Best Substitutions for Dairy Free Baking
Make dairy free baking a breeze with this guide to dairy free baking alternatives and substitutions! Find my top recommendations for products, what works best in different recipes, and more.
When first baking dairy free, there are so many options now on the market it can be tough to know what will work best. But you don’t have to worry because I’ve done the testing for you!
This is my list of my personal recommendations for the best products available for dairy free baking.
Butter
Best butter for baking: Earth Balance buttery sticks.
Best butter for Vegan Brown Butter: Miyoko’s European Butter Sticks
There are so many kinds of plant based butters now available! I’ve found that certain butters work better for certain applications.
Earth Balance butter sticks are my favorite butter for baking. I’ve used it in thousands of cookies, as the base for vegan buttercream frostings, pie crusts, and for adding to bread loaves and more. They make a salted, unsalted, and even a soy free version of these sticks, making them available for everyone.
It’s SUPER important that you use buttery sticks and not vegan butter from a tub. That’s because the tub vegan butters have more water or other ingredients added to them to make the butter easier to spread right out of the fridge. The butter sticks have fewer ingredients and a better fat:water ratio that closely mimics dairy butter sticks for baking.
Miyoko’s is the best butter to use for vegan brown butter thanks to the cashews blended into this butter. The proteins from the cashews is what turns the butter brown in place of the dairy milk proteins in dairy butter. I’ve tried to make brown butter with other butters and they don’t get as dark or flavorful as Miyoko’s.
Recipes to Try with Vegan Butter:
- Best Classic Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Strawberry Buttercream Frosting
- Vanilla Buttercream Frosting
- Brown Butter Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- How to Brown Vegan Butter
Plant Based Milks
Best Plant Based Milk for Baking: Unsweetened Soy Milk OR Unsweetened Almond Milk
Both soy milk and almond milk are my go-to plant based milks in baking. I’ve found that they are more reliable and have more consistent results in recipes. Plus, thanks to the proteins in these milks, they will turn into vegan buttermilk. Oat milk, rice milk, and coconut milk don’t have the right protein amount to curdle when making vegan buttermilk.
Make sure that you use an unflavored and unsweetened milk when baking. You don’t want any additional sugars to mess with sugar:fat ratios in the recipes and different flavors like vanilla can compete with the additional vanilla extract you add.
If you can’t use soy or almond milk, I suggest rice milk that you thicken with an additional tablespoon of dry rice milk powder. This won’t curdle as well in vegan buttermilk, but makes for a good plant based milk in the recipe.
If you or someone you are baking for has a wheat allergy, celiac disease, or is otherwise avoiding wheat and gluten, you should be careful about using oat milk in your baking. Not all oat milks are certified gluten free and even then, some people have a cross reactivity to oats and gluten. Use a different plant based milk if you can.
Plant Based Creams
Best Plant Based Cream: Soy Cream, Oat Cream, or Coconut Cream
There are a lot of different dairy free creams on the market, some just for adding into coffee and tea, some for baking, and some for adding to the tops of pies or whipping into dairy free frozen desserts.
Coffee Creamers: Use your local favorite dairy free creamer. My personal favorite is the Silk Vanilla cream!
Whipped Cream: For frozen, I love the 365 Plant Based Whip! It has such a mild flavor that really compliments anything I’m baking. Coco Whip is also good, it just has a really strong coconut flavor, which isn’t always what I want in a recipe. For refrigerator whipped cream, there are a few now available including some in the cans for instant whipped cream! I’ve found them all to be pretty comparable.
Get a free 40+ page guide to vegan baking
Learn the best tips and tricks for baking vegan with additional recipes included!
Sweetened Condensed Milks
Best Sweetened Condensed Milk: Nature’s Charm Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk
I love using this in recipes like vegan fudge, vegan peppermint fudge, and even in hot fudge sauce! Basically, I think this works great with chocolate.
There are others on the market that are oat milk based and they have similar results. Nestle Carnations, Samui, and NT Biona all have coconut based products that work.
Recipes to Try with Sweetened Condensed Milks:
Powdered Milks
Best Dairy Free Powdered Milk: NOW Foods Soy Milk Powder
I personally prefer the taste and performance of powdered soy milk over other milks, like coconut milk. Just as in the dairy free milks, I find coconut milk to be overpowering in coconut flavor and that can throw off the flavors of certain baked goods. Soy milk is the most neutral tasting of the plant based milks.
However, there are lots of options for powdered milks including powdered coconut milk, powdered rice milk, and powdered oat milks. I buy mine off of Amazon.
Yogurts
Best Dairy free Yogurts: All dairy free yogurt
I am happy to report that I have found no real difference in the the types of dairy free yogurts. I’ve tested soy based yogurts, coconut based yogurts, oat milk, cashew, and almond milk yogurts in recipes like pound cakes, snack cakes, and even just for eating! Use your favorite brand and the one you can most easily find in your local stores.
Are you planning on going dairy free or have you already done so? Share your own tips and tricks in the comments below so we can all help each other out!
If you try these out, please leave a comment below! This provides helpful feedback to both me and other readers. And if you want more delicious, vegan friendly recipes you can subscribe to the newsletter. Did you make these? Please tag me on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest! I love to see your creations!
More Baking Tips
See All Baking Tips >>
Everything you need to know about baking vegan without dairy or eggs! Let’s dive deep into understanding the science and techniques behind vegan baking so that you can feel confident in the kitchen and always get the best (and tastiest!) results.