What can I make with sour cream?
Sour Cream is what makes a sauce feel finished, as long as it does not split. Recipes using sour cream are below, followed by the temperature rules that keep it smooth.
12 recipes with sour cream
Street Corn (Elote)
Grilled corn slathered in creamy chile-lime sauce and cotija.
Mexican15m4
Fish Tacos
Crispy or grilled fish in warm tortillas with cabbage slaw and crema.
Mexican-American20m4
Loaded Nachos
Tortilla chips baked with cheese, beans, and every topping.
Tex-Mex20m4
Chicken Tacos
Weeknight tacos with seasoned chicken and lime crema.
Mexican25m3Chicken Quesadillas
A delicious and easy-to-make Mexican dish filled with chicken, cheese, and vegetables, served with salsa and sour cream.
Mexican45m4Chilaquiles
A traditional Mexican breakfast dish made with fried tortilla chips, salsa, and cheese.
Mexican60m4
Cheesecake
Rich New York-style cheesecake on a graham cracker crust.
American90m12
Sauerkraut pierogii
step 1 First, make the crispy shallots.
Ukrainian4
15-minute chicken & halloumi burgers
STEP 1 Put the chicken breasts between two pieces of baking parchment and use a rolling pin to gently bash them until they are approximately 1cm thick.
United States4
Chickpea Fajitas
Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and line a baking tray with foil.
Mexican4
Cucumber & fennel salad
step 1 Put cucumber in a sieve.
Polish4
Pork rib bortsch
step 1 Cut the meat into large pieces, put in your largest saucepan and cover with 5 litres water.
Polish4
Cooking with sour cream without splitting or clumping
- 1Bring sour cream closer to room temperature before it meets heat; cold dairy in a hot pan is what curdles.
- 2Add it off the heat or on the lowest setting, stirring constantly.
- 3A teaspoon of flour or cornstarch stabilises a sauce and keeps it glossy.
- 4Salt and acid go in at the end - both encourage splitting when added early.
What goes well with sour cream
Sour Cream is at its best with garlic, herbs, lemon, flour, black pepper and nutmeg. Any two or three of those, plus sour cream, is already a dinner rather than an ingredient list.
Storing sour cream
Keep sour cream in the main body of the fridge, not the door, where the temperature swings most. Wrap cheese in paper rather than plastic so it can breathe. Hard cheeses freeze acceptably for cooking; fresh dairy does not freeze well.
Substituting sour cream
If you are out of sour cream, look for something that behaves the same way in the pan rather than something that tastes the same. Match the moisture level, the cooking time, and the richness, and adjust the liquid slightly if your substitute releases more water. When in doubt, describe what you actually have in the chat and Mr. Chef will rewrite the recipe around it.
Sour Cream recipes: common questions
- What can I make with sour cream and not much else?
- Plenty. With sour cream plus an onion, garlic, oil, and salt you already have the base of a skillet dinner, a soup, or a simple sauce. Add a starch - rice, pasta, bread, or potatoes - and it becomes a full meal. The recipes above are ordered so the ones needing the fewest extra items come first.
- What is the quickest sour cream recipe?
- Look for the entries above marked 20 minutes or less. As a rule, anything cut small and cooked in a hot pan beats anything roasted whole, and one-pan recipes save more time in cleanup than in cooking.
- Can I substitute sour cream?
- In most recipes yes, as long as the replacement plays a similar role - similar moisture, similar cooking time, similar richness. Swapping across roles (a watery vegetable for a starchy one, for instance) usually needs a change in liquid or cooking time too.
- How do I use up leftover sour cream?
- Fried rice, a frittata, a grain bowl, a soup, or a quesadilla will absorb almost any leftover sour cream without a recipe. If you want something specific, tell Mr. Chef exactly what is in the fridge and it will build a recipe around it.