Substitute for sour cream in baking: yogurt 1:1
The ratios for baking without sour cream: yogurt 1:1, buttermilk plus melted butter, cottage cheese blends and pantry versions, with the fat and acid each one gives up.
Use plain whole-milk yogurt or Greek yogurt 1:1 in place of sour cream in any batter: 1 cup yogurt for 1 cup sour cream. America's Test Kitchen ran Greek yogurt through sour cream drop biscuits and it worked, with testers calling the result slightly leaner. It only failed under direct stovetop heat, where it broke in hot stroganoff. Baking is the safe use case. If you have buttermilk instead, Purdue Extension puts a cup of sour cream at 7/8 cup buttermilk plus 3 tablespoons melted butter.
Sour cream substitute ratios for baking
| Substitute | Ratio | Best for | Watch out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plain whole-milk or Greek yogurt | 1 cup yogurt = 1 cup sour cream | Coffee cake, pound cake, muffins, quick breads, biscuits, cheesecake batter | Bakes slightly leaner |
| Buttermilk plus melted butter | 7/8 cup buttermilk + 3 Tbsp melted butter = 1 cup | Cakes and quick breads where you want the tang and the fat | Looser than sour cream, so watch the batter |
| Cottage cheese, buttermilk, lemon | 1 cup cottage cheese + 1/3 cup buttermilk + 1 Tbsp lemon juice, blended = 1 cup | Higher-protein baking, using up cottage cheese | Blend it completely smooth or the crumb goes lumpy |
| Evaporated milk plus vinegar | 1 cup evaporated milk at 70F + 1 Tbsp vinegar, stood until it clabbers | Pantry-only baking | Thinner. Cut the other liquid slightly |
| Nonfat dry milk powder | 1 1/8 cups powder + 1/2 cup warm water + 1 Tbsp vinegar, thickened in the fridge over a few hours | Food-storage baking | Needs hours of lead time |
| Mayonnaise | 1 cup mayonnaise = 1 cup sour cream | Chocolate cake, where the egg and oil read as richness | No acidity, so a baking-soda recipe loses lift |
| Cream cheese thinned with milk | About 3/4 cup softened cream cheese + 1 to 2 Tbsp milk = 1 cup (approximate) | Dense cakes, cheesecake-adjacent bakes | Widely published but not traceable to a test kitchen source. Beat it smooth |
Purdue lists two more equivalents: 3/4 cup buttermilk with 1/4 cup oil, and 1 cup cottage cheese pureed with 2 to 3 teaspoons lemon juice.
How to swap yogurt for sour cream in baking
- Pick full fat. Whole-milk plain yogurt or whole-milk Greek yogurt, not the nonfat tubs.
- Measure cup for cup, by volume, exactly where the recipe called for sour cream.
- Stir the yogurt smooth in its own bowl first. Greek yogurt leaves the tub in curds you do not want to chase in a finished batter.
- Mix as written, then look at the batter. If it runs slacker than you expect, hold back a little of the recipe's other liquid.
- Bake at the recipe's temperature and time, checking doneness at the early end of the range.
What changes when you bake with yogurt instead of sour cream
Sour cream is doing three jobs in a batter: fat for tenderness, acid that reacts with baking soda and softens gluten, and enough body to hold everything together. A substitute needs at least the first two. Yogurt has both.
The gap is fat. ATK measured 40 grams of fat in a cup of sour cream and 11 grams in a cup of whole-fat Greek yogurt, and their testers read that as a leaner result. Tang lands in about the same place. Nonfat yogurt or light sour cream bakes drier still, because the fat was the part doing the tenderizing.
When not to substitute sour cream
Skip the swap in anything that sits over direct heat. ATK's Greek yogurt broke in hot stroganoff, and that carries to hot pan sauces and soups. Purdue suggests stirring 1 tablespoon of cornstarch into each cup of plain yogurt when you cook with it rather than bake.
Watch the leavening too. If the ingredient list has baking soda and no other acid, a non-acidic substitute like mayonnaise or plain cream costs you rise. Mayonnaise is a fine swap in a baking-powder chocolate cake and a poor one in a soda-raised quick bread.
Sour cream caveats worth knowing
Do not freeze sour cream to save it for a future bake. The National Center for Home Food Preservation says freezing separates it and it will not blend back together acceptably. USDA puts refrigerated sour cream at roughly one to three weeks. If you keep losing half-used tubs to that window, an app that tracks expiration dates costs less than another trip to the store.
One conflict in the sources: Purdue and NDSU's chart gives 7/8 cup buttermilk plus 3 tablespoons butter in the row filed under Cream, sour, then 7/8 cup sour milk or buttermilk plus 1/3 cup butter in the Sour cream, cultured row. Those differ, since 1/3 cup runs a little over 5 tablespoons. Use 3 tablespoons and treat 1/3 cup as the richer variant.
Related sour cream and dairy swaps
Short on buttermilk instead? Start with the buttermilk substitute guide or the milk and vinegar version. Going the other way, Greek yogurt instead of buttermilk covers the thinning ratios, and the printable ingredient substitution chart collects the common conversions on one page.
Sour cream substitute FAQ
What is the best substitute for sour cream in baking?
Plain whole-milk yogurt or Greek yogurt at 1:1. It is the closest match on acid, thickness and oven behavior, and it needs no recalculating.
Can I use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream in cake?
Yes. ATK found Greek yogurt works in baked goods and only breaks under direct stovetop heat. Use whole-fat, cup for cup.
Can I use buttermilk instead of sour cream in baking?
Yes, with the fat added back: 7/8 cup buttermilk plus 3 tablespoons melted butter per cup of sour cream, per Purdue.
Will low-fat yogurt work in place of sour cream?
It works, but it bakes drier. Sour cream's fat is doing real tenderizing work, so a leaner tub costs you tenderness even though the acid is still there.
Can I freeze sour cream for baking later?
No. NCHFP says sour cream separates on thawing and will not blend back together acceptably.
Bake without sour cream from what you already have
Well Stockd's substitution engine suggests swaps from what is already on your shelves when a recipe calls for something you are out of, frozen and canned forms included, and you can reject any swap you would rather not see again. The pantry inventory app guide covers the tracking side.
Sources: Purdue/NDSU Extension FN198 substitution chart, America's Test Kitchen, Greek yogurt for sour cream, NCHFP, freezing sour cream, USDA FSIS, refrigerated dairy storage.
Need a different swap? See the full list of Sour Cream substitutes.
Quick planning number: see the Sour Cream fridge shelf-life reference.
Track it in Well Stockd
Add what you have, see what you can cook tonight, and get a reminder before anything goes off.
