How to Make Full Fat Buttermilk
by Sommer Collier — last updated on May 8, 2026 
My homemade buttermilk recipe is my go-to whenever I need buttermilk for fluffy pancakes or a tender layer cake and don’t have any in the fridge. I simply stir milk and lemon juice together and let it sit for a few minutes until it turns perfectly tangy and creamy. It takes just 10 minutes and saves me a trip to the store.
We’ve all been there (well, at least I know I have)! You’re about to make a recipe that calls for buttermilk, only to realize you only need a small amount. Yet you end up with an entire carton sitting in the fridge, taunting you every time you open the door. It’s such a waste, and we all know it’s headed for the trash. But don’t worry, I finally found an easy solution. Instead of buying buttermilk, you can make your own at home with just two ingredients and not even 10 minutes of wait time. This simple homemade buttermilk recipe is a game-changer. It gives you the tangy flavor of store-bought buttermilk without the hassle of having extra leftover. It’s perfect for making pancakes, muffins, my delicious lemon buttermilk cake, or any recipe that calls for buttermilk! So skip the store-bought version and make your own with ingredients you already have at home!
Ryan – ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Thank you for the buttermilk recipe! Sometimes it is not always available at our local grocery store. So It is nice to know how to make my own.
Table of Contents
Sommer’s Recipe Highlights
Only 2 Ingredients – Some milk and a splash of fresh lemon juice is all you need to make this delicious homemade buttermilk. That’s right, a recipe that calls for only two ingredients. Just mix and let the buttermilk sit for a couple of minutes, and you’re ready to use it in your favorite baked goods.
Budget-Friendly – I get the allure of store-bought anything. It’s fast, and you don’t have to put in any work. But this tutorial for buttermilk is not only better tasting than any supermarket version, but it’s also a fraction of the price of whatever carton you’d buy at the grocery. That for me is a MAJOR win; less cash for ingredients when making recipes like my buttermilk biscuits!
Key Ingredients and Tips
- Milk – This is the base of the buttermilk, so it’s really important to use high-quality milk. I use whole milk because it’s rich and it adds a lot of body to the final product. You want a thick, creamy buttermilk when using it for cooking and baking, not a watered-down variation.
- Lemon juice – Fresh lemon juice is key! Please, friends, do not use any of that pre-squeezed stuff, because it tastes artificial. Now, if you don’t have fresh lemon on hand, you can always use a splash of white vinegar or apple cider vinegar to get that tanginess.
How to Make Full Fat Buttermilk
Find the full recipe with ingredient proportions, detailed instructions, and a video tutorial in the printable form at the bottom of the post.
Measure the milk – The first thing I do here is measure just under 1 cup of milk in whatever measuring cup you’ve got laying around. It’s important that you don’t measure 1 full cup, because that little extra room will be for the lemon juice. Measure it about 1 tablespoon shy of a cup!
Add the lemon juice – Then, I add about a tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice into the container with milk and mix it up. Now, this mixture should measure exactly one cup.
Let it rest – I’m nearly there. Now, I’ve got to let the milk-lemon mixture rest so that it curdles. This doesn’t take more than about 10 minutes. It should thicken and develop a slight chunky quality. This is normal, don’t throw it out!
Stir – Finally, give it one last stir, and you’re ready to use your homemade buttermilk!
Recipe Variations
- Skim milk – I usually suggest using the full-fat “whole milk” version because it offers a creamier texture and richer taste. However, you can make this substitute with any kind of milk, including fat-free and 1% milk. Just follow the same procedure, remembering that thinner milk will produce thinner liquid.
- Dairy-free milk options – Believe it or not, most non-dairy milks, like almond milk, soy milk, and coconut milk, will curdle with a little splash of lemon juice as well. You can follow the exact same instructions to make buttermilk vegan.
- Vinegar – Like I noted earlier, you can swap the fresh lemon juice with a splash of vinegar, and you’ll get the same rich and creamy results! I personally prefer lemon juice, but a light-tasting vinegar is a good swap.
Ways to Use Homemade Buttermilk
This homemade buttermilk is one of my favorite kitchen hacks, and it makes cooking so much easier knowing that I can whip up some delicious buttermilk in a couple of minutes. I love using it in both sweet and savory recipes like fried chicken, marinades, pancakes, waffles, and complicated cakes. Here are some of my favorite dishes to make using my homemade buttermilk!
- Lemon buttermilk cake
- Pumpkin sheet cake
- Homemade chicken and dumplings
- Air Fryer onion rings recipe
- Blueberry muffin bundt cake
- Southern cathead biscuits
- Buttermilk drop biscuits
Storing
This soured milk recipe will last as long as regular milk, usually 2-4 weeks. Check the expiration date on your milk carton. Then once the substitute is made, store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to the expiration date.
If the mixture has been sitting for quite a while, you will need to shake the container to remix before using it. Otherwise, the liquid will have little bits of curd in it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes and no. Yes, you can use buttermilk in place of standard milk in most recipes. And visa-versa.
However, this substitute is thicker and contains less moisture than milk. Therefore, you always need to add 1-2 tablespoons more buttermilk to recipes that call for 1 cup plain milk. Consequently, if a recipe calls for 1 cup of buttermilk, and you want to use regular milk, you will need to reduce the buttermilk by 1-2 tablespoons.
More Kitchen Hack Recipes
Help Me Spread the Word about this Fabulous Free Recipe! Sharing this recipe link on Pinterest and Facebook is super impactful, and I greatly appreciate it! Find the share buttons below the recipe form.
How to Make Full Fat Buttermilk
Video
Instructions
- Pour milk into a one-cup measuring pitcher, stopping just shy of one full cup.
- Add one tablespoon of fresh lemon juice or white vinegar to the milk. If you need to add another splash of milk to the pitcher, do so to make sure you have one full cup of liquid.
- Stir the milk and lemon juice to mix well.
- Allow the mixture to sit and curdle for 10 minutes. Then stir again and use as needed.
its so easy thanks for this.
Love buttermilk, raised in the south we always had buttermilk in the refrigerator, being stationed in Spain I was always missing the arrival of it to the PX, I complained to my neighbor, who just happened to be a American and a doctor. The next day he was at my door with a quart of buttermilk and told me a way to always have buttermilk in my refrigerator again. I will pass it it on , when your carton gets down to about a quarter of a cup, fill the empty carton
up with a carton of fresh milk, put in a warm area, I put in a open window in summer and in a warm area of the house over night In the winter, and you get another quart without having to run to the market. Usually you can do the one carton a couple of times .
Love buttermilk, raised in the south we always had buttermilk in the refrigerator, being stationed in Spain I was always missing the arrival of it to the PX, I complained to my neighbor, who just happened to be a American and a doctor. The next day he was at my door with a quart of buttermilk and told me a way to always have buttermilk in my refrigerator again.
your food All verity is amazing and quality so good
Love buttermilk, raised in the south we always had buttermilk in the refrigerator, being stationed in Spain I was always missing the arrival of it to the PX, I complained to my neighbor, who just happened to be a American and a doctor. The next day he was at my door with a quart of buttermilk and told me a way to always have buttermilk in my refrigerator again. I will pass it it on , when your carton gets down to about a quarter of a cup, fill the empty carton
up with a carton of fresh milk, put in a warm area, I put in a open window in summer and in a warm area of the house over night In the winter, and you get another quart without having to run to the market. Usually you can do the one carton a couple of times .
Does it have to be fresh lemon juice?
Hi Nicole,
Fresh is definitely best, but if you have a store-bought version you like, feel free to give it a try. :)
I never knew how easy it was to make this! Looking forward to whipping up some this weekend!
I always make buttermilk too! It’s just so easy!
Thank you for this! I always find myself only needing a little bit of buttermilk versus a whole gallon. This is wonderful that I can just make it myself!
You don’t know how many times I’ve needed buttermilk & didn’t have it on hand. I am keeping these ingredients on hand, so that I can always have buttermilk!
My favorite banana bread recipe uses buttermilk and I never have the storebought on hand, so I love using this because I always seem to have milk and lemon juice on hand! Thank you!
If you warm the milk in the microwave for a quick 10-15 seconds, then add the lemon juice, you get a thicker buttermilk. But … if you add the lemon juice first, and then nuke it for 30+ seconds, it will curd up into paste.
So for someone that buys buttermilk because I like the taste… how does the taste of this compare?
Hi Steve!
Honestly, it tastes almost exactly the same. If anything, I think the homemade buttermilk version might taste a little fresher, especially when made with lemon juice.