More and more people are looking to get animal products out of their diets, and heavy cream is an ingredient that many recipes call for – so what do you do if you don’t want to eat it but you need to cook with it? Let’s look at the 8 best vegan heavy cream substitutes.
There are some great alternatives to heavy cream, including coconut cream, plant milk mixed with olive oil, onion cream, white bean cream, and more. All of these will have slightly different textures and flavors, but they should work instead of heavy cream.
If you’re going to make a substitution in a recipe, you might want to test it on a small batch first, because sometimes vegan options will behave in different ways. Hopefully, this article will give you plenty of ideas about what you can use instead of heavy cream.
What Are The Best Substitutes For Heavy Cream?
If you don’t want to eat heavy cream because you’re a vegan or trying to focus on a more plant-based diet, there are lots of substitutes that you can opt for. These will often have a different flavor from heavy cream and they may behave in different ways if you cook with them, but overall, most of these make great substitutes. The list includes:
- White bean cream
- Soy milk and oil
- Vegan cashew heavy cream
- Oat milk with cornstarch
- Silken tofu blended with soy milk
- Coconut cream
- Soy milk and brown rice
- Onion cream
The idea behind these is to replace both the taste and texture of heavy cream, but this can be quite tricky to do, and you may find that the success varies depending on what sort of meal you are making. If you are making something like soup or sauce, you’ll find some of the above are better than others, while other ones might work better for desserts.
When you create a heavy cream substitute, you are looking to get 1 part of fat to 2 parts liquid, which means that you can’t just swap the cream for a plant-based milk. You will usually need to mix two products in order to create something that is similar to heavy cream, so let’s look at which are the best options and how you can use them.
1) White Bean Cream
White bean cream is a great substitute if you are making soups, although you may find that it has too much flavor for desserts or for other recipes. It will help to thicken soups and make them creamier, but it generally isn’t suitable for sweet dishes, because of its taste. It is high in protein and much healthier for you than heavy cream.
It’s also very easy to make, provided that you have a blender. Without a blender, you can’t make this substitute, because you need the beans to be turned into a paste for it to work. If you can’t blend them, the beans will be too chunky and will ruin the texture of your dish.
You can make it using 1 cup of white beans (cooked, or use canned and drained ones) and just enough water for blending. Add the beans to your blender jug, along with a splash of water, and blend on high for a couple of minutes, until you have a smooth, thick paste, similar to the texture of heavy cream.
You can then refrigerate this paste and use a scoop of it like heavy cream. It will make your recipes taste fattier and more luxurious, so it’s a great option.
2) Soy Milk And Oil
If you aren’t fond of soy milk, you can use almost any plant-based milk to create this version of heavy cream; they should all work similarly. Pick one that you like the taste of. Once you have chosen your milk, you simply need to make it fattier to make it behave like cream, and you can do this by adding oil.
This will work well in a variety of dishes, as the plant-based milks tend to be fairly mild in flavor, so they can often be added to recipes without noticeably altering the taste. That makes this one of the more versatile substitutes for heavy cream, and it may even work in baked goods, which a lot of the alternative options will not. However, it cannot be turned into whipped cream.
To make a cup of this vegan cream, you will need a third of a cup of oil, and two-thirds of a cup of your chosen plant-based milk. Any neutral oil will do, and the best part is that you can make this recipe without a blender if necessary (although a blender will make things easier).
Add both ingredients to a bowl and whisk them thoroughly together, or use a blender to combine them. You should get a rich, creamy substance that can be added in the place of heavy cream in many situations, both sweet and savory.
3) Vegan Cashew Heavy Cream
Cashews are often used as a substitute for non-vegan cheese so that vegans can still enjoy meals like macaroni cheese, and that means cashews are ideal for creating heavy cream. Without the nutritional yeast flakes and spices often used when turning cashews into a cheese substitute, they are perfect for the more neutral flavor but fatty texture of heavy cream.
This recipe is a bit more complicated than some of the other options out there, and you need to spend more time on it – but it’s worth it for the results. Cashew cream makes a heavy cream that can be used in baked goods, sauces, soups, and more.
To make it, you need to soak ¾ cup of cashews for 2 hours (unless your blender is powerful enough to cope with raw cashews). Rinse the cashews, drain them, and add them to your blender. Pour in ¼ cup of water and a touch of salt, and blend on high until you have a smooth substance that is similar to heavy cream.
If the texture isn’t quite right, add a little more water. You should soon have a great alternative to heavy cream. You can leave the salt out if you prefer, but it helps with the taste. If you want a richer flavor, use a plant-based milk rather than water – this will give you a deliciously creamy substance.
4) Oat Milk With Cornstarch
If you don’t want to make a high-fat version of heavy cream but you are still looking to replicate the taste and behavior, cornstarch is an excellent option. This substitute will give you the thickness and creaminess of heavy cream, with none of the greasiness or oil. It is best used in soups, rather than baking, as the lack of fat will change how it behaves.
Cornstarch