Per Cup Baking Soda: How Much to Use in Indian Baking and Cooking

When you see baking soda, a leavening agent that reacts with acid to create air bubbles in dough. Also known as sodium bicarbonate, it's a quiet hero in Indian kitchens—used not just in breads and sweets, but also in batter fermentation and tenderizing meats. But here’s the thing: using too much can leave a bitter, soapy taste, and too little means your dosa won’t crisp up or your bread won’t rise. The magic number isn’t a guess—it’s about per cup of flour or batter, and it varies by recipe type.

Most Indian recipes that use baking soda rely on acidic ingredients to activate it. Think yogurt in dosa batter, tamarind in chutneys, or lemon juice in sweets like jalebi. For every cup of flour or liquid batter, you typically need 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda. That’s it. More than that? You’ll taste it. In paneer recipes, a pinch helps soften the curds. In biryani rice, a tiny bit helps grains stay separate. But in sweets like mysore pak, where sugar syrup is the star, baking soda is used more for texture than rise—just enough to make it light, not chalky.

It’s not just about quantity. Timing matters too. If you let batter sit too long after adding baking soda, the bubbles escape and your dosa turns flat. That’s why many cooks add it right before cooking. And don’t confuse it with baking powder, a blend of baking soda and acid that activates with moisture and heat. Baking powder is used in cakes and cookies, but rarely in traditional Indian savory dishes because it adds a neutral flavor you don’t want in roti or pakora batter. You’ll find baking soda in almost every Indian home, but few know how to use it right. The posts below show you exactly how much to use in dosa, laddoos, tandoori marinades, and even dal fry—no guesswork, no bitter aftertaste. Whether you’re making breakfast or festive sweets, these real-life examples will fix your measurements once and for all.