Missing an Ingredient? Here Is What Works in Its Place

Running out of one thing halfway through a recipe is the most common kitchen problem there is. Each answer here tells you what to reach for, how much to use and what will change, because a swap that works in a soup can fail in a cake.

Baking is the least forgiving place to swap, which is why those answers give exact ratios. Weighing with a kitchen scale makes any swap more predictable, and some problems need no swap at all, like cookies that spread flat from butter that was too warm.