Creamy, tangy and perfect vegan sour cream! An ideal replacement for ‘regular’ sour cream, perfect to use in recipes or wherever a sour cream is needed.
This vegan sour cream is everything you want a sour cream to be, creamy, tangy and rich!
It’s the best accompaniment to a baked potato out there.
In fact, I may or may not have made roughly 10 baked potatoes on the same day I made this batch of vegan sour cream (oh I did!).
It’s amazing as a topping for Mexican dishes like vegan nachos or vegan tacos, as a dip or spread, on top of soups, on a big bowl of vegan chili, as a salad dressing, stirred into your vegan mushroom stroganoff and of course, as mentioned, on top of your baked potatoes (with chives, always with chives!).
So if you have been wanting a dairy free alternative to regular sour cream then you are going to super pleased because this stuff is the bees knees (whatever the bees knees means, but definitely something good).
What You Need To Make This Recipe:
Ingredient Notes
- Raw cashews – these provide the creamy base for your sour cream. If you don’t eat cashews then slivered almonds or blanched almonds could work as a substitute.
- Apple cider vinegar – this provides the tang. You could also use distilled white vinegar.
- Nutritional yeast – gives a slightly cheesy tang, making it more closely match a tangy sour cream, however, you can omit this if you prefer.
How To Make Vegan Sour Cream
You will find full instructions and measurements in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is a summary of the process to go along with the process photos.
- Step 1: Add raw cashews, water, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, nutritional yeast and sea salt to the blender jug.
- Step 2: Blend until smooth and creamy.
- Step 3: Use wherever a sour cream is needed!
Chef’s Tips
The cashews: You don’t need to soak your cashews first unless your blender is a weak model. If you know your blender is likely to have a hard time with this, then soaking them for 15 minutes in hot water is sufficient to soften the cashews enough to make them really easy to blend. Just add the cashews to a bowl, pour over boiling hot water from the kettle and leave them to soak for 15 minutes. Then drain and rinse the cashews and they’re ready to use.
The consistency: The consistency of this vegan sour cream is fairly thick as you can see. It also tends to thicken up more in the fridge. If you’d like a thinner consistency just whisk in a little more water.
The quantity: This recipe makes around 1 cup of sour cream. You can easily double the recipe if you need to. If you are using a blender with a wide base then you may need to double the recipe so that there is enough volume for the blades to gain traction.
Recipe FAQ
It lasts about a week in the fridge in a sealed container.
Yes it is freezer friendly! So if you think you’ll take longer than a week to eat it all, then definitely freeze some of it. Just place it into a freezer safe container and freeze.
More Delicious Cashew Recipes
- Cashew Cheese Sauce
- Cashew Cream
- Sliceable Cashew Cheese
- Cashew Dressing
- Vegan Heavy Cream Substitute
- Cashew Ice Cream
Did you make this recipe? Be sure to leave a comment and rating below!
Vegan Sour Cream
Ingredients
- 1 cup Raw Cashews (150g)
- ⅓ cup Water (80ml)
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice Freshly Squeezed
- 1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
- ½ tsp Sea Salt
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to the blender and blend until very smooth.
- Enjoy wherever sour cream is needed.
Video
Notes
- Cashews: You don’t have to soak the cashews first in this recipe if you have a strong blender. But if you know your blender is likely to have a hard time, then you can soak them in hot water for 15 minutes just to soften them slightly so they’re easier to blend. Place them in a bowl, pour over boiling hot water from the kettle and leave them to soak for 15 minutes. Then drain, rinse and continue with the recipe.
- Substitute for cashews: If you need a substitute for cashews then you could try slivered or blanched almonds. If you’re using slivered or blanched almonds then definitely soak them first and in this case, soaking overnight would be the best option so you can get the texture as smooth as possible.
- Consistency: The consistency of this sour cream is fairly thick. It also tends to thicken up more in the fridge. If you’d like a thinner consistency then blend in more water. If it’s thickened up in the fridge then add a dash of water and whisk it in. Be careful not to add too much and make it runny.
- Quantity: This recipe makes around 1 cup of sour cream. You can easily double the recipe if you need to. If you are using a blender with a wide base then it would be best to double the recipe so that there is enough volume for the blades to gain traction.
- Storing and Freezing: It lasts about a week in the fridge in a sealed container. It is also freezer friendly so if you think you’ll take longer than a week to eat it all, then definitely freeze some of it. Just place it into a freezer safe container and freeze.
- This recipe was first published in May 2018. It has been updated with extra tips but the recipe itself is unchanged.
I just made this, it was fantastic! I needed it just a bit more tangy, so I added more vinegar.
I also wanted a bit of a ranch flavor so I added dill, garlic and dried onion. So good. I was surprised that the cashews blended so smoothly with no soaking. This recipe is definitely a keeper!
So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe Liz! Thanks for sharing and for the great review!
Can you use a food processor on the cashews, instead of a blender?
You can, but it tends to not make it quite as smooth.
You’ll need to be patient. Also, it’s a good idea to rest your food processor every once in a while and give it a chance to cool down.
This is so good!! But I can never get it smooth. Any tips? I have a vitamix. Thanks!
Hi Laura, so glad you like it! We use the stick attachment (tamper) a lot! It helps in making it very smooth. You can also try soaking the cashews in boiling hot water for 15 minutes before you start.
Usually I boil my cashews for 15-20 minutes but for some reason I didn’t this time. I’m actually about half way through the blending process and giving my Vitamix and I a break. I’ve been slowly adding water so the blender won’t bog down. I must have added almost a cup total (!). My idea is to slowly add as much water as needed to get the sour cream super smooth, then use the blender’s heat to evaporate to the perfect consistency.
[Edit] Finally done! The trick is to start blending at the lowest speed, blend for 10 seconds, crank up the speed one level, and keep going. When the blender bogged down I took a 5 min. break, added about 1/8 cup water, and began again from the lowest speed. It’s a glorious thing indeed when you can finally blend the cashews at the highest level for a full minute and get that silky smooth texture.
You almost want to eat it like a yogurt!
Totally agree Carla! 🙂
Hands down, best vegan sour cream recipe!
Thanks so much Larissa!
Hi – I would really like to try this for using in a no bake cheesecake recipe. Can I leave out the nutritional yeast in that case ?
Hi Sandy, yes sure you can leave it out. All the best!
My favorite vegan sour cream recipe! Thank you 😊
Thanks so much Nori!
I didn’t think it was possible for me to like a vegan sour cream, but this one is the bomb. I like it better than dairy sour cream and now I would never go back to that stuff. This sour cream has just the right amount of tang and is so fast and simple to make. Thank you!
Fantastic! Thank you so much for the wonderful review!
Hello! I love your website. One of my daughters is allergic to tree nuts. Is it possible to make this (and for it to taste good) without tree nuts? If so, how? Thanks!
Hi Allison, if she can have tahini then our tahini sauce (made a little thicker then in our recipe) makes a great tahini sour cream!