Vinegar substitutes
Vinegar substitutes — 6 options, ranked, with the exact amount
Use Lemon juice
1 tbsp for every 1 tbsp vinegar
Use lemon juice in the same amount: 1 tablespoon for each tablespoon of vinegar. It is about as acidic, it reacts with baking soda the same way in a cake, and it adds a citrus note that vinegar does not have. If you have any other vinegar in the house (cider, wine, rice), use that 1:1 first. Do not swap anything for the vinegar in a tested canning or pickling recipe.
- Verdict —
- Works
- Best for —
- cakes and quick breads leavened with baking soda
- Pantry —
- Likely in your cupboard
Updated 8 Oct 2026 · no sponsored swaps
But first: what’s the vinegar doing?
Pick your caseWhat is the vinegar doing: flavor, chemistry or preserving?
Any food acid works. Use another vinegar if you have one, or lemon or lime juice in the same amount, and taste before serving. Pickle juice works in mayonnaise-based salads if you hold back the salt.
Notes on lemon juice, another vinegar (cider, wine or rice) or pickle juice
1 tbsp per 1 tbsp
The acid has to be replaced or the soda will not react. Lemon juice in the same amount is the simplest. Cream of tartar works at ½ teaspoon per teaspoon of vinegar, whisked into the flour.
Notes on lemon juice, cream of tartar or another vinegar (cider, wine or rice)
1 tbsp per 1 tbsp
Use real buttermilk for the milk and vinegar together, or sour the milk with the same amount of lemon juice and wait 5 minutes.
Notes on buttermilk or lemon juice
1 cup buttermilk per 1 cup milk + 1 tbsp vinegar
The acid steadies the foam. Use the same amount of lemon juice, or ½ teaspoon cream of tartar per teaspoon of vinegar.
Notes on cream of tartar or lemon juice
½ tsp per 1 tsp
Lemon juice curdles hot milk the same way at the same amount, with a faint lemon taste. Citric acid dissolved in water gives the cleanest curd.
Notes on lemon juice or citric acid
1 tbsp per 1 tbsp
Vinegar is acid in liquid form. In a dressing or a sauce it balances fat, salt and sweetness. In baking a spoonful reacts with baking soda to make the gas that lifts an eggless cake, and it firms whipped egg whites. Stirred into hot milk it curdles the proteins for fresh cheese. In pickles and canning its 5 percent acidity is what keeps the food safe. The right swap depends on which of those it is doing.
Every option, one card
Ranked · per 1 tbsp vinegar| # | Substitute | Instead of 1 tbsp vinegar | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lemon juicecakes and quick breads leavened with baking soda | 1 tbspWorks | Works |
| 2 | Another vinegar (cider, wine or rice)dressings, sauces and marinades | Same amountWorks | Works |
| 3 | Pickle juicepotato salad and coleslaw | Same amountTweak it | Tweak it |
| 4 | Cream of tartarcakes and cookies with baking soda | ½ tsp per 1 tspTweak it | Tweak it |
| 5 | Buttermilkpancakes, biscuits and soda bread | 1 cup buttermilk per 1 cup milk + 1 tbsp vinegarTweak it | Tweak it |
| 6 | Citric acidmaking fresh cheese | ¼ tsp citric acid + 1 tbsp waterTweak it | Tweak it |
| Not a swap | Water | not a swapNot for this | Not for this |
| Not a swap | Cleaning vinegar | not a swapNot for this | Not for this |
Lemon juice
citrus, slightly softer
Fresh or bottled lemon juice is the closest non-vinegar acid, at roughly the same strength as 5 percent vinegar.
- Best for
- cakes and quick breads leavened with baking soda, salad dressings and marinades, souring milk for a buttermilk stand-in, making ricotta or paneer
- Texture
- the same
- Pantry
- Likely in your cupboard
- Suits
- vegan, gluten-free
Lemon tastes of citrus and is slightly sweet, so a dressing or a slaw tastes fruitier and less sharp. The flavor bakes out of a cake. Lime juice works the same way at the same amount and suits Mexican, Thai and Vietnamese dishes better. Lemon juice does not keep food the way vinegar does, so it is not a pickling swap.
Another vinegar (cider, wine or rice)
fruitier or milder
Any culinary vinegar does the same acid work as white vinegar and brings its own flavor.
- Best for
- dressings, sauces and marinades, baking, quick refrigerator pickles
- Texture
- the same
- Pantry
- Likely in your cupboard
- Suits
- vegan
Cider vinegar is fruity, wine vinegars are rounder, and unseasoned rice vinegar is milder at about 4 percent acid, so add a little more of it to taste. Seasoned rice vinegar has sugar and salt added. Balsamic is sweet and dark and changes the color and taste of anything pale. Malt vinegar is made from barley and is not gluten-free.
Pickle juice
salty, dill and garlic
The brine from a jar of dill pickles is mostly vinegar, water and salt, with dill and garlic.
- Best for
- potato salad and coleslaw, marinades and brines, deviled eggs and tartar sauce
- Texture
- the same
- Prep
- Leave out the recipe's salt until the end, then taste and add back only what is needed.
- Pantry
- Likely in your cupboard
- Suits
- vegan, gluten-free
The brine is diluted, so it is less sour than straight vinegar, and it is salty and seasoned. Not for baking, and not for anything where dill and garlic do not belong. Brine from sweet pickles adds sugar as well.
Cream of tartar
neutral taste · a dry powder, so the liquid must be added back
A dry powdered acid that does vinegar's chemical job in baking and in whipped egg whites.
- Best for
- cakes and cookies with baking soda, meringue and pavlova, stabilizing whipped egg whites
- Prep
- Whisk it into the dry ingredients, and add 1 teaspoon of water or milk to the batter for each teaspoon of vinegar you left out.
- Suits
- vegan, gluten-free
It supplies acid and no liquid or flavor, so it is only for recipes that use a teaspoon or two of vinegar for chemistry. It cannot make a dressing or a marinade.
Buttermilk
tangy, more dairy
When the vinegar is in the recipe to sour milk, already-sour dairy replaces the milk and the vinegar together.
- Best for
- pancakes, biscuits and soda bread, red velvet and chocolate cakes, recipes that say to stir vinegar into milk
- Texture
- slightly thicker batter
- Prep
- Replace the milk and the vinegar together with the same total volume of buttermilk, or of plain yogurt thinned with milk until it pours.
- Suits
- vegetarian
- Contains
- dairy
This only works when the recipe has milk to replace. If the vinegar goes in on its own with water or oil, as in a wacky cake, use lemon juice or cream of tartar.
Citric acid
clean sour, no vinegar aroma
The powdered acid from citrus, sold with canning supplies, dissolved in water to make a clean sour liquid.
- Best for
- making fresh cheese, sharpening soups, sauces and drinks, baking with baking soda
- Texture
- the same
- Prep
- Dissolve the powder in the water before adding it, start with this amount and taste; it is easy to overdo.
- Pantry
- Special trip
- Suits
- vegan, gluten-free
Sour with no aroma at all, so it lacks the smell and bite of vinegar. Use it for acidity in a finished dish, not for the flavor of a vinaigrette.
Water
no sourness
Water replaces the volume of the vinegar and none of the acid.
- Best for
- nothing vinegar does
- Texture
- the same
- Pantry
- Likely in your cupboard
Without acid, baking soda has nothing to react with, so a cake rises less and can taste soapy. A dressing tastes oily and flat, milk will not curdle, and a pickle is not preserved.
Cleaning vinegar
harsher
Vinegar sold in the cleaning aisle is stronger than cooking vinegar and is not sold as food.
- Best for
- cleaning only
- Texture
- the same
Cleaning vinegar is usually 6 percent acid or more, may contain added scent, and is not labeled or handled as a food. Cook with vinegar from the grocery aisle only.
Don’t swap it here
2 cases- SafetyAny tested recipe for canned pickles, relishes, salsa or chutney that will be stored on a shelf.Follow the tested recipe exactly with commercial vinegar labeled 5 percent acidity, or make a refrigerator pickle and keep it cold.
- Dishes where vinegar is the main flavor: quick pickled onions, vinegar barbecue sauce, mignonette, salt and vinegar potatoes.Use another vinegar, or wait until you have some.
Questions
5 questionsWhat can I substitute for vinegar?
Lemon juice in the same amount is the standard answer, and lime juice works the same way. If you have a different vinegar than the one named, use it 1:1. For a teaspoon or two in baking, ½ teaspoon of cream of tartar per teaspoon of vinegar also works. The exception is canning, where the vinegar must not be changed.
What can I use instead of vinegar in baking?
Lemon juice, measure for measure. The vinegar is there to react with baking soda, and lemon juice does that equally well with no flavor left after baking. If the recipe sours milk with vinegar, use buttermilk for the milk and vinegar together.
Can I use apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar?
Yes, 1:1 in cooking and baking. Both are about 5 percent acid. Cider vinegar is slightly fruity and amber, which only shows in pale, lightly flavored dishes. In a tested canning recipe, use it only if it is labeled 5 percent acidity.
Can I use white wine instead of vinegar?
Only for flavor in a pan sauce, and it is not an equal swap. Wine has a small fraction of the acid in vinegar, so it will not react with baking soda, curdle milk or pickle anything. Simmer it to reduce it and finish the sauce with a squeeze of lemon.
Can I leave the vinegar out?
In a soup or stew where it is a finishing touch, yes; the dish will taste a little flatter. In a cake leavened with baking soda, no: without an acid the cake rises poorly and can taste soapy. In a dressing, no: it is half of what makes it a dressing.
Tips for substituting vinegar
5 tips- Bottled lemon juice is the better swap in baking because its acidity is consistent from bottle to bottle; fresh lemons vary.
- In a dressing, start with ¾ of the amount when using lemon juice, taste, and add the rest. Lemon is fruitier and can take over.
- Cider vinegar in place of white vinegar in a cake changes nothing you can taste at 1 tablespoon or less.
- Rice vinegar is about 4 percent acid against 5 percent for white vinegar, so use 1 ¼ tablespoons for each tablespoon when sharpness matters.
- Add any acid to a soup or a sauce at the end, off the heat, a teaspoon at a time.