Good Tip: Freezing Leftover Buttermilk

We've never understood why grocery stores don't sell smaller containers of buttermilk. Does anyone really use a whole half gallon before it expires?!

Next time you find yourself with leftover buttermilk after whipping up your favorite coffee cake or a batch of biscuits, here's a tip: freeze it!

We freeze leftover buttermilk in 1 Tablespoon portions in ice cube trays. Once frozen, the cubes can be stored in a freezer bag, and since they're already measured, we can just pull out the number of tablespoon-cubes we need for our recipe.

You can thaw the cubes overnight in the refrigerator or melt them at a low power in the microwave.

Freezing will cause the solids and the whey in the buttermilk to separate. Before using in your recipe, whisk the buttermilk or run it in a blender until the solids and the whey reincorporate.

(Images: Kathryn Hill for the Kitchn and Flickr member The Bitten Word licensed under Creative Commons)

Comments (16)

I had this same thought last night! I bought some half and half to make Dan Barber's cheesecake with minted blackberries recipe (on the cover of Gourmet's August issue). I used about 1/2 a cup and have no real need for the rest. I think buttermilk and half and half is amongst the most wasted food in my kitchen - thanks for the tip.

Leah
The Jew & The Carrot
http://www.jcarrot.org

Great tip, thanks! I've wasted SO much buttermilk since I started cooking. That ends today!

You can substitute sour cream, yogurt or milk & vinegar (1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar plus enough milk to make 1 cup) for buttermilk. I

Couldn't agree with you more on the gripe about the size of containers. If they sell 8 ounce heavy cream there is no reason not to sell 8 ounce buttermilk.

this is a great tip. thank you!!

OTOH, I've had open cartons of buttermilk in my fridge for months without it going bad. So, while I don't ever use a large container with one recipe, it keeps long enough to use the next time I need it.

I guess I'm lucky here in Ohio we have all sizes of buttermilk. I am in love with the baby quart cartons because I think they're cute and I love mini anything!

I usually buy only pints or quarts since it's always something I like to have on hand, but rarely do I need much at one time.

Good tip with the freezing though, thanks!

KIT- i love the idea about substituting buttermilk (we eat a ton of plain yogurt around here) and will definitely try it for our next pancakes! thanks!

oh and a silly question- anyone know if we can just add some butter with milk instead of using buttermilk? :P

In my house growing up there was no problem, my mother drank buttermilk on a regular basis. I generally use powdered buttermilk for recipes.

Jenniejenjen--The simple answer is, no, despite its name, buttermilk is actually what's leftover after butter is churned, so adding butter back into milk isn't quite what you want! Milk with lemon (as Kit mentions) gives the closest approximation.

FYI, these days, commercial buttermilk is actually made through a combination of heat treatment and added cultures rather than the traditional process.

Sorry--that got long winded! (Hmm...maybe I should write another post on this, eh?!)

You get to buy buttermilk a half gallon at a time? Lucky dog! Growing up in Syracuse, and now here in New England, I only ever see quarts. As a person who loves to drink buttermilk, that's only about 2 servings. A half gallon carton would be a dream!

Great tip! Thanks so much for the idea!!!

I only buy it if I have a plan to make several items that use it, but otherwise, I use the powdered version.

Leftover buttermilk makes a great marinade for chicken. If done overnight-even better.

I find the leftover buttermilk uses itself, most easily for a quickie curry dinner.

And for what it's worth, the New Best Recipe claims the lemon milk substitution for pancakes was tastier than buttermilk. But I use buttermilk on principle. The principle that I love it. (That's totally a principle, right?)