Common Baking Substitutions (With Amounts)
Out of buttermilk, brown sugar or cake flour? Standard substitutions for common baking ingredients, with amounts and notes on how each one changes the result.
Running out of one ingredient halfway through a recipe does not have to end the bake. These are long-standing kitchen substitutions. Each one gets you close to the original, though none is identical, so expect small differences in texture or flavor.
Buttermilk
For 1 cup buttermilk: put 1 tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar in a measuring cup and add milk to the 1 cup line. Stir and let it stand for 5–10 minutes until slightly thickened. Thinned plain yogurt also works: about 3/4 cup yogurt with 1/4 cup milk.
Brown sugar
For 1 cup packed light brown sugar: 1 cup granulated sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon of molasses. Use 2 tablespoons of molasses for dark brown sugar. Without molasses, plain granulated sugar works in many recipes, but cookies will be crisper and less chewy.
Powdered sugar
For about 1 cup powdered sugar: blend 1 cup granulated sugar with 1 tablespoon cornstarch in a blender until fine and powdery. Let the dust settle before opening the lid. Note that by weight, this makes more than one cup, because powdered sugar is much lighter per cup than granulated.
Cake flour
For 1 cup cake flour: measure 1 cup all-purpose flour, remove 2 tablespoons, and replace them with 2 tablespoons cornstarch. Sift together a few times. The cornstarch lowers the protein content, giving a more tender crumb.
Self-rising flour
For 1 cup self-rising flour: 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt, whisked together.
Butter and oil
Butter is about 80% fat and the rest mostly water, while oil is pure fat. To replace 1 cup of melted butter with oil, a common rule is to use about 3/4 cup oil. Swapping works best in recipes that already use melted butter, such as muffins, quick breads and brownies. It does not work for recipes that rely on creaming solid butter with sugar, like most cookies and cakes, or for pastry.
Heavy cream
For 1 cup heavy cream in cooking (not for whipping): 3/4 cup milk plus 1/4 cup melted butter. This adds richness to sauces and soups, but it will not whip. There is no good substitute for heavy cream when you need whipped cream.
Sour cream and Greek yogurt
Sour cream and Greek yogurt can usually be swapped one for one in baking and dips. Greek yogurt is tangier and has less fat, so the result is a little less rich.
Eggs
For one egg in quick breads, muffins and pancakes, common options are 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce, or 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons water and left for 5 minutes to thicken. These hold a batter together but do not provide the lift of a real egg, so they work poorly in recipes that rely on eggs for structure, like sponge cakes.
Baking powder
For 1 teaspoon baking powder: 1/4 teaspoon baking soda plus 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar.
Measuring substitutions by weight
When you substitute, the weight often changes even if the cup measure stays the same. Our charts show the weight of each ingredient by the cup and the tablespoon, so you can check how much you are really adding. Our recipe conversion guide explains how to convert a full recipe.