10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (2024)

I feel like whenever I mention using buttermilk, someone says either “You know you can just add vinegar/lemon juice to regular milk, right?” or “what do you do with the leftover buttermilk?”

In response to the first question: I am not a fan of adding vinegar/lemon juice to regular milk and calling it buttermilk. It is not the same. You will absolutely notice a difference.

You’d be better off using plain yogurt, possibly thinned with a bit of milk, because you’ll get a better consistency and a more near flavor to real buttermilk.

10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (1)

But really, you should just use real buttermilk. One, it’s cheap.

Two, people will often ask, how long is buttermilk good for or does buttermilk go bad? In my experience, it lasts forever. In the 10+ years since I started keeping it around as a staple, I have never once had a bottle of buttermilk go bad. Even after two or more months.

Three, buttermilk is just not an ingredient that really substitutes well. You’ll get the best flavor, texture, and height when you actually use buttermilk instead of a substitute. I obviously feel way too strongly about using buttermilk!

10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (2)

So now you’ve bought yourself a quart of buttermilk here’s an answer to question number 2 – How do I use up buttermilk?

If you are looking for a way to use up leftover egg whites, pop in your email and I’ll send you a list of my favorite ways to get them out of your fridge!

10 Recipes using buttermilk

10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (3)Homemade Ranch Dressing – So amazing, I want to weep when I don’t have any around. Once you make this buttermilk ranch recipe, you will never want to go back to store bought ranch again!

10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (4)Waffles– I’ve mentioned these waffles before but they are my favorite favorite waffles of all-time. I go 100% white wheat flour and use coconut oil and they are delicious. But I used vegetable oil for years and they were great that way too.

10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (5)Maple Oat Scones – The first scones I ever made. Delicious and got me over my fears of scone-making.

10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (6)Coconut Buttermilk Syrup – I love this recipe, and Bart and I both scarf it down whenever I make it. We don’t even buy regular syrup anymore.Coconut buttermilk syrup forever!

10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (7)Perfect Pancakes – These are my very favorite buttermilk pancakes. Seriously the best pancakes I’ve ever had.

10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (8)Buttermilk Biscuits – I love these slightly-sweet, flaky biscuits. Easy and delicious every time.

10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (9)Pumpkin Scones – For when you want to use up your buttermilk in a festively seasonal way.

Perfect Potato Salad – I love the idea of potato salad, but find that most recipes fall a little flat. This one that uses buttermilk, though? I’m scraping the bowl.

10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (11)Double Chocolate Muffins – These are some really great muffins. Definitely a weekend favorite in this house.

10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (12)Buttermilk Banana Bread – Bart doesn’t really like this recipe (although he’ll still eat several slices), but I LOVE this stuff and the first time I made it for Ella, she ate half a mini-loaf on her own.

Do you have a favorite recipe using buttermilk? I’d love to hear! And something I’d like to try with buttermilk? Ice Cream. I’ll return with full details when I get around to it (so, you know, in a year or so).

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10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (13)

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  1. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (14)Diane says

    We have a pancake recipe that we got from Alton Brown's Good Eats that uses pancakes. They are so good. My husband makes them anytime my grandchildren are here. They call buttermilk "pancake milk" because that's when they see it being used.

    Reply

  2. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (15)Rachel says

    Oh dear . . . I've actually never in my life used real buttermilk. I'll blame my mother–she was a big believer in the milk + vinegar substitution, so it wasn't until I was married and cooking for myself and my husband that I even noticed there was such a thing as real buttermilk in stores and the recipes weren't just using it as a codeword for milk and vinegar. I'm excited to see the difference using the real stuff makes!

    Reply

  3. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (16)Amanda Cobb says

    I recently became aware of the existence of Buttermilk Chess Pie, and am a huge fan. I've yet to try making it myself, but it is DELICIOUS.

    The buttermilk banana bread sounds amazing.

    Reply

  4. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (17)Meridith says

    You've sold me on it. I'm now craving coconut buttermilk syrup.

    Reply

  5. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (18)emandtrev says

    I am already a big fan of the homemade ranch dressing recipe. So delicious. Bless you for sharing that. 🙂 All of these recipes sound wonderful. I may have gasped with glee when I clicked on the Maple Oat Scones recipe. Not only does it sound fantastic, but I loooooove Ina Garten. Love.

    Reply

  6. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (19)lifeofadoctorswife says

    Well, I am now completely won over to the magic of buttermilk! I've used it before (for what? Hmm. I cannot for the life of me remember!) but I was able to buy one of those little tiny half pint bottles, so there wasn't any left over. Good to know that it keeps for a while, though!

    Reply

  7. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (20)heidikins says

    I buy buttermilk by the pint and end up using it all every time. My last pint? 18 cents. I feel like I'm beating the system. 🙂

    xox

    Reply

  8. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (21)Natalie says

    Way to stand up for buttermilk! I totally agree… that vinegar + milk substitution is lame and the consistency is all wrong. I quit buying regular milk, but I can't give up buttermilk. 🙂

    Reply

  9. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (22)Emily Kate says

    I know I have asked you (or twitter in general, but mostly just so you would answer) this very question so thank you for this post! I also always wondered how safe it was to keep it around so that is so good to know. I love recipes with buttermilk in them so I'll be more confident buying it now I know I can use it up.

    Reply

  10. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (23)Packrat says

    You are correct. Adding lemon or vinegar is regular milk is not the same as buttermilk. That is a substitute for sour milk which is entirely different.

    Amanda is also correct; buttermilk chess pie is delicious. It is also incredibly easy to make.

    I always keep a container of powdered buttermilk (SACO brand is what is available here)on the pantry shelf. If kept dry, it will literally keep for years. I use this for almost everything that calls for buttermilk. For chess pie, though, I buy the real thing.

    Reply

  11. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (24)Kayris says

    I'm one of those that uses vinegar/lemon. Bottled buttermilk always seems short dated, maybe it's an East Coast thing? Because I have thrown out more than I can count because it was funky. I used to buy the powdered stuff but ended up using a few tablespoons and chucking it. I only buy it when I need a larger amount, like for the cake I made my son for my bday last year. Not a fan of buttermilk, even the smell makes me gag.

    Reply

  12. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (25)Merrick says

    I remember that Y hike…I was hiking it the same night with a friend and you kindly shared the muffins at the top. Delicious. In fact, I might need to make some this week…

    Reply

  13. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (26)Lady Susan says

    So now all you need to do is culture your own buttermilk. I know it appeals to your frugal nature. 😉 It is super easy too because the bacteria culture at room temperature vs. those for yogurt which require a temperature of 115. You can buy buttermilk culture (powder) and then keep it constantly going, or you can use buttermilk from the store (as long as it contains live cultures) and use that as your buttermilk starter. Add a little bit of starter to your milk, leave it on the counter to do its thing. It is done in 24 hours or so. You can also use buttermilk to culture cream to make your own creme fraiche or sour cream.

    Also, I wanted to say that I have had success using buttermilk in replace of milk for most baked goods. (I guess you do need to keep an eye out for the type of levener used. You would need to swap in some baking soda if it only called for baking powder for example.) It can add a really nice flavor and texture.

    And the whole point of cultured dairy is that it keeps longer than straight milk/cream/etc.

    Reply

  14. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (27)G says

    Amen. Must have real buttermilk. I try to keep it around too. It lasts long enough and is used in enough GOOD recipes that I don't ever feel like I have to TRY to use it up. More likely I run out prematurely and then weep because I don't have time to run to the store and I have to use some lame substitution!

    Reply

  15. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (28)Kristi says

    I think you forgot to say Texas sheet cake. Whoa baby.

    Reply

  16. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (29)Amanda says

    My favorite banana bread recipe calls for buttermilk and when I tell people that they think I'm weird. But, they don't complain when I give them some to eat! It's amazing! I recently had 2 open cartons because I was leery of the impending/passed dates…but then I remembered your post. I thought, "If Janssen can use it and not die, then I'm sure we'll be fine." And we were! Another batch of banana bread and some delicious buttermilk pancakes later and I used it all up!

    Reply

  17. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (30)Michael Binder says

    Two thoughts:
    1. Store bought buttermilk is still not "real" buttermilk. It's cultured (sour) milk. It's made by adding cultures to regular milk. "Real" buttermilk is the liquid that's left over when you make butter from cream. That's something entirely different than the product you buy at the store labeled as buttermilk. The only reason they call that buttermilk is because it sounds better than sour milk.
    2. It's funny how you list ten usages for buttermilk, but still not come up with the most obvious, and most easy one: Just drink it. It's healthy, it's delicious, it's a great drink, it's the original purpose and use of buttermilk long before it was used as baking or cooking ingredient. I'm from Europe, where buttermilk is very popular as drink, and nothing but a drink, and it never stops astounding me how Americans always think of buttermilk exclusively as baking ingredient. Jeez, if you absolutely can't stand the taste of pure buttermilk (and I really pity you in that case), add some fruit and make a smoothie out of it. That's another very obvious use not listed above.

    Reply

    • 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (31)Connie Deatherage says

      You are absolutely right about drinking it! I'm a southern girl (Georgia) and almost everyone in my family drinks it. When my dad and my sister had chemo and it caused them to have sores and ulcers in their mouth, buttermilk was the ONLY thing that soothed the soreness and helped them.

      Reply

    • 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (32)Sue says

      You are soooo right! I love making home made butter in the food processor and saving the real buttermilk!

      Reply

    • 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (33)Mariah Maloy says

      You are correct that buttermilk is the liquid byproduct from churning cream into butter, but it will only be true buttermilk if the cream contained the cultures(/probiotics). Many creams that you buy in stores in the US are pasteurized, which killed off the cultures originally present in the cream. If you beat the pasteurized cream into butter, you will get a “buttermilk,” but it will not taste or behave the way real buttermilk is supposed to because it’s not cultured and fermented. You must reintroduce the probiotic cultures and let it ferment to get true buttermilk.

      Reply

    • 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (34)Jane says

      Yup. Drink it! I’m from Indiana and it is definitely not cheap here. I too was watching for the obvious, as in drinking it. Good with some fresh ground black pepper. My husbands family from Tennessee crumbles up cornbread in it. Also makes great biscuits!

      Reply

  18. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (35)Unknown says

    Irish soda bread.

    Reply

  19. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (36)Connie Deatherage says

    Believe it or not, buttermilk makes AMAZING mashed potatoes! Use it instead of either milk or cream and enjoy the the slight tangy creamy flavor it gives your mashed potatoes!

    Reply

  20. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (37)Allison says

    Also, Creme Fraiche. It's something between sour cream and yogurt. Add three tablespoons of buttermilk to a cup of heavy cream in a mason jar, put on a lid, and shake it up. Then leave it on your counter for 24-48 hours. Add some sugar and vanilla extract to the Creme Fraiche and it's great on strawberries/blueberries.

    Reply

  21. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (38)Tony and Candy says

    Buttermilk Pie simple and one of the best pies ever! There are recipes on Pinterest for it.

    Reply

  22. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (39)Aimee says

    Ok, I’m an oddball, for which I own up to. I LOVE buttermilk. Not to drink (my Mom did, though) but I have so many recipes that use it that I buy it by the quart and wish I could just get a gallon. King Arthur Fluffy pancakes, buttermilk salad (any flavor Jello, not just orange,) quickbreads, yeast breads… just to name a few. I came here to get more ideas.😊

    Reply

    • 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (40)Janssen Bradshaw says

      You belong here!

      Reply

  23. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (41)Megan says

    We make a buttermilk pie that’s to die for. One of our favorite chicken marinades is also buttermilk based. It has fresh herbs, Dijon mustard and some other things and then we grill it… it’s perfection every time! Also, if you haven’t tried the buttermilk milkshakes from cubby’s yet, you need to! They’re so good!

    Reply

  24. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (42)Kelsie says

    Blueberry Boy Bait (it’s a cake) is my favorite way to use buttermilk but it is always nice to get new ideas! Butter syrup is my favorite for pancakes and waffles. So easy and delicious!

    Reply

  25. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (43)Betsy says

    I’m Team Buttermilk, too! It’s just not worth making pancakes without it.

    Reply

  26. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (44)lisa says

    We get our milk delivered from a local dairy and I was thrilled to discover they also had buttermilk available. My husband uses it to make aebleskivers. I take the rest and go through my saved pancake/waffle recipes. While it stays good for about two weeks, it definitely turns after that.

    Reply

  27. 10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (45)Maire says

    Buttermilk can be frozen also. You say it last forever, does that mean when it gets very thick and lumpy it is still good to use. That is what happen to mine (store bought).

    Reply

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10 Recipes to Use Up Buttermilk (2024)

FAQs

Can I freeze buttermilk for later use? ›

Once the milk is frozen, pop the cubes into a ziplock plastic freezer bag. Label the bag, and date it so you'll know when you should use or toss the frozen buttermilk. Like all frozen foods, buttermilk will keep indefinitely if properly frozen, but it will taste best if used within three months.

How long does buttermilk last in the fridge? ›

Since quality fades quicker after opening, buttermilk will last a maximum of 2 weeks in the fridge. Even then, this timeline isn't a guarantee. Depending on factors like improper handling or storage, buttermilk can spoil prematurely.

What can I do with outdated buttermilk? ›

Buttermilk never expires. Ten days after the expiration date, just boil it for a few minutes and let it settle for a while. It makes a great dry yogurt in the form of cookies.

Can I put buttermilk in coffee? ›

Despite the way it sounds, buttermilk is neither sweet nor creamy — it actually tends to be quite bitter. It has a slightly thick consistency, similar to eggnog, and we do not recommend adding it to coffee of any sort. Buttermilk is much better for baking rather than drinking.

What happens if you freeze buttermilk? ›

Seal the container tightly or squeeze out excess air from the freezer bag to minimize the risk of freezer burn. 2. Storage Duration: Frozen buttermilk can be stored for about 3 to 4 months in the freezer. After this time, the quality and flavor may begin to deteriorate gradually.

Does buttermilk ever go bad? ›

Guidelines from agricultural programs at various universities recommend consuming buttermilk within three weeks of the date stamped on the package. In the test kitchen, we've found that buttermilk won't turn truly bad (signified by mold growth) until at least three weeks after opening.

How do you know if buttermilk has gone bad? ›

Buttermilk tends to be a little thicker than milk and it naturally has tiny lumps in it, so it's good to shake it well. Pour some into a cup and look at its consistency. It should be smooth, but if it's really thick and has clumps or chunks, the buttermilk has gone bad. The buttermilk smells strong and sour.

Can I use buttermilk that expired 3 days ago? ›

Does buttermilk go bad? Buttermilk has a pretty long shelf life, and will generally be safe to consume way past the date on the carton, but it will eventually spoil and grow moldy. Once it starts to separate in the container it's time to discard it.

When should you throw out buttermilk? ›

Opened buttermilk can last up to 14 days in the fridge and slightly longer than its expiration date if unopened. It can be frozen opened or unopened in an airtight container for up to 3 months. If you notice any changes to the smell or look of your buttermilk, it's best to toss it to avoid getting sick.

Can I use old buttermilk for baking? ›

How long is Buttermilk good for after the expiration date? Buttermilk is good for about a week past its expiration date if it has been kept refrigerated. This is due to the fermentation in buttermilk allowing the buttermilk to last longer.

Is buttermilk the same as sour milk? ›

Sour milk is not the same as buttermilk.

Buttermilk is either purposefully cultured to get a sour taste or is the byproduct of butter making. If raw milk sours, it's perfectly fine to drink and that's the way most of the world drinks milk. But if pasteurized milk sours, it's just on its way to going bad.

Can I use 2 month expired buttermilk? ›

If stored properly, unopened store-bought buttermilk can last in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks past its "sell by" date. To maximize its shelf life, it's important to store buttermilk in the main compartment of the refrigerator, as opposed to the door, where the temperature can fluctuate more frequently.

What happens if you bake with expired buttermilk? ›

Buttermilk has a pretty long shelf life, and will generally be safe to consume way past the date on the carton, but it will eventually spoil and grow moldy. Once it starts to separate in the container it's time to discard it.

What's the difference between heavy whipping cream and buttermilk? ›

Heavy cream contains 36% fat on average, while the fat content of buttermilk is only 1%. Both are thicker than standard milk, but the substantial fat in heavy cream also gives it “a slightly sweet flavor.” The fermentation process makes buttermilk more acidic, giving it a somewhat tart flavor.

How do you freeze fresh buttermilk? ›

Yep, first measure out 1 cup of buttermilk. Then pour that cup into the ice cube trays. Now you know how many cubes equal a cup. Write this on the front of a gallon freezer bag so you'll know in the future how many cubes to thaw out.

When should you not use buttermilk? ›

Buttermilk tends to be a little thicker than milk and it naturally has tiny lumps in it, so it's good to shake it well. Pour some into a cup and look at its consistency. It should be smooth, but if it's really thick and has clumps or chunks, the buttermilk has gone bad. The buttermilk smells strong and sour.

How long does buttermilk last after opened? ›

While an expiration date can help provide some insight as to when it will spoil, it often doesn't take into consideration whether the buttermilk was opened. Since quality fades quicker after opening, buttermilk will last a maximum of 2 weeks in the fridge.

How long does buttermilk last after making? ›

The bottom line

Opened buttermilk can last up to 14 days in the fridge and slightly longer than its expiration date if unopened. It can be frozen opened or unopened in an airtight container for up to 3 months. If you notice any changes to the smell or look of your buttermilk, it's best to toss it to avoid getting sick.

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