Sour cream substitute: Which alternative products can you use?

Sour cream is sought after as an ingredient in many kitchens and is therefore used frequently. You don't always have sour cream ready to hand. There is a sour cream substitute for this.

You can use certain dairy products to replace sour cream. If you have a milk intolerance or a vegan diet, there are also tasty vegan alternatives available.

Schmand - also called Schmetten or Schmant - is made from soured cream. So it is a dairy product. The fat content is usually between 20 and 24 percent. But there are also variants used abroad that have a fat content of around 30 percent. It is firm and tastes creamy with a slightly sour note.

The taste of the dairy product is reminiscent of sour cream or Greek yogurt. In terms of consistency, it is more similar to crème fraîche.

In German kitchens, schmant is preferably used to make or refine dips, sauces, salad dressings or soups . You can also use this special milk product when baking cakes and sheet cakes. Schmant is one of the absolute classics in Polish and Russian cuisine.

Whether in the catering industry or in private households - Poles and Russians use the slightly sour-tasting milk product as a filling for pancakes and dumplings. It is also extremely popular as a creamy, sour extra kick on hearty stews, such as bortsch (Russian stew with meat, cabbage and beetroot).

Schmant is made from cream . In the first step, the dairies separate the milk and cream from each other. This is done by centrifugation . They then bring the cream to a fat content of 20 to a maximum of 30 percent, although in Germany a fat content of 24 percent is considered standard.

Then lactic acid bacteria are added. These ensure that milk sugar (lactose) is converted into lactic acid.

This procedure solidifies the cream and gives it its typical sour taste . If necessary, dairies add additional thickeners to the cream after a short maturation process in order to achieve an even firmer consistency. At the end, the Schmant is filled into appropriate containers.

• Crème fraîche : Crème fraîche is the best substitute for sour cream for sauces and soups. This is due to the similar properties of the two products. This means that crème fraîche, like butterscotch, does not flocculate when heated. There are also hardly any differences in terms of puncture resistance. This makes crème fraîche ideal for use in soups, stews and sauces. However, in this case the fat content is between 30 and 40 percent. Is that too much for you? Then choose the low-fat alternative crème légère.
  
  
• Sweet cream and sour cream : Sour cream or - depending on your taste - sweet cream are also a good substitute for butter when cooking soups and sauces. You have to pay attention to certain specifications. Cream, for example, has a much more liquid consistency than solid cream. This can have a decisive influence on your cooking results. Sour cream flakes when exposed to heat. Therefore, you should ideally only add cream when serving.
  
  
• Sweet cream for baking : With a fat content of around 30 percent, sweet cream is also suitable as a sour cream alternative for baking. This gives your tarts and cakes an extra portion of sweetness. You can compensate for this by also adding ingredients with a higher acid content. Lemon or lime juice is particularly suitable for this.
  
  
• Lower-fat substitute products : If you value a particularly low fat content, sour cream is a good solution. The fat content of sour cream is usually around ten percent.
  
  
• Combined substitute products : When baking, the combination of sour cream and crème fraîche has proven to be a useful alternative to sour cream. The mixing ratio should be 50:50.
  
  
• Cream cheese : Many chefs also use cream cheese as a sour cream alternative. Both ingredients are similar in consistency. However, cream cheese liquefies when you add it to simmering sauces or soups. In addition, cream cheese does not have a sour taste. Here you can help with a little lemon juice. Herbal cream cheese is ideal for savory dishes.

Even as a vegan, you have several options for replacing sour cream . You don't even have to miss out on a creamy consistency and a full-bodied taste.

But the plant-based sour cream alternatives are not only interesting for vegans. For example, if you get diarrhea from milk , the vegan diet offers you many different alternative products.

Soy Cuisine and oat cream, for example, are two options that can be used as a substitute for sour cream .
In the supermarket you can also get the right ingredients to make vegan sour cream from cashews. There are more than enough options for vegan Schmant substitutes .

• Vegan cream cheese : Vegan cream cheese is difficult to dissolve in many cases, but it is still the best vegan substitute for sour cream . Depending on the dish and needs, you can also use vegan herb cream cheese.
  
  
• Coconut milk : Milk substitute products such as coconut milk in particular are also suitable as a sour cream substitute due to their consistency. This type of milk is comparatively thick. But the same applies here: take into account the sometimes very intense taste.