Skip to main content

Substitution finder

What can I use instead?

Tell us what you're out of and what you're making. We'll rank the best swaps.

Swaps will appear here.

Ingredient Substitution Finder

Type the ingredient you are missing and what you are making, and this tool ranks the swaps that actually work in that dish, with the ratio to use. It explains why each swap behaves the way it does, so the next time you can decide on your own.

How it works

  1. 1Enter the missing ingredient, for example buttermilk, eggs, heavy cream or fresh thyme.
  2. 2Add the dish you are making. Context matters: the best butter swap in a cake is not the best one in a pan sauce.
  3. 3You get 4 to 6 swaps, each with a ratio, a short reason it works and a caveat when texture, browning or flavour will shift.
  4. 4Swap it in, taste, then adjust salt and acid at the end. Substitutions change seasoning more often than people expect.

Real examples

Missing buttermilk, making pancakes
1 cup milk plus 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar, rested 5 minutes. Same acidity for the baking soda, slightly thinner batter.
Missing heavy cream, making a pan sauce
Whole milk plus a knob of cold butter whisked in off the heat, or evaporated milk one for one. Both keep body without splitting.
Missing fresh herbs, making a braise
Use one third the amount dried and add it early so it has time to soften and bloom in the liquid.

Good to know

  • Baking is chemistry: swaps for flour, eggs and leaveners change structure, so treat the first attempt as a test batch.
  • Allergy and intolerance swaps need a label check on your own packaging. This tool suggests cooking swaps, not medical advice.
  • A substitution never fixes a food-safety question. For handling, storage and doneness, follow USDA guidance.

Frequently asked

Do I need an account to use the Substitution Finder?
No. You can search swaps right away. A free Kitchen Tutor Academy account is only needed if you want to save results and favourites.
How accurate are the ratios?
They are standard kitchen ratios for the dish type you enter. Taste as you go, especially with salt, acid and sweetness.
Can it help with dairy-free or gluten-free cooking?
Yes, it suggests common swaps and flags what changes in texture. Always confirm ingredients against the labels you have at home.

Recipes to try it on

Learn the technique

Kitchen Tutor Academy's Culinary School lessons walk through the fundamentals behind these decisions, one chapter at a time.

More tools

Once your swap is sorted, scale the recipe to the number of people actually eating. Open the Recipe Converter