Is your milk on the edge of turning bad? Then you need this post in your life! Buying extra milk at the store is super easy to do. Perhaps you went on vacation and came back to sour milk. Maybe you just forgot you had a container hiding in the back of your fridge. Whatever the cause may be, you may feel the need to pour it down the drain, but I urge you to please not do that!

Sour milk has been used in recipes for a very long time. While you probably shouldn’t just down a gallon of sour milk, it is a fabulous ingredient to use in so many different things. From cakes and pancakes, to bread and cheese making, even marinating meats! The acid in sour milk, similar to buttermilk, helps tenderize sweet and savory foods alike without giving it a strong sour flavor. So, there is no crying over spoiled milk, because you can still totally use it! 

Main image of sour milk

Our Mission: Help give new life to your leftovers!


Love Your Leftovers Series
Our mission is to stop food waste at home! We have tons of ideas for proteins, but what about almost sour milk?

Give New Life to Leftovers

If there is one thing we really don’t like, it’s food waste. Repurposing these leftovers in creative ways ensures that nothing will get wasted, which makes us totally happy! So much food is wasted in the US, but we are here to make sure that never happens again by bringing your leftovers back to life!  

 

 

Sour Milk Recipe Ideas

blueberry pancakes from sour milk on a white plate.

#1: Make Fluffy Pancakes with Sour Milk  

I know we say it a lot, but breakfast is the best. Both sweet and savory is acceptable and all of the best foods are included! One of our favorite is buttermilk pancakes. Fluffy, tall, tender, and incredibly delicious. A tall stack of pancakes makes mornings that much better and so much tastier!

Use sour milk in place of butter milk in any of these recipes! These pancakes are incredibly esay to throw together and bonus, that make a great thing to toss in your freezer to have on hand for easy, delicious breakfasts all week long! Check out or most favorite pancake recipes below: 

buttermilk lemon pound cake on a white plate.

#2: Make Incredibly Delicious Cake Recipes with Sour Milk 

Want to know what keeps a cake insanely tender even after days of baking it? No, it’s not just how you store it, but it’s really about what you put in it. Buttermilk or sour milk help cakes stay tender and moist days after baking. They will help yield a tight crumb, while still being incredibly moist.

You can use sour milk in place of buttermilk in any cake or loaf recipes for an incredibly sweet and tender dessert. Even without a glaze or icing, you’d be perfectly satisfied! Oh the magic of sour milk! Check out some of our favorite cake recipes below: 

irish soda bread on a cutting board with a knife and bowl of butter.

#3: Make Irish Soda Bread with Sour Milk  

Irish soda bread is a quick bread recipe with very minimal ingredients. It is one of those special recipes that need a buttermilk or sour milk to make it correctly. Soda bread relies on baking soda for it’s rise, so in order to activate that you need the acid you get from buttermilk or sour milk. So, no only does it lend a fabulous flavor, but it truly is science!

We love adding raisins and currants to our soda bread, but there are so many different variations of it. This traditionally not sweet bread is extra delicious with salted butter, so I suggest you keep some on hand for this very reason! Check out some of our favorite Irish Soda Bread recipes below: 

homemade ricotta cheese in a white bowl.

#4: Make Cheese, Yogurt, and Sour Cream with Sour Milk 

When making other dairy products with soured milk you have to be extremely careful. What you buy in the store is pasteurized milk. To make other dairy products, it is best to use raw milk, that hasn’t been pasteurized. When milk is pasteurized, it kills the beneficial Lactic Acid bacteria, so best not to use that type of milk for other dairy products. 

When you use raw milk and it goes sour, it creates something called Clabber. This is a product of basically fermenting (letting your milk sour). This type of soured milk is excellent for the making of cheeses, yogurt, and sour cream. If using pasteurized milk from the grocery store, stick to one of the baked goods! Check out some of our favorite Clabber uses below: 

sour milk marinated roasted chicken on a white plate.

#5: Use Sour Milk as a Marinade for Chicken Recipes 

Buttermilk, also known as sour milk, helps tenderize the meat to ensure it’s extra juicy and moist inside, while maintaining a beautiful golden skin. You can use a buttermilk marinade for grilling, baking, and frying! Of course if a recipe calls for buttermilk, just use sour milk in its place! After trying these chicken marinades, you will never want to go back to how you were doing it before! Check out some of our favorite buttermilk marinated chicken recipes below: 

 

up close shot of buttermilk biscuits.

#6: Make Flaky Biscuits with Sour Milk 

Most traditional biscuit recipes use buttermilk in place of regular milk. This helps keep the biscuits really tender, while having that crisp exterior. Use sour milk in place of buttermilk or sour cream in any of these recipes. Biscuits are a perfect addition to hearty bean and meat chilis as well as make the perfect vehicle for a breakfast sandwich.

With a few simple ingredients, you can have homemade buttery biscuits ready for you in no time! Flaky biscuit layers, spread with salted butter and berry jam, what more could you ask for? Check out some of our favorite biscuit recipes below: 

You can also use leftover sour milk in place of buttermilk in any of these recipes from Steamy Kitchen; BLT Salad with Buttermilk DressingButtermilk Biscuits or with this Buttermilk Fried Chicken