Homemade Sour Cream

How to make sour cream at home! All you need is 2 ingredients and wait 24 hours for the cream to thicken. It’s the magic of cooking!

Did you know that you can make homemade sour cream with just 2 ingredients? Experience the magic of fermentation right in your own kitchen! It’s a little cooking experiment that results in extremely tasty sour cream: much tastier than store-bought sour cream. Whether you’ve run out of sour cream or just want to try a fun experiment with your kids, it’s worth making at home! It’s also a great way to use up leftover cream or buttermilk. Here’s how.

How to make sour cream

It’s like magic watching the sour cream thicken right before your eyes! Of course, you don’t have to watch it all the time. All you need is 24 hours and a warm place and you can make your own. Here’s what to do with the leftover buttermilk or cream in your fridge! What you need to make sour cream:

• 1 cup cream (with 18-20% fat)
• ¼ cup buttermilk
• Clean container with lid (preferably glass)

All you have to do is mix the two ingredients. Then cover the container and set it in a warm place. If you open it after 24 hours you will see that the cream has thickened. Grab a spoon and voila! Tastes like sour cream.

How it works? Fermentation.

How it works? Here’s the basic scientific breakdown of what happens when you make sour cream:

• Buttermilk contains lactic acid bacteria.
• If you mix it with cream at room temperature, it will ferment the cream! This will thicken it without spoiling it.

More fermented foods? Access the best fermented foods to try now.

Can you make sour cream with milk?

Some sources claim that you can make homemade sour cream with milk mixed with lemon juice instead of buttermilk. Milk mixed with lemon juice is a common substitute for buttermilk in recipes. But when we tested this method, it didn’t work! The milk didn’t thicken the cream at all. buttermilk is important because it contains the bacteria you need and it works every time!

Ways to use sour cream

There are many ways to use it once you’ve done it! Here are some of our favorite sour cream recipes and ways to use this delicious cream:

A process similar to sour cream? Cream.

Would you like a similar experience? Make our fresh cream! Crème fraîche is a French version of sour cream, but it’s even richer and thicker. This velvety sour cream is used in a variety of ways: as a creamy dip for vegetables, for soups by the spoonful or on fruit or dessert by the spoonful. It does not separate or curdle when heated, ideal for making creamy sauces.

To make crème fraiche, you do almost the same thing: mix cream and a culture and wait 24 hours. But you won’t be using buttermilk…it’s something a little different! Visit our Homemade fresh cream to learn more.

This homemade sour cream recipe is…

Vegetarian and gluten free.

More kitchen crafts!

Do you like doing things yourself in the kitchen? Here are some fun cooking experiments: