Vegan sour cream can be pricey, hard to find, or even discontinued. However, it’s easy to take Trader Joe’s cream cheese alternative, and whip it into vegan sour cream with water. It takes just 3 minutes to make!
So light and airy, it’s great on baked potatoes and tacos.
After Trader Joe’s discontinued their vegan sour cream, people clamored for a dupe.
Vegan sour cream isn’t sold everywhere. And when you do find it, at 5 or 6 dollars per container, it can be expensive.
That’s why I started making my own with just two simple ingredients: Trader Joe’s vegan cream cheese alternative and water. (TJ’s vegan cream cheese is just $2.99, which is a great savings.)
Sure, I could make vegan sour cream from scratch using raw cashews, and make a whole thing out of it. But why?
Adding hydration and whip to TJ’s vegan cream cheese is so much easier, and the flavor is delicious. (After all, the difference between a vegan cream cheese and sour cream is mostly about ratios of liquids to solids anyway.)
I’ve served this vegan sour cream many times in my 7-layer dip, alongside pierogi, seasoned as a potato chip dip, and as a topping with baked potatoes and tacos.
It always gets rave reviews from vegans and non-vegans alike. One non-vegan family member told me she usually doesn’t like sour cream, but this was an exception.
For the easiest mixing, I recommend using a high-speed blender. However, if you just want a small batch, you can blend by hand with a spoon in a bowl. See the FAQ below for more details.
In this post:
Ingredients for vegan sour cream
Here are the ingredients you will need to make this recipe.
Vegan cream cheese: Trader Joe's vegan cream cheese alternative is thick and dense. Its number one ingredient (after water) is coconut oil, which is solid when cold.
It can be difficult to spread as a cream cheese, but when whipped with water, has wonderful body.
Water: A little water thins, lightens, and fills out the texture. If you prefer, you can replace water with plain, unsweetened, non-dairy milk.
Step by step instructions
This section shows how to make this recipe at a glance with process photos of the steps. For complete ingredient amounts & instructions, keep scrolling to the recipe card below.
1. Put Trader Joe’s vegan cream cheese alternative into a blender with water.
The cream cheese is pretty solid, so a high-speed blender works especially well here. If you’re using a standard blender, blend on low and/or stop and stir for even blending.
2. Blend until light, creamy, and fully incorporated.
If you’re using a high-speed blender, the blades themselves will warm and melt the cream cheese as it blends, which helps it to aerate.
Make it your own
I like this vegan sour cream plain. It’s a tasty, neutral vessel for other flavors, and it offers a cooling antidote to spicy dishes.
However, if you like, you can tweak it by adding more ingredients:
- For tang, add lemon juice or zest, or lime juice or zest
- For a pop of herbaceous color and flavor, add finely chopped cilantro, chives, dill, or parsley
- Add aromatics with finely minced garlic, granulated onion, or granulated garlic
- Add smokiness with a pinch of smoked paprika
- For heat, add a couple dashes of hot sauce or minced jalapeño
- For pungent and sharp flavor, stir in a small dollop of prepared horseradish
Serving suggestions
Use vegan sour cream as a topping, dip, or layer in any of these dishes:
Storage instructions
To store vegan sour cream, transfer it back into the Trader Joe’s cream cheese container, and refrigerate. It will last up to a couple weeks.
Note that it will thicken in the refrigerator. The main ingredient (after water) is coconut oil, which becomes a solid when cold.
So it will be denser after refrigeration. However, it still works beautifully as sour cream, and you can use it as whipped cream cheese too.
FAQ
Yes, if you don’t want to blend the entire tub of cream cheese, you can just use a smaller portion, and stir it by hand in a bowl.
Trader Joe's vegan cream cheese is thick and dense, in part because it contains coconut oil, which is solid when cold.
To make it easier to stir or whip by hand, do one of two things:
1. Let the cream cheese sit out a while to soften.
Or
2. Put some of the cream cheese into a microwave-safe bowl. Then microwave for just a few seconds to soften a bit. (Be careful, though. You don't want it to get warm or liquify.)
Then add a splash of water or plain non-dairy milk (about a teaspoon of liquid per quarter cup of vegan cream cheese), and stir until you've reached your desired consistency.
No. You can put the cream cheese into the blender straight from the fridge, while it’s still quite firm. The friction from the blades will quickly warm it. Plus, the added liquid will provide moisture to help it whip.
I don’t know. Ingredients vary by brand, so that will affect how well this works from one brand to another.
I can’t guarantee the results if you use something else other than Trader Joe’s vegan cream cheese, which has an unusually dense texture. However, if you try it with another brand, let me know. I’d love to hear your results!
Yes, but only if you refrigerate it again and allow it to thicken.
Trader Joe’s cream cheese alternative includes coconut oil, which hardens when cold. So if you store this vegan sour cream in the fridge, it will thicken, and become the texture of a whipped cream cheese. (It’s also still great as a sour cream too.)
Of course, prices vary by brand, store, and region. In my area, vegan sour cream in stores costs $4 to $7 for an 8 to 12-ounce container.
An 8-ounce container of Trader Joe’s cream cheese alternative is $2.99. And once you add ¼ cup of water for blending, it becomes 10 ounces of vegan sour cream for that cost.
If you try this recipe and love it, let me know! Leave a comment and ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the comment section below. It truly makes my day and is such a help!
📖 Recipe
Vegan sour cream (using Trader Joe’s vegan cream cheese alternative)
Ingredients
- 1 (8-ounce) container Trader Joe's vegan cream cheese alternative
- ¼ cup water
Instructions
- Add Trader Joe's vegan cream cheese alternative and water to a blender.
- Blend until smooth, creamy, and aerated. (If your blender is having difficulty blending, blend on low speed and/or stop to stir.)
- Serve right away, or transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate for later use. (Keep in mind that it will thicken in the refrigerator as it cools, because of the coconut oil in the cream cheese.)
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