Homemade Cultured Buttermilk is going to be a game changer for you. It’s literally as easy as mixing two things in a jar.
And whoa are you going to love having all that fresh homemade cultured buttermilk around. Read or scroll through to the end for great ideas on how to use up your real buttermilk.
I use a lot of homemade buttermilk. And by ‘a lot’ I mean a ton.
Many of my baked goods contain buttermilk. Much of my salad dressing uses buttermilk.
And my beloved, The Evil Genius? He drinks buttermilk.
Now before any of you out there yawp with a resounding, “EW!” let me just mention that millions of Southerners and displaced Southerners are right now saying, “Mmmmmmmm! A nice tall glass of buttermilk with salt and pepper sounds mighty fine right now.”
A reminder: never yuck another person’s yum. Unless we’re talking durian, then all bets are off… (You may want to read about my family vs. Durian.)
We go through a lot of the stuff. And I may have mentioned that I live in the middle of nowhere in Amish country before (or a million times before, but who’s counting?) so frequent last minute trips to the store are not convenient.
How to Make Real Buttermilk
There are probably quite a few of you out there saying, “Oh please. All you have to do is add a little vinegar or lemon juice to milk and you get the same thing. Why buy buttermilk?”
See? I just knew someone out there was saying it. Not so fast! It’s not the same thing. To prove my point, I have to talk science for a moment.
While the acidified milk might give you the same tang of buttermilk, it lacks woefully in the texture and viscosity department.
Buttermilk is used in recipes for several important reasons. First, it is acidic, so it helps invigorate leavening agents -such as baking powder, baking soda and yeast- when added to baked goods.
The acid also helps combat discoloration in baked goods and promotes deep, beautiful browning. Buttermilk contains natural emulsifiers; this improves texture and aroma, and extends shelf life after baking.
The acidity of your homemade cultured buttermilk makes it a wonderful addition to marinades for chicken and pork. The acid helps tenderize the meat and gives it a tangy flavor.
Cultured Buttermilk
You know the ‘cultured’ part of cultured buttermilk? It’s good for you.
It contains many active cultures similar to those found in yogurt. Most of the cultures generally found in buttermilk are form the Lactococcus Lactis family and many of their subspecies.
Those cultures are what make homemade cultured buttermilk so thick and creamy. And what? Good for you!
Now that you know more than you probably ever wanted to know about buttermilk let’s get onto the ‘Why make my own?’ thing. Because you can.
Seriously. You need more than that?
Okay. Also make it because it’s dirt cheap, it’s super simple, it’s really fun and you’ll never run out of buttermilk again.
Hang on one second. Someone out there just said, “I never use a whole thing of buttermilk. What do I do with all that buttermilk?” I’m so glad you asked. How about a few of these ideas:
Perfect, flaky, Homemade Buttermilk Biscuit Take it from me, these buttermilk biscuits would do my Arkansas Grandma proud… They’re lofty, flaky, tender, and utterly divine.
Bacon and Swiss Rye Muffins These are every bit as good as they sound and as easy as pie. No wait! They’re easier than pie. Pie can be hard.
Grandma’s Buttermilk Cornbread This is my Grandma’s buttermilk cornbread recipe and it is ridiculously delicious and the ultimate comfort food.
Buttermilk Cornbread Rounds Based on my Grandma’s Buttermilk Cornbread recipe, these perfectly portioned cornbread rounds fit neatly in the hand and go anywhere cornbread goes, but look cuter doing it! This one’s going a little way back in the FWF archives.
Buttermilk Pancakes Nothing beats beautiful, light, airy buttermilk pancakes smothered in real maple syrup. Nothing. This one’s also reaching way back.
Garam Masala Depression Cake from Val. Nothin’ depressing about THAT cake, I’ll tell you. We’re talking about a decadent, Garam Masala flavored chocolate cake with orange buttercream and toasted coconut.
Oh my. I only take issue with the number of servings Val specified in it. It looks like a one-person cake to me.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention these others…
- Chocolate Chip Breakfast Cookies (Drop scones)
- Extra Crispy Fried Chicken Fingers (The Evil Genius can cook!)
- Cornbread Salad
Are you good and hungry yet? Excellent. Let’s make some buttermilk. I promise it doesn’t take but two shakes.
Homemade Cultured Buttermilk
Scroll to the bottom for an easy-print version of this recipe!
Ingredients:
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup cultured buttermilk (from the store or home cultured)
- 1 to 2 quarts skim,1%, 2%, or whole milk from the store or raw milk
Also needed:
- 1 clean, dry quart or half gallon jar with a tight fitting two piece lid.
Okay. Ready? If you blink you’ll miss how to do it.
Pour buttermilk (1/4 cup for a quart jar or 1/2 cup for a half gallon jar) into your clean jar. Top off the jar with your plain milk.
Tightly screw lid to the jar and shake vigorously for 1 minute. Place in a warm (but not hot) area out of direct sunlight.
Let it sit there for 12 to 24 hours, until thickened. Refrigerate when thick.
Use within two weeks. If you re-culture this regularly, you can carry on re-culturing indefinitely.
Now here’s a glimpse of my finished product. Note that mine is super thick. I used raw, whole milk to culture my buttermilk. If you use skim, it may end up a little thinner than what you see here.
Homemade Cultured Buttermilk
Rate RecipeIngredients
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup cultured buttermilk from the store or home cultured
- 1 to 2 quarts skim 1%, 2%, or whole milk from the store or raw milk
- Also needed:
- 1 clean dry quart or half gallon jar with a tight fitting two piece lid.
Instructions
- Okay. Ready? If you blink you’ll miss how to do it.
- Pour buttermilk (1/4 cup for a quart jar or 1/2 cup for a half gallon jar) into your clean jar. Top off the jar with your plain milk. Tightly screw lid to the jar and shake vigorously for 1 minute. Place in a warm (but not hot) area out of direct sunlight. Let it sit there for 12 to 24 hours, until thickened. Refrigerate when thick. Use within two weeks.
Notes
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
did you make this recipe?
Make sure to tag @foodiewithfam on Instagram and #hashtag it #foodiewithfamily so I can check it out!
This recipe was originally posted March 24, 2010, and was updated with photos, links, and improved notes March 2021.
Reader's Thoughts...
wendylovesfood says
yum. thanks for loving food enough to not use the typical lemon juice/vinegar “buttermilk” recipe. i just knew, based on making cultured yogurt, i could do buttermilk this way! love it. thanks again. cook on!
JOHN BUTERBAUGH says
I USE POWDERED MILK.IT MAKES VERY ACID B-MILK.THAT CAUSES THE PRODUCT TO CURDLE,SO I ADD 1/8TEAS SP OF BAKING SODA.THAT STOPPED THE CURDLE AND SMOOTHED THE B-MILK.IT IS STILL ACID ENOUGH FOR DRINKING AND BAKING.
ALSO, I HEAT THE MIXED PWD MILK TO 160o,OTHERWISE THE CULTURE SPOILS TOO OFTEN
Teresa says
What does heating do to stop the spoiling?
April says
Hi Rebecca,
I followed your recipe and ended up with super thick slimy goo, in about 8 hours. Should I have let it stand longer or maybe its because I used a coffee filter instead of a tight lid. I always over think things…lol
Lisa says
Silly question but how warm is a warm spot? I was thinking about putting it in my dehydrator over night but the lowest it goes is 95 degrees. I read others are putting their jars in cabinets.
Dianna says
I just leave mine at room temperature (70-80 degrees), and it’s always been fine. I guess it might be a few degrees warmer as I usually put it near the stove.
Anna says
Hi! I was anxious to try this out because we use a lot of buttermilk and my husband likes to drink it. I used 2% milk. When I made it, it had the right flavor, and thickened within 8 hours. But it was too thick and a little slimy, even. It was more like yogurt texture and not drinkable, except maybe with a spoon. Any suggestions what I might have done wrong?
Bea says
This recipe works great, but it is way too thick and looks more like a slimy paste. How do I thin it out (some) and keep the flavor?
Rebecca says
Hi Bea- I’d say divide your buttermilk between two jars, add some fresh milk to each jar and shake well. That ought to do it!
Anna says
I’ve solved the thickness/sliminess problem. I remembered that when I blend yogurt, it loses its thickness, so I blended the buttermilk (adding milk and shaking it up did not work). After that, it was just the right texture and consistency. My husband said it is as good as any buttermilk he’s had.
Robert says
I tried this recipe and mine also turned out really thick and a bit on the slimy side. I blended it, then refrigerated it. It’s PERFECT! I’ll never buy store bought again…unless I run out and nee to make more! 🙂
Rebecca says
Yeehah for frugal ingenuity!
Deborah says
I made this a couple of days ago and it worked beautifully with store-bought 1% milk. It took about 24 hours because I didn’t have anywhere quite warm enough for the shorter time, I guess. I had originally read about the same procedure in an old “Hints from Heloise” book from the 1960’s, but I was afraid to try it because of the outdated recipe. I’m so glad I found your blog and discovered your success–which I now share! Thanks!
Lynn says
I’m not a big fan of plain milk and the Dr is telling me I need the calcium. So I took up drinking buttermilk. But although store bought is low in fat, it’s high in salt. So I bought my last qt a while ago.
Cleaned a 2 litre soda bottle, added a cup of the buttermilk and topped it up with 1% skim milk. Leave it on the counter over night check it in the morning and leave it longer if need be. By now, I’m sure there is very little trace of the sodium from that first cup of store bought. I have a second bottle, clean and ready to go when the first one gets down to the 1 cup mark I put on the side of the bottle. I Transfer and top up the second bottle. Then I can clean and have the first one ready to go. Awesome recipe and soooo cost efficient. Thank you!
as far as the salt goes, I still like it so I virtually pulverize some seasalt. Now that it’s almost a powder it covers more surface area when I sprinkle it. Since it’s tasting the salt that we look for, you end up using less in the long run. (if you mix it in,you probably won’t notice a difference if you are going by taste.)
Pamela says
Hi, I am so happy to find this info! I totally love drinking & cooking with buttermilk! I’ve been drinking it since I was a kid. Nothing better then a nice tall glass of cold buttermilk with a slice of sourdough bread! Yum, yum! Now that I live in the back hills of a very rural area, I can only go to the market about every 2 weeks. Things are so expensive in our town & buttermilk runs about $4.50 per half gallon here, when I can even find it! Thank you so much for posting the recipe! Oh, BTW, when culturing it, I assume I am supposed to have the lid on? Also, do I need to culture it only in glass jars or can I use plastic, like the plastic jugs the buttermilk comes from at the store? thank you!
Carol Ann says
Wow, thanks so much for this recipe! I live in the UK and in our area buttermilk is hard to find. I’ve just found a sorce online but the price is sky high. Now I can buy some once to use as a starter then not need to buy again, or at least not very often!
Joanna Phillips says
I have got two half gallon jars on my counter right now trying to make buttermilk. It has the culture in it and has been setting since yesterday. It doesnt seem to be getting thick. Do I need to take the lid off the jar? In the recipe it didnt say to take it off so I left it on. Thanks for your help.
Claudine says
Hi Joanna,
I have the same problem and I tried two times with different milk and different temperature. The milk smells sour and it has not thickened after 24 hours. Were you able to do it since then? Anyone have an idea? Next attempt is with my yogurt maker and after I will try to find another source for buttermilk (not easy!). Thanks for your help!
Rebecca says
I wonder if it’s a funky culture in the purchased buttermilk!
Claudine says
Yes it’s possible but I saw on another blog that the same brand (Neilson) is being used so… My final goal is making quark cause here it is so much expensive, it doesn’t make sense: 6$ for 350g! I pay 2.88$ for one liter of buttermilk.
Amy says
Can You make butter out of this home made buttermilk?
Rebecca says
I don’t think you can, but I don’t know it for a certain. You might use a tablespoon to culture cream before making butter, though!
Thomas says
Butter requires all the fat and solids that are removed from skim milk.
Dennis says
Butter is made by churning cream, Buttermilk is byproduct of making Butter.
Rebecca says
Yes, but I explain that I’m referring to what is sold as “cultured buttermilk” in the stores. It’s an accepted term.
Sharon says
Make sure it says cultured buttermilk on the carton otherwise it wont work. I make this all the time and once you get it started you can just take a cup of what you have made and make your next jar full before you run out. But you do have to start with the cultured buttermilk.
Nadine Klinkenberg says
I had trouble culturing my first heirloom buttermilk. I set it out at the right temperature for abou 2 days but nothing happened. I put it out again for the third day with no lid and it was done in about 12 hours. That’s just my experience. Now, it’ll set just fine with the lid on or off. If you are having trouble, try getting one of those jars with the rubber ring around the lid that allows for the gases to be released.
Plain Lady says
Hi. Interesting to hear about your buttermilk. I make lots of yogurt.Occasionally I go the store and buy a container and use some of it for starter/culture. I have friends that buy acidophilus at the health food store and put some of that in the milk for starter.
Teresa says
How does the buying acidophilus and adding to milk for starter work? Could you find out by any chance? Ty!
Priscilla says
Hello there,
Just a quick question, we do not have commercial buttermilk in my current country (Ecuador), and you mentioned being able to home-culture the buttermilk to make a sort of starter… do you have any idea how I would do that here? The only thing I can think of that has bacteria here is plain drinkable yogurt, though I’m not thinking that’d be the solution I’m looking for. I have made old fashioned buttermilk by simply making butter from cream, but it just doesn’t have the consistency or taste I am used to from the States…
Thanks so much, and I am hoping to be able to try your buttermilk recipe!!
Rebecca says
Hi Priscilla! If sour cream or creme fraiche is available, its an almost identical culture profile and would work almost interchangeably! You could try plain drinkable yogurt used as a starter with the same temperatures and quantities… I don’t think it would be a bad thing, but not necessarily the same. Kefir might be an option as well. My very favourite solution though, is to order dry, bulk buttermilk culture through http://www.leeners.com or http://www.cheesemaking.com I don’t know if you have any family members stateside who could pick some up and pop it in a care package to you, but it stores remarkably well and you can reculture it over and over and over again.
Please let me know how you fare!
Mary says
Do you think it would work with raw goat milk? Just found your website last week and love it. Great job.
Sri says
Hi there.. came across your bog via google, love it.
Am trying to make my own buttermilk at home, but since we don’t have buttermilk in any stores here anywhere, can I use sour cream instead? Or, should I just buy the buttermilk cultures?
Would appreciate any info/help. Thanks!
Sri
Rebecca says
I don’t think it’s going to be “bad” Suzanne, but you’ll have to give it a stir and use it more quickly. It sounds like maybe it cultured a bit too long. Perhaps the airing cupboard was just a touch on the too warm side? If you give it another shot, I’d pull it out a bit before when you did. Play with it a bit. Since it has those good cultures in there, it should still be safe to use.
Suzanne Bon says
Rebecca…..HELP!
Found your website – great stuff – thank you for sharing! My Italian/Canadian husband and I (100% Canadian) are living in England at the moment and started using buttermilk last year when we discovered (and starting making our own) Brown Irish Soda Bread! However, here, you can only buy a little container of approx. 10 oz. so we buy a lot of containers. Figured we could make our own and googled and voila – found you!
Yesterday we did it – jar, buttermilk, topped with skim milk, put in the airing cupboard (a strange place used for many different things in this country…..it is a closet where the hot water tank sits and stays nice and warm all the time….not hot, just warm) brought it out this morning, shook it up, threw it in fridge and then left the house. Just came back, had a look and it now looks kind of scary…..it was completely separated, liquid on bottom, messy goo on top…..is this normal? I read through all the comments but nobody mentioned this! The container says cultured buttermilk, low fat, ideal for cooking…..could it be that different to North American stuff? I have not opened the jar yet…..I am afraid to!! Advice please.
Thanks,
Suzanne
Tammy says
I think you just made cream cheese. 🙂
I’m struggling with the same thing. I’m trying to make cultured buttermilk just from raw milk with out a starter, but it fully separates in much less than 24 hours. I live in FL, so I’m thinking it’s just really warm here and it cultures quickly. So I made curds and whey, or cream cheese and whey. 🙂 I’ve been using the whey for all sorts of fun things! I just haven’t quite figured out buttermilk yet.
There was another comment about cottage cheese that sounded similar. Either way, I think your nose will tell you right away if it’s soured correctly or if it’s actually spoiled b/c it didn’t actually culture.
Adele says
Found via web when I googled “how long will buttermilk last” since I am baking with it today and my supply expired in Sept 2011…..thought I better buy a new buttermilk….but since it is “cultured” all those good bacteria may still be active….but then again I haven’t fed them since Sept and they are probably all pooped out….I think I will get a fresh batch and follow your suggestions for making home made buttermilk and actually use it! Does anyone know why the Organic Milk (3 half gallon cartons) from Costco can be used for such a long time – expiration is more than 3 weeks!
Melissa says
First off thanks for sharing this- I found you via Google and it looked so simple I decided to try it. I was curious. I checked my buttermilk this morning and it was the consistency of thin yogurt, a bit separated, and not as tart as I’d expect. Is this normal?
Karen says
Thanks for the how-to. I’ve just recently started getting raw milk from a friend with cows, and I’m learning how to do all kinds of stuff with it. I use buttermilk all the time in my bread, pancakes, cakes, etc. I found your blog by Googling “how to make homemade buttermilk.” I was looking for how to culture it. Thanks!
Lisa says
I just started some buttermilk, hope it turns out. Thanks for your info! We are hoping it will help my daughter’s tummy troubles.