No buttermilk? No problem. Carry right on with your recipe with buttermilk and substitute the buttermilk with one of these easy, money-saving buttermilk recipes!
Even though I do a lot of baking, I find that I seldom (read: never) have buttermilk in the refrigerator. Initially, I tried to be more organized and plan ahead to pop buttermilk on the shopping list before I knew that I would need it. The thing is, it is so easy to make your own buttermilk. I find it quite unnecessary to buy buttermilk for the few buttermilk recipes that I love.
We’ve all been there... You are halfway through a recipe with buttermilk, only to realize that you don’t have buttermilk. Do you quickly dash out to the store? Nope. Throw your half-made flop in the trash? Wrong again. You make your own buttermilk! It is so easy and uses just two ingredients. For your homemade buttermilk recipe, all you need is milk and something acidic like lemon juice. Here are a few different buttermilk recipes that you can try depending on what you have at home:
Pour your acidic ingredient into a mixing jug, then add the milk. Stir the mixture gently to combine the ingredients. Leave the mixture to stand for five minutes. Now you have DIY buttermilk ready to use in any buttermilk recipe! See, I told you it was easy! Bonus: making your own buttermilk is generally cheaper than buying buttermilk at the store. Also, you can make as much buttermilk as you need for your recipe. No more worries about half-used bottles of buttermilk going off in the refrigerator.
If you are lactose intolerant or have a dairy allergy, using milk or buttermilk may not be ideal. Not to worry, you can make dairy-free DIY buttermilk too! Using any of the recipes above, simply replace milk with your dairy-free milk of choice. For example, if you love using oat milk instead of regular cow’s milk, combine 235 ml of your oat milk with 15 ml of white vinegar. You could use coconut milk, soy milk, almond milk, or any other plant-based milk.
Do you have yogurt or sour cream in your refrigerator? You can use these ingredients as buttermilk substitutes. For yogurt, you can substitute 1:1 in your recipe. In other words, if your recipe calls for one cup of buttermilk, use one cup of yogurt instead.
Sour cream also works as a buttermilk substitute. Sour cream is a little thicker than buttermilk, so dilute the sour cream with a bit of water. As a substitute for one cup of buttermilk, mix 190 ml of sour cream with 60 ml of water.
Unflavored kefir is another suitable buttermilk substitute. You can substitute it for buttermilk in a 1:1 ratio.
DIY buttermilk is great for saving on food costs and food wastage. For more money-saving ideas like making your own pantry staples and the infinite uses of baking soda, check your weekly Save mailer. You will also find deals and coupons on groceries and baking ingredients so you can whip up your favorite buttermilk recipe at the drop of a hat.
