How to Make Buttermilk
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Buttermilk is an easy item to forget when you are making your grocery shopping list. Luckily, it’s also incredibly easy to make at home and you already have the ingredients and tools to do it! Learn How to Make Buttermilk below.
How to Make Buttermilk
There comes a point in every homemaker’s kitchen career when she will inevitably forget something that she needs for a recipe. This is why every good homemaker should be armed with the knowledge of good substitutions so there doesn’t have to be any last-minute trips to the grocery store.
Buttermilk is nothing more than acidified milk. Originally, buttermilk was the leftover milk from making butter, on occasion it was left to ferment, however, when a modern recipe calls for buttermilk, they are looking for an acidified version, not the leftovers from making butter (unless you ferment it). Traditional buttermilk is still good for many things (you can just use it in the place of milk in most baking recipes), but keep in mind that it won’t have the same properties as “modern buttermilk” which is what I’m going to show you how to make today.
To make true modern buttermilk, you would need to culture your milk to provide the acidity. Below you will find the “quick” method that will provide the same results in a baked product.
How to Make Buttermilk
What You Need:
- 1 cup of whole milk (not skim)
- 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice or Vinegar
In a small bowl, combine ingredients and stir to combine. Let the ingredients rest for 10 minutes until the mixture begins to curdle and turn thicker. Use in a recipe as you would regular, store-bought buttermilk.
Need to print this recipe for Homemade Buttermilk? Grab it below!
How to Make Buttermilk
Learn how to make buttermilk at home with just a few simple ingredients you already have on hand!
Ingredients
- 1 cup of whole milk not skim
- 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice or Vinegar
Instructions
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In a small bowl, combine ingredients and stir to combine.
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Let the ingredients rest for 10 minutes until the mixture begins to curdle and turn thicker.
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Use in a recipe as you would store-bought buttermilk.
Not sure what to use this homemade Buttermilk in? Here are some additional recipes to get you started!
- Chocolate Buttermilk Bread
- Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits
- Easy Cinnamon Coffee Cake
- Buttermilk Cornbread
- Rhubarb Buttermilk Cake Recipe
- Recipes That Use Buttermilk
Homemade dairy products can be so fun to make! I’ve made Homemade Butter in a blender, homemade Yogurt(in the slow cooker and the dehydrator!), homemade Yogurt Cheese, and even homemade Ricotta Cheese. Once you make a few things you will find that it’s so easy and cost-effective to make them at home, you will wonder why you even bought them in the first place.
What recipes do you use buttermilk in? Have you ever made homemade buttermilk?
This post on How to Make Buttermilk was published on Little House Living in August 2017. It has been updated as of August 2019.
It’s funny as I’ve never thought of “making buttermilk”. I’ve always considered buttermilk as making itself. 🙂 It’s the liquid that comes off butter when I make it. That liquid keeps for a long time in the refrigerator & I grab it anytime a recipe calls for milk. Give it a whirl sometime…. I think you’ll like it. Blessings~ Andrea
I like buttermilk in my pancakes
I have never cooked with buttermilk.
I a partial to buttermilk biscuits. I use it a lot !
Yummy!
I’ve used this same recipe for years to make pancakes, waffles and biscuits. Thanks, Marisa, for the opportunity to enter the contest.
Good luck! 🙂
I would use this method to make buttermilk for baked goods!
We use it to make pancakes.
I haven’t bought buttermilk in years! I use in my pancakes.
I never buy buttermilk. Always make my own
I have done this a lot, but not recently at all… I need to dig out those recipes that call for it again and do this. Thank you for the reminder. 🙂
I havn’t used buttermilk yet, but I’ve been wanting to try a red velvet cake recpie for a long time, and it needs buttermilk, and since I don’t want the rest of it going to waste, not make it. Maybe I will try now!
I always use buttermilk for my healthy version of red velvet cupcakes! Would love for you to share your ‘how to’ buttermilk tip at Reader Tip Tuesday.
it’s open all week & growing. Hope to see you there xo
What, that’s it Merissa? No churning, no stiff muscles, no endless hours of staring off into the distance, just a little lemon juice. That’s really great to know. Thank you
It’s good to know that I don’t have to buy buttermilk. I only need a cup when I make Irish soda bread and then the rest gets wasted! Thanks for the tip.
Thanks so much for sharing your wonderful post with us at Full Plate Thursday this week. Please keep our great state of Texas in your thoughts and prayers as we are struggling with the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. Hope you have a good week.
Miz Helen