Relative Foods Baking Powder: Costs More, No Cornstarch

Relative Foods Baking Powder is worth buying if you want clean, basic ingredients and nothing extra. No added aluminum, no cornstarch, blended in an allergen-free, gluten-free facility in Spring Lake, Michigan. It costs more than shelf baking powder. For biscuits, pancakes, muffins and cakes in my house, it’s the only one I use.

How this review was made: written from my own video review of this product. Every opinion here is my own, from using it myself.

I Dipped My Finger In It On Camera

The texture is the first thing that sold me. I opened the bag so you guys could see the consistency, and it’s finely filtered, fluffy, no clumping, no gritty bits. On my finger it looked like powdered sugar more than a leavening agent. That’s what I want out of a food baking powder, and it’s a big part of why the Relative Foods Baking Powder on Amazon is the only one in my pantry now.

The label claim holds up where it counts: three bags in, the ingredient list hasn’t changed and the texture hasn’t either. No aluminum, no cornstarch, that’s the whole pitch, and so far Relative Foods hasn’t quietly reformulated it the way some brands do once they scale.

Why Cornstarch Is in Most Baking Powders

A lot of conventional baking powders use cornstarch, and there’s a reason for it. Cornstarch absorbs moisture in the container and it prevents premature reactions between the acid and the base before the powder ever hits your batter. So it’s not a villain ingredient. It’s doing a job.

But I want my clean, basic ingredients and nothing extra in there. That’s my preference, especially since I’ve spent the last five years cutting down on processed stuff and anything corn-derived. If you’re baking for someone with a corn sensitivity, or you’re already buying aluminum-cornstarch-free everything else, this is the shelf you’re shopping on. If you don’t care about either, a regular can off the grocery shelf will bake you a biscuit just fine and cost you less.

Storage Is On You, Not the Can

This ships in a resealable poly bag, not a metal tin, and that’s the one thing I’d flag before you order. A bag is easy to store and easy to get into mid-recipe, but you have to actually seal it, and with no cornstarch in the blend there’s nothing in there helping manage moisture. I keep ours closed tight and out of the steam zone near the stove. Treat it like you’d treat an open bag of flour.

The upside of the bag format is the sizing. It comes in 16 ounce, 128 ounce, and a 400 ounce size. If you bake every week, the big bag is where the math starts working in your favor.

Consistency Over Months, Not One Batch

One good batch of pancakes proves nothing, so I waited until bag three before writing this. Same fine texture out of the bag, same rise on my wife’s biscuits, no recipe adjustments needed, bag three behaved exactly like bag one.

So far it has. My wife does a lot of baking in our house, biscuits, pancakes, muffins and cakes, and she hasn’t had to adjust a recipe or compensate for a weak rise. A lot of reviews echo the same sentiment, which is what pushed me to try it in the first place. Consistent reviews across a product usually means consistent manufacturing behind it. Amazon has it ranked around #15,174 in Grocery & Gourmet Food with over 900 bought in the last month, which tells me there’s a steady repeat audience rather than a one-time viral spike. That matters for a pantry staple. You want the formula to still be the formula next year.

The other thing I like about this particular brand is that it’s made in the United States. Blending and packaging happen in their allergen-free, gluten-free, vegan facility in Spring Lake, Michigan, with ingredients sourced in the US or Canada. I’m going to pay more for a quality product, especially when it’s made here.

Where This Isn’t the Right Buy

If you bake twice a year, skip it. You’ll pay more than shelf baking powder for a bag that’ll sit in your cabinet losing potency before you get through a quarter of it. Same goes if you’re a bulk-price shopper with no ingredient concerns. You won’t see the difference in a boxed cake mix.

Light and Fluffy, In Practice

Biscuits are the real test in our house, and they’ve risen the way they should. Pancakes too. That’s what the brand claims for cakes, muffins and bread, and in our kitchen it’s held up across all the stuff my wife makes regularly. I can’t give you a measured rise in millimeters, I’m not doing that on camera. What I can tell you is nobody in this house has said “these came out flat” since we switched.

Price-wise, it’s been sitting right around its usual level for the last three months, so there’s no obvious reason to wait on a dip. Check today’s price on Amazon and see which size makes sense for how often you bake.

Start With the 16 Ounce

Buy the 1 lb bag first. It’s the one I reviewed, and it’s enough to run through a month of weekend baking without committing to a 400 ounce bag of something you haven’t tried. If it works for your recipes, move up to the big size on the reorder. You’re going to pay more than a shelf can, and that premium only makes sense if clean ingredients matter to you or you bake often enough to move through a 16-ounce bag in a month or two. If both of those are true, the reorder calculus is easy, move up to the 128-ounce on your second buy.

Pros

• No added aluminum and cornstarch-free, so it’s clean, basic ingredients and nothing extra
• Finely filtered and fluffy out of the bag, no clumps on the finger test
• Consistent results across biscuits, pancakes, muffins and cakes in our kitchen
• Blended and packaged in an allergen-free, gluten-free facility in Michigan
• Three sizes, from 16 oz up to 400 oz for heavy bakers

Cons

• Costs more than a regular can off the grocery shelf
• Resealable bag instead of a tin, and with no cornstarch in the blend you need to seal it properly and keep it away from steam
• Not worth it if you bake occasionally and have no ingredient concerns

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I substitute it 1:1 for my current baking powder?

Yes, it’s a standard leavening agent and we’ve swapped it straight into existing recipes with no adjustment. My wife didn’t change a single measurement when we made the switch.

Is it safe for someone with a gluten allergy?

It’s blended and packaged in a dedicated allergen-free, gluten-free, vegan facility, which is stronger than a plain “gluten free” label on a shared line. That dedicated-facility piece is the part worth knowing if cross-contamination is a real concern in your house.

How do I know when it’s gone bad?

Drop a half teaspoon into hot water. If it doesn’t fizz up right away, it’s lost its lift and it’s time to replace it. Worth doing before you commit it to a cake if the bag’s been open a while.

Can I use it for non-baking things like fried chicken coating?

Yes, and the cornstarch-free part is a bonus there since you control what starch goes into your dredge. I haven’t done a side-by-side on coating specifically, so I can’t tell you it crisps differently than a conventional powder.

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Relative Foods Baking Powder

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