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Home » Cooking Tips and Basic Techniques

What Can I Make with Leftover Buttermilk?

Published: Dec 17, 2020 · Updated: Apr 5, 2025 by Marye

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You know how it is. You bought ingredients for a recipe and now you're stuck with half a carton of leftover buttermilk.

What to do, what to do?

Here are some of my favorite ways to use it up!

A collage of the recipes on this page with a title text overlay.
Table of Contents
  • 🍞 Yeast breads
  • 🥞 Quick breads
  • 🧁 Desserts
  • 🍗 Savory recipes
  • 💬 Comments

🍞 Yeast breads

Loaves of baked bread.

Buttermilk bread

This light and fluffy sandwich bread is a reader favorite here on Restless Chipotle.

It rises high and the texture is so soft your Wonder Bread lovers will swoon.

Cinnamon bread

Soft white bread with a sweet swirl in each slice! You can add raisins if your family likes them - mine does not.

slice of cinnamon swirl bread
Loaf of bread sliced on a bread board.

Cracked wheat bread

This is the whole grain version of the popular buttermilk white bread. Slightly sweet and chewy - it makes amazing toast!

Whole wheat dinner rolls

Easy, soft, dinner rolls that are full of country flavor. Whole wheat and honey make these special.

Dinner rolls on a blue plate.
dinner rolls on a plate

Brown-n-Serve Rolls

Not only are these buttermilk dinner rolls light and fluffy but I'll show you how to make them into homemade brown-n-serve rolls!

🥞 Quick breads

Southern cornbread

No sugar here! Basic southern cornbread is perfect with soups, chili, and crumbled up in a cold glass of buttermilk!

Stack of cut cornbread squares ready to be served.
Closeup of a finished waffle with butter on top.

Waffles

Light, fluffy waffles are perfect for lazy weekends or to slide under your chicken for chicken and waffles. It's a great way to use up that leftover buttermilk.

Banana bread

Sweet, but not too sweet - this easy banana bread is bound to bring up some wonderful memories for you.

Slices of banana bread on a plate.
closeup of a biscuit with a golden brown top.

Buttermilk biscuits

Hot, steaming, and dripping butter! Southern biscuits are perfect for any meal. These are light and flaky with about a zillion buttery layers.

Blueberry muffins

Plump, sweet blueberries in a lightly sweetened muffin is probably one of my favorite breakfasts! A splash of buttermilk gives them a little extra oomph.

Blueberry muffins on a plate.
Round loaf of crusty Irish soda bread partway covered with a red towel

Irish soda bread

Classic Irish soda bread has a crusty exterior and a buttery, tender interior. Great for St. Patrick's Day or ANY day.

Cornmeal popovers

Popovers deserve a comeback! They're light and crispy with hollow centers that are perfect for holding everything from honey to gravy.

Closeup of golden cornmeal popovers in a popover pan with a white towel underneath.

🧁 Desserts

Buttermilk pound cake with berries

Pound cake

This basic buttermilk pound cake is anything but plain! The delicate flavor is the perfect backdrop for almost any seasonal fruit.

Chantilly cake

The buttermilk in this recipe keeps it moist and delicious as well as giving it a slight tang that will have you making it again and again.

Slice of chantilly cake on a plate.
Slice of vanilla layer cake with chocoalte frosting.

Vanilla layer cake

Three layers of moist vanilla cake with whipped chocolate buttercream between each one makes this dessert extra special.

Red velvet hot fudge sauce

The ultimate hot fudge sauce! Decadently rich and creamy with all the flavor (and color) of your favorite red velvet cake.

Jar of red velvet fudge sauce
Top view of a square of Texas Sheet Cake with a pecan in the center and a silver fork to the side.

Texas sheet cake

Thin and rich - isn't that what we all aspire to? This fudgy Texas sheet cake is a tooth-achingly sweet combination of cake and candy.

🍗 Savory recipes

Smothered chicken

This recipe starts with chicken breast marinated in buttermilk to keep it extra tender and juicy.

smothered chicken feature image - chicken with gravy on plate.
Square image of finished chicken recipe for featured image.

Deviled chicken

Here's another recipes that helps you use up leftover buttermilk by marinating chicken in it. It makes a huge difference in flavor!

Copycat KFC slaw

Buttermilk brings the creaminess and tanginess to this easy side dish. Personally I think this cole slaw is better than the KFC original.

Small image of cole slaw recipe for the recipe card.
  • You can freeze it for up to 3 months. After that the texture will get weird.
  • Substitute buttermilk for half of the milk in mashed potatoes.
  • Marinating in buttermilk will take the fishy taste out of fish and the gamey taste out of game. 30 minutes to an hour should be plenty unless it's a huge roast.
  • Use it to add tangy flavor to smoothies.

More Basic Kitchen Skills and Recipes

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    Why Do Southerners Put Buttermilk in Everything?
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  • Close up of fried onions on a platter.
    Copycat French's Fried Onions Recipe from Scratch

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About Marye

Meet Marye Audet, a wizard in the kitchen and a storyteller at heart. Marye is like your eccentric but fun aunt who knows all the secret recipes and isn't afraid to spill them.

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  1. Deborah says

    December 18, 2020 at 3:44 pm

    You can make fried onion rings, fried chicken. Almost anything you can make with milk. A cake mix is moister if you use buttermilk instead of water or regular milk. Just my 2 cents.

    Reply
Marye Audet-White, founder of Restless Chipotle Media

Hey Y'all, I'm Marye

Welcome to my kitchen! ☕

NY Times bestselling author. 10 cookbooks. Mom of 8 kids. Homeschooling mom for 22 years. Addicted to Hallmark Christmas Movies. Collector of old cookbooks.

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