Dairy Substitutions for Cooking and Baking - BC Dairy (2024)

Nothing beats a recipe made to perfection, but it’s happened to all of us–you realize too late that you’re out of a key dairy ingredient.

Maybe you already started mixing, or maybe you caught it while taking out ingredients but you don’t have enough time to run to the store.

Don’t panic! It might not be a kitchen emergency. We’ll explain all of the dairy substitutes you can use to swap out each dairy product in your recipes.

Dairy substitutes for milk, cream, and yogurt.

Whole Milk

Running out of milk is the worst! Whether it’s for your cereal, your coffee, or baking treats, it’s always a big disappointment to open the fridge and find no milk.

While you probably wouldn’t want to try some of these substitutes in your cereal or coffee, they absolutely work for cooking and baking:

• A 1:1 ratio of evaporated milk + water
• The same volume of 2% milk
• The same volume of skim milk + 1 tbsp butter
• The same volume of water + correct amount of powdered milk (2 Tbsp powder makes 250 mL or 1 cup)
• A 3:1 ratio of half & half + water, or half & half + skim milk
• A 1:1 ratio of heavy cream + water, or half & half + skim milk
• The same volume of milk kefir
• Yogurt or sour cream: stir in water until it reaches the consistency of milk

Buttermilk or Sour Milk

These are our recommended substitutes for buttermilk:

• A 15:1 ratio of milk to lemon juice or vinegar
• The same volume of milk kefir
• A 3:1 ratio of plain yogurt to whole milk, for cooking
• The same volume of plain yogurt or sour cream will work for baking

Sour Cream

Here are the substitutes we suggest using for sour cream:

• The same volume of yogurt
• The same volume of buttermilk
• The same volume of milk kefir
• The same volume of cottage cheese, blended until smooth

Whipping Cream

It’s a sad day if you were expecting to put a delicious dollop of whipping cream on a dessert or special coffee, and realize you’ve got none. One of these substitutes can’t be whipped and is for baking purposes only, but you can whip the other two.

• A 3:1 ratio of whole milk + butter (can’t be whipped)
• A 1:1 ratio of heavy cream (whip until stiff–heavy cream can hold its shape better and for longer than whipping cream)
• 1 can of evaporated milk, chilled for 12 hours, plus 1 tsp lemon juice (whip until stiff)

Half & Half Cream

These might not mix well with coffee, but here’s what you can swap for half & half in cooking and baking:

• The same volume of evaporated milk
• An 8:1 ratio of whole milk + butter
• A 3:1 ratio of whole milk + heavy cream
• A 1:1 ratio of whole milk + coffee cream
• A 12:1 ratio of oil + whole milk

Table Cream

Although similar to half & half in its uses–which you can learn all about in our article on types of creams–there aren’t as many dairy substitutes for table cream:

• The same volume of evaporated milk
• A 5:1 ratio of whole milk + butter

Skim Milk

Because skim milk has the lowest fat content, you can’t water down other milk products and expect the same result. There is just one substitute we recommend for skim milk:

• Approximately a 4:1 ratio of skim milk powder + water (add slowly to reach desired consistency)

Yogurt

If you’ve already read the rest of this list, you can probably guess what works as a dairy substitute for yogurt!

• The same volume of buttermilk
• The same volume of sour cream
• The same volume of kefir
• The same volume of cottage cheese, blended until smooth