[Recipe] Cashew “Sour Cream”

If you checked out the blog last week, you saw that I made a cashew “cheese” sauce. I am currently on a diet to eliminate gluten, dairy, and soy.

Well, it’s become quite apparent that I am quite a dairy princess. I am really missing my dairy. I never thought I ate much dairy, but when you’re paying attention for the purpose of avoiding it, you really realize how much of the stuff you do eat. My major downfalls in the dairy department are cheese (glorious CHEESE!) and butter. And if it’s summertime, you’d better believe I eat a lot of ice cream. Heck, I eat it in the winter too. When I’m around, ice cream just isn’t safe.

While it’s been pretty easy to eliminate butter and ice cream, I’m having more of a challenge when it comes to cheese and other creamy things, like sour cream. There just aren’t any substitutes available on the market if you’re also avoiding soy.

I had to get creative, and a bit tricky in the kitchen to come up with my substitutes. Rather, I had to rely on other food bloggers with similar issues to help me come up with my substitutes.

This is a recipe for sour cream made from cashews, suitable for those following an allergen-free (except of course for a tree nut allergy), vegan, or paleo diet. Some patience and a powerful blender or food processor is all that is required.

This cashew sour cream is perfect for eating with nachos – my husband even used it and really liked it! It provides a nice cool, refreshing, tangy burst of flavour just like regular sour cream. It also pairs really well with a spicy, smoky chipotle black bean soup I’ll be posting later in the week.

Cashews are also packed with health benefits. They have a lower fat content than most other nuts, they’re high in copper (good for hair and nails), rich in magnesium (a plus for bone health), and similar to other other nuts cashews can help prevent some types of cancer and gallstones.

[Recipe] Cashew “Sour Cream”

Adapted from

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

1 cup raw cashews
1/2 – 3/4 cup water (depending on how thick you like your sour cream)
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt

Soak the cashews in enough water to cover for 2 – 4 hours. The cashews absorb a lot of the water, and they plump up to become soft and creamy.

Drain the water from the cashews and add them to your food processor or blender.

Add the remaining ingredients. I’d start with the base measurements listed, then add more as you taste.

Blend for several minutes, scraping down the sides of the blender as necessary, until creamy and smooth.