Out of cream of tartar?

Cream of Tartar substitutes

Cream of Tartar is potassium bitartrate, a dry white acid powder left behind in wine barrels during fermentation, used to fire baking soda, to hold an egg-white foam together, and to stop sugar syrups turning grainy.

Use this

Lemon Juice

Use ½ tsp for every ⅛ tsp

Needs a tweakLikely in your cupboardBest for meringue, pavlova and macarons where a faint citrus note is welcome

It depends which of its three jobs you need. Stabilizing egg whites for meringue: use 1/2 tsp lemon juice or white vinegar per 1/8 tsp cream of tartar, which is per egg white. Leavening, as in snickerdoodles or homemade baking powder: use 1 tsp baking powder in place of 1/4 tsp baking soda plus 1/2 tsp cream of tartar, and remove the soda. Stopping candy from going grainy: use 1 tbsp light corn syrup per cup of sugar.

At a glance

Every cream of tartar substitute on one screen. Tap a name for detail.

Cream of Tartar substitutes compared
#	Substitute	Instead of cream of tartar, use	Result
1	Lemon Juice	½ tsp per ⅛ tsp	Needs a tweak
2	White Vinegar	½ tsp per ⅛ tsp	Needs a tweak
3	Tartaric Acid	½ as much	Needs a tweak
4	Citric Acid	⅓ as much	Needs a tweak
5	Baking Powder	1 tsp for soda + tartar	You'll taste it
6	Corn Syrup	1 tbsp per cup sugar	You'll taste it
7	Leave It Out	nothing added	You'll taste it

Every cream of tartar substitute

Ranked, with the exact amount and what changes

1. Lemon Juice
Needs a tweak
Use ½ tsp for every ⅛ tsp
A liquid acid at roughly 5 to 6% citric acid, strong enough to do the pH work that stabilizes an egg-white foam.
What changes
Likely in your cupboardvegangluten-freedairy-free
Best for
meringue, pavlova and macarons where a faint citrus note is welcome, sugar syrups and boiled frostings, at 1/4 tsp per cup of sugar, when the acid is the only job and the recipe has liquid to spare
Taste
faint citrus in meringue
Texture
the same in a foam
Covers
Acid
Sweetness
Aeration
This is the substitute that matters most, because stabilizing egg whites is the job cream of tartar is bought for. Bottled juice works as well as fresh here — you want the acid, not the flavour.
2. White Vinegar
Needs a tweak
Use ½ tsp for every ⅛ tsp
Distilled vinegar at about 5% acetic acid, colourless and with no fruit sugars in it.
What changes
Likely in your cupboardvegangluten-freedairy-free
Best for
when you need the acid with no flavour and no colour at all, pure white meringue, royal icing and white buttercream, when there is no lemon in the house
Taste
nothing detectable at 1/2 tsp
Texture
indistinguishable in a meringue
Covers
Acid
Aeration
Chosen over lemon juice when whiteness or a flavourless result matters — royal icing on a wedding cake, a snow-white pavlova shell. The pH job is identical; only the flavour differs.
3. Tartaric Acid
Needs a tweak
½ as much
The free acid that cream of tartar is the half-neutralized potassium salt of, sold to winemakers and bakers as a fine dry powder.
What changes
Special tripvegangluten-freedairy-free
Best for
when you need a dry acid rather than a liquid one, homemade baking powder and snickerdoodle doughs, recipes where added liquid would loosen the dough
Taste
the same if halved
Texture
the same
Covers
Acid
Sweetness
Leavening
Aeration
Widely listed as a 1:1 swap, which is wrong and makes doughs taste metallic. It is the stronger acid of the two and needs halving.
4. Citric Acid
Needs a tweak
⅓ as much
The dry sour powder sold as sour salt or for home preserving, with three acid groups per molecule.
What changes
Special tripvegangluten-freedairy-free
Best for
when you already keep it for preserving or for sour candy, sugar syrups, where its dryness means no extra water to boil off, when you need a dry acid and have no tartaric acid
Taste
sharper, more sour
Texture
the same once dissolved
Covers
Acid
Sweetness
Aeration
Commonly listed at 1/4 tsp per 1/8 tsp of cream of tartar, which is twice as much acid as you want rather than a third. The molar arithmetic is on the Numbers list above if you want to check it.
5. Baking Powder
You'll taste it
1 tsp for soda + tartar
Baking soda already blended with a powdered acid, which is to say cream of tartar's leavening job sold ready-paired.
What changes
Likely in your cupboardvegangluten-freedairy-free
Best for
snickerdoodles, scones and biscuits, where cream of tartar was there to fire the soda, when the recipe lists both cream of tartar and baking soda together, when you need the rise and can live without the tang
Taste
the tang is gone
Texture
cakier, less chewy
Covers
Leavening
Misses
Acid — not covered
Sweetness — not covered
Aeration — not covered
This swaps the leavening and drops the flavour, which is the whole reason it sits below the liquid acids. In a snickerdoodle, cream of tartar is a flavour ingredient as much as a chemical one, and this row is honest about not replacing that.
6. Corn Syrup
You'll taste it
Use 1 tbsp for every cup sugar
A glucose syrup that is already the kind of sugar cream of tartar creates in the pan, so it blocks crystals from the moment it goes in.
What changes
Likely in your cupboardvegangluten-freedairy-free
Best for
candy, caramel, boiled frosting, fondant and marshmallow, when the only job is keeping the syrup smooth, syrups you cannot afford to add water to
Taste
slightly sweeter, no sourness
Texture
chewier, softer set
Covers
Sweetness
Misses
Acid — not covered
Leavening — not covered
Aeration — not covered
For crystallization this is the better tool, not merely a stand-in: cream of tartar has to invert some of your sucrose in the pan to work, while corn syrup arrives already inverted. Honey and golden syrup do the same job and both add their own flavour and colour.
7. Leave It Out
You'll taste it
nothing added
A real option in one narrow case: a well-sugared egg-white foam made in a scrupulously clean, dry, grease-free bowl.
What changes
Likely in your cupboardvegangluten-freedairy-free
Best for
plain meringue and pavlova with a full weight of sugar, when there is no acid of any kind within reach, recipes calling for a pinch, where nothing else depends on it
Taste
no change
Texture
softer peaks, weeps sooner
Misses
Acid — not covered
Sweetness — not covered
Leavening — not covered
Aeration — not covered
Listed because for a plain meringue this is the honest answer and it is better than sending someone to the shops. Not listed as an option for a snickerdoodle or a homemade baking powder, where the acid is load-bearing.

Which one for your recipe?

Which of the three jobs is the recipe asking for — egg whites, leavening, or a sugar syrup?

You are whipping egg whites: meringue, pavlova, macarons, angel food cake, royal icing, a meringue topping for pie.
You need acidity and nothing else, so a liquid acid works fine. Use 1/2 tsp lemon juice or white vinegar per 1/8 tsp of cream of tartar, which is the usual dose per egg white, and add it once the whites are foamy rather than at the very start.
Jump to Lemon Juice or White Vinegar
The recipe pairs cream of tartar with baking soda — snickerdoodles, some scones and biscuits, homemade baking powder.
Here it is the leavening acid, so replace the pair rather than just the tartar: take out both the cream of tartar and the baking soda, and put in 1 tsp of baking powder for every 1/2 tsp cream of tartar plus 1/4 tsp soda. You will get the rise. What you will not get is the tang, which in a snickerdoodle is half the point.
Jump to Baking Powder
You are boiling sugar — candy, caramel, boiled or seven-minute frosting, fondant, marshmallow, lemon curd syrup.
The job is stopping crystals forming, and the strongest household answer is not another acid but an invert sugar. Use 1 tbsp light corn syrup per cup of sugar. Lemon juice also works at 1/4 tsp per cup but adds water you then have to boil off.
Jump to Corn Syrup or Lemon Juice
The recipe lists a small pinch of cream of tartar and nothing else depends on it.
In a plain meringue made in a spotlessly clean dry bowl with a full weight of sugar, you can leave it out and still get stiff peaks. Read the Leave It Out row for exactly when that holds and when it does not.
Jump to Leave It Out

Do not pick by which powder looks most like cream of tartar. Pick by which of its three jobs your recipe needs. Whipping egg whites? Any liquid acid does it: 1/2 tsp lemon juice or white vinegar per white. Paired with baking soda in a dough? That is leavening — pull out both and put in 1 tsp baking powder per 1/2 tsp tartar plus 1/4 tsp soda, and accept that the tang goes with it. Boiling a sugar syrup? The job is blocking crystals, and 1 tbsp corn syrup per cup of sugar does it better than any acid.

Don’t substitute cream of tartar here

When to keep looking rather than swap

A recipe that pairs cream of tartar with baking soda, and you plan to remove only the cream of tartar.
The cream of tartar is the acid that makes that soda work. Take it out and leave the soda in, and there is nothing for the soda to react with: no rise, and the flat soapy taste of leftover alkali.
Instead: Remove both and use 1 tsp baking powder per 1/2 tsp cream of tartar plus 1/4 tsp soda.
Using baking powder to stabilize meringue, pavlova or royal icing.
Baking powder's acid is already paired with its own baking soda and is spent on making gas. It does not lower the pH of the egg white, and the gas it releases puts coarse bubbles through a foam you spent ten minutes making fine.
Instead: Use 1/2 tsp lemon juice or white vinegar per egg white, or leave it out and lean on a clean dry bowl and gradual sugar.
Boiling vinegar into a candy or caramel syrup in place of cream of tartar.
As the water boils away, the acetic acid concentrates and the smell becomes overwhelming in a way it never does in a meringue.
Instead: Use 1 tbsp light corn syrup per cup of sugar, or 1/4 tsp lemon juice per cup.
Home canning, pickling, fermenting or curing — using cream of tartar, or swapping between citric acid, lemon juice and vinegar in a tested recipe.
Acidity is the safety control in preserved food, and these acids are not interchangeable by volume. Reducing the acidity of a canned food creates conditions in which Clostridium botulinum can grow, and the result can be fatal.
Instead: Use a tested recipe exactly as written, with the exact acid and amount it specifies. See the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
Royal icing or a cocktail sour made with raw, unpasteurized egg white.
Cream of tartar and its substitutes lower the pH a little, but not nearly enough to make raw egg white safe. Raw shell eggs can carry Salmonella.
Instead: Use pasteurized egg whites from a carton, meringue powder, or aquafaba (chickpea liquid). All three whip, and all three take a liquid acid the same way.

What cream of tartar does in a recipe

Cream of tartar is an acid that happens to be dry. That is how it can fire baking soda from inside the flour, hold an egg-white foam together, and stop a boiling sugar syrup turning grainy.

Tips for substituting cream of tartar

Cream of tartar is doing one of three completely different jobs in any given recipe: firing baking soda, stabilizing an egg-white foam, or stopping sugar crystallizing. Work out which one before you substitute anything.
The usual dose in a meringue is 1/8 tsp per egg white, and 1/2 tsp of lemon juice or white vinegar takes its place exactly.
Add any acid to egg whites once they have gone foamy and opaque, not into the clear raw whites. Acid added too early slows the foam down noticeably.
For a white meringue or white royal icing, choose distilled white vinegar over lemon juice: no fruit sugar means no tint and no browning.
If a recipe lists cream of tartar and baking soda together, they are a pair. Removing one and not the other is the single commonest way this substitution goes wrong.
In candy and boiled frosting, an invert sugar beats an acid. A tablespoon of light corn syrup per cup of sugar blocks crystals from the start, where cream of tartar has to invert some of your sucrose in the pan first.
Once a hot sugar syrup is clear, stop stirring and stop scraping the sides. Agitation is what starts crystals growing, no matter what you have added to prevent it.
Snickerdoodles are the one cookie where cream of tartar is a flavour ingredient. Swap it for baking powder and you get the rise but not the tang, and the result tastes like a cinnamon sugar cookie.
A hard clump in an old tub is not spoilage — crush it and use it. What ruins cream of tartar is damp, not age.

Questions about cream of tartar substitutes

What can I use instead of cream of tartar in meringue?

Use 1/2 tsp of lemon juice or distilled white vinegar per egg white, in place of the usual 1/8 tsp of cream of tartar. Add it once the whites are foamy rather than at the start. Choose white vinegar if you want no flavour and the whitest possible result, lemon juice if a faint citrus note is fine.

Can I skip cream of tartar in meringue?

In a plain meringue or pavlova with a full weight of sugar, yes. Use a metal or glass bowl, wipe it and the whisk with vinegar or lemon on kitchen paper and dry them, add the sugar gradually once the whites hold a soft peak, and use the foam straight away. You will get stiff peaks. They will be slightly less glossy, easier to overbeat, and quicker to weep clear liquid if the meringue sits.

What is cream of tartar made from?

It is potassium bitartrate, purified from the crystalline deposit that forms on the inside of barrels as wine ferments. That is also why it turns up on labels as potassium hydrogen tartrate, and why it has been in European baking far longer than commercial baking powder has.

Can I substitute cream of tartar in snickerdoodles?

Sort of, and you should know what you lose. Remove both the cream of tartar and the baking soda and use 1 tsp baking powder per 1/2 tsp cream of tartar plus 1/4 tsp soda. You get the same rise. What you do not get is the sour tang that makes a snickerdoodle taste different from a cinnamon sugar cookie — 1/2 tsp of lemon juice gets you part of the way back.

Is cream of tartar the same as tartaric acid?

No. Cream of tartar is the potassium salt of tartaric acid, and tartaric acid is the free acid — roughly twice as strong by weight, because it carries two acid groups per 150 g mole against cream of tartar's one per 188. Use half the volume. Swapping them 1:1, as many charts suggest, makes doughs taste harsh and metallic.

Can I use baking powder instead of cream of tartar?

Only for leavening, and only if you also remove the recipe's baking soda: 1 tsp baking powder in place of 1/2 tsp cream of tartar plus 1/4 tsp soda. It will not stabilize a meringue, because the acid in baking powder is already committed to reacting with its own soda, and the gas it gives off coarsens a foam you have just whipped fine.

Why does cream of tartar stop sugar crystallizing?

In a hot syrup it splits some of the sucrose into glucose and fructose. Those two molecules are shaped differently from sucrose, so they physically get in the way as crystals try to grow, and the syrup stays smooth. Light corn syrup does the same thing more directly — it is already glucose — which is why 1 tbsp per cup of sugar is the stronger fix.

How long does cream of tartar last?

Years, provided it stays dry. It does not really lose potency the way baking powder does; the failure mode is moisture turning it into a solid cake. Crush a lump and use it. Throw it out if it has gone pasty or smells of anything.

Does cream of tartar stabilize whipped cream?

Not meaningfully. Whipped cream is stabilized by fat, cold and a little sugar, not by acid, and adding acid to cream risks a grainy texture. If you need whipped cream to hold for hours, use 1 tbsp of skimmed milk powder or 1 tsp of cornstarch per cup of cream, or bloomed gelatine.

Can I use citric acid instead of cream of tartar?

Yes, at about a third of the volume — a scant 1/16 tsp per 1/8 tsp of cream of tartar — because citric acid carries three acid groups per 192 g mole. Dissolve it in a teaspoon of water before it goes into egg whites so it does not land in grains. Do not use it to change the acid in a tested canning recipe.

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At a glance

Every cream of tartar substitute

1. Lemon Juice

2. White Vinegar

3. Tartaric Acid

4. Citric Acid

5. Baking Powder

6. Corn Syrup

7. Leave It Out