Sour cream substitute ideas for baking are helpful replacements or alternatives for sour cream if you want to bake something that calls for sour cream as one of the ingredients and you just found that you are out of sour cream!
Many pantry essentials or things that we normally use in cooking and baking works as great substitutes for sour cream, especially in baking,
I say 'baking' because the substitutes may not have the exact taste of sour cream, but they still work as great substitutes for sour cream when used in baking.
In cooking or recipes likes dips, salad dressings etc, the flavor & taste difference matters more and so you may need to alter the taste a bit before using the replacement for sour cream.
For example, if you replace sour cream with greek yogurt in a salad dressing, the taste difference is obvious unless you try to make a change in how it tastes.
However, if you replace the sour cream with greek yogurt in baking a banana bread that calls for sour cream, it should work and you probably won't notice any taste difference in the bread.
That is why I said it is more easy to use sour cream substitutes in baking and I hope you got the difference!
So let us see some of the best sour cream substitutes for baking.
Sour cream substitute ideas for baking
Below you can see some of the best sour cream substitutes or replacements for baking!
Greek yogurt
Greek yogurt is one of the best replacement or substitute for baking. It can be even used in cooking, dips and salad dressing with some modifications so it tastes almost like sour cream!
See my detailed post on greek yogurt substitute for sour cream to see how you can substitute sour cream with greek yogurt in recipes.
Yogurt
Yogurt is just as good as greek yogurt in using it as a substitute for sour cream in baking, though greek yogurt works the best.
Yogurt has more moisture content than greek yogurt (which is strained yogurt), so it is a good idea to strain the yogurt through a cheesecloth (if you have time for that, otherwise you can just use it like that), before using as a substitute.
It is a good idea to stir & whisk the yogurt (or greek yogurt) very well to make it more creamy and smooth in texture before using it as a substitute.
Cream Cheese
Cream cheese works as a great substitute for sour cream in baking! Since the cream cheese is usually more hard in texture when it is refrigerated, it is a good idea to keep it in room temperature for about half an hour or so, to soften the cheese and then whisk it well to make it creamy and smooth before using it as a substitute.
You may even add a bit of milk (about a tablespoon milk for a cup of cheese), to adjust the texture, if necessary.
Creme Fraiche
Creme fraiche is popular in french cuisine and it's much similar to sour cream, which makes it one of the best substitutes for sour cream!
If you happen to have creme fraiche, do use it as a replacement of sour cream in recipes!
Cottage Cheese
Cottage cheese also works as a good substitute for sour cream in baking! If you want it to taste more like sour cream, you may add little heavy cream or milk and little lemon juice to adjust the flavor of cottage cheese similar to that of sour cream.
Buttermilk
Buttermilk is good alternative to sour cream in baking. However, keep in mind that buttermilk has more liquid like consistency so you might need to adjust the amount you use, because too much liquid content may change the results in baking, especially for cakes & breads. It is a good idea to use little less amount of buttermilk than the amount of sour cream required. For example, if 1 cup of sour cream is called in the recipe, you may try using ¾ cup buttermilk, though this may change from recipes to recipes so the results may vary.
Just like buttermilk, in some recipes, even milk may work as a replacement for sour cream but it doesn't work with every recipe.
Mayo
Mayonnaise works as a great substitute for sour cream in baking including cake recipes and bread recipes.
Mayo contain eggs in it, so it may not be suitable for eggless baking unless you use egg free mayo.
I have shared some of the best sour cream substitutes for baking in this blog post. I may add more if I learn about more sour cream substitutes later. If you have more ideas on sour cream substitutes for baking, feel free to share that in the comments section.
Hope you found this post on sour cream substitutes for baking helpful!
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