Many recipes call for buttermilk, if you don’t have any on hand this is a great substitute.
It happens every now and then,
I’ll select a recipe that calls for buttermilk,
and I didn’t plan it out or go shopping
chances are I don’t have buttermilk then.
It’s not something I keep on hand usually.
So, I make it.
With just two ingredients I am able to make a buttermilk substitute,
milk and vinegar is all it takes,
and a few minutes.
Can you substitute heavy cream for buttermilk?
Yes, you can. Any variety of milk will work.
Mix a tablespoon of vinegar into a cup of milk, wait a couple of minutes and you will have a buttermilk substitute.
Now if you have heavy cream in your and add the vinegar, it will be VERY close to actual buttermilk, but I realize everyone may not stock heavy cream in their fridge either, so I wanted you to know milk is good for this. I’ve used whole milk, 2% and skim milk with great results.
- 1 cup milk (or heavy cream)
- 1 tablespoon vinegar (or lemon juice)
- Mix vinegar into milk and let it sit for a few minutes.
- It will curdle a little bit, that is the vinegar doing it's magic on the milk.
- The result will be a tangy tasting milk, just like buttermilk.
I will have a couple of recipes coming up using buttermilk and wanted to show you how easy it is to make if you don’t have any on hand.
Linda says
This is such a good tip to share. Not everyone needs a quart of buttermilk to use 1 cup.
Wishes for tasty dishes,
Linda @ Tumbleweed Contessa
sue|theviewfromgreatisland says
Little tricks like this make baking so much more fun!
Hala says
When we say heavy cream do we mean heavy whipping cream?
Thanks for the tip
Diane says
Yes, I do. I know there are different fat contents in heavy cream and whipping cream. Each store will sell something different, but all similar products. Heavy cream on my site can be interchanged for whipping Cream 30-36%), Heavy Whipping Cream (36) or manufacturing cream (40%) (the % is the butterfat percent in each product) as you can see they are similar and in applications like this can be interchanged.
Hala says
Thank you… I’ve never tried to make buttercream with heavy cream… always with milk. I will try this pretty soon 🙂
Diane says
Using heavy cream is great when you have a recipe that will benefit from the extra butterfat, like scones, biscuits, sauces 🙂