It is a 5-minute, homemade dairy-free sour cream recipe for when you need something nut-free and soy-free. 4-ingredients plus a high powered blender and you have yourself a creamy, tangy vegan sour cream.
Finding a good non-dairy sour cream substitute can be challenging as dairy sour cream has such a unique texture and taste. And we love it as it makes savory dishes over-the-top creamy. Sometimes you don’t need a spoon full of sugar, rather a spoon full of sour cream. For us, sour cream is a must-have topping on our Vegan Chili. We add it to our Vegan Cabbage Soup, to our Vegan Scalloped Potatoes, and to our Baked Potatoes. How different would your taco or burrito or enchilada taste without it?
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Non-dairy sour cream alternatives
There are numerous versions to make dairy-free sour cream. If you go with store-bought sour cream, they usually contain a lot of ingredients to make cultured sour cream from coconut cream (Follow Your Heart / Earth Island) or from soybeans (Tofutti).
However, you can make sour cream at home with fewer ingredients. I guess that’s why you are reading this recipe anyway. What all recipes have in common is that you need to use lemon juice and/or apple cider vinegar to get your sour cream base sour and tangy enough.
The base for homemade sour cream
You need something creamy and smooth not to mention white(-ish). And the following options are perfect to get that result:
- blended soaked cashews
- dairy-free yogurt
- soy milk or other non-dairy milk
- coconut cream
- blended sunflower seeds (allergy-free version)
Ingredients of our homemade dairy-free sour cream
It is really simple and quick. You need 4 ingredients and 5 minutes tops.
- sunflower seeds,
- fresh lemon juice,
- apple cider vinegar, and
- salt
We also like to add a dollop of mustard or nutritional yeast for a more tangy result.
Why sunflower seed sour cream?
It is the only allergy-free homemade sour cream alternative, so nut-free and soy-free. Another important aspect to consider: it is also budget-friendly. Compared to the price of cashews, sunflower seeds are usually a bargain.
How to make dairy-free sour cream quickly?
First, you need to soak the sunflower seeds. Well, not really soak, rather soften them. Pour boiling water on them and let them rest for approx. 5 minutes.
Take a high powered blender (like Vitamix or Blendtec) and add all ingredients in it (softened seeds, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, and salt). Blend for 5 minutes tops until your sunflower sour cream is so-so creamy and so-so white. Unbelievable, right?
Top tips to make perfect vegan sour cream
- By using a high powered blender, your sour cream will be warm when ready. It is better to make it the day before and let it cool in the fridge before using.
- You can blend sunflower seeds without soaking if you have a high powdered blender.
- You can use a food processor or other blender, but you may need to compromise on creaminess a bit.
Uses for Dairy-free Sour Cream
- We prefer to use them to top chilis, soups, or baked potatoes.
- We often add it to make salad dressings.
- We don’t really use them in baking recipes like sour cream pancakes or donuts.
Let us know in the comments where do you use your vegan sour cream!
This Sunflower Sour Cream recipe is dairy-free and egg-free. It is suitable for vegan, vegetarian, nut-free and gluten-free diets. It also works in the whole foods plant-based and paleo diet.
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More vegan condiment recipes
You can browse through our Vegan Condiment Recipes or check out
Dairy-free Sour Cream (Nut-free, Soy-free)
Ingredients
- 1 + 1/2 cup Sunflower seed (raw, unsalted)
- 1 + 1/2 cup Water
- 5 Tbsp Lemon juice
- 2 + 1/2 Tbsp Apple cider vinegar
- 3 tsp Salt
Optional
- 1 Tbsp Nutritional yeast or
- 1 Tbsp Mustard
Instructions
- First, you need to soak the sunflower seeds. Well, not really soak, rather soften them. Pour boiling water on them and let them rest for approx. 20 minutes. If you're short in time but has a high powered blender, you can skip this step.
- Take a high powered blender (like Vitamix) and add all ingredients in it (softened seeds, lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, and salt). Blend for 5 minutes tops until your sunflower sour cream is so-so creamy.
Clarese Joyce
I don’t know it meant 2.5 I thought it was either 2 or 5. Maybe you should put that in an asterisk on the recipe. Fingers crossed how it turns out. ?
My Pure Plants
Hi, sorry. I made it clearer now. I hope you went with 2 🙂 Let me know how it goes.
Bec
Hey, made this and it’s super yummy with hashbrowns! How long will it keep whilst refrigerated?
My Pure Plants
It should be good for 4-5 days for sure.
Katie
How long is it good for in the fridge
Katie
Also how many tbsp of ACV? It says 2,5
My Pure Plants
It is 2 Tbsp and a half Tbsp. Start with 2 and add more after you taste it.
My Pure Plants
The longest we had them is one week.
Jah-Leah
Hi haven’t tried it yet, but I trust it. I’m not vegan- def love chicken, but my gf pretty much is and I try not to do too much dairy as an athlete and as I’m getting older. I’m quarantined in the UK and nuts are so much more expensive here than nyc. I tried a recipe with cashews and it was really good! But we know it’s caloric and again $$ especially now is tight. Thanks for this.
My Pure Plants
Indeed, cashew can be quite pricey. If you try the recipe, let us know how do you like it.
Matt
What can I say? How can I thank you enough? My wife has severe allergies to dairy egg and nuts and gluten. She’s been desperately missing sour cream for years now and I was determined to find an option for her. This is it. She is over-the-moon happy. A few important things to keep in mind. I had to hunt around for strictly allergen-free sunflower seeds that were not roasted or salted, and were produced in a facility that was strictly allergen-free. The seeds that I found are made by Terrasoul. They seem to be widely available on the internet. I also took your advice and bought a very powerful high speed blender. I can imagine that was a key investment. It really does pulverize and liquify the seeds more than I would imagine a conventional blender would. And yes, your advice is correct. After sampling the first batch, I thought it was perfect. But she asked that I adjust the lemon juice and salt down a little bit. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I wish I could give you a hug.
My Pure Plants
You just made my day. You will love the high-speed blender, it is like rediscovering old recipes as if they were new. Making cashew milk without straining or making hummus without peeling the chickpeas and so on. The most used kitchen equipment in our kitchen for sure.
Stephen
I use my Vitamix more than any other kitchen tool. It was an expensive investment, but worth every penny. I just did my grocery shopping (my last one for a while) and forgot sour cream. We’re having nachos for dinner (vegan) so I’m going to try this recipe.
My Pure Plants
It wasn’t a quick decision to buy it for sure, but in retrospect, it was totally worth it. I hope you’ll like the recipe. Let us know how it turned out.