Check out my favorite ways to use up leftover whey after making yogurt. With these recipes, you’ll want to make yogurt so you don’t run out of whey!
I love making my own yogurt, but I always hated throwing away the whey. I didn’t know what to do with it. After a few times of making my own homemade yogurt, I knew I had to find a way to save my leftover whey from the trash!
Now, I will make yogurt because I’m running out of whey! My yogurt-making time has turned into the time when we have the best breakfasts!!
What is Whey?
There are 2 types of whey. To understand the difference you should know this: neutral pH is 7. Milk and water have a pH of about 7. Acids have lower pH lower than 7.
(By acid, I don’t necessarily mean burn-yourself chemical. I mean acid like vinegar, which has a pH of 2.5. The pH is very low, but because it’s dilute, it’s still safe to touch.)
Sweet Whey
Sweet whey is the liquid leftover after making hard cheese, like cheddar. It has a pH greater than 5.6. If you’ve ever bought a powdered protein supplement, odds are it was made from powdered sweet whey.
Acid Whey
Acid whey is the liquid strained out of yogurt or soft cheese, like cottage cheese. It has a pH less than 5.1, so it’s more acidic than “sweet whey”.
If you’ve just made a batch of yogurt, you have acid whey. So how can you use it?
What to Do with Whey
Don’t throw away the whey! If you’re talented enough to make your own homemade yogurt, you can use the whey!
Buttermilk Substitute for Baking
Buttermilk has a pH of 4.4-4.8, which is about the same pH as acid whey, so it substitutes very well. In most buttermilk recipes, you need the acid to react with baking soda to produce the bubbles that make a raised-up, fluffy final product.
If you were to substitute the whey for a buttermilk in a cake, quick bread or muffin, use a 1:1 substitution.
My favorite buttermilk substitution recipe is in my Perfect Pancakes recipe! I use 1/4 cup less whey than the buttermilk called for in the recipe to keep the pancakes fluffy and tall.
Click the picture to open the recipe in a new tab.
Milk Substitute for Baking
I find that recipes made with whey instead of milk tend to be a bit more moist and don’t dry out as quickly. If you are using whey to replace milk, you can do a 1:1 substitution.
I like to use it in my Homemade Waffles recipe, but I will also substitute for milk in muffin recipes (like Chocolate Banana Muffins or Classic Blueberry Muffins) and my Quick Nutmeg Baked Donuts.
Click the link above or the picture below to open the recipes in a new tab.
Smoothies
I’ve heard people say they add whey to their smoothies for health benefits, but I haven’t tried this yet. For starters, I don’t have any whey left after making pancakes and waffles! (I always make extra and freeze them for a quick weekday breakfast.)
But I also can’t get over the idea of drinking raw whey. They say it tastes similar to yogurt, but I’m happy to just bake with it. To each his own.
Marinating
The acid in whey makes it a perfect marinate for any meat. I have an amazing fried chicken recipe that marinades the chicken overnight in buttermilk. If I don’t have buttermilk, you can bet I’m using whey! Oh, yum!
Happy Baking!
Which is your favorite way to use up leftover whey? Do you use it for something I didn’t mention? Have you tried it in a smoothie? Comment below!
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