Technique
Buttermilk Substitutes That Actually Work (Ranked Honestly)
Half the internet's buttermilk substitutes barely work. Here's which ones actually earn a spot in your recipe, and which ones are just milk pretending.
The Short Answer
Best all-around fix: 1 cup milk + 1 tablespoon white vinegar or lemon juice, stirred and left to sit 5 to 10 minutes until slightly thickened and curdled-looking. That's normal — it's supposed to look like that.
If you have plain yogurt, sour cream, or kefir on hand, any of those thinned slightly with milk works just as well or better. Do not just use plain milk — it's missing the acid that does most of the actual work.
Buttermilk shows up in a recipe, you don't have any, and the internet hands you a dozen "substitutes" with total confidence and zero explanation of why any of them work. Some of them genuinely work. A few of them barely do anything and quietly leave you with flat biscuits and a recipe you'll blame for no reason.
The difference comes down to one thing: does the substitute actually bring the acid that real buttermilk brings, or is it just white and pourable and hoping nobody checks.
What Buttermilk Is Actually Doing in a Recipe
Real buttermilk is fermented, which means it's acidic — noticeably more acidic than regular milk. That acidity does two separate jobs, and a good substitute needs to cover both.
Job one: it reacts with baking soda for lift. Baking soda needs an acid to activate and produce the carbon dioxide that makes biscuits rise and pancakes fluff up. Recipes written for buttermilk are almost always leavened with baking soda specifically because that acid is expected to be present. Swap in plain milk with no acid, and the soda has nothing to react with — you'll get a denser, flatter result, not a subtly different one.
Job two: it tenderizes. The acid gently breaks down some of the gluten structure in flour, which is why buttermilk biscuits and pancakes are famously tender rather than tough. It also reacts with the proteins in the batter to add a faint tang that's part of what makes Southern baking taste like Southern baking.
So the real question for any substitute is simple: does it have real acidity and enough protein and fat to behave like cultured dairy? Everything below is ranked on exactly that.
Substitute Calculator
How Much Do I Need?
Tell it how much buttermilk your recipe calls for and which substitute you're using. It scales the real ratio for you.
Every Substitute, Ranked Honestly
Milk + vinegar or lemon juice
The default for a reason. Stir 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or fresh lemon juice into 1 cup of milk and let it sit 5 to 10 minutes — it'll thicken slightly and look faintly curdled. It won't taste exactly like cultured buttermilk, but it delivers real acidity, which is 90% of the job. Works in essentially any recipe.
Kefir
If you keep it in the fridge, this is arguably the best substitute of all — it's a fermented dairy product with real acidity and a tang genuinely close to buttermilk's. Use it 1:1, no math required. Most people just don't have it on hand, which is the only reason it isn't ranked first.
Plain yogurt, thinned with milk
Whisk 3/4 cup plain yogurt with 1/4 cup milk until smooth and pourable. Real fermented tang, real acidity, and it adds a pleasant richness — excellent in pancakes and muffins, slightly heavier in biscuits than the vinegar method. Use plain, unsweetened yogurt only.
Sour cream, thinned with milk
Same math as yogurt — 3/4 cup sour cream whisked with 1/4 cup milk. Slightly richer and more neutral in flavor than yogurt. A very good substitute, just often less likely to be sitting in the fridge specifically for this purpose.
Buttermilk powder + water
Genuinely underrated. Reconstituted according to the package (typically about 4 teaspoons powder per cup of water), it behaves remarkably close to fresh buttermilk and keeps in the pantry for months. Worth buying once if you bake often — it solves this whole problem permanently.
Milk + cream of tartar
1 cup milk with 1¾ teaspoons cream of tartar whisked in. Works about as well as the vinegar method chemically, but cream of tartar is a less common pantry staple, so this mostly matters if you're specifically avoiding a vinegar or citrus flavor note.
Soy milk + vinegar or lemon juice
The only non-dairy option that reliably works, because soy milk has enough protein to curdle properly with acid, similar to dairy. Almond, oat, and other nut or grain milks are too thin and low-protein to react the same way — they'll add acid but won't behave structurally like buttermilk, so skip them for this specific job.
Plain milk, no acid at all
Not a real substitute. It looks like the easy shortcut and it is the one that actually costs you something — no acid means the baking soda has nothing to react with, and no acid means no tenderizing. You'll get denser, flatter, less tender results almost every time. If it's genuinely the only option, add a squeeze of lemon or a splash of vinegar first — even a rough approximation beats none.
How to Make the Standard Substitute
- Measure your milk into a liquid measuring cup. Whole milk gives the closest richness to real buttermilk, but 2% or even skim works fine — the acid is doing the important work, not the fat content.
- Add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or fresh lemon juice per cup of milk. Either works essentially the same; lemon juice adds a very faint citrus note that's undetectable in most baked goods.
- Stir gently and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Don't skip the wait — this is when the acid actually does its work. The milk will look slightly curdled and a bit thicker. That's correct, not a sign anything went wrong.
- Give it one more stir before measuring it into your recipe. Use it exactly as the recipe calls for real buttermilk, cup for cup.
When to Just Buy Real Buttermilk
Substitutes are genuinely good enough for the vast majority of baking — biscuits, pancakes, cornbread, most cakes. But there are a couple of situations where the real thing is worth the trip.
If buttermilk is the main flavor of the dish — buttermilk fried chicken brine, buttermilk ranch dressing, buttermilk pie — the actual cultured tang matters more, and a vinegar-and-milk stand-in will taste noticeably thinner and less complex.
If you bake often enough that this comes up monthly, buttermilk powder is worth keeping in the pantry permanently. It's shelf-stable, doesn't spoil the way fresh buttermilk does when a recipe only needs a cup out of a quart, and reconstitutes close enough to fresh that it solves the whole problem for good.
Common Substitution Mistakes
Using plain milk and calling it close enough
It isn't. No acid means no reaction with the baking soda and no tenderizing, and the difference shows up as flat, dense results — not a subtle one.
Not waiting the 5 to 10 minutes
Using the milk-and-vinegar mixture immediately, before it's had time to react, means you're adding less-active acid to the batter. The wait is short and it matters.
Using flavored or sweetened yogurt
Vanilla or fruit yogurt will throw off both the flavor and the sugar balance of a savory recipe. Plain, unsweetened only.
Expecting almond or oat milk substitutes to behave the same
They add acid but don't have the protein content to curdle and thicken the way dairy or soy milk does, so the structural effect on baked goods is weaker. Soy milk is the reliable non-dairy option for this specific use.
Questions People Actually Ask
What is the best buttermilk substitute?
Milk with a tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice per cup, rested 5 to 10 minutes, is the most reliable all-purpose substitute. Kefir, plain yogurt thinned with milk, and sour cream thinned with milk all work just as well or better if you have them on hand.
Can I just use regular milk instead of buttermilk?
Not as a true substitute. Buttermilk's acidity reacts with baking soda for lift and tenderizes the batter; plain milk has neither effect, and recipes leavened with baking soda will come out denser and flatter without it.
How much vinegar do I add to milk to make buttermilk?
One tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice per cup of milk, stirred and rested 5 to 10 minutes until it thickens slightly and looks faintly curdled.
Does yogurt work as a buttermilk substitute?
Yes, very well. Whisk 3/4 cup plain yogurt with 1/4 cup milk until smooth. It has genuine fermented tang and real acidity, and works especially well in pancakes and muffins.
Can I use almond milk to make a buttermilk substitute?
It's not the best choice. Almond and other nut or grain milks are too thin and low in protein to curdle and thicken properly with acid the way dairy or soy milk does. Soy milk plus vinegar or lemon juice is the more reliable non-dairy option.
Try It In These Recipes
- Savory Cheddar Biscuits — the classic buttermilk-and-baking-soda test
- Fluffy Homemade Pancakes
- Buttermilk Coleslaw — where the real tang actually matters
Hungry yet? Hundreds of tested recipes are waiting.
Browse All Recipes →