Baking Powder vs Baking Soda
Published 2026-10-31
Baking powder and baking soda are both leaveners, the ingredients that make cakes, muffins, pancakes and biscuits rise. They are not interchangeable one for one, though, and using the wrong one can leave a bake flat or bitter. Here is how each works and why some recipes call for both.
How baking soda works
Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate. It needs an acid, such as buttermilk, yogurt, brown sugar, lemon juice, natural cocoa or molasses, to react and release carbon dioxide gas. The reaction starts as soon as the batter is mixed, so recipes with only baking soda should go into the oven promptly. Too much baking soda leaves a soapy or metallic taste.
How baking powder works
Baking powder contains baking soda plus a dry acid and a starch to keep it stable. Because the acid is built in, it can leaven batters that have no acidic ingredient. Double acting baking powder reacts twice: once when it gets wet and again when heated in the oven. That second burst gives extra lift and more time between mixing and baking.
Why recipes use both
Many cookie, pancake and quick bread recipes use a little baking soda to neutralize acidic ingredients and help browning, plus baking powder for the main lift. Follow the amounts in a tested recipe, because changing them affects texture, color and flavor.
Substituting in a pinch
If you are out of baking powder, a common substitute is about a quarter teaspoon of baking soda plus half a teaspoon of cream of tartar for each teaspoon of baking powder. Replacing baking soda with baking powder is harder, because you need roughly three times as much and flavor can change. Keeping a large can of baking powder in the pantry avoids the problem.
Signs you used the wrong amount
Baked goods with too much leavening often rise quickly then collapse, have a coarse crumb or taste bitter or soapy. Too little leavening makes them dense, flat and pale. If a recipe repeatedly turns out wrong, check that the baking powder is fresh and that you measured with level spoons. Small measuring mistakes have a big effect, because leaveners are used in such small amounts.
