If you are a real fan of Italian foods or crazy about pasta dishes, you must know how to make heavy cream your own.
Heavy cream is so popular in Italian as well as other continental cuisines because of its thicker richness and creamy goodness. A heavy splash of this staple workhorse turns sauces, soups, stews, casseroles, desserts, and pasta dishes into a delectable treat.
However, what if you are out of heavy cream at times of making pleasant creamy sauce for pasta or Mac and cheese? Don’t fear, we are here to tell you how to make heavy cream with just two ingredients, butter and milk. If interested, let’s read.
How To Make Heavy Cream?
Prior stating ways of making heavy cream for pasta sauces, let’s know what is heavy cream.
Heavy cream is a milk solid that arises at the top when the whole milk is subjected to stand out longer. It’s a fatty bomb that lends a creamy fatty burst to cooking recipes. It contains high fat content usually ranging from 35% to 40% whereas milk only contains 4 to 5% fat.
To further, heavy cream yields two other culinary star ingredients, butter and buttermilk on extensive whipping. Now, butter contains about 80% of the total fat of the heavy cream. Did you understand the whole trick of how to make heavy cream substitute at home?
You are almost there, one can easily get heavy cream using milk (low in fat) and butter (high in fat) to yield a super creamy intermediate, heavy cream.
How To Make Heavy Cream With Milk And Butter?
To prepare one cup of fresh heavy cream, take 3/4 cup of whole milk and 1/4 cup of butter. It’s better to use unsalted butter to get the closest heavy cream substitute.
Have a microwave?
- Take a microwave-safe bowl, add 1/4 cup of unsalted butter, and microwave for 10 to 15 seconds.
- When melted, bring the bowl out of the microwave and whisk properly until smooth.
- Let the butter attains room temperature, pour 3/4 cup of whole milk and whisk for 3 to 4 minutes until you get a smooth creamy blend on hand.
Tip! If the mixture tends to separate or doesn’t hold the texture properly, microwave it for 5 seconds and whisk gently. It will make a homogenized smooth mixture just like heavy cream.
Don’t have a microwave?
- Turn on the flame and set a medium-sized pan on the stovetop. Fill with water up to half and bring to a boil.
- Place a mixing bowl in this water bath and add 1/4 cup of unsalted butter. Wait until the butter melts down. Avoid direct heating butter as it burns the whole thing.
- Remove the bowl out of the water bath, bring it to room temperature, pour 3/4 cup of whole milk, and whisk.
- Continue whisking until a smooth thick creamy blend is formed.
Tip! If the mixture tends to lose texture or doesn’t hold the ingredients together, heat it for a while in a water bath while gentle whisking. You will end up with a homogenized creamy mixture more similar to heavy cream.
Note: This heavy cream substitute doesn’t work the same way as real heavy cream and thus not whips up properly. So, it’s not best for making ice cream, desserts, and sour cream.
Instead, this homemade 2-ingredient heavy cream works great in cooking dishes like pasta sauces, Mac and cheese, casseroles, and soups.
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How To Make Low-Fat Heavy Cream?
Want to cut out extra fat in your recipe, try this low-fat heavy whipping cream and delight. This time, fatty butter and milk will not work. You need to blend low-fat ingredients to get a creamy smooth mixture that whips like heavy cream.
So, check out if you’ve low-fat cottage cheese or cream cheese and non-fat powdered milk.
Add both the ingredients to a blender and process until a thick paste is formed. To make it creamier, softer, and smoother like heavy whipping cream, whip it using a mixer or beater. This time, the mixture entraps air bubbles and becomes fluffier.
Your low-fat heavy whipping cream is ready to substitute heavy cream in almost every creamy recipe and dessert.
Want a quick replacement, give a turn to plain Greek yogurt. This way you can avoid the hassle of processing and whipping cheese with dry milk.
Just incorporate 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt and 1/2 cup of whole milk together and whisk. Continue whisking until a smooth creamy blend is ready to be used instead of heavy cream in every recipe without kicking off the flavor.
Heavy Cream Without Milk And Butter (Vegan Version)
If you’re lactose intolerant or following a vegan diet, you cannot make heavy cream milk and butter, so what to do? Take a breath, we’ve enough variations to satiate your needs.
1. Tofu + Soy Milk
Tofu and soy milk both are great dairy substitutes and come in handy for vegan guys. It’s surprising that tofu and soy milk can also make a heavy cream substitute without affecting the overall recipe flavor.
Blend 1/2 cup of soy milk and 1/2 cup of silken tofu in a blender until smooth, and that’s it.
2. Coconut Cream
Coconut cream is a readymade alternative for heavy cream you can employ in your vegan diet. Equally smoother, thicker, and fluffier, coconut cream works the same way as heavy cream in cooking recipes. As a plus point, coconut cream is a healthier and low-fat replacement for your healthy diet plan.
Other Heavy Cream Substitutes
3. Half-And-Half + Butter
Half and half alone is a good substitute for heavy cream in recipes where no whipping is required like sauces and soups. It’s a low in fat and a healthier option to try instead of heavy cream.
However, if you want to make heavy whipping cream, whisk 3/4 cup of half and half and 1/4 cup of melted butter (unsalted). Whisk until smooth and keep in the refrigerator for about an hour. Then whip the mixture gently and you will be surprise to see the creamy fluffy mixture just like heavy cream.
4. Milk + Cornstarch
Have no whole milk on hand, give a try to skim milk or non-dairy milk instead. This time, you need a pinch of cornstarch to thicken milk up to the consistency of cream.
It’s the easiest way to make heavy cream substitute at home with simple ingredients.
Bring a boil to milk and turn the flame medium. Add a pinch of cornstarch to it and stir continuously. You’ll get a thicker creamy mixture on hand that you can use in sauces, casseroles, and soups. Since you cannot whip it up, it’s not great for substituting heavy whipping cream.
FAQs
Why Did The Milk And Butter Mixture Get Clumpy Or Separated?
Whisking butter and milk to get heavy cream seems easy but can be challenging if you don’t follow the recipe instructions. Since this recipe doesn’t use any binder, so the mixture cannot hold the texture for long and thus gets separated.
To fix, you need to microwave or heat the mixture for 5 to 7 seconds and then whisk it properly to get a homogeneous cream paste. On the other hand, butter milk mixture gets clumpy when the butter is too hot. Before streaming milk into butter, bring the melted butter to room temperature. This way it will not solidify when come in contact with milk.
Can You Make Heavy Whipping Cream With Butter And Milk?
The short answer is no, you cannot. Since heavy whipping cream is higher in fat and you cannot achieve that fat level using only butter and whole milk.
Although this heavy cream substitute isn’t whipped like heavy whipping cream, it can give a similar creamy and mouth melting feel to various cooking recipes.
Rather than butter and milk mixture, you can whip half and half/butter mixture as it contains more fat and creamy richness as compared to milk and butter.
What’s The Best Heavy Cream Substitute For Pasta?
To mimic the creamy mouthfeel of pasta sauce it gets from heavy cream, the best substitutes are heavy whipping cream, cream cheese, and sour cream.
For vegans, silken tofu, half and half, and coconut cream are the go-to options instead of dairy heavy cream.
