Product Review: Vegan Sour Cream
Sour cream is made to be a star! However humble in appearance, a mere dollop or swirl magnifies the allure of a dramatic dish by balancing its pigments and piquancy.
Bake with it, and your recipe likely includes its name:
- Sour Cream Biscuits (Cuisine at Home, anonymous)
- Sour Cream Cheesecake (Food Network, Alton Brown)
- Sour Cream Muffins (The Kitchn, Ivy Manning)
- Sour Cream Pound Cake (Grandbaby Cakes, Jocelyn Delk Adams)
Any company that dares to do it vegan, therefore, has an exceedingly high expectation to meet.
The Gold Standard
Similar to my “mayonnaise”, semi-sweet vegan chocolate chips, and “cream cheese” reviews, I set each plant-based sour cream against the leading US dairy equivalent: Daisy Sour Cream. By answering, “Which vegan alternative is most like Daisy?” I inject more objectivity particularly into the taste test.
This review, therefore, isn’t about reporting which plant-based product I like most. Rather, it’s about identifying which non-dairy alternative delivers the closest experience to what a US omnivore expects from a container labeled “sour cream”.
Kindly note…
I make no commission from the products and links herein. Please consider the effort behind this content, and espresso your support on Ko-fi if you can ❤️
Part I: Taste Test
Scroll or use the following buttons to learn how each brand compared to my gold standard (Daisy Sour Cream):
4. Forager Project
If I had no plans to bake with it, I wouldn’t know what to do with Forager Project Sour Cream Alternative. It scoops like a slimy cornstarch-thickened pudding and tastes like mold.
I’ve previously noticed something fungal about cultured nut-based dairy alternatives. This, however, is next-level.
3. Kite Hill
If someone told Forager Project to calm down, the result might be Kite Hill Sour Cream Alternative. It’s runny, but not slimy; moldy, but not as moldy.
I’ve seriously begun to question cultured nut products. While I’ve enjoyed a couple nut-based yogurts, this sour “cream” validates my question –
which is, essentially, “why?”
2. Tofutti
Compared to Daisy Sour Cream, Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream is noticeably thicker. Yet it feels about as smooth (though not as silky) as the dairy product, and has only slightly less flavor.
Its texture is the biggest holdup for me. It doesn’t “do a dollop” easily! I’m inclined to think it would be a better “cream cheese”…
but overall, it’s an OK sour “cream”.
1. Violife
The texture of Violife Just Like Sour Cream is spot-on! Although a bit saltier than my dairy-based gold standard, this vegan alternative would top a sauce-smothered enchilada nicely.
I think the ideal flavor is somewhere between Tofutti and Violife, but since the thickness of this product is nearly identical to Daisy, it tops my taste test.
Part II: Bake Test
A review of vegan sour creams could reasonably end here. Yet thanks to Cuisine at Home, I am aware of a recipe that isolates how sour cream functions as a baking ingredient: Sour Cream Biscuits.
Several elements were controlled including:
- Brand of Every Non-Sour “Cream” Ingredient – I’m not brand-loyal by default, but when I create content, I source US-nationally available products. The following were used for this comparison project:
- Pan and Method of Preparing It – Two Calphalon rimmed nonstick baking sheets each lined with a Miu France silicone mat went to work!
- Mixing Bowls, Utensils, and Method of Mixing – I wanted to be certain gluten was no more developed in one cake versus another. Since I am able to stir by hand, I grabbed a stainless steel mixing bowl and silicone spatula.
- Method of Measuring – Every ingredient was weighed to the gram.
- Appliances – As a business of one, I have only one oven!
- Cook and Rest Times – All biscuits baked for 45 minutes, then sat in-pan on a wire rack for 10.
- Temperature Upon Tasting – I waited until each batch was at room temperature before taking bites and notes.
I even baked them all in the same day!
Use the buttons or scroll to learn how each performed compared to Daisy Sour Cream:
4. Forager Project
I’m not surprised Forager Project Sour Cream Alternative ranked last in the bake test too. The resultant biscuits were pale and dense.
And somehow, though the moldy-flavored cashew sour “cream” practically disappeared with heat, the baking soda taste was highlighted!
3. Kite Hill
Similarly true to the taste test, Kite Hill Sour Cream Alternative bakes like a calmer version of Forager Project; these biscuits were somewhat tanner and fluffier than those ranked below them.
Unfortunately, they also tasted like baking soda.
2. Violife
so tan! so fluffy! Violife Just Like Sour Cream produced a delicious biscuit –
maybe…too good? I actually think I like these better than the ones made with Daisy. I do worry, however, that the extra fluffiness may lead to a lack of structural integrity in more delicate bakes.
1. Tofutti
I could hardly tell the difference between biscuits with Daisy and biscuits with Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream. The lift, color, and crumb were practically identical.
My only concern is flavor. Tofutti doesn’t have much! In something like a Sour Cream Cheesecake, therefore, I might still grab a container of Violife – or both and mix them.
Parting Notes
I’m inclined to dollop Violife Just Like Sour Cream and bake with Tofutti Better Than Sour Cream; both of these hold the place of Daisy Sour Cream nicely.
My opinion regarding what not to buy is stronger! Personally, cultured nut products such as those from Forager Project and Kite Hill infiltrate my sinuses with an aroma of forbidden mushrooms…
Did I miss one?
Leave a comment if you see a plant-based sour cream at Walmart, Target, Aldi, Trader Joe’s, and/or Whole Foods Market that’s not on this list. I’d love to test it against my winner and update my content!
Please know I support and shop local when I can. Everywhere I’ve lived – and the number of places is many and growing – I have discovered numerous small companies making fantastic vegan alternatives.
Yet as much as I commend them, they are not the focus of this blog. My goal instead is to curate and present information that travels with me to wherever I go, and then travels again from wherever I am to wherever you are ❤️
