Baking Soda Substitute

Replacing baking soda with baking powder

Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate. It only makes gas when it meets an acid in the recipe, such as buttermilk, yogurt, brown sugar, honey, lemon juice or vinegar. Baking powder is baking soda with its own dry acid already mixed in, so it works without an acidic ingredient, but it is much weaker. That is why this page asks for about three times as much baking powder as the baking soda in the recipe.

Expect small differences. Baking soda also helps cookies brown and spread, so a version made with baking powder is often paler and a little more cake-like. The extra powder can leave a faint chemical or metallic taste, which is most noticeable in plain, lightly flavored batters. If the recipe has a lot of acid, such as buttermilk pancakes or a yogurt cake, the acid that the soda would have used up stays behind, and the result can taste tangy. In that case a recipe that already uses baking powder may be the better choice.

Measure with level spoons, mix the powder in with the other dry ingredients and bake promptly.

How this calculator works

Each substitute uses a tested ratio: baking powder from cream of tartar and baking soda (2:1), baking soda stepped up to baking powder (1:3, since baking soda is several times stronger), cake flour from all-purpose flour with a portion swapped for cornstarch, and self-rising flour from all-purpose flour with baking powder and salt whisked in.

Where these numbers come from

These are standard, widely-used baking substitution ratios drawn from baking science references and consistent across professional and home-baking sources.

• Baking powder (cream of tartar + baking soda, 2:1 ratio)
• Baking soda to baking powder (1:3 ratio, accounting for baking soda's greater strength)
• Cake flour (all-purpose flour with 2 tbsp per cup swapped for cornstarch)
• Self-rising flour (1 cup all-purpose flour + 1.5 tsp baking powder + 1/4 tsp salt)

Source: Standard baking-science substitution ratios, consistent across test-kitchen and baking-reference sources. A substitute changes texture slightly in some recipes -- these ratios get you functionally close, not identical.