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.
This sour cream is so much better then the one I make with tofu. Thanks for this excellent recipe! We served it with your vegan taco “meat.”
Awesome! Thanks April! 🙂
Ok, I have to be honest, this tastes nothing like sour cream. A better name for it would be a cashew dip. Taste wise, I’d prefer to ditch the nutritional yeast next time as i’m not a huge fan of it and it gives it a weird flavour and colour. That being said, I love your website and recipes, of which i’ve made many including the lemon sponge cake, delicious!
Hi Lisa! Thanks for sharing and the feedback! So glad you like the blog and recipes! Hope you can tweak this one more to your taste next time and enjoy it more. 🙂
Continued: I used salted cashews duh I probably should have used unsalted.
Oh! Haha, yes, raw cashews are key here. Thanks for updating, I’m sure it will be much more to your liking next time. 🙂
It was easy to make but I substituted the lemon juice with lime and it taste weird. Maybe I have to get use to it I don’t know.
That could well be because of the lime. Lime has a much sweeter flavor than lemon so I don’t think it’s a good fit here.
Hi! Have you tried baking with this sour cream? I want to try this in a cake and wonder about any results you have had with it. Thank you so much!
Hi Anita, I haven’t used it in baking, but I have used it in cooking and it worked great! I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work well in baking too. All the best. 🙂
Yummmmmy! This sauce is wonderful, and SO EASY to make. The times I’ve served this sauce by saying, “This is a vegan substitute for sour cream,” folks have replied something to the effect of, “It’s good, but tastes nothing like sour cream.” The times I’ve served it by saying, “This is a creamy cashew sauce,” my guests have only commented on how delicious it is. ?
So glad you like it! And that’s definitely the clever way to introduce it to your guests. 🙂 Thanks so much for posting and the awesome review!
This is not exactly recipe related, but I have found that using only 1 cup of cashews seems to be too small of amount for my Vitamix. Do you have this issue or any suggestions?
Hi Suzanne, it’s not an issue for our Vitamix, but there are different jug types, if yours is bigger that could cause the issue, in that case I would double the recipe! 🙂
Hi! How long will this be good for. I know it said a few days, but is there a way to make it last longer?
Hi Nicole, you can push it to about 5 days really in the fridge. 🙂
My husband is allergic to cashews. Do you know if there is something that is similar to giving it that creamy texture other than cashews?
Hi Jamie, you can also make it with tahini. Mix 1/4 cup tahini with 1/4 cup water, 1 Tbsp lemon juice and 1 tsp maple syrup and whisk together. That also gives you a very delicious vegan sour cream.
I’m a little freaked out that you don’t have to soak the cashews first… how do you get the sour cream so smooth? Should the cashews be soaked if you don’t have a super fancy blender?
Thanks!
Hi Caitlin, I think it comes down to you knowing your own blender best. If your blender usually doesn’t cope well with nuts at all, then maybe it would be best to soak them. You can literally just do a 15 minute soak in boiling water and they will be super soft. We found no need to soak them because there is a fair amount of liquid added to this as well, it isn’t crazy thick, so it was an easy blend, but we do have a Vitamix so that does factor in.
Hi, this recipe is soooo delicious – I made it to use on baked sweet potatoes but there was a bit left over so I added it to cold slaw & also spread some on a salad sandwich. Thanks for the awesome recipes!
Hi Gill, so happy you like the recipe, I love the uses you found for the leftovers, sounds delish! Thanks so much for sharing. 🙂
love this dip. I’m a vegetarian not yet vegan but I use your recipes a lot. They are usually easy, made with things I have or can readily buy, and flexible enough for me to successfully tweak. Thank you for a great website.
Thanks so much Janet, you made my day! This is exactly what I aim for, so your comment is awesome to read. You’re so welcome, and thanks a million! 🙂
Hi
Can I skip yeast?
Yes, sure, you’ll lose a little of the flavor, but it’ll still be great!
Thank you 🙂
Super tasty, tangy recipe to use as a dip for anything!
the best vegan recipe site on the web
Thank you so much! ?