What is a good substitute for buttermilk in pancakes?

Beer.

Any of the nut milks (I have used almond or coconut) will do. I like coconut milk, personally, it adds a nice flavor.

I usually add 1 TBSP vinegar per cup of milk then let it sit for 5–10 minutes to give it time to sour.
Per a friend of mine, that also works with Almond milk.

I use this if I don’t have milk. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.recipebinder.co.uk/amp/recipe-34236.html

I don’t cook much now; but, when I did, I kept a canister of powdered milk & another of powdered buttermilk for those emergency times. Neither is good to drink; but both works pretty good in cooking. They don’t go out of date as fast as the real thing either.

Living by myself, my problem was that I only needed 1 cup of buttermilk maybe once or twice a .month & the smallest container I could buy was a quart. I don’t drink milk so only needed a little bit for cooking. Even being able to buy it by the pint, I didn’t use it fast enough to keep it from going bad.

I’m pretty sure you can do the vinegar trick with almond milk, just like regular milk like @LadyMarissa posted. I use vinegar with regular milk when I don’t have buttermilk.

You can also use lemon juice if you don’t like the taste of vinegar.

The acid isn’t just for flavor. It reacts with the baking soda to help the pancakes rise.

@kruger_d Thank you for the explanation about the acid.

I was trying to avoid dairy, due to lactose intolerance.

You can use baking powder instead of baking soda and vinegar. It might be simpler to just do a pancake recipe that is not buttermilk if you don’t have vinegar, but do have baking powder. The buttermilk is to get the rise in the pancake more than anything as mentioned above.

@kruger_d I understand why the acid is needed but I’m one who doesn’t like the taste of vinegar and thought others might not like it as well. That’s why I suggested lemon juice.

Lemon juice works just as well as vinegar & I can’t tell any difference in the taste. I keep vinegar in my cupboard & I don’t always have lemon available; so. I usually use vinegar when I need buttermilk & didn’t plan in advance.