Baking powder substitutes
Baking powder substitutes — 5 options, ranked, with the exact amount
Also called double-acting baking powder, single-acting baking powder, raising agent, aluminium-free baking powder
Use Baking soda + vinegar or lemon juice
Per 1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda + 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice
You already have the base half of baking powder in the cupboard — baking soda — and you only need to supply the acid. Per 1 tsp baking powder, use ¼ tsp baking soda plus 1 tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice, and take 1 tbsp of liquid out of the recipe. If you own cream of tartar, ¼ tsp baking soda + ½ tsp cream of tartar is tidier. Either way, bake immediately: homemade blends fizz once and stop.
- Verdict —
- Tweak it
- The tweak —
- Whisk the soda into the flour, stir the vinegar into the wet ingredients, remove 1 tbsp of the recipe's other liquid, then combine and bake at once
- Best for —
- when you have no cream of tartar
- Pantry —
- Likely in your cupboard
Checked 22 Jul 2026 · no sponsored swaps
But first: what’s the baking powder doing?
Pick your caseHow long will it be between mixing the batter and putting it in the oven?
Any of the baking soda plus acid combinations below will do the job, because you are capturing the single burst of gas while it is still happening. Use whichever acid you have: 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice, or ½ cup buttermilk, or ½ tsp cream of tartar, each per ¼ tsp of baking soda.
Notes on baking soda + vinegar or lemon juice or baking soda + buttermilk, yogurt or sour cream
¼ tsp baking soda + 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice per 1 tsp baking powder
This is where homemade blends fall down, because they are single-acting: the gas is gone by the time the second batch goes in. Use baking soda plus cream of tartar, which is the slowest of the three, mix it in at the last possible moment, and bake everything at once even if it means crowding the oven.
Notes on baking soda + cream of tartar
¼ tsp + ½ tsp
The acid is already in the bowl, so you only need to add the base. Use ¼ tsp baking soda per 1 tsp of baking powder called for and add no extra acid at all — the recipe will taste as intended rather than tangier or vinegary.
¼ tsp per 1 tsp
There is no chemical route left. Either use self-rising flour if you have a bag, or beat 2 egg whites to soft peaks and fold them in for a flatter, spongier version of the recipe — and read the do-not-swap notes first, because some recipes simply cannot be made this way.
Notes on self-rising flour or whipped egg whites
1 cup per cup of flour
Two questions settle it. First: is there already an acid in the recipe — buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream, molasses, brown sugar, natural cocoa? If yes, add only ¼ tsp baking soda per teaspoon of baking powder and no acid at all. If no, add the acid yourself: 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice, or ½ tsp cream of tartar, per ¼ tsp of soda. Second: how long until it bakes? Every substitute here is single-acting, so it fizzes once and stops. A batter that sits, chills or bakes in two batches will not rise on the second go, whatever ratio you used.
Baking powder is a whole leavening system in one spoon: a base, a powdered acid, and starch keeping them apart. Every substitute supplies those separately, and fizzes once instead of twice.
Leaveningprimary
Its acid and its baking soda react in the wet batter to release carbon dioxide, and in a double-acting powder a second acid holds part of that gas back until the oven's heat, so bubbles keep expanding while the crumb is still soft enough to stretch.
Every option, one card
Ranked · per 1 tsp baking powder| # | Substitute | Instead of 1 tsp baking powder | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baking soda + vinegar or lemon juicewhen you have no cream of tartar | ¼ tsp + 1 tbsp white vinegar or lemon juiceTweak it | Tweak it |
| 2 | Baking soda + buttermilk, yogurt or sour creamrecipes that already contain milk you can swap out | ¼ tsp, plus ½ cup buttermilk, plain yogurt or sour cream swapped in for ½ cup of the recipe's milkTweak it | Tweak it |
| 3 | Baking soda + cream of tartarthe closest match to shop-bought baking powder | ¼ tsp + ½ tsp cream of tartarTweak it | Tweak it |
| 4 | Self-rising flourbiscuits, scones and pancakes, which is what it is milled for | 1 cupper 1 cup all-purpose flour + 1 ½ tsp baking powder + ½ tsp saltYou'll taste it | You'll taste it |
| 5 | Whipped egg whitespancakes, waffles and thin batters you can fold whites into | 2 egg whites whipped to soft peaks, folded in at the very endYou'll taste it | You'll taste it |
Baking soda + vinegar or lemon juice
clean if you use white vinegar
The two halves of baking powder, supplied separately from things almost every kitchen has.
- Covers
- Leavening
- Amount
- ¼ tsp baking soda + 1 tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice for 1 tsp baking powder
- Then
- whisk the soda into the flour, stir the vinegar into the wet ingredients, remove 1 tbsp of the recipe's other liquid, then combine and bake at once
- Best for
- when you have no cream of tartar, pancakes, waffles, muffins and quick breads that go straight into the heat, recipes with no acid of their own
- Taste
- clean if you use white vinegar; a faint citrus note with lemon juice, which is welcome in most cakes and muffins
- Texture
- very close, provided you bake straight away; slightly coarser crumb than double-acting powder gives
- Look
- the same colour, with a slightly less even rise — the dome may be a touch lower and less symmetrical
- Pantry
- Likely in your cupboard
- Suits
- vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free
- Use 1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice, not the ½ tsp repeated all over the internet. A teaspoon of 5% vinegar holds only about 0.25 g of acetic acid, and ¼ tsp of baking soda weighs about 1.2 g — half a teaspoon of vinegar reacts with barely a seventh of it.
- Take 1 tbsp of milk or water out of the recipe to make room for the vinegar.
- Keep the soda in the dry bowl and the acid in the wet bowl until the last moment. Combine, pour, bake.
- Use distilled white vinegar or plain lemon juice. Cider and wine vinegars carry colour and flavour you will taste in a pale cake.
The commonly copied ratio of ¼ tsp soda to ½ tsp vinegar is simply not enough acid, which is why people report weak results and blame their oven. A tablespoon is the working figure, and you compensate by removing a tablespoon of the recipe's liquid.
Single-acting: all the gas comes out in the first minute or two. No good for any batter that has to wait, chill or bake in batches.
Baking soda + buttermilk, yogurt or sour cream
gently tangy, which most people prefer in pancakes, biscuits and scones
Cultured dairy as the acid half, at roughly 0.8% lactic acid, which is close to the right amount of acid for a quarter-teaspoon of baking soda per half cup.
- Covers
- Leavening
- Amount
- ¼ tsp baking soda, plus ½ cup buttermilk, plain yogurt or sour cream swapped in for ½ cup of the recipe's milk for 1 tsp baking powder
- Then
- thin yogurt or sour cream with 2 tbsp water first so it pours like buttermilk, or the batter will not mix evenly
- Best for
- recipes that already contain milk you can swap out, biscuits, scones, pancakes and muffins, when you want a more tender crumb as well as a rise
- Texture
- more tender and slightly moister; the acid softens gluten as well as making gas
- Look
- very close, with a marginally paler crust because the soda is fully used up by the dairy acid rather than left over to raise the pH
- Pantry
- Likely in your cupboard
- Suits
- vegetarian, gluten-free
- Contains
- dairy
- If the recipe ALREADY calls for buttermilk, yogurt or sour cream, add only the ¼ tsp baking soda and change nothing else. Do not add more acid.
- If it calls for regular milk, swap ½ cup of that milk for ½ cup buttermilk per teaspoon of baking powder replaced. Do not add the buttermilk on top of the milk.
- Thick Greek yogurt or sour cream needs 2 tbsp water stirred in per ½ cup to pour properly.
- No buttermilk? Stir 1 tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar into 1 cup of milk and leave it 5 minutes, until it thickens slightly and looks curdled at the edges.
Half a cup of buttermilk carries roughly the amount of lactic acid a quarter teaspoon of baking soda can use up, which is why this pairing turns up in so many old biscuit and soda-bread recipes. It is the swap that improves the recipe rather than merely rescuing it.
Only where the recipe has half a cup of liquid you can trade. Useless in a dry cookie dough or a shortbread.
Baking soda + cream of tartar
no detectable difference
Baking powder rebuilt from its two original components: sodium bicarbonate as the base and potassium bitartrate, a dry powdered acid, as the trigger.
- Covers
- Leavening
- Amount
- ¼ tsp baking soda + ½ tsp cream of tartar for 1 tsp baking powder
- Then
- add ¼ tsp cornstarch per teaspoon if you are mixing a jar to keep, and store it airtight
- Best for
- the closest match to shop-bought baking powder, recipes with no liquid to spare, where a wet acid will not fit, batters that must sit a few minutes before baking
- Taste
- no detectable difference; this is the closest thing to the real product on the page
- Texture
- nearly identical, a little less lift on the second half of the bake
- Look
- the same rise and the same colour, though a batter left standing more than a few minutes will dome less
- Suits
- vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free
- Whisk both powders through the dry ingredients before any liquid touches them.
- Cut the recipe's salt by a pinch only if you are also using self-rising flour; cream of tartar and soda add no salt of their own.
- To premix a jar, use 1 part baking soda to 2 parts cream of tartar by volume plus 1 part cornstarch, and use it within about six months.
This is the most accurate substitute and it is listed third only because cream of tartar is the one ingredient here that a new cook is least likely to own. If it is in the cupboard, use it in preference to the vinegar route.
Still single-acting. It is the slowest of the three acids here, but it will not hold gas back for a batter that waits half an hour.
Self-rising flour
saltier if you forget to remove the recipe's salt; otherwise no change
Soft low-protein flour premixed with roughly 1 ½ tsp baking powder and ¼ to ½ tsp salt per cup.
- Covers
- Leavening
- Amount
- 1 cup self-rising flour for 1 cup all-purpose flour + 1 ½ tsp baking powder + ½ tsp salt
- Then
- leave out the recipe's baking powder and its salt entirely
- Best for
- biscuits, scones and pancakes, which is what it is milled for, when you have a bag of it and no leavener at all, recipes built on all-purpose flour, not bread or cake flour
- Texture
- softer and more tender than all-purpose flour gives, and noticeably weaker in anything that wanted chew
- Look
- a slightly lower, softer rise; scones and biscuits spread a little more at the base
- Suits
- vegan, dairy-free
- Contains
- wheat
- Remove the recipe's salt. A cup of self-rising flour already holds ¼ to ½ tsp.
- Remove the recipe's baking powder and baking soda both. Adding either on top over-leavens the batter.
- Do not use it where the recipe specifies bread flour. Self-rising flour is milled soft and low in protein, so pizza dough and sandwich bread turn out crumbly instead of chewy.
- Check the date on the bag. The baking powder in it goes flat long before the flour does.
The leavening is fixed at about 1 ½ tsp of baking powder per cup, so a recipe wanting more or less than that per cup of flour will not come out right. It is best where soft flour is an advantage anyway, which is why it lives in Southern biscuit recipes.
Only when you can replace the entire flour weight. There is no way to use it to top up the leavening of a batter already mixed.
Whipped egg whites
slightly eggy, and flat where the recipe expected a lift
Air beaten mechanically into egg white, which is aeration rather than leavening: no gas is made, the bubbles are ones you put there and the oven only expands them.
- Misses
- Leavening — not covered
- Amount
- 2 egg whites whipped to soft peaks, folded in at the very end for 1 tsp baking powder
- Then
- hold back 2 tbsp of the recipe's other liquid and bake immediately
- Best for
- pancakes, waffles and thin batters you can fold whites into, when there is no chemical leavener of any kind in the house, batters that go from bowl to heat in under ten minutes
- Texture
- airy while hot, then rubbery and tight once cool, because there is no gas being generated inside the crumb as it sets
- Look
- flat-topped and pale, with no dome and none of the cracked surface a leavened muffin gets
- Pantry
- Likely in your cupboard
- Suits
- vegetarian, gluten-free, dairy-free
- Contains
- egg
- Whip to soft peaks — the point where a lifted whisk leaves a peak that flops over — not stiff, which is harder to fold in without tearing.
- Fold in three additions, cutting down through the batter and turning it over. Stirring in circles knocks the air straight back out.
- Take 2 tbsp of milk or water out of the recipe per 2 whites, since the whites bring their own moisture.
- Cook within 10 minutes. A folded batter deflates visibly as it stands.
This is a different mechanism, not a weaker version of the same one, and it is worth understanding the difference: chemical leavening keeps making gas while the crumb sets, whipped whites do not. It fills the gap in a pancake and it will not produce a risen cake.
Loose batters only, folded and cooked on the spot. This does nothing in a cookie dough, a biscuit dough or any stiff mixture.
Don’t swap it here
4 cases- A batter that has to sit, chill, rest or be baked in more than one batch — cut-and-rerolled scones, muffins baked in two trays, waffle batter for a slow breakfast.Bake it all at once, even crowded, or mix only as much batter as you can cook immediately and mix the rest fresh.
- Angel food cake, chiffon cake, genoise, soufflé or Swiss roll.Follow the recipe's whipping instructions exactly and add no chemical leavener. There is nothing to substitute here.
- Yeast bread, pizza dough, brioche or anything you knead and prove.Use yeast, or make a soda bread or quick bread recipe written for chemical leavening instead of trying to convert.
- Doubling or eyeballing the amount because you want a bigger rise.Measure level and stay under about 1 ¼ tsp per cup of flour in total, counting whatever the substitute contributes.
Safety
2 notes- Canning
Do not use baking powder, baking soda or any acid change in a home canning, pickling, fermenting or curing recipe. The acidity of a tested preserving recipe is a safety control, not a flavour choice, and altering it creates conditions in which Clostridium botulinum can grow. Follow tested recipes exactly.
Source — National Center for Home Food Preservation (opens in a new tab)
- Allergen
Baking powder and cream of tartar contain no wheat, dairy or egg, but the starch in commercial baking powder is usually cornstarch. Self-rising flour contains wheat, and the buttermilk and yogurt routes contain dairy. Whipped egg whites contain egg.
If it went wrong
4 fixes- The muffins or cake rose beautifully and then sank in the middle.Too much leavening, or the oven door opened before the crumb had set. Oversized bubbles grow faster than the batter can stretch, and the roof falls in.You cannot re-raise a sunken cake; slice it and serve it as a pudding with cream. Next time keep total leavening under about 1 ¼ tsp per cup of flour and leave the door shut for the first two thirds of the bake.
- Barely rose at all, and the crumb is dense and damp.Usually a single-acting substitute in a batter that waited, or not enough acid — the ½ tsp vinegar figure is the usual culprit.Nothing to salvage in the baked item. Mix the next batch with the full 1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice per ¼ tsp soda, and get it into a preheated oven within a couple of minutes.
- It tastes soapy, metallic or faintly bitter.Baking soda left over with no acid to react with, either from too much soda or too little acid.The taste is baked into the crumb and cannot be removed. Level your spoons, and pair every ¼ tsp of soda with a full tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice, or half a cup of cultured dairy.
- Yellow-green bitter specks through the crumb.Undissolved baking soda that was stirred into the wet mixture instead of whisked through the flour.Pick around them this time. Always sift or whisk soda and cream of tartar through the dry ingredients before any liquid is added.
Measure it
8 measures- 1 tsp baking powderabout 4 g
- Homemade equivalent1 tsp baking powder = ¼ tsp baking soda + ½ tsp cream of tartarAdd ¼ tsp cornstarch per teaspoon if you are premixing a jar to store; it keeps the two powders from reacting in the humidity.
- Wet-acid equivalent1 tsp baking powder = ¼ tsp baking soda + 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juiceRemove 1 tbsp of the recipe's other liquid to make room.
- Why ½ tsp of vinegar is not enough1 tsp of 5% vinegar holds about 0.25 g acetic acid; ¼ tsp baking soda weighs about 1.2 gHalf a teaspoon of vinegar can react with roughly a seventh of that soda. The rest sits in the batter unreacted, which is where the soapy taste comes from.
- Baking powder compositionabout ¼ to 1/3 baking soda, the rest powdered acid and starchThis is why baking soda is three to four times stronger by volume, and why you use only ¼ tsp of it per teaspoon of powder.
- Ceiling per cup of flourabout 1 to 1 ¼ tsp baking powderCount everything: the substitute, plus any baking powder already in self-rising flour.
- Self-rising flour contentsabout 1 ½ tsp baking powder + ¼ to ½ tsp salt per cup
- Freshness test½ tsp powder in ¼ cup hot water should fizz immediatelyBaking powder loses strength within six to twelve months of opening, faster in a humid kitchen. Unlike baking soda, it needs no added acid for this test.
Questions
9 questionsCan I use baking soda instead of baking powder?
Only with an acid alongside it, because baking soda makes no gas on its own. Per 1 tsp of baking powder, use ¼ tsp baking soda plus either 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice (and take 1 tbsp of liquid out of the recipe), or ½ tsp cream of tartar, or ½ cup buttermilk swapped in for ½ cup of the recipe's milk. If the recipe already has an acidic ingredient, add only the baking soda.
What's the difference between baking powder and baking soda?
Baking powder is baking soda already blended with a powdered acid and starch, so it works on its own with any liquid. Baking soda is the base alone and needs an acid supplied by the recipe. Baking soda is three to four times stronger by volume, and it also raises the batter's pH, which darkens colour and increases spread — baking powder is designed not to do that.
Can I make my own baking powder?
Yes: 1 part baking soda to 2 parts cream of tartar by volume, which works out at ¼ tsp soda plus ½ tsp cream of tartar per teaspoon of baking powder. To keep a jar of it, add an equal part cornstarch to stop the two reacting in humid air, store it airtight and use it within about six months. It is single-acting, so bake promptly.
Why is my homemade baking powder not working as well?
Because it is single-acting. Shop-bought double-acting powder releases some gas when wet and holds the rest until the oven's heat; a soda-plus-acid mixture releases everything in the first minute or two. If the batter sits on the counter, or you bake a second tray from the same bowl, that gas is already gone. Mix and bake immediately, and bake everything at once.
Why do some recipes call for both baking powder and baking soda?
They do different jobs. The soda is there to neutralize a specific acidic ingredient — buttermilk, molasses, brown sugar, natural cocoa — and to raise the pH for a darker crust and more spread. The baking powder supplies the dependable, heat-triggered lift on top. Remove the soda and the result tastes tangy and pale; remove the powder and it will not rise properly.
Is ½ tsp of vinegar really enough acid for ¼ tsp of baking soda?
No, and this is the most-copied wrong number in home baking. A teaspoon of 5% vinegar contains about 0.25 g of acetic acid, while ¼ tsp of baking soda weighs about 1.2 g — half a teaspoon of vinegar can react with roughly a seventh of it. Use a full tablespoon, and remove a tablespoon of the recipe's other liquid to make room.
Can I leave the baking powder out?
Not from a cake, muffin, quick bread, biscuit, scone or pancake — the baking powder is most or all of the rise, and without it you get a dense, damp, flat result. You can leave it out of a rich cookie or a shortbread, where it only affects spread and puff, and out of anything leavened by whipped eggs, such as angel food or genoise, where it barely belongs in the first place.
Is aluminium-free baking powder a straight swap for regular baking powder?
Yes, teaspoon for teaspoon, but it reacts faster. Aluminium-free powders use monocalcium phosphate rather than sodium aluminium sulfate, so more of the gas comes out at the mixing stage and less waits for the oven. Treat it like a single-acting powder: mix, pan, bake, without letting the batter stand.
How much baking powder should a recipe have?
Around 1 to 1 ¼ tsp per cup of flour is the normal range for cakes, muffins and quick breads. Going higher does not give a bigger rise: the bubbles grow faster than the batter can stretch, the middle sinks, and the crumb picks up a metallic taste. Count any baking powder already present in self-rising flour toward that total.
Tips for substituting baking powder
8 tips- Every substitute on this page is single-acting: it releases its gas once, on contact with liquid. Shop-bought baking powder is double-acting and holds part of its gas back for the oven, which is the one thing you cannot reproduce at home.
- Keep the base and the acid apart until the last moment. Baking soda goes into the flour, vinegar or lemon juice goes into the wet ingredients, and they meet when you combine the bowls.
- Preheat the oven or the pan before you mix, not after. The clock starts the second the batter comes together.
- If the recipe already contains buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream, molasses, brown sugar or natural cocoa, it already has the acid. Add only ¼ tsp baking soda per teaspoon of baking powder and no extra acid, or the result tastes sharp.
- Total leavening should stay around 1 to 1 ¼ tsp of baking powder per cup of flour. More is not a bigger rise; it is a cake that peaks, collapses, and tastes metallic.
- Test an old tin by dropping ½ tsp into ¼ cup of hot water. It should fizz at once. Baking powder fades within six to twelve months of opening, faster in a steamy kitchen.
- Aluminium-free baking powders use monocalcium phosphate rather than sodium aluminium sulfate, which means they react faster and hold back less gas for the oven. Treat them as closer to single-acting and bake promptly.
- Measure level. Scrape the spoon flat with a knife rather than dipping and heaping — a heaped teaspoon can be half again as much powder.
Sources — National Center for Home Food Preservation (opens in a new tab), FDA Food Additive Status List (opens in a new tab)