Heavy Cream Substitutes Vegan

Heavy cream is the fatty, top part of the fresh milk that consists of 36-40% fat. Due to its rich taste and velvety texture, it is used in a variety of recipes.

Can you even imagine Carbonara sauce without cream or fresh strawberries without whipped cream to name just two dishes requiring this ingredient?!

However, sometimes while you are in the middle of cooking, you reach to your fridge for the heavy cream and… you realize you don’t have it.

Or you are preparing your signature dish, and you realise that one of your guests is lactose intolerant or vegan.

What can you do then? The good news is that you can stop panicking as there are quite a few dairy-based and dairy-free heavy cream substitutes you can choose from.

Dairy-based Heavy Cream Substitutes

To make 1 cup of the heavy cream substitute, combine:

3/4 cup of milk and 1/4 cup of melted butter, or
1 cup of milk with 2 tablespoons of corn-starch, or
7/8 cup of 12% cream and 1/8 cup of melted butter, or
equal amounts of Greek yoghurt and milk, or
blended equal quantities of cottage cheese and milk, or
you can also replace it with cream cheese, or
use another heavy cream substitute evaporated milk.

Homemade Vegan Heavy Cream Substitutes

You can also make a dairy-free heavy cream substitute:

mix 2/3 cup of soy milk with 1/3 cup of olive oil to make 1 cup of the heavy cream substitute, or
blend equal amounts of silken tofu and soy milk, or
use coconut cream – the top, thicker part from the refrigerated can of coconut milk.

However, you have to remember that the above substitutes will work better for some recipes than for the other ones.

One of the reasons is they may alter the taste of the dishes you add them to. Simply, blended Greek yoghurt and milk, or soya milk and olive oil will do the trick by adding the velvety touch to your sauce but will never taste like heavy cream.

Additionally, only coconut cream, or combinations of 12% cream and butter, or silken tofu and soy milk will whip as well as the heavy cream.

Nonetheless, the good news is that with these dairy-based and vegan heavy cream substitutes you can save the day (and your dish!) in an emergency.