Heavy cream substitute: milk and butter, and what whips

Milk and butter substitute for heavy cream: how to make it

Melt ⅓ cup (75 g) of butter, let it cool for a few minutes, and whisk it into ¾ cup (180 ml) of whole milk. It replaces 1 cup of heavy cream in soup, pan sauces, mashed potatoes, scones and most cakes. It's the amount in both Mississippi State University Extension's substitution table and University of Missouri Extension's, and both mark it for cooking and baking only.

1. Melt the butter. With salted butter, hold back a pinch of the recipe's salt.
2. Have the milk at room temperature, or warm it a little. Butter is solid at fridge temperature, so cold milk sets melted butter into flecks before you can whisk it in.
3. Whisk hard, or run it through a blender, and use it straight away. It separates as it stands, so whisk it again if it has waited.

Heavy cream has to be at least 36 percent milkfat. Butter is at least 80 percent milk fat by law, and USDA's FoodData Central lists 81 grams of fat per 100 grams of butter and 227 grams to the cup. Whole milk only has to reach 3.25 percent. Put those together and the extension mix comes out at about 26 percent fat, in the light cream range and short of whipping cream. The version with ¼ cup of butter that many recipe sites print lands nearer 22 percent. Either is fine stirred into a soup. For a sauce you'll simmer, or for scones, where the fat makes the crumb tender, use the full ⅓ cup.

From the wrapper marks on a stick of butter, ⅓ cup is 5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon. For half a cup of cream you need 6 tablespoons of milk and 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons of butter, and Hedgehog Chef's free cooking converter works out any other amount in cups, tablespoons, teaspoons or milliliters.

Can you use half-and-half instead of heavy cream?

Yes, 1 for 1, in soups, chowders, mashed potatoes and quiche. Half-and-half is 10.5 to just under 18 percent milkfat, under half of what heavy cream has, so the soup comes out thinner and tastes less of cream.

For a cream sauce, add butter. Use half-and-half in place of the milk in the mix above, ¾ cup of half-and-half to ⅓ cup of melted butter, and it works out to a little over 30 percent fat. That's close to whipping cream on paper, and it still won't whip.

Keep it at a simmer either way. Fat shields milk proteins from heat, which is why heavy cream can be reduced into a sauce while milk curdles, and half-and-half carries far less of that fat. Warm it gently, let it bubble at the edges, and don't try to boil it down hard the way a recipe might tell you to reduce cream. If the sauce has wine or stock to reduce, do that before the dairy goes in.

Which heavy cream substitute to use for soup, sauce, baking or whipping

The milk and butter mix covers most cooking. The others are better at one job each.

Both extension tables list undiluted evaporated milk as a stand-in for light cream and half-and-half. It's thicker than milk but legally only needs 6.5 percent milkfat, so in place of heavy cream it gives body without much fat. More on the can in the evaporated milk substitute post. For the other dairy swap people look up most, see the buttermilk substitute.

What can you whip instead of heavy cream?

Light whipping cream if the store has it, then chilled evaporated milk, then coconut cream. Milk and butter won't do it, however long you beat it. In cream, the fat sits in tiny droplets, and whipping makes them partly merge around the air bubbles into a network that holds them. Melted butter whisked into milk is loose fat with no droplets to build that network, which is why the extension tables limit the mix to cooking and baking. Half-and-half has the droplets but too few of them. America's Test Kitchen puts the minimum at 30 percent milkfat.

Light whipping cream

Cartons labeled "whipping cream" or "light whipping cream" hold 30 to just under 36 percent milkfat. It whips, and it's the closest swap there is. The foam is softer and doesn't hold as long in the fridge, so whip it shortly before the pie goes out.

Chilled evaporated milk

Missouri Extension chills a can of evaporated milk for 12 hours, pours it into a bowl, adds 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and whips it until stiff. With 6.5 percent fat or a little more it's much lighter than whipped cream, and it carries the canned milk's slight caramel taste, so sweeten it and add vanilla. Whip it right before serving.

Coconut cream

America's Test Kitchen chills unopened cans of full-fat coconut milk for 24 hours so the fat separates, then scoops off only the very thick top layer and whips it with 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla per cup. It keeps for days in the fridge without deflating. The full-fat kind is a must, according to ATK. Save the thin liquid underneath for curry or rice.

Which substitutes hold up in a hot sauce?

The ones with the most fat. Curdling happens when heat unfolds the whey proteins in dairy and they clump with the casein, and butterfat coats the proteins so they can't. America's Test Kitchen stirred cultured dairy into 185°F water. Yogurt, at about 4 percent fat, and sour cream, at 18 to 20 percent, both curdled quickly. Crème fraîche, at 30 to 40 percent, stayed smooth.

So crème fraîche can go into a pan sauce in place of cream, 1 for 1, if you like the tang. Of the swaps most kitchens have on hand, the half-and-half and butter mix is the safest for an Alfredo or a creamy tomato sauce. Add it over low heat and let it come up to a gentle simmer.

Keep yogurt and sour cream for cold dishes and for spooning on top at the table.

Dairy-free substitutes for heavy cream

Full-fat canned coconut milk, 1 for 1, in soups and curries. Whisk it smooth first, because the fat rises in the can. It tastes of coconut, which suits squash soup or a curry better than a pasta sauce. For whipping, use the chilled top layer as above.

The coconut drink sold in cartons for cereal is too thin for this. Carton plant-based creams vary by brand, so look for "whips" on the label before you buy one for a topping.

Heavy cream, whipping cream, light cream: what the labels mean

The names are set by the FDA's standards of identity, by milkfat:

Heavy cream and heavy whipping cream are the same thing: the FDA standard allows either name. Plain "whipping cream" is the lighter one. The milk and butter mix reaches the light cream range, which is plenty for cooking.

Cream keeps about 10 days in the fridge. In Hedgehog Chef's pantry you can give the carton its date, and “Use it up” shows it before it turns, with recipes that use it. When you add a recipe to the shopping list, it leaves out what the pantry says you already have.