Can You Freeze Buttermilk to Use for Pancakes, Biscuits, and Other Baked Treats?

Buttermilk is a tangy cooking and baking staple that gives your pancakes, biscuits, dressings, and other goodies a signature touch of sour flavor. But if your recipe only calls for a little buttermilk—and you’re not planning a big buttermilk pancake breakfast—you may have leftovers that could go bad before you use them. So you may wonder whether you can freeze buttermilk, and how to do that safely.

Follow this advice to avoid wasting a single drop of buttermilk—and always have some on hand whenever the urge to make biscuits strikes.

Can You Freeze Buttermilk?

Like other dairy products, buttermilk is just fine to freeze. You may experience a little change in consistency and some separation between the milk liquids and solids when you thaw it out, but it will work perfectly fine in all your buttermilk-based recipes after being frozen.

For the best quality, you’ll want to use frozen buttermilk within three months of freezing it. After that it’s still safe to use, but the quality may begin to decline.

Tips for Freezing Buttermilk

Freezing buttermilk is a relatively simple thing to do—but using a few key freezing strategies can make it easier for you to use the buttermilk when you’re ready to bake again.

You can freeze buttermilk in its original carton

As long as you’ve used enough of the buttermilk to leave room for your carton’s contents to expand when frozen, it’s fine to freeze it in the original container. But that means you’ll need to thaw all of your frozen buttermilk in one go—and you may not have a use for that much buttermilk the second time around, either.

Consider freezing it in recipe-sized portions

The best strategy for freezing your buttermilk is to think about how you plan to use it—and freeze in appropriate portions. An ice cube tray works great: You can pour the remainder of your buttermilk into an ice cube tray, then once the cubes are frozen, pop them into a freezer-safe bag.

Each compartment is about one ounce (or two tablespoons), so you’d need to thaw two ice cubes per quarter cup of buttermilk in your recipe.

Freeze your buttermilk while it’s fresh

Once you know you’re not going to get through the whole buttermilk carton, freeze it ASAP to preserve as much freshness as possible. That’ll ensure that your buttermilk is at peak quality for your next round of biscuits or pancakes.

How to Thaw Frozen Buttermilk

The easiest way to thaw buttermilk is to put the amount you need into the refrigerator and let it thaw gently overnight. If you’re in a hurry, you can also put the buttermilk in a well-sealed container and submerge it in warm water for about 30 minutes, or run water over it in your sink for about 20 minutes. (The larger the container of buttermilk, the longer it will take to thaw.)

6 Recipes for Using Leftover Buttermilk

Whether you use fresh buttermilk or thawed buttermilk, there are plenty of recipes that’ll make good use of that slightly sour goodness.

Sweet Potato Buttermilk Pancakes

Give the traditional buttermilk favorite a healthier touch by adding sweet potatoes into the mix. (P.S. It’s a great way to use up leftover sweet potatoes in addition to leftover buttermilk!)

Blueberry Sweet Corn Shortcake

This sweet and summery dessert pairs buttermilk with sweet corn and fresh blueberries for the perfect way to use your farmer’s market bounty.

Magnolia Table Buttermilk Biscuits

Have a lot of leftover buttermilk? Joanna Gaines’s favorite recipe uses more than a cup of buttermilk to give her Southern-style biscuits their signature tang.

Mini Irish Soda Bread

Soda bread isn’t just for St. Patrick’s Day—and these short and sweet Irish soda breads are a perfect baked treat for any day of the year. They’re also a great recipe for using up lots of leftover buttermilk, as you’ll need one to two cups to get the right consistency.

Classic Chicken and Dumplings

If you’re looking for the perfect cozy winter dish, chicken and dumplings should definitely be on your short list. And you’ll only need a half hour of prep to make this comfort food classic happen.

Sheet Pan Buttermilk Pancakes

Sheet pan pancakes are a marvel. You can bake up a whole batch in one go, rather than continually flipping at the griddle, and you can still scatter goodies like blueberries, sliced bananas, or chocolate chips into each part of the sheet pan to please everyone.