Ouch, you’ve run out of baking powder but want to make tasty, fluffy biscuits?
Don’t get frustrated. You can use one of ten household staples from your kitchen instead of baking powder to do the same job.
Eager to learn about them? In this post, I’ll provide you with the perfect baking powder substitutes and how to use each in your biscuit recipes.
Why Is Baking Powder Used When Making Biscuits?
Before diving into the alternatives, let’s first take a step back and understand why we use baking powder in biscuit recipes in the first place.
A simple homemade biscuit recipe usually requires only six ingredients: all-purpose flour, sugar, butter, milk, salt, and baking powder.
Baking powder is the ingredient that makes your biscuits lighter and expands their size by working as a leavening agent. As such, it turns your biscuits from flat flour pancake-like pieces into light and fluffy.
To achieve the best biscuit texture, add approximately a teaspoon of baking powder or more to your dry ingredients when preparing your recipe.
What Can I Use in Biscuits Instead of Baking Powder? 10 Alternatives
The leavening impact of baking powder on biscuits is vital, but it’s not exclusively achieved with this ingredient.
Ten other kitchen staples can give you the exact same benefits as baking powder. The following are these reliable alternatives:
1 – Baking Soda and Lemon Juice
Unsurprisingly, the first alternative on our list is baking soda. This ingredient is already one of the main components of baking powder.
You just need to add a bit of lemon juice to it to replace the acidic effect of the other baking powder ingredients.
Here’s how to use it: replace each teaspoon of baking powder with half a teaspoon of lemon juice and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda.
2. Cream of Tartar
Cream of tartar is also an excellent replacement for baking powder. But here’s the thing: you’ll need to use it in its powder form, not creamy.
To yield the perfect outcome, replace each teaspoon of baking powder with 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda and a 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar.
3 – Vinegar
You can make your special baking powder with white vinegar and baking soda.
To use this mixture in your biscuit recipe, substitute each teaspoon of baking powder with 1/2 teaspoon of vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda.
4. Plain Yogurt
With a few simple steps, you can turn a cup of plain yogurt in your fridge door into a reliable baking powder alternative.
Here’s how to use it for this purpose: put your dry ingredients in a bowl separately and include one teaspoon of baking soda. Mix them, then put in 1/2 cup of yogurt.
Finally, add in the rest of your ingredients.
5 – Buttermilk
You can bring the same baking soda benefits to biscuits when using some buttermilk with a bit of baking soda in your recipe.
If you have buttermilk in your fridge, you can use it following the exact instructions as you do with yogurt in the above section.
6. Sour Milk
If you don’t have buttermilk to use as a substitute for baking powder, you can create your own.
Here’s how: add one cup of milk to a pitcher and mix in one tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar.
Let it sit for five minutes. After that, you’ll start to see a change in the consistency of the milk when you stir it.
At this point, you can use it the same way you’d use buttermilk or yogurt with baking soda as a substitution for baking powder.
7. Molasses
This is another substitution that you can combine with baking soda to replace baking powder when making biscuits.
To achieve this, combine 1/4 cup of molasses with 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda to use instead of a teaspoon of baking powder.
That said, because of its sweetness, I recommend slightly reducing the amount of sugar you’re using in your recipe.
8. Whipped Egg Whites
Egg whites are another kitchen staple you can easily use as a substitute for baking powder. To use egg whites for this purpose, you’ll need to beat them until they form a stiff peak.
Still, determining the number of eggs to use for each baking powder teaspoon can be tricky.
However, I recommend starting with two to three egg whites for each teaspoon of baking powder.
If this amount doesn’t perfectly give you the desired nice and fluffy texture, you can add more egg whites to your next baking.
9. Club Soda
Club soda contains baking soda, making it an excellent baking powder substitute.
To use this alternative, replace the amount of milk and baking powder in your recipe with an equal quantity of club soda.
10. Self-Rising Flour
If you do a good deal of baking regularly, you probably have self-rising flour. Well, it’s time to use it.
Self-rising flour already contains baking powder and salt. So, you can use it instead of the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt in your recipe.
What to Consider When Replacing Baking Powder in Your Biscuit Recipe
Replacing baking powder with another alternative isn’t rocket science. Nonetheless, you need to keep a couple of considerations in mind when doing this. Here they are:
Consider Flavor Changes
Baking powder alternatives like lemon juice and vinegar can add a slightly acidic flavor to your biscuits. This can be okay for some but can be unacceptable for others.
If you don’t like the flavor these ingredients can impart, I recommend you use cream of tartar instead.
This alternative, although acidic, has a milder taste and won’t affect the biscuit flavor.
Monitor the Liquid Content
Your recipe moisture content will significantly increase when using liquid alternatives, such as milk, molasses, yogurt, or club soda.
That way, you’ll need to cut down the overall moisture content in the recipe by the same quantity of alternative liquid.
Otherwise, your biscuits will lose their desired flaky texture because of the excessive moisture.
Final Thoughts
It happens. You get ready to make your mouth-watering biscuits only to realize you’ve used up all your baking powder and forgot to replace it.
Luckily, the ten widely available ingredients on my list above can do a great job as baking powder alternatives.
That being said, when using any of these alternatives, you need to adhere to the recommended amount to get the best results.
Hopefully, this post gave you all you need to make biscuits without baking powder.
Sarah is the founder of Baking Kneads, LLC, a blog sharing guides, tips, and recipes for those learning how to bake. Growing up as the daughter of a baker, she spent much of her childhood learning the basics in a local bakery.
Lois
Friday 18th of February 2022
Great recipe, added dried chives, thyme and garlic powder, along with shredded swiss (out of cheddar). Ate this with out beef stew and loved it!