A Collection of Baking & Cooking Ingredient Substitutions
Cooking can sometimes feel like a science, especially when getting the correct measurements for your ingredients. Whether following a recipe from another country, trying to scale a dish for more guests, or switching between measurement systems, knowing how to convert ingredients accurately is essential. Ingredient conversions help bridge the gap between various units like cups, ounces, grams, and milliliters, making it easier to follow recipes no matter where they come from.
For home cooks and professionals alike, ingredient conversions ensure consistency in taste, texture, and presentation. For example, flour measured by volume can vary greatly depending on how it’s scooped, whereas weighing it provides more precision. Likewise, converting liquids or adjusting ingredients for dietary preferences often requires a bit of math to get the ratios right.
This guide will cover common ingredient conversions, helping you easily switch between metric and imperial measurements and giving tips for converting tricky ingredients like flour, sugar, and butter. Whether you’re using a recipe from abroad or want to perfect your measurements, understanding ingredient conversions will make your cooking more reliable and enjoyable. Say goodbye to guessing, and cook with confidence!
Why Substitute Ingredients?
The most obvious reason is the one above. You don’t have a particular ingredient and you don’t feel like running out to the store to get it.
Another may be food allergies. You might be allergic to an ingredient in a recipe and need to find something to replace it with. For example, if you are allergic to milk, you could try substituting coconut milk. Instead of peanuts, how about almonds or cashews?
Then their are dietary restrictions. I am trying to cut down on foods high in cholesterol after my heart surgery so I sometimes substitute egg whites for whole eggs in my morning omelets. Or I substitute fat free milk for whole milk or cream in my coffee.
Then there’s taste. So many of my favorite Italian recipes call for prosciutto or pancetta to make the dish taste better. Yes, it does taste better but I don’t often have prosciutto or pancetta in my refrigerator but I usually have some bacon.
So not only are there a lots of great food ingredient substitutions, there are also many reasons for trying them.
Baking Ingredient Substitutes
| Ingredient | Substitute | Formula |
| Baking Powder | Baking Soda & Cream of Tartar | 1/4 tsp baking soda + 1/2 tsp cream of tartar for 1 teaspoon baking powder |
| Brown Sugar | Sugar & Molasses | |
| Chocolate – semisweet | Unsweetened Chocolate & Sugar | 1 oz. unsweetened chocolate + 4 tea sugar |
| Chocolate – unsweetened | Unsweetened Cocoa & Shortening | 3 tbl unsweetened cocoa + 1 tbl shortening |
| Cream of Tartar | Lemon Juice & White Vinegar | |
| Fats for Baking | Applesauce or Fruit Puree | |
| Mayonnaise | Yogurt or Sour Cream | |
| Oil | Applesauce | |
| Pastry Flour | Cake Flour & All Purpose Flour | |
| Pastry Flour | All Purpose Flour & Cornstarch | Combine 1 tbl cornstarch + 1 cup flour |
Cooking Ingredient Substitutes
| Ingredient | Substitue | Formula |
| Anise | Fennel Seeds or Anise Extract | |
| Bread Crumbs | Crushed Crackers | |
| Butter | Vegetable Shortening | |
| Butter Milk | Lemon Juice & Milk | |
| Butter Milk | White Vinegar & Milk | |
| Chicken Broth | Bouillon Cube | |
| Chili Paste | Sriracha Chili Sauce | |
| Cinnamon | Nutmeg or All Spice | equal amounts |
| Cream Cheese | Cottage Cheese | 1 cup pureed cottage cheese |
| Garlic | Don’t Know Any | Ideas? |
| Ginger | Allspice, Cinnamon, Mace, Nutmeg | equal amounts |
| Crème Fraiche | Heavy Cream & Plain Yogurt | 1 cup heavy cream + 1 tbl plain yogurt |
| Green Onion | Onion, Leek or Shallot | equal amounts |
| Half and Half | Milk & Butter | 1 tbl butter + 7/8 cup milk |
| Heavy Cream | Milk & Butter | 3/4 cup milk + 1/3 cup butter |
| Heavy Cream | Evaporated Milk & Butter | 1 cup evaporated milk + 1/3 cup butter |
| Kale | Spinach, Collard Greens | equal amounts |
| Lemon Grass | Lemon Zest | 1 lemon = 2 stalks lemon grass |
| Mascarpone Cheese | Cream Cheese & Whipping Cream | 8 oz softened cream cheese + 1/4 cup whipping cream |
| Milk | Dairy-Free Milk | equal amounts |
| Molasses | Dark Corn Syrup & Brown Sugar | 3/4 cup brown sugar + 1 cup dark corn syrup yields 1 cup molasses |
| Onion | Shallot, Leek, Green Onion | equal amounts |
| Panko | Bread Crumbs | |
| Parmesan Cheese | Grana Padano, Pecorino Romano | |
| Pepitas | Sunflower Seeds | shells removed |
| Raisins | Dried Currents or Dried Cranberries | equal amounts |
| Saffron | Turmeric | equal amounts |
| Salami | Pepperoni | equal amounts |
| Shallot | Onion, Leek, Green Onion | equal amounts |
| Spinach | Kale, Collard Greens | equal amounts |
| Sour Cream | Yogurt | equal amounts |
| Soy Sauce | Worcestershire Sauce & Water | 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce + tbl water |
| Sugar | Agave Nectar, Honey, Maple Syrup | |
| Tomato Paste | Tomato Puree | 1 tbl paste to 3 tbl puree |
| Tomato Sauce | Tomato Paste & Water | equal parts tomato paste & water |
| Tomato Sauce | Red Peppers and Eggplant Spread | Zergut Mild Ajvar |
| Ricotta Cheese | Dry Cottage Cheese | equal amounts |
| Vinegar | Lemon Juice | both acidic |
Other Important Ingredient Conversions
| BEAN CONVERSIONS | INGREDIENT SUBSTITUTIONS |
| HERB CONVERSIONS | MUSHROOM CONVERSIONS |
| GRAIN CONVERSIONS | PASTA/RICE CONVERSIONS |
| INGREDIENT CONVERSIONS | TOMATO CONVERSIONS |
3 Responses
Hi, there is a Indian spiritual diet, called Satvik, the followers are not allowed to eat any onions, garlic, leeks or chives. Their recipes use asafoetida, also called hing, as substitutes for all those things. My sister has gerd and can’t eat them so I use it. It’s a very good swap. Thanks for the fantastic charts
Hi Deena, thanks for this information. Very interesting and I would like to try asafoetida sometime.
Thank you so much for all your conversion charts!! These will be enormously helpful for a busy working mom & farmer. I never have enough time in the day to do everything, so your time spent researching is incredibly meaningful to me. Thank you again!!