Cream of tartar is an oft-overlooked pantry staple. The white powder helps to stabilize whipped egg whites in cakes and meringues, activate leavening like baking soda (it’s often an ingredient in baking powder), and prevent sugar crystallization in caramel and candy.
It’s worth keeping a jar stashed next to your baking soda and powder since it lasts forever, but accidents happen. If you misread your recipe or didn’t realize you were out of cream of tartar and can’t make a trip to the store, it’s time to fall back on a substitution. Which swap you make will depend on what purpose the cream of tartar is serving in your particular recipe.
For Stabilizing Egg Whites, Use Vinegar or Lemon Juice
If you’re dealing with whipped egg whites, that means the cream of tartar is serving as a stabilizer, cushioning the delicate pockets of air to keep the mixture fluffy and tall. You might be making a meringue, whether it’s a topping for pie, pavlova, meringue frosting, or meringue candies. Or perhaps you’re making a fluffy cake that relies on egg whites for its lift, such as an angel food cake.
If your recipe calls for whipped egg whites and a little cream of tartar, try these substitutions:
Vinegar: You’ll sometimes find vinegar called for in meringue recipes (especially meringue cookies which have stronger flavorings) instead of cream of tartar. When substituting for cream of tartar, you’ll need to use four times more vinegar. If a recipe calls for 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar, add one teaspoon of vinegar instead.
The only downside of using vinegar is the strong flavor can sneak through. For this reason, white vinegar is the go-to vinegar for substituting cream of tartar, since it has the least distinct flavor.
Lemon juice: If you’d rather not use vinegar, fresh lemon juice is a good option. It acts in the exact same way as vinegar and should be used in the same ratio: use four times more lemon juice than cream of tartar. Your meringue or cake will take on a bit of lemony tang, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing!
Cream of tartar also provides some security when boiling sugar. The powder helps prevent sugar crystals from forming, producing smoother caramels and sugar syrups that can be used as-is, in other recipes, or candy making. When a recipe calls for boiling sugar and the ingredient list includes cream of tartar, try substituting corn syrup.
Found in the baking aisle, corn syrup is very good at preventing crystallization. Swap 1/4 of the sugar in your recipe for corn syrup and omit the cream of tartar.
For Leavening, Use Baking Powder, Vinegar, or Lemon Juice
Cream of tartar is a common ingredient in baking powder. It activates the baking soda, giving cakes and baked goods lift without the need of an additional acidic ingredient.
If your baked good calls for cream of tartar along with baking soda as a leavening agent, try these substitutions:
Baking powder: When a baking recipe calls for baking soda and cream of tartar in the dry ingredients, you can often swap for baking powder, which is baking soda and cream of tartar already mixed together.
Store-bought baking powder is mixed at a ratio of one part baking soda to 2 parts cream of tartar, so keep this in mind when swapping. For example, if your recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, swap both for 3/4 teaspoon baking powder.
Vinegar or lemon juice: It’s not ideal to substitute a dry ingredient for a wet ingredient while baking since it can alter the texture, but using vinegar or lemon juice instead of cream of tartar will work in a pinch. You’ll need more volume to activate the baking soda—try using at least two times the amount of cream of tartar.
For every 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar in the recipe, use 1 teaspoon lemon juice or white vinegar. As an example, if your cookie recipe calls for 1 teaspoon baking soda, add 2 teaspoons lemon juice instead of the cream of tartar.
In other applications where whipped whites provide structure, the meringue base would be weaker, and possibly collapse, without a stabilizer like cream of tartar.
If you have baking powder, technically you have cream of tartar, too! Baking powder is 2 parts cream of tartar and 1 part baking soda, so for every 2 parts cream of tartar, use 3 parts baking powder. For example, if you have 3 teaspoons of baking soda, it can replace 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar.
Baking powder is a good cream of tartar substitute for cookies because it is synergistic with baking soda. You'll need 1.5x the amount of baking powder substitute for the cream of tartar called for in the recipe. Baking powder is a great cream of tartar replacement because it doesn't impart any flavor.
Naturally antibacterial, white vinegar will help to demineralise or soften tartar if used once or twice daily as a mouthwash. Swish a mixture of 2 cups of warm water, 2 teaspoons of white vinegar and a pinch of salt around your mouth for a few minutes. Do this after or between brushing your teeth.
But while technically you don't need the ingredient, Food Network still recommends swapping it with vinegar or lemon juice as opposed to leaving it out of a recipe that calls for it. These substitutions work because cream of tartar is powdered tartaric acid, per Healthline.
You can also simply leave out the cream of tartar from a recipe, which may result in baked goods that are not as fluffy, but will still work out and taste good.
The bottom line: For smooth, stiff beaten egg whites that keep their shape, don't skip the cream of tartar. If you don't have cream of tartar, substituting 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice or white vinegar per egg white works almost as well. To avoid meringues that weep, don't skip the cream of tartar...
You can either replace cream of tartar with baking powder at a 1:1.5 ratio (1 teaspoon cream of tartar : 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder), or you can replace cream of tartar with the combination of baking soda and either lemon juice or vinegar (as with this recipe).
When cream of tartar is used to add volume and stabilize and whiten whipped egg whites, as with an angel food cake, replace every 1/8 teaspoon of cream of tartar (the amount needed per egg) with 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice or distilled white vinegar.
Apple Cider Vinegar: For people with allergies to white vinegar, apple cider vinegar can be used instead. Use the same ratio as white vinegar, using two times the amount of apple cider vinegar as cream of tartar called for in the recipe.
As we've already determined, baking powder is made from cream of tartar and baking soda. So, if you have baking powder, you technically have cream of tartar too! You can substitute 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder for every 1 teaspoon of cream of tartar.
To make baking powder, mix one part baking soda and two parts cream of tartar. So, if you recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of baking powder, use 1 teaspoon of baking soda, mixed in with 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar.
The most common recipes that call for cream of tartar are those that call for egg whites to be whipped, like angel food cake, genoise cake, meringue, and macarons. Jampel says that is because cream of tartar works as an egg white stabilizer that increases both the volume and shelf life of the meringue.
Introduction: My name is Merrill Bechtelar CPA, I am a clean, agreeable, glorious, magnificent, witty, enchanting, comfortable person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Simply-Recipes-Pumpkin-Muffins-Method-2-805f07605e374acb8dcaecf3e185f526.jpg "When You're Out of Cream of Tartar, Use One of These Easy Swaps (1)")
