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.
looks like a great recipe, can’t wait to try it. thank you for sharing.
Ooh boy! Definitely supper with baked potatoes tomorrow night!
This didn’t really taste like sour cream but it balanced delightfully with some spicy rice and beans! I would make this again!
I love this recipe! I have adapted it to make creme fraiche. I add a teaspoon of vegan lactic acid and reduce the lemon juice by half. I can now make a tasty, creamy mushroom and spinach sauce for pasta that tastes like the dairy version! It’s unreal… Thank you ☺️
Awesome! Thanks for sharing Rani!
This sounds great! Can you share the brand of vegan lactic acid? I searched online but am having a hard time finding any.
Not quite as creamy as real sour cream, but I think I like the taste better than the real thing!
5 stars, thank you for this recipe.
Thanks Trudy!
My dietary restrictions prevent me from having yeast of any kind. Is it possible to leave out or substitute the nutritional yeast? If so, what would you suggest?
Hi Brenda, it’s completely fine to just leave it out in this recipe. 🙂
I’ve been vegan for several years (my husband not as long), but I’m always looking for ‘better’ recipes of familiar foods — like sour cream. Truly, this is the very best sour cream recipe I’ve come across, and I’ve tried many. I didn’t change the recipe at all, in fact, I should say my husband followed the recipe as written. He made it for our Mexican buddha bowls. Try it, you won’t be disappointed! I only came across this website when I googled vegan sour cream for our dinner tonight. I’m anxious to try some more recipes.
Thanks so much Sandra! So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Used this as a base and added green chilies and artichoke hearts. Wow, it was delicious. I gobbled it up in a few days.
Wonderful! So glad you enjoyed it.
Absolutely delicious, making this again and couldn’t resist not to comment. My non vegan husband absolutely loves this sauce.
Fantastic! Thanks Tanya!
Do you have to use cashews? Would walnuts or pecans work?
Walnuts or pecans wouldn’t be a good fit here but you could try slivered or blanched almonds. The texture will be slightly different (not as smooth), but it would work.
I’ve also heard sunflower seeds are a good alternative to cashews.
It was nice. I find it is a bit too thick for me, so I added water. In terms of consistency it was perfect, though I find it is a bit sweetish, next time I think I’d add more salt and maybe some mustard to make it more tangy. But overall the recipe is very nice, and most importantly super easy and quick to do. Thank you!
First vegan sour cream recipe I’ve seen that didn’t use tofu (I love tofu in other things, don’t get me wrong, but I can’t stand the flavor it imparts in sauces!). It is OUTSTANDING. I haven’t had a vegan cream cheese that I liked in many years. Thank you!!
Thanks Melanie!
Delicious. l didn’t soak my cashews and it was so smooth. Thanks for the recipe
Awesome! Thanks so much Stacey! 🙂
Do you think this would work well in baking? I have a cake recipe that calls for sour cream.
Hi Chris, I haven’t used it that way so I’m not sure. I would probably try it though!
This was really easy and tasty but I will say 2 things:
1. Even with a Thermomix I couldn’t get this smooth so I will soak the cashews next time. Doesn’t affect taste I’m sure!
2. As a ‘new vegan’ who is dragging an ‘anti-vegan’ husband along for the ride, this tastes absolutely nothing like sour cream… but still bloody delicious! 🙂
Hi Kiki, you can soak them briefly as we discuss in the post, but just be wary of soaking them too long, because usually when someone says a cashew based recipe turned out bland/too watery, it’s because they soaked the cashews overnight, whereas we don’t actually soak them at all in this recipe. So shorter soak time is best. We use a Vitamix and have no issues with getting it super smooth, I have never used a thermomix though. Thanks for the great review and so glad you found it delicious! 🙂
hahaha yeah hard to substitute sour cream for the exact taste! Im a vegan cook and use a vegan mayo as a substitute for sour cream in Mexican, same deal it’s yum but not sour cream!
How long do you think this would keep for in the fridge?
Up to a week. 🙂