Add acidic ingredient (tartar, vinegar or lemon juice) to the milk and stir. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. The milk should start to curdle. Stir well before using.

A combination of plain yogurt (3/4 cup) and whole milk (1/4) cup can also be used to replace a cup of buttermilk in most recipes.


You don't have buttermilk, but you're desperate for homemade buttermilk pancakes or biscuits. What are you gonna do? Here's four easy solutions.

Mr Breakfast would like to thank Mr Breakfast for this recipe.

Recipe number 1192. Submitted 2/23/2004.

Overall Average Rating = 5 (out of 5)

Based on 48 votes.

View all 74 comments for this recipe.

From Mini

Recipe Rating (out of 5):

Never knew that buttermilk was so simple.

Comment submitted: 4/10/2013 (#15615)



From Works Good

Recipe Rating (out of 5):

I used the vinegar and milk since I didn't have buttermilk to make cornbread. It turned out so good that my husband swallowed his tongue twice while eating the cornbread, pinto beans, and collard greens.

Comment submitted: 3/2/2013 (#15290)



From LaVerne

Recipe Rating (out of 5):

You saved the day! I wanted to make my mom's buttermilk pancake recipe and didn't realize how old the buttermilk was in the fridge. Found this - used a lemon from the neighbor's tree. Tasted just like if I used store-bought buttermilk.

Comment submitted: 1/23/2013 (#15095)



From Jas

Recipe Rating (out of 5):

Excellent recipe. I've used this recipe 4 times now to make buttermilk for Ranch Dressing. I've found the cream of tartar method is the best out of all the mentioned options. Highly recommended (using cream of tartar).

Comment submitted: 1/17/2013 (#15084)



From Jas

Trying it now! My Cream of Tartar was quite old, and so just to be careful I added a few squeezes of lime juice (don't have any lemons). I hope it works! I'll be using it to make buttermilk ranch dressing here in a few minutes, so we'll see. Thank you for the recipe! My ranch dressing just wont do without buttermilk, so you're a life saver :)

Comment submitted: 12/9/2012 (#14951)



From Suzan (Team Breakfast Member)

Recipe Rating (out of 5):

This made better tasting biscuits and they had better texture too... thank you.

Comment submitted: 10/10/2012 (#14576)



From misdee215

Recipe Rating (out of 5):

Thank you! Loved your story. I too have shamefully refrained from questioning the mystery of buttermilk. For years, I've avoided recipes with buttermilk. It did not seem worth the trouble to go out for a quart of this odd ingredient if I only needed 1/2 a cup.

Comment submitted: 4/29/2012 (#13855)



From Houdak (Team Breakfast Member)

Recipe Rating (out of 5):

I am going to do this because we don't have buttermilk here. Probably going to try the method from Eric in the comments here. Thanks.

Comment submitted: 1/8/2012 (#13404)



From Kasbian

Recipe Rating (out of 5):

I used the method of replacing buttermilk with yogurt and milk and it made very good pancakes.

Comment submitted: 11/27/2011 (#13240)



From dusty

Recipe Rating (out of 5):

Thanks for this. Didn't realize the pancake recipe I was gonna use for brunch needed buttermilk. This really saved my butt and worked great.

Comment submitted: 10/29/2011 (#13095)



From Boing

Recipe Rating (out of 5):

Finally I know what buttermilk is! We don't have it here.

Comment submitted: 10/20/2011 (#13054)



From foodstix

Recipe Rating (out of 5):

It worked really well in my pancakes. Thanks!

Comment submitted: 4/9/2011 (#12433)



From Eric Altman

Recipe Rating (out of 5):

There is another easy method that doesn't involve adding anything to the dairy.

Just put very cold heavy cream into a non-heating processing or mixing device like a food processor, magic bullet, electric mixer with a whisk attachment, hand-held electric mixer/blender, or similar. For the most part, you should not use a blender, as the metal at the bottom tends to heat up too much and can affect the final product.

Anyways, put the very cold heavy cream (the fresher the better. I've found that local organic raw cream is amazing for this) into the chosen device and let it fly for a good 10 minutes if the device has a good fast and furious setting on it (oh, a cover is important or you're gonna get covered), maybe 15-20 minutes otherwise. The solids will separate from the liquid in the bowl.

Transfer the solids to a strainer over a bowl and allow to drain. Then put the solids in a clean bowl and use the back of a large spoon to squeeze out excess liquid (this is not difficult at all).

You are left with two results.

The solid you squeezed out is... Butter! Fresh homemade, delicious good ol' butter! Lightly rinse the separated solids using a strainer under water, then let drain and kneed them together until they form a single solid. Put in a sealable container and keep in the fridge.

The liquid left behind? Buttermilk! Fresh delicious buttermilk.

Really can't be easier. Enjoy.

Comment submitted: 9/30/2010 (#11314)



From Mrs. D.

Recipe Rating (out of 5):

When I was growing up in N.H. we did the same thing and called it sour milk and used it in baking caked.

Comment submitted: 9/26/2010 (#11301)



From W. Thanks

Recipe Rating (out of 5):

Thank you! We don't have buttermilk biscuits in my country, nor buttermilk by that name (it has a translation but that stuff is clearly not this) and I had no idea what it was.

Comment submitted: 9/16/2010 (#11236)



From Mrs. B (Team Breakfast Member)

Recipe Rating (out of 5):

For someone who's good at criticizing, you're horrible on your English as well. "gonna" is a word, look it up; and "you're desperate" was correct, as in "you are desperate". I hope English Maven isn't an English teacher, because they just failed. Other than that, this is a recipe, not an English assignment. So thank you very much for the recipes, I've been looking for a substitute buttermilk, and this is great. :)

Comment submitted: 9/10/2010 (#11193)



From chumei

Thank you. I'm going to try the recipe for buttermilk fried chicken tomorrow...

Comment submitted: 6/20/2010 (#10733)



From Girl Rex

English maven should get a life and stop telling other people what they should do.

Comment submitted: 6/6/2010 (#10624)



From English maven

You're recipe is good, but your English is atrocious!

"your desperate", "gonna" (not a word) and "here's four easy solutions..." Please clean it up. Children might be reading...

Comment submitted: 5/30/2010 (#10585)



From big momma

How much butter milk will 1 cup of whole milk and 1 3/4 tbs of cream of tarter make. Also, do you use the parts of the milk that have started to curdle?

Comment submitted: 3/29/2010 (#10195)



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