Buttermilk Substitute

If you’re like me, you decide to bake on a whim and don’t always have the ingredients on hand for the recipe you want to make. Cooking is forgiving and it’s easy to make adjustments and swaps for whatever you have on hand but baking is a totally different story. I recently found myself with 3 ripe bananas and decided to make banana bread, which is a frequent occurrence around here! {Never throw those ripe nanners away!}

I had a new recipe I wanted to try and skimmed it only to find I had everything on hand except for buttermilk. To be honest with you, I rarely even have milk on hand because I always end up throwing away a full carton. I guess we aren’t big milk drinkers but I always think it’s something one should have on hand. Nevertheless, I needed buttermilk and the only thing I had on hand was Greek yogurt. I did a bit of research and apparently it’s a perfectly acceptable swap for baking. Use equal parts Greek yogurt and water (whisk together until smooth) to create a very similar consistency to buttermilk. If you need 1 cup of buttermilk use 1/2 cup Greek yogurt and 1/2 cup water to create your full cup.

The other alternative that I use often is milk and lemon juice. I use about half of a lemon and squeeze the juice right into the milk. Give it a stir and let it sit a few minutes. You’ll see it separate and that’s totally normal!

I love these types of swaps! Sometimes I don’t want to buy an ingredient that I know I’ll only need a small amount because it seems wasteful. If I do buy the ingredient I try to play “Chopped” and think of a way to repurpose it for other meals that week. Otherwise, I’ll swap for something I will use or have on hand already.

Happy baking! 🙂