Out of cream of tartar
Replacing cream of tartar with lemon juice or vinegar
Both charts list lemon juice or vinegar as the swap for cream of tartar, with the same amount, so the card below shows a single figure.
The swap is a liquid standing in for a powder, and you use more of it than the cream of tartar it replaces.
Replaces ½ tsp cream of tartar
Lemon juice or white vinegar
| Amount | Ingredient | ≈ grams |
|---|---|---|
| 1½ tsp | lemon juice or white vinegar | 7.6 g |
- University of Illinois Extension, Substitutions for Common Ingredients (modified December 2024), p. 2 — checked 2026-09-27
- Colorado State University Extension, Ingredient Substitutions (web page) — checked 2026-09-27
✓ 2 sources match Illinois Extension, Colorado State Extension list the same amounts.
Grams are volume-to-weight estimates from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy): Lemon juice, raw — 1 cup = 244 g. Blank means the chart does not say which kind to use, or the unit is not a volume.
Before you swap
- Both charts also use cream of tartar the other way round: mixed with baking soda as a stand-in for baking powder. That swap is not on this page yet.
- Colorado State and Mississippi State also stir cream of tartar into sweet milk as a buttermilk swap. They print different amounts for it; that swap has its own buttermilk page.
How these ratios are checked: our method. Spotted a mismatch with a chart? Tell us and we will recheck the original.