Homemade Crème Fraîche

Homemade Crème Fraîche ~ with just 2 ingredients you can make your own thick and creamy crème fraîche ~ no more last minute trips to the supermarket to buy one of those overpriced little tubs!

The other day I was making my  SWEET POTATO SPEARS WITH LEMONGRASS DIP, which required crème fraîche, and I was so frustrated when my regular grocery store didn’t have any.  That’s one of the few downsides to the explosion of so many different types of foods we now have available to us in grocery stores…there simply isn’t the shelf space for all of them.  It got me thinking about trying a homemade version. Crème fraîche is a cultured cream,  basically a French version of sour cream, but  more luxurious and subtle.  Not quite as sour, or as thick.  More of a tangy custard.  (This post from The Kitchn breaks it down even further if you’re interested!)

The process is a lot like making yogurt, only with a cream base instead of milk.  And it’s much easier.  All you need to do is stir a little buttermilk into heavy cream, and let it sit so the bacteria can do their job.  It will thicken into a silky crème fraîche in about 12 to 18 hours.  You can literally do it in your sleep!

Now that you know how to make it, you can really have fun with it.  Experiment with using it in place of mayo, sour cream, yogurt, and even whipped cream in recipes. Crème fraîche has a slightly higher fat content than sour cream, so when you add it to hot food it won’t break down or curdle like sour cream sometimes does.  You can stir it into a sauce at the end to get a beautiful glossy finish and rich flavor.  You can mix it with mayo when you’re making potato or shrimp salad.  Stir it into an omelet or scrambled eggs.  It makes amazing dips, salad dressings, and frostings.   Sweeten it and use it like whipped cream with desserts and fruit.

notes ~

• Try out your new homemade creme fraiche in my BEET LATKES WITH HORSERADISH CRÈME FRAÎCHE or my SOUP FLAMMANDE WITH CRÈME FRAÎCHE

Don’t forget to pin this Homemade Crème Fraîche!