How to Make Buttermilk

This article will teach you how to make homemade buttermilk in under 5 minutes with ingredients you already have on hand.

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A few weeks ago I was in the middle of making homemade spicy ranch when I realized I didn’t have any buttermilk in the fridge.

Actually, to be honest, I never keep buttermilk in my fridge.

I stopped buying buttermilk at the store a few years ago because I got tired of throwing cartons away that I didn’t use up in time. Many recipes only need a small amount and they would go bad before I used them. You can freeze buttermilk, but I just never found the time to prioritize it before it went bad.

Here at Living Practically, the goal is ZERO FOOD WASTE and throwing away cartons of buttermilk was a waste of money. I knew I had to figure something else out.

Now, I simply make my own with just 2 ingredients and 5 minutes of my time. I promise, it is so easy and you will never go back to buying buttermilk again.

Over the years, I have actually starting making a lot of things at home instead of buying them at the store. I find that they are healthier and cheaper. Some of our family’s favorites are taco seasoning, caramel sauce, and granola.

What is buttermilk?

Technically, buttermilk is fermented milk. It is a cultured product, similar to yogurt with live cultures in them.

If you ever buy it at the store and pour it into a glass, you will notice it is thicker than regular milk and also has a stronger smell. Don’t worry, it hasn’t gone sour. It is supposed to have an acidic smell, similar to vinegar.

What is it used for?

Buttermilk has many purposes in the kitchen, here are a few that come to mind.

• pancakes
• biscuits
• homemade dressings, such as Ranch
• fried chicken
• mashed potatoes
• doughnuts
• cornbread

Ingredients

At the store, buttermilk typically has a few extra ingredients, which isn’t always a bad thing. The more I start paying attention to ingredients though, the more I like to control what goes into my food.

I love how clean these two ingredients are and no extra preservatives!

• Whole or 2% milk
• Some sort of acid like vinegar or lemon juice.

How to make buttermilk

The steps really are very simple to make homemade buttermilk.

1. Pour 1 Tbsp of lemon juice (or vinegar) into a pyrex container.
2. Add enough milk to get to the 1 cup level.
3. Stir gently to combine.
4. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes.
5. Use in your recipe.

I don’t recommend making this and letting it sit for days in the fridge. Make just what you need for the recipe you are working on.

What you need to know…

• Making homemade buttermilk is simple and only uses 2 ingredients.
• It is cheaper to make your own than to buy it at the store.
• Next time you see a recipe that has buttermilk, don’t panic, just throw some together in under 10 minutes!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you will come back for more!