and buying a carton of it. Here are two substitutions for this sticky situation.

1. Yogurt or Sour Cream

The most simple solution: just substitute plain yogurt, cup for cup. Lately most recipes will say “buttermilk or yogurt” anyway. Sour cream works as well.

2. Sour Some Milk!

I can only hope that you at least keep lemon juice in your refrigerator. It’s one of the most useful things that lasts forever in the fridge, so I WOULD keep this stocked. If you don’t have any, vinegar works also. The recipe is simple:

• 1 cup milk
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar

Combine ingredients and let stand for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, mix well and use as buttermilk in any recipe.

If the recipe calls for less than half a cup, half this to 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 T. lemon juice/vinegar. I have personally only done with with lemon juice, but have heard of others using vinegar with no problems.

There is actually a third common substitution for buttermilk, but it calls for another item I’m constantly substituting for: cream of tartar. Unless you have a passion for snickerdoodles you probably don’t have this in your cabinent. If you do, simply mix 1 3/4Tablespoon of cream of tartar with 1 Cup of milk. You do not need to let this stand like the lemon juice or vinegar.