Kefir substitute

Best substitute

Buttermilk

Use the same amount by volume as the kefir you are replacing

Best for pancakes and waffles

Close match

Buttermilk is the answer and it is nearly a perfect one: swap 1:1 in any recipe, especially baking. Both are thin, acidic cultured milks, so buttermilk reacts with baking soda exactly the same way and gives you the same rise and the same tender crumb. If you have no buttermilk, whisk 3/4 cup plain yogurt with 1/4 cup milk for each cup of kefir. And if all you have is plain milk, stir in a tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar per cup and leave it ten minutes; that gets you the acid for the leavening, though not the fermented flavour.

Other kefir substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Plain yogurt thinned with milk
Close match
Use ¾ cup yogurt plus ¼ cup milk for every cup of kefir
The pantry version, using yogurt for the tang and cultures and milk to bring it back to a pourable consistency.
What changes
Best for
baking, smoothies, marinades, dressings, drinking
Almost as good as buttermilk and better if the yogurt is a live-culture one, because you keep some of the point of using kefir in the first place. Whisk properly, since lumps of yogurt will not disperse in a batter and show up as pale streaks. Yogurt is thicker and slightly less sour than kefir, so if the result tastes flat add a teaspoon of lemon juice. Greek yogurt needs more milk, closer to a 2:1 yogurt-to-milk ratio.
3Milk plus lemon juice or vinegar (soured milk)
Taste and texture differ
1 cup milk plus 1 tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar, rested 10 minutes
The classic emergency acid trick, which handles the chemistry of kefir without any of the fermentation.
What changes
Best for
pancakes, muffins and quick breads, scones, cakes leavened with baking soda
Do this only for baking, and be clear about what it does and does not do. It supplies the acid that reacts with baking soda, so your rise is safe, and the milk supplies the liquid. What it does not supply is the thickness or the fermented depth, so a batter made this way is thinner and the finished bake tastes plainer and slightly less tangy. Whole milk works better than skim. It will look curdled and separated after ten minutes, which is correct.
4Filmjolk, ymer, viili or a similar Nordic cultured milk
Close match
Use the same amount by volume
The Swedish, Danish and Finnish soured milks from the same family as kefir, sold in every Nordic supermarket.
What changes
Best for
drinking, breakfast with muesli, baking, cold soups, Nordic recipes that call for soured milk
Functionally the same ingredient with a different culture. Filmjolk and viili are thicker and gentler, with viili in particular being noticeably ropy and mild, while ymer is thicker again and closer to a thin yogurt. None of them are fizzy the way a well-fermented kefir can be. If a Nordic recipe names any of these and you have kefir, or the other way round, use it directly.
5Sour cream or creme fraiche thinned with milk
Taste and texture differ
Use ½ cup sour cream whisked with ½ cup milk for every cup of kefir
Cultured cream let down with milk, for when the recipe wants tang and richness together.
What changes
Best for
cakes and rich batters, sauces, cold soups, dressings
Tangy and pourable, but far fattier than kefir, so a cake comes out richer and more tender and a dressing comes out heavier and less refreshing. The acidity is lower than kefir's, so if baking soda is the only leavener add half a teaspoon of lemon juice to be safe. It also splits less readily in heat than kefir does, which makes it the better option in a warm sauce.
6Water kefir or non-dairy kefir
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount by volume
Coconut, oat or soy kefir, or the sugar-water ferment sold as water kefir, for dairy-free cooking.
What changes
Best for
dairy-free baking, drinking, smoothies, vegan dressings
Coconut and oat kefirs work well in baking, since they carry both the acid and roughly the right viscosity. Water kefir is much thinner and considerably less acidic, so it is fine to drink but a poor choice in a batter, where it will not thicken anything or reliably trigger baking soda. If you must use water kefir in baking, add a teaspoon of lemon juice per cup and expect a looser batter.

What is Kefir?

Kefir is Kefir is a thin, pourable fermented milk drink made by culturing milk with kefir grains, giving it a sharp tang, a slightly yeasty aroma and often a faint natural fizz.

Cooking tips

Kefir does two separate jobs in a recipe, and knowing which one you need decides the swap. In baking it is an acid, reacting with baking soda to produce lift and tenderising gluten so the crumb stays soft. In a glass, a dressing or a marinade it is a flavour, and the sharp fermented tang is the whole point. Only the first job can be faked with milk and lemon juice.
Never bring kefir to a boil. The proteins curdle into grains and the whey separates out, and unlike a cream sauce it will not come back together with whisking. Stir it into hot soups and sauces after the pan is off the heat, or temper it first by whisking a ladleful of the hot liquid into the kefir before adding it back.
Use half a teaspoon of baking soda per cup of kefir as a starting point when you are converting a recipe. That is the amount the acidity will roughly neutralise. Any more and you get a soapy, metallic taste; any less and the finished bake tastes slightly sour, which is sometimes exactly what you want in a rye or seeded loaf.
Kefir is a good tenderising marinade for chicken and lamb, better than a plain acid marinade because the acidity is gentle and buffered by milk proteins, so it softens the surface without turning it chalky. Two to eight hours is right. Scrape most of it off before cooking, since the milk solids scorch fast in a hot pan.
If the point was the live cultures, remember that baking destroys them. There is no sense paying for a good live kefir to put it in a muffin: use the cheapest cultured milk you have for the bake, and keep the good kefir for drinking cold.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use kefir instead of buttermilk?

Yes, 1:1, in every buttermilk recipe from pancakes to soda bread to fried chicken brine. They have similar thickness and similar acidity, so the leavening chemistry is unchanged. Kefir tastes slightly more complex and faintly yeasty, which most people find an improvement rather than a problem.

Can I use regular milk instead of kefir?

Not on its own, because plain milk is not acidic and the recipe is almost certainly relying on that acid to activate baking soda. Add a tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar per cup of milk and let it sit for ten minutes first. You will get the rise, but not kefir's tang or body, so the finished bake tastes plainer.

What is the difference between kefir and yogurt?

Yogurt is fermented by a small set of bacteria at a warm temperature and sets thick. Kefir is fermented at room temperature by kefir grains, a mixed community of bacteria and yeasts, so it stays thin and pourable and can develop a faint fizz and a yeasty aroma. Kefir usually contains a wider range of organisms, and it is sourer and more drinkable.

Can I just leave kefir out?

In a smoothie, yes, and add more milk or juice. In baking, no. Kefir there is both the liquid and the acid, so leaving it out gives you a dry batter that will not rise properly and will taste of unreacted baking soda. Use any cultured or soured liquid you have instead, even milk soured with a spoonful of vinegar.

Does baking with kefir kill the probiotics?

Yes. The live bacteria and yeasts do not survive oven temperatures, so a kefir pancake or muffin has no probiotic benefit left, only the flavour and the tenderness that the acid provided. If probiotics are what you are after, drink it cold or stir it into something at the end, off the heat.

Related substitutes

More dairy substitutes

Kefir substitute

Other kefir substitutes

2Plain yogurt thinned with milk

3Milk plus lemon juice or vinegar (soured milk)

4Filmjolk, ymer, viili or a similar Nordic cultured milk

5Sour cream or creme fraiche thinned with milk

6Water kefir or non-dairy kefir