Homemade Buttermilk: Easy Steps & Substitutes

If you are into baking, buttermilk is surely your best friend!

Even otherwise, buttermilk serves many purposes. The thick liquid substance that is left after whipping up butter is known as buttermilk. But do you know that you can prepare buttermilk at home too?

How To Make Buttermilk At Home:

In case you are running out of regular buttermilk or simply don’t want to pay for a whole carton, go for any of the buttermilk substitutes that you can prepare fast and easily at home. To make things easier for you, we have given multiple DIY methods that you can give a try. Each of the recipes will yield 1 cup of buttermilk and you can increase the amounts of ingredients as per your requirement. Check them out below:

1. From Plain Milk:

Ingredients:

• Plain whole milk (2%) – 1 medium-sized cup
• Fresh lemon juice – 1 tablespoon

Preparation:

1. Take a clean cup and put the fresh lemon juice in it.
2. Pour the plain whole milk (2%) into the juice and stir well.
3. Keep the cup aside and let the mixture sit for the next 5 to 10 minutes at room temperature.
4. Once it turns thicker and tiny curdled bits become visible at the top, place it inside the refrigerator for future use.

2. From Heavy Cream:

Ingredients:

• Heavy cream – 1 medium-sized cup
• White vinegar – 1 tablespoon

Preparation:

1.  Put the white vinegar in a clean cup.
2.  Add the heavy cream to it and whip nicely.
3.  Set it aside so that the mixture can stand at room temperature.
4.  After 5 to 10 minutes, move the cup to the refrigerator.

3. From Plain Yogurt:

Ingredients:

• Plain yogurt – (3/4) cup
• Plain milk – 2 tablespoons

Preparation:

1.  First, pour the plain milk into a cup.
2.  Then, add the plain yogurt to it.
3.  Mix both of the ingredients properly and then use as homemade buttermilk. You can also mix a little water with the yogurt in order to make it thinner, if you wish.

4. From Sour Cream:

Ingredients:

• Fresh light sour cream – (3/4) cup
• Plain milk – 2 tablespoons

Preparation:

1.  First, pour the plain milk into a cup.
2.  Then, add the fresh light sour cream to it. Try to pick one that is low in fat instead of using something totally fat-free.
3.  Mix both the ingredients well and your buttermilk is ready to be used.

5. From Cream Of Tartar:

Ingredients:

• Cream of tartar – 1(1/2) to 2 tablespoons
• Plain milk – 1 cup

Preparation:

1.  Take a cup of milk and add the cream of tartar to it.
2.  Whip up the entire mixture for a couple of minutes.
3.  Place the cup aside so that it can sit for 5 to 10 minutes at room temperature.
4.  Then, stir with a spoon and use.

Hope by know you must have got an idea on how to make butter milk at home. If you are a vegan, or just looking for lactose free buttermilk, we have good news for you too! Just replace the plain whole milk with any other sort of milk i.e. coconut milk, almond milk, soy milk, etc. in your recipe and keep the rest of the procedure intact. However, it will change the flavor and smell of your buttermilk for sure.

How To Make Cultured Buttermilk:

Well, cultured buttermilk is mostly available in stores and you may find it a bit complicated to prepare it at home. But if you are looking for something homemade that will be similar to the store-bought buttermilk in both texture and flavor, you can prepare it all by yourself. Here is the procedure:

1.  Take some milk that has been gone through homogenization followed by pasteurization. The first technique will avert the fats present in the milk from getting separated, while the second one will destroy harmful bacteria in it.
2.  Mix the milk with ‘culture’ i.e., a certain mixture of lactobacillus bacteria. It will ferment the lactose present in the milk and give it the required texture as well as flavor of buttermilk.

Nutritional Value Of Buttermilk:

The following chart gives the nutritional value of one serving of homemade buttermilk a day:

Calories75Total fat4 gmsSaturated fat2.3 gmsCarbohydrate5.9 gmsProtein3.8 gmsCholesterol12.2 mgSugar6.2 gmsSodium52.6 mg

Points To Remember:

Always pour the milk into the other ingredient of the recipe of homemade buttermilk as it gives the best results. But make sure that you do not wait more than 5 to 10 minutes. Or else, the ingredients will overreact with each other, making the end result a bit too sour to be consumed.

No matter how you use buttermilk, homemade is always better! So, next time a recipe calls for buttermilk, make sure you have stored some in the fridge!

Have you ever tried to prepare buttermilk at home? How did it come out? Do let us know by commenting below.