It’s so quick and easy to make homemade sour cream. This traditional recipe uses a probiotic culture, so it can be as sour as you want. It’s perfect for tacos, pierogies, soups and dips.
Here are some of the reasons why you should make your own sour cream:
- It’s probiotic!
- You get to decide how sour you want it.
- The flavour of cultured dairy is delicious.
- The price of the cream is less than the price of sour cream, so it’s a cheap alternative.
- Homemade sour cream is zero-waste (or lower waste). No need to recycle a plastic container.
- It’s easy! Just mix in the culture and you’re done.
Sour Cream Culture
A good mesophilic (room temperature loving) culture is traditional for sour cream. This type of culture works best at 22C (72F), so there’s no need to heat the cream or keep it warm in a yogurt maker.
The flavour of the sour cream will be affected by your choice of culture, so if you want a traditional sour cream flavour, then you will need a traditional sour cream culture. Here are some different mesophilic cultures that will work for sour cream:
- You can buy sour cream culture online (affiliate link). It will be very vigorous and is a great way to kickstart your own homemade sour cream culture.
- Sometimes store-bought sour cream is cultured. However, not all of them are, so you will need to read the label. Store-bought sour cream is generally not a very vigorous culture, so give it a full 24 hours the first time you use it to make homemade sour cream.
- Cultured buttermilk is a great alternative as the flavour is similar to sour cream.
- Milk kefir can culture cream, but the yeast part of the culture will change the flavour and consistency of the sour cream to be more like milk kefir.
- Mesophilic yogurts also have their own, unique flavour. So, they can culture whipping cream, but it won’t taste like store-bought sour cream.
Maintaining A Sour Cream Culture
Like all fermented cultures, sour cream needs to be fed regularly to remain healthy and vigorous. Realistically, that means making sour cream once a week! However, dairy cultures freeze very well. Here’s how to freeze sour cream culture for future batches:
- Whenever you make sour cream, freeze enough culture for the next batch. It will last in the freezer for at least 4 weeks (and up to several months).
- Defrost the frozen culture for 24 hours in the fridge before using it.
Traditional Homemade Sour cream
Traditional sour cream is made with a bacterial culture that sets at room temperature. It is probiotic and delicious. Perfect for tacos, pierogies and more!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 1/4 cup 1x
- Category: Condiment
- Method: Fermented
- Cuisine: Probiotic
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup of mesophilic cultured dairy (see the section above for different culturing options)
- 1 cup whipping cream (30-35% milkfat)
Instructions
- Mix the culture and cream in a clean glass jar.
- Loosely screw on the lid and leave it at room temperature (around 22 C, 72 F) for 12-24 hours.
- Once it has thickened and tastes sour, store it in the fridge and finish it within 3 weeks.
Notes
- You can find mesophilic dairy cultures in most grocery stores (eg. buttermilk). See the section above for more detailed information.
- The first time you make sour cream it may take a little longer to achieve a sour flavour. It will depend on the quality of your culture. However, once you’ve established your culture, it should be relatively quick.
- The cream will thicken as it cultures, but if you want a really thick sour cream, then strain it through a coffee filter (like Greek yogurt). Store-bought sour cream contains a bunch of added ingredients to help thicken the cream, so don’t expect your homemade sour cream to be as thick.
Keywords: probiotic, traditional, keto, easy, 5 minute recipe, vegetarian, gluten free, simple, wholesome, zero-waste
I use 2 Table Spoons of liquid from homemade sauerkraut as my starter.
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Interesting… I’ve never tried culturing dairy with sauerkraut. What a good idea!
Hi Matt.
I’ve just made my first batch of sauerkraut. Now I’d like to make sour cream. Do you add 2 Tablespoons of liquid to 1 cup of heavy cream? Thanks!
Hi Sherry, I never tried Matt’s method. (I keep sour cream starter in my freezer). However, if you try it can you let me know how it goes? Thanks!
I’m trying to help my family get healthier microbiomes by using more homemade, cultured, products. Thank you for posting such recipes – I’ll be trying them out and teaching them to my daughter.
So many milk products in the store are “ultra-pasteurized” and don’t even taste good to my way of thinking. Do these products work for cultures?
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Sorry, ultra-pasteurized generally don’t work for fermentation. If you can’t find regular milk, then you could try them. But I would recommend avoiding them.
Thank you for letting me know about the ultra pasteurized milk .I love making homemade food and I agree ultra pasteurized doesnt cut it in my taste.Yrars ago I actually had an uncle who had a nueben goat and he gave me a glass of the milk..Yummo
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Can you please clarify re-culture? I used a store bought packet of sour cream culture. It made a great sour cream, how do I feed the current sour cream to keep it going? If I add kefir it will change the flavor and i really want to preserve the flavor that I have. Thank for your help!
Hi, Definitely don’t mix it with kefir. You’ll end up with kefir cultured cream, which I often make instead of sour cream, but it is a different culture. To keep your store-bought culture active, simply save 1/4 cup of your cultured sour cream to reculture the next batch. I would culture it away from your milk kefir, like only have one of them out of the fridge at a time, or culture them in different rooms. Otherwise, the milk kefir will slowly take over your sour cream culture. Enjoy!
I have been using ultra pasteurized half and half to make yogurt in my instant pot using the cold start method. That can only be done using ultra pasteurized. It comes out perfect and taste wonderful. Can you make sour cream from taking the whey out of yogurt?
Not exactly. Removing the whey will turn it into Greek yogurt. It will be thicker, but not creamy like sour cream. However, it’s a great option for a low-fat “sour cream”. Depending on what you’re using it for, you may not even notice the difference.
Do you have any experience with what happens if you greatly extend the culturing time of this, possibly for more than 48 hours? I’ve been culturing my own cream at home with some milk kefir grains and I tried an extended ferment. After I stopped the ferment and put it in the fridge, checking on it later showed that it was solid! I’ve taken a bit more out to see if this will basically yield butter if I extend the process further, but if you have any experience I’d love your insight!
Thanks!
Hi, Fermenting for longer does result in the cream curding. So the whey may separate from the solids. It’s not exactly butter, however, you’re on your way! To make butter, remove the kefir grains and start shaking! I have a recipe for cultured butter here: https://www.fermentingforfoodies.com/homemade-cultured-butter/
I made some sour cream with local raw cream and have some extra cream that went sour after 2-3 weeks in the fridge. Can I use this when I re-culture? If not, do you have any recommendations for it?
If you had raw cream that went sour on its own, then I wouldn’t use it to reculture more sour cream. You don’t know exactly which strains of bacteria cultured the raw milk. You can use store-bought cultured buttermilk, store-bought cultured sour cream or milk kefir to make sour cream. These will each have their own specific bacterial cultures and should make safe and delicious sour cream.