Common Ingredient Substitutions For Baking

Have you ever been in the middle of cooking a recipe and discovered you were out of an ingredient you thought you had? I’m not talking about ingredients like safron or anchovy paste (does anyone really have those ingredients in their cabinet?)  I’m talking about common items, like milk, buttermilk, sour cream, or eggs?  Long ago I found handy ingredient substitutes for common ingredients.  Sure, I’d rather use the real ingredients whenever possible, but these work great in a pinch.
common ingredient substitions for baking

Here’s some Common Ingredient Substitutions:

1. Milk.  To make a milk substitute, mix 1/2 cup evaporated milk plus 1/2 cup water.

2. Buttermilk.  To make a buttermilk substitute, mix 1 cup minus 1 tablespoon regular milk, plus 1 tablespoon vinegar OR lemon juice. Allow to stand 5 minutes before use.

3. Sour Cream.  To make a sour cream substitute,  mix 1 1/8 cup powdered nonfat dry milk, 1/2 cup warm water and 1 tablespoon vinegar. Allow the mixture to set in the fridge for an hour before use. Even easier: just use  1 cup plain yogurt.

4. Chives. Instead of chives, use 1 Tablespoon  finely chopped green onion tops.

5. Ketchup Substitute.  If you are using it in a recipe or for cooking, substitute 1 cup tomato sauce plus 1/2 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons vinegar.

6. Eggs Substitute.  If you are using eggs for baking, substitute 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil and 1 tablespoon water.

7. Unsweetened Baking Chocolate. Substitute 3 Tablespoons cocoa plus 1 tablespoon butter.

8. Corn Syrup.  Need Corn Syrup substitute for a recipe? Use  1 cup granulated sugar plus 1/4 cup water instead.

9. Butter Substitute. Need it in a hurry? The simple solution is 7/8 cup oil plus 1/2 tsp salt.

10. Cocoa Powder Substitute: Use one ounce unsweetened chocolate instead.

Don’t think you’ll be able to remember all of those ingredients? No problem. I created a Free Printable Ingredient Substitution list. You can get your Free Printable Ingredient Substitution Chart in an immediate download at this link.

ingredient substitutions list

Hopefully, using these simply ingredient substitutions will save a mad dash trip to the store. What is your favorite ingredient substitute that saves you time and money?

32 Comments

  1. Oh wow! These are some very interesting substitutes that I’d never heard of before! I’m going to give some of these a try. Thanks so much for sharing!

  2. What a great list of substitutions, will have to save this as I always decide to bake something last minute and find I am missing something in the middle of the recipe. 🙂

  3. I need to print your printable (thank you for sharing). I’m on the hunt to see if I can find a substitute for mustard seed because I couldn’t find any yesterday in our little town.

  4. These are great. The buttermilk substitute is one I wouldn’t have thought of.

  5. I have been enjoying baking lately. this is really helpful.

  6. This post is super informative! Have to print it out and tape it to my cupboard door! I had no idea you could substitute eggs with a mix of baking powder, vegetable oil and water.

  7. We are trying to use some healthier substitutes for baking in my household.
    Almond milk, coconut flour, and almond flour are some of the ones we use.

  8. Oh my gosh this is SO helpful! Especially since baking can be so finicky and you want to substitute properly.

  9. Every time I try to be spontaneous in the kitchen, we always seem to be missing one key ingredient. I plan to print off this list and keep it posted on the fridge for easy reference.

  10. Thank you for this! I am always trying to make something and realize I have something missing off the list. This will be great to print off and keep in kitchen.

  11. Awesome post! I really need these especially when I’m baking for my picky eater kids. Thank you for sharing!

  12. Thanks for the printable. I will send my daughter the link to this post. She needs to learn to cook and she gets so frustrated when she can’t find the exact ingredients for a dish she wants to make. Now she can have this list of ingredient substitutes and I know she’ll be so happy to have it.

  13. I am so keeping this bookmarked because i am always looking for some type of substitution. I never would have guess these were some substitutions!

  14. What a great list to have on hand in a pinch. I need to print this out for my fridge.

  15. Thanks for this list! I also replace oil with applesauce. Cakes seem to taste SO much better 🙂

  16. I need to keep this list handy for me when I am cooking. I get stumped when I am running low on supplies and I don’t know what to substitute with.

  17. I am going to save this for easy reference. I love to replace eggs with apple sauce when I make cakes.

  18. This is such a useful post. I will be printing this. Thanks for sharing!

  19. These are super handy to have when you are in the middle of a recipe and realize you are missing a key ingredient. thanks for the tips and the printable.

  20. This is brilliant! What a handy list to keep in the kitchen, I never knew of these substitutions!

  21. One weird substitution I’ve used was using apple sauce in the batch of cupcakes I made. I know it made the recipe vegan, but it also made it so much more moist.

  22. What great tips! I have done the buttermilk substitute before and it does come in handy!

  23. I am most definitely pinning this! I am always trying to find ways to substitute. Most the time because I just don’t have the ingredients on hand and I don’t want to buy it for just one recipe. Thank you for sharing.

  24. Thank you so much for sharing this, I have gotten the baking bug and I really want to bake breads for my family. This helps me out a lot.

  25. Great reminder and printable is always a plus.

  26. This is a helpful list! I am always looking these up on line. Right in the middle of cooking usually!!

  27. This has happened to me too many times to count so I now make sure I take out all my ingredients and put them on the counter before I start. This is handy is I’m missing one of them.

  28. I was in the middle of baking a cake once and realized I was out of eggs. I just left them out, added a little apple sauce, and the cake turned out perfectly. I love having this list of common substitutions.

  29. I am bookmarking this for the rest of my life. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to take a trip to the store for one item. It’s so frustrating.

  30. I have to bookmark this! There have been so many times that this list would have saved me a trip to the grocery store for ONE ingredient.

  31. robin masshole mommy

    I need to bookmark this for later. I often wonder about substitutions.

  32. This is a great resource. In place of plain yogurt, I recommend using plain Greek yogurt, it tastes almost exactly like sour cream.