Filmjolk substitute

Best substitute

Cultured Buttermilk

Use the same amount as the filmjolk you are replacing

Best for soft cakes

Different taste

The best all-round substitute for filmjolk is cultured buttermilk, measure for measure, which matches both the pourable thinness and the acidity that baking soda needs. For breakfast, plain yogurt thinned with milk three to one is a closer match, and kefir works well for either job.

Other filmjolk substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Plain Yogurt Thinned with Milk
Close match
3 parts plain unsweetened yogurt to 1 part milk, used 1:1
The best breakfast match, because plain yogurt has filmjolk's mild, creamy, gently sour character rather than buttermilk's sharpness.
What changes
Best for
breakfast bowls, baking, pancakes, smoothies, cold sauces
Once thinned it behaves the same in a batter and tastes closer at the table. Left unthinned it makes a stiff, heavy batter that does not spread, which is the mistake most people make with this swap.
3Kefir
Close match
Use the same amount
Already pourable, already mildly cultured, and increasingly stocked in ordinary supermarkets.
What changes
An excellent all-round stand-in.
Best for
baking, breakfast, pancakes, smoothies, cold soups
Slightly fizzy and more yeasty-tangy than filmjolk, with a broader culture mix, and it can make a batter rise a shade faster. In a breakfast bowl the difference is small and pleasant.
4Milk Soured with Lemon Juice or Vinegar
Different taste
Use 1 tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar for every 1 cup milk, stand 10 minutes, then use 1:1
The pantry fix when filmjolk is only there to supply acid for baking soda, which is most of what it does in a cake.
What changes
Best for
cakes, pancakes, muffins, soda bread
Works properly in baking, where the leavening only needs the acid. It is thin, faintly metallic and genuinely unpleasant to drink, so do not use it for anything served cold or uncooked.
5Greek Yogurt Thinned with Water or Milk
Taste and texture differ
2 parts Greek yogurt to 1 part liquid, used 1:1
Almost always in the fridge, and once loosened it pours and behaves like a cultured milk.
What changes
Best for
baking, pancakes, breads, marinades
Thicker, more sour and much higher in protein, so batters brown a little faster and the crumb is slightly denser. Poured over muesli it tastes chalky and sharp compared with real filmjolk.
6Buttermilk + a Spoonful of Sour Cream
Close match
4 parts buttermilk to 1 part sour cream, used 1:1
For anyone who finds straight buttermilk too sharp, this restores the faintly creamy mildness filmjolk actually has.
What changes
Best for
breakfast, baking, cold sauces
The closest thing to filmjolk's real character that you can assemble from two common products, and it is what to reach for if a first attempt with plain buttermilk tasted too aggressive.

What is Filmjolk?

Filmjolk is Filmjolk is Swedish cultured milk: a thin, pourable fermented dairy drink that is mildly sour, less tangy than buttermilk and thinner than yogurt, eaten over cereal at breakfast and used as the liquid in a great deal of Swedish baking.

Cooking tips

Filmjolk is pourable and only moderately rich, so if your substitute is thick, thin it until it falls off a spoon in a ribbon rather than a blob. Batters made with unthinned yogurt come out stiff and do not spread in the tin.
Filmjolk is genuinely mild, less sour than buttermilk and far less sour than Greek yogurt, so when you swap in something sharper, skip any extra lemon juice or vinegar the recipe suggests adding.
Anything cultured curdles if you boil it, so add it off the heat in cooked dishes. In baking, get the batter into the oven promptly once the soda and the acid have met, because the lift starts immediately.
Filbunke and langfil are thicker, ropier Swedish relatives of filmjolk. If a recipe names either of those, reach for plain yogurt rather than buttermilk, because thickness is the point in those dishes.
Norwegian and Danish recipes may call for surmelk, kulturmelk or ymer, which do the same job. Buttermilk or thinned plain yogurt covers all of them, though ymer is thicker and suits yogurt better.
Served for breakfast it is meant to be cold, mild and simple, with berry or lingonberry jam and something crunchy on top. Reach for the mildest substitute you have rather than the sourest.

Frequently asked questions

Is filmjolk the same as buttermilk?

Not quite. Both are thin cultured dairy, but filmjolk is fermented with mesophilic cultures at room temperature and tastes mild and faintly creamy, while cultured buttermilk is tangier and reads saltier. In baking they are interchangeable one for one. At the breakfast table the difference is obvious, and plain yogurt thinned with milk is closer.

Can I use regular milk instead of filmjolk?

Not in anything raised with baking soda, because the soda needs the acid in filmjolk to produce lift and plain milk will leave you with a flat, faintly soapy cake. Sour the milk first with a tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar per cup, let it stand ten minutes, and use it measure for measure.

Can I just leave filmjolk out?

No, because it is doing two jobs at once: it is the liquid in the recipe and it is the acid that activates the baking soda. Removing it leaves the batter dry and the leavening inert. Any of the cultured swaps above works, and soured milk is the last-resort version.

Is filmjolk the same as yogurt?

They are close cousins. Both are milk fermented with lactic acid bacteria, but filmjolk uses room-temperature cultures and stays thin and pourable, while yogurt uses warm-loving cultures and sets thick. That is why the standard fix is to thin yogurt with a little milk, which gets you very close to real filmjolk.

What is the closest thing to filmjolk in a US or UK supermarket?

Cultured buttermilk in the dairy case, or plain drinkable kefir, which is the closest in texture and mildness. Both sit right next to what you want. If neither is there, plain unsweetened yogurt loosened with milk is reliable and available everywhere.

Related substitutes

More dairy substitutes

Filmjolk substitute

Other filmjolk substitutes

2Plain Yogurt Thinned with Milk

3Kefir

4Milk Soured with Lemon Juice or Vinegar

5Greek Yogurt Thinned with Water or Milk

6Buttermilk + a Spoonful of Sour Cream