I love any baked goods that meet the criteria for quick bread.

These include muffins, scones, cornbread, waffles, pancakes, banana and zucchini bread, many cakes, brownies, cookies, and more.

All these delicious breads use chemical fermentation. When a starter culture—usually baking powder, baking soda, or a combination of the two—is added to the batter, it reacts chemically.

Acids play a key role in making starter cultures work in baked goods. This is why buttermilk is such a useful ingredient, along with baking powder or baking soda.

I need to find out how often I’ve gotten emails or DMS asking if I have a recipe or idea for vegan buttermilk. Luckily, I know, and it couldn’t be easier.

What is buttermilk?

I’ll never forget the first time I tasted buttermilk.

I was about eight or nine years old and at my grandmother’s. I saw what I thought was a quart of milk in the fridge.

I opened it, poured myself a glass, took a swig, and soon found myself spitting it into the sink.

Of course, the milk has gone bad. It’s thick, a little clumpy, and sour.

It’s a quart of skim milk. I was puzzled about how anyone could voluntarily buy such a product in a store.

My grandmother explained that buttermilk is a great ingredient for pancakes and baking. She also told me that some people like to drink their coffee straight.

The latter part surprised me. Even then, I was fascinated by baking and curious about this mysterious liquid and its role in homemade foods. I didn’t know the day would come when I would rely so heavily on the vegan version.

Buttermilk is a by-product of making butter. When you whip or whip enough cream, you get butter, made up of the fat and protein in the cream.

You end up with a liquid. It contains water, milk protein, sugar in lactose, and a small amount of fat. This liquid can be turned into buttermilk.

In the past, when people used to whip butter at home, they would leave the leftover liquid at room temperature overnight. It ferments, thickens, and turns into buttermilk.

Commercial buttermilk is made today by pasteurizing skim or low-fat milk and then adding cultures to initiate a controlled fermentation process. The fermentation process converts lactose to lactic acid and produces typically sour buttermilk.

By the way, the conversion of lactose to lactic acid means that buttermilk has a lower lactose content than regular milk. For people who are lactose intolerant, it is easier to tolerate than regular milk.

How to make vegan buttermilk

Fortunately, making vegan buttermilk at home is much easier than using a traditional or commercial method!

It’s as simple as adding acid to dairy-free milk – I prefer freshly squeezed lemon juice.

That’s it. Really. This “recipe” is not so much a recipe as a method and ratio: Add one tablespoon of acid per cup of vegan milk.

After you add the acid to the non-dairy milk, you want to let the mixture sit for at least five minutes. During this time, it will condense and thicken.

At this point, the milk is ready to be added to the baked goods. You can also store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.

What types of non-dairy products are best for vegan buttermilk?

Over the years, I’ve made homemade vegan buttermilk from most plant-based milk. Even though regular buttermilk is relatively low in fat, I’ve found that the best vegan milks have a slightly richer texture.

I usually make my own vegan buttermilk with plain/unsweetened soy milk. The rest of the time, I drink oat milk.

That said, I’ve had success with almond and cashew milk. I recommend choosing a thicker almond milk (like California Farm) over a thinner one (like almond Breeze).

I recommend using something other than plant-based milk from flax (too watery) and hemp (too pronounced in flavor) to make vegan buttermilk.

Which acids can I use in vegan buttermilk?

Over time, I’ve loved using freshly squeezed lemon juice in my vegan buttermilk.

However, vinegar can also be used in this dish. I often make vegan buttermilk at home using apple cider or white vinegar.

One benefit of this preparation is that you can use what you have in your fridge or pantry to whip up vegan buttermilk to bake at any time.

Store vegan buttermilk

Since preparing vegan buttermilk only takes a few minutes, I usually make only as much as I need at a time.

You may make several cups of vegan buttermilk at once if you bake a lot. Some can be used immediately, and the rest can be stored.

Vegan buttermilk can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days. I usually store it in glass bottles.

Why does skim milk make fast bread swell?

When you stir a cup of vegan buttermilk, you may wonder why it helps vegan baked goods, pancakes, and waffles rise.

The answer is baking soda, a joint chemical leavening agent that is a base.

When baking soda is mixed with acids, including this vegan buttermilk, the acids neutralize the base. The neutralization reaction produces carbon dioxide.

Tiny bubbles of carbon dioxide gas help baked goods rise, expand, and become the fluffy goodies we love to eat.

It is worth noting that baking soda is one of the two common chemical leavening agents used in baking, the other being baking powder.

Unlike baking soda, baking powder has a weak, powdered acid added to it. This is usually a combination of monocalcium phosphate, sodium pyrophosphate acid, or sodium aluminum sulfate.

Because baking powder already contains some acid, it can make baked goods light and fluffy without the need to add acid (like lemon juice or vinegar) to the batter.

In all my baking experiments, I’ve found that it works best when I mix baking soda and baking powder. I usually use a 1:2 ratio of baking soda.

I almost always bake with my vegan buttermilk, which activates the baking soda in the recipe and enhances the fermentation produced by my two starter cultures.

By the way, I often tell people there is no need to replace eggs in many vegan baked goods.

It is true that using flax eggs or aquafaba in some recipes is advantageous. But I’m lucky enough to make quick bread without using egg substitutes.

Part of the reason I avoided egg substitutes was that I was able to create a light texture with the right combination of starter and acid—often aided by the use of eggs in traditional baking.

Vegan buttermilk contributed a lot to this result!

How to use vegan buttermilk

Unlike regular buttermilk, I don’t recommend drinking vegan buttermilk alone.

Still, I recommend you use it for quick bread. Here are some sample recipes that you can benefit from:

• Vegan Irish soda bread
• Pumpkin bread
• Classic banana bread
• Vanilla cake
• Vegetarian blueberry clasp
• The best vegan gingerbread cake
• Lemon grits and blueberry pancakes
• Pumpkin and oatmeal scones
• Banana and walnut muffins
• Corn and jam muffins

My baking archive will give you more ideas – and of course, I hope you find many creative, personal ways to use this handy household staple.