You know how you hate it when the plant milk curdles in your coffee? Well by the end of this blog post I promise, you will be madly in love with those curds!
“Turn your enemy’s weakness into your strength”
Or as in this case “turn the curds in your coffee into a yummy vegan sour cream”. This is done by encouraging as much curdling as possible and then turn those lovely little curds into the creamiest yummy almond milk sour cream you could ever dream of. No need for emulsifiers, gums, stabilizers or even a fancy high speed blender. Simply plain freshly squeezed lemon juice and some old knowledge about (soy) milk curdling. And then you end up with this:
I’ve been making sour cream from soy milk this way for a couple of years and being reminded how almond milk also curdles prompted to finally tick that experiment of my never ending to-cook list. I have to say I am utterly impresssed at how well it works! The consistancy of the final almond milk sour cream is just smoother than smooth. Because of the higher fat content (compared to the soy milk version) it doesn’t have tat slightly astringnet taste that the soy milk sour cream has. It is slightly sweet and might be better for using in sweet dishes, but I’ll let you decide that for yourself.
HOMEMADE OR STORE BOUGHT ALMOND MILK?
If you can get your hands on (preferably unsweetened) almond milk that curdles easily, use this. This will normally mean no gums, stabilizers, emulsifiers on the ingredient list. To test if your milk will curdle, try it with a smaller batch with just a few tablespoons of the milk mixed with lemon juice. You should immediatly see some degree of separation of whey and curds, that gets even moore clear after a couple of minutes. If you can’t get a storebought almond milk that’ll curdle, don’t worry, I have little tip for you…
THERE’S NO NEED TO SOAK THE ALMONDS
If only almonds were smaller right? Then you wouldn’t have to soak them for so long to get the most amount of milk from them. Well besides the digestion related and enzyme releasing benefits of an over night soak, you can actually do without. I tested and got the exact same amount of milk wether I soaked overnight or did as following: Pour the dry almonds in your blender. Cover them with just under half of the water from the recipe and blend for a couple of minutes. Using less water at this stage makes it easier for the blades to reach the almonds and crush them. There you go, tiny pieces of almonds that only require I minimum of soaking. Wait about 30 minutes and unless you have a high speed blender, blend again for another couple of minutes. Now blend or mix in the rest of the water. Strain the milk through a nut milk bag or thin kitchen towel. I’m wondering if that enzyme process will maybe take place in the almond milk anyway if you let it sit for 12 hours prior to consuming? Now you have the beautiful white almond milk. One step closer to the dreamy, creamy, silky smooth almond milk sour cream …
TO BLANCH OR NOT TO BLANCH?
There’s no doubt that removing the skins from the almonds will give your final sour cream a more delicate taste. The skins do impart a slightly bitterish taste. But to be honest I skipped this part in my first experiment and was still very happy with the result. As you can see in the pictures it’s still very smooth and very white so I’m pretty sure it’s just a matter of taste. In other words you won’t be punnished for not doing it, but you will definetly be rawarded if you do!
Here’s a visual walk through of the process from the curdled almond milk untill it’s ready to be blended. Note that straining away the almond whey (the clear liquid) is NOTHING like in the previous step where you strain the pulp from the milk. You have to be VERY gentle when handling this mess or the curds and the whey will reunite and you’ll have a hard time draining away the whey. Just pretend that it’s asleep and you gotta do what you gotta do but without waking it.
Here’s how I like to do it by using a bowl that fits into your colander/strainer and you can sort of just tip it away from underneath the curdled milk:
Read more about how I accidentally developed this recipe by reading the blogpost leading up to this one: Soy milk sour cream. And make that one if you perfer a soy milk base.
NOTE: THIS IS AN ORIGINAL RECIPE OF MINE AND IF YOU WISH TO BLOG ABOUT MY ALMOND MILK SOUR CREAM, PLEASE RESPECT MY WORK AND LINK TO THIS POST INSTREAD OF SIMPLY PUBLISING IT ON YOUR OWN BLOG. THANKS <3
Almond milk sour cream (vegan)
INGREDIENSER
- 150 gr just under 1 cup almonds (blanched or not)
- 8,5 dl or 3,5 cups of water for soaked almonds. For unsoaked almonds use 9 dl (3,75 cups)
- Pinch of salt
- 0,75 dl (1/4 cup + 1 tbsp) freshly squeezed lemon juice
YOU'LL ALSO NEED
- A colander and either a thin cloth or kitchen towel - or simply a not too narrow nut milk bag.
SÅDAN GØR DU
MAKING THE MILK
Using soaked almonds - do NOT discard the soaking water!
- Cover your almonds with water yesterday and today drain the soaking water into a meassuring jug. Add water so you have 8,5 dl (3,5 cups) of water all in all.
- Now blend the soaked almonds witth just under half of the water for a couple of minutes, add the rest of the water and blend it again shortly.
- Pour the blended milk into a cloth lined colander placed on top of a bowl or a nut milk bag to strain the milk. You should get 7,5 dl (3 cups) of milk.
Using unsoaked almonds
- Place your dry almonds in the blender and add just under half of the water. Blend for several minutes. Let it sit for 30-60 minutes. This should soak the tiny almond grids.
- Blend again for a couple of minutes and then add the rest of the water. Now blend it up shortly.
- Pour the blended milk into a cloth lined colander placed on top of a bowl or a nut milk bag to strain the milk. You should get 7,5 dl (3 cups) of milk.
TURNING ALMOND MILK INTO SOUR CREAM
- If taking milk from a bigger batch, remember to shake before you meassure it it so you don't risk working with just the thin, watery part.
Curdle the milk
- Heat the almond milk untill very hot but NOT boiling. If it starts to boil you need to cool it since the heat will destroy the lemoon juice enzymes and make curdling less efficient (see Tips section). It should definetly be too hot to touch.
- Pour the lemon juice in a bowl and mix in the salt. Pour the hot almond milk in while trying to distribute it evenly.
- It should start to curdle almost instantly. GENTLY stir it with a spoon to distribute the lemon juice and allow for a more even curdling. EDIT: Now gently put the bowl in the refrigerator until chilled. This is what it will end up looking like:
Separate the curds from the 'whey'
- Now we want to separate the whey from the curds that will become our sour cream. This is NOT to be handled roughly like when straining the pulp from the milk: In slow motion pour the curdled almond mass into a cloth lined colander or nut milk bag. (Handling it gently and slowly helps it stay curdled and allows for easier separation of the whey).
- Hang it up to drip for a while and finally squeeze the remainder of the whey out. I like to let it drip into some sort of measuring equipment and when the whey reaches about the 5 dl (2 cups) mark, you can unwrap the curds.
Blend to make it smooth
- It looks very messy at this stage, but nothing that a god 1-2 minutes with an immersion blender or a very small food processor won't fix. Blend untill completely smooth, adjust the taste with tiny amounts of sugar and salt to your liking - and enjoy!
- or press it even harder and proceed to making an amazing almond milk cream cheese.
TIPS & NOTER
Throw it in a bread or cookie dough. It won't last long in the fridge, so freeze or dehydrate it for prolonged shelf life. Get more creative inpiration from Pinterest or Google.
And of course you can spice it up and use it for the smoothest oil free cream cheese you ever had – almond milk cream cheese. I let it sit with the spices overnight. I could swear it melted in my mouth …
Gurl, look at that body…
This sour cream is honestly SO GREAT. Several people have asked what to do with the leftover whey. You can pretty much do anything you do with regular whey. I combined it with some homemade vegetable stock to make a delicious cauliflower stew. I used the leftover almond flour to make some scrumptious biscuits. It’s so cool that I can make three products from the same batch of almonds!
Yes, talk about avoiding food waste 😎 thanks for you feedback.
Best regards Nina
(I hope it’s okay I added stars to your comment. This is a new feature and I don’t know how to remove them again 🤭😅)
It’s impressive that you came up with this 😊
Hello,
What about using homemade oat milk instead of the almond milk , does it work ?
Nope, it doesn’t curdle, I’m afraid 🤗 so no good.
Best
Nina
This is a life saver!!!!!!! Needed sour cream so bad for my vegan chili!!!! Thank you!
Your welcome 🤗
have you tried this with any other milks? I saw comments about cashew, but do you think this would work with flax or pea milk?
Hi Jamie 🙂 I’ve never even heard of flax milk?! 😀 But peamilk sounds doable because of the protein content. So try that. You can just try a tiny amount with some lemon in a glass to see if Theres any slitting going on at all. If it contains emulsifiers, gums etc, it might not split.
All the best and please report back!
Thanks 😉
Nina
I tried it with slightly souring homemade almond milk, and OH MY WORD, this is the best discovery I have made in a long time <3 Thank you so much for the recipe! I will be making this again soon! Such a dream for a lactose intolerant person!
Thank you! I feel so too 😀 Please spread the word.
all the best
Niina
Can I make this with already soured homemade almond milk?
Looks like you figured it out 🙂
My wife has been struggling with lactose her whole life, but recently it’s gotten worse… this is going to be a lifesaver for tacos and chili! Thank you!!
Yay! Also I ave one that you make from regular soy milk if that is relevant https://plantepusherne.dk/soy-milk-sour-cream-vegan/
All the best
Nina
I made this, it turned out somewhat runny, but mostly because I didn’t let the whey seep out that long. Even with a lot of liquid still in it though, it was still only 3/4 of a cup at most, it was also extremely lemony. I ended up cutting it with kite hill almond cream cheese, and that combo made it a lot closer to actual sour cream and was perfect in the mushroom stroganoff I made. Overall I like the recipe but would try to experiment with less lemon juice next time.
Hi Nina – Im wondering if your almond milk might have been too thin? Like there wasn’t enough substance/curds in it to get the right consistency? Did you follow all measurements?
Happy holidays 🙂
Best regards
Also Nina
Hi Nina,
Your blog it great! I enjoy it very much!
One question about soy and almond sour cream, how long can it stay in the fridge?
Hi Gili, I am so glad you like it 🙂
I would say a maximum of 4 to 5 days. If you make sure to wash your hands and only use clean utensils, shelflife of always be longer than otherwise.
Nina 🙂
Hello Nina
Greetings from India, Mumbai.Your blog is absolutely wonderful and thank you so much for sharing these lovely recipes.
My daughter and husband are vegan. I request you to kindly make a video of this and please put it up.
Thankyou so much
Hello in Mumbai! I wish I had the time, but it is very unlikely. If you read the recipe it is very detailed explained and I’m sure you’ll know what to do 🙂
All the best – from Denmark
Absolutely, I’ve done this with my soy milk version 🙂
when using milk (i have almond milk homemade by me 🙂 ) do i use the same 3.5 cups? thank you!
Hi Diana, I assume that you use the same amount, but it actually depends on the strength of your almond milk. You can try and compare how the nuts to water ratio is in your version and try to aim for the same as mine. The thicker (the more almonds per water) the easier it should be too curdle and later separate it. I hope this helps 🙂
dear nina, thank for your recipes. i wish i could speak danish. i would so love to read your newsletter. my first attempt at making this sour cream failed; could it be because the almonds in the states are pasteurized?
Hi Christel what an unusual name, can I ask where you are from? My late mother had the same name spelled exactly the same way :). I am sorry it failed, I am positive it is not because of pasteurized old ones. When you say fail, this is because the milk didn’t separate as expected? As I stated in the recipe you can still have good luck in separating it. But next time try to place it in the fridge (the almond milk with lemon juice). And then wait until it is chilled before you separate it.
Crossing my fingers for you 🙂
Have you ever made sour cream using naturally soured Almond Milk? I have a batch of fresh almond milk that has gone bad and I don’t want to throw it out. It is very thick and curdy looking, and tastes bitter. I’m hoping to salvage it. Is it essential to boil the milk before souring it? (I find the pulp from making Almond Milk is much like Ricotta Cheese and use it to make Vegan Italian Cheesecake, Almond Milk is a by-product for me).
No I haven’t. If it smells yeasty you shouldn’t drink it. It’s only essential to boil when using mil from an animal which is filled with bacteria or if your plant milk has ben ‘polluted’.
Hope you find a way 🙂
Nina
Hi
First of all – BEST vegan dairy-like spread I’ve ever encountered!!
Now I have several questions:
1. Have you tried cashew milk? Is it possible? Better/worse?
2. If I prefer using vinegar or lactic acid, what is the amount I should use for any of them?
3. Do you think if the milk would be thicker (like 2 cups instead of 3.5 cups) it would achieve the same results?
Thanks <3 I have every reason to believe that cashew milk would work excellent in this recipe 🙂
Vinegar would be the same or slightly less. I recommend apple cider vinegar since it has a mild kinda sweet taste. Lactic acid depends on brand but about 1/5 of the amount for lemon juice. Mix with a little water befor use 🙂
Yes I think it would work with a thicker milk - might even be better - but I have no experience.
Hope that helps.
Best Nina
I tried cashew milk – very tasty, and more creamy but the yield was smaller… so far the almond cream got better response… my next trial would be with 50% vinegar 50% lemon and some pro-biotics (and a combination of cashew/macadamia/almond)
Good to know, I’ve tried sesame seeds and sunflower seeds and the yield was very little in both cases 🙂 A mix of acids is always good. Probiotiscs can definetly be used to culture the batch for 12-24 hours after you’ve made it 🙂
Nina
Hi Nina,
Just wanted to let you know that I have tried the recipe and I loved it! I have one question though, is there a reason you keep the soaking water? From my understanding the soaking water should always be replaced, no matter if it is from nuts or beans…
Thank you for sharing your recipes with us :)!
Hi Bianca, thanks for stopping by 🙂 Well consider this, if you don’t soak your nuts you just eat them straight from the package, right? So there are no harmful substances in them straight from the bag – and thus nothing that can leak into the soaking water. I admit the soaking water looks doesn’t look very appetizing. But you don’t get anything that you wouldn’t have gotten from eating them raw. So that’s that first of all. Next: in my experience the curdling process takes place a lot easier if you keep the soaking water in the mix. The whey and the curds simply separate better that way. The process is already a delicate one, so we want all the help we can get, and apparently there is some help in the soaking water 🙂
Hope that helps
Nina
Hi Nina,
I attempted to make the almond milk cream cheese and was so excited to find a recipe that made the cream cheese out of milk curds so it would be perfectly smooth. I used lemon juice concentrate (so maybe that was my problem) but it didn’t curdle well even though i was extremely delicate with it. I strained it anyway and was so excited when I actually had a good lump of white mush that looked like cream cheese. But when I tasted it, it was inedible. It tasted like lemon and… I dont know. Plaster. I threw it out immediately. I guess my questions are as follows: do you think it matters that I used lemon juice concentrate? Could I have heated the milk too much? It wasn’t boiling, but was close to it. Do you think because it didn’t curdle well, that the lemon may have, i don’t know, stayed in the curds? Helpp! I want this to work so badly!!
Thanks,
Julia
I personaly find that the concentrate that you buy instead of fresh, tastes horrible. Perfumed, artificial and maybe even plastic…? I also suspect that this is not as acidic as freshly squeezed lemon juice so I definitely think this plays a role both in the curdling process and the weird aftertaste you had. I hope you get the opportunity to try again with lemons 🙂 You might stil find that it LOOKS uncurdled, but that you’ll be able to separate it anyways.
Keeping my fingers crossed for ya!
Nina
What do you do with the leftover whey, please?
I’ll save it and add to a bread dough 🙂
I might have missed a step, but what do you mean when you say “what to do with leftover pulp”? I thought the final products were the almond sour cream and the whey. Where is the discarded pulp from?
Thanks
Daniela
The pulp is only something you get if you make the almond milk from scratch, I’ll add this to clarify 🙂