What does sour cream do in a recipe?
Sour cream is obtained through the fermentation of cream with various lactic acid bacteria. It is a dairy product that boasts fat and acid. These can bring richness to various baking recipes, making for tender and moist crumbs in cakes. It’s also a common ingredient in dips, as well as an ideal topping for tacos, nachos and baked potatoes.
How to replace it
Sour cream is a high fat product, so we recommend using a fatty plain yogurt in its stead, usually at 10% or 11%. It’s pretty much the same as sour cream, so it can be used in practically everything. Use 1 cup of yogurt for every 1 cup of sour cream.
If, however, you only have Greek yogurt in your fridge with 0%, 1% or 2% fat content, note that your cakes will still turn out perfectly fine, but they’ll just be a bit dense. If you prefer, you can always thin it out a bit by adding two tablespoons of milk to each ½ cup of yogurt, and this will help bring some tenderness and springiness to your cake.
Now that you have this handy swap up your sleeve, cook or bake one of the recipes below and don’t be worried if your sour cream has run out!