Help! What To Do With Leftover Sour Cream?

We made Heidi Swanson's Mushroom Casserole the other day, which uses a small scoop of sour cream to round out the flavors. The casserole was fabulous, but because we don't use a lot of sour cream in our cooking, we have most of a container leftover. We have a few ideas for what to do with it and we'd love to hear yours!

Sour cream keeps for quite a while, so we're not in an enormous rush to get it used up right away. Still, unless we make a plan, we know that half-container will sit there right up to its expiration date (and possibly longer, truthfully!).

Here are a few ideas we have for using it up in the next few weeks:

1. In Other Casseroles: We'd hadn't really thought of using sour cream in casseroles until this recipe. We really loved the subtle hint of sour it gave this dish, and we could see it working well in other casseroles like baked mac n' cheese and green bean casserole.

2. In Sauces: We already like using ricotta to finish off a pasta sauce, so why not sour cream? We can also stir it into a pan sauce at the last minute to add thickness and flavor.

3. As a Dessert Topping: A dollop of sour cream can make a nice contrast to tangy fruits like blueberries, raspberries, and mango. We like it with a little brown sugar whisked into the sour cream.

4. In Baked Goods: This will take a little more planning on our part, but there are plenty of muffin and quick bread recipes out there that use sour cream. We're thinking of this Cranberry and Sour Cream Coffee Cake from Williams-Sonoma or this Sour Cream Maple Cake from Epicurious.

5. In Dips: And of course, if nothing else, there's eating sour cream by itself with maybe a few seasonings folded in for good measure. We've been wanting to try Elizabeth's spicy dipping sauce, so maybe this is our perfect excuse!

What other ways do you use sour cream in your cooking?

(Image: Flickr member chee.hong licensed under Creative Commons)

Comments (28)

Tacos/Nachos/beans n' rice!

Sour cream is an essential component of mine and my husband's favorite lazy "beany tacos." Drain and heat whatever beans you have in the fridge in the microwave with some cumin and Tabasco. Set out bowl of beans with salsa, grated cheese, sour cream, heated tortillas, and whatever vegetables you feel like cutting up (green onions, cabbage, cucumber, lettuce if you must), assemble tacos, and stuff face.

One of my favorite recipes from your archives, and insanely fast to make:

Creamy Black-Eyed Pea Soup with Cumin
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/main-dish/recipe-creamy-blackeyed-pea-soup-with-cumin-and-thyme-016879

Or another favorite from y'all that's almost as fast:
Yam and Black Bean Burritos
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/main-dish/recipe-yam-and-black-bean-burritos-023331

Strawberries dipped in sour cream and then brown sugar= HEAVEN. Have with champagne.

One of my favorite dinners is homemade burritos. You can always change the ingredients however you like them. In our place, we put in meat (usually ground beef), chopped tomato, an avocado mashed together and made into guacamole, taco cheese, spanish rice, and sour cream. Steam up the tortillas, make your own assembly line, and make your burrito just the way you like it! Sour cream is definitely a cornerstone to burritos.

Thin it a bit with milk or cream, add honey and lemon zest, and eat with blueberries or other fruit.

Mix a little into scrambled eggs before you cook them-- makes the eggs nice and creamy!

Funny, we also made the same mushroom casserole the other day. But we used plain yogurt instead of sour cream. Something to keep in mind the next time, as I imagine leftover yogurt is more versatile than sour cream. (FWIW, the casserole tasted great, so I odn't think the substitution affected the flavor much.)

Leftover sour cream...??? There is such a thing?

Sour cream sweetened w/brown sugar is lovely on baked fruit or as a dollop on pancakes. I also enjoy a dollop in soups such as carrot, tomato and butternut squash. I always have sour cream in my fridge-I am suprised at just how much I use it. And, it's always Daisy.

david lebovitz's strawberry and sour cream ice cream from the perfect scoop. its is AWESOME, and it uses a large quantity of sour cream. usually i shy away from strawberry ice cream b/c its too sweet, but the sour cream helps balance everything out.

i use to always be apprehensive about buying sour cream because it would go to waste so I started just experimenting with it. I think its a lot more versatile than people give it credit for. Is great in things other than the obvious mexican dishes!

I usually use the fat free sour cream and its still delicious for all these things.

For a sandwich/wrap spread: mix about 1 cup with 1tb lime juice salt, black pepper, and chopped jalapeno peppers to taste. Also have made with sweet peppers and tomatoes but i still always go back to the jalapenos

Mash with potatos or cauliflower, or simply serve ontop of them roasted. ANy veggies really.

Put a dollop in soup, chili, stew, I have even used it on curry and other indian dishes in place of plain yogurt to cool it down a bit.

You could try baking something too, i have seen lots of recipes that call for sour cream such as breads and muffins.

Keep in mind sour cream can go both sweet or savory depending on what you pair it with/add it too.

sour cream is the best thing made from milk. It tastes so good. My main uses

- A dollop or 2 in any tomato soup makes it bright, but creamy
- With Cheetos :D

my sister swears by this - a dollop on chocolate cake. I have never had sour cream in a sweet fashion, so this was kinda of a miss for me.

In a pinch, I've used it as a substitute for milk, cream, yogurt-type ingredients. If I'm making mac and cheese out of a box, the tang works pretty well in the cheese sauce. Also good: couscous made with chicken broth with lime, cilantro, cheddar cheese, and sour cream takes the edge off my Chipotle cravings when time/budget can't accomodate the burritos.

I like the Cook's Illustrated sour cream coffee cake and sour cream chocolate bundt cake. The sour cream makes them moist and tender. The coffee cake takes 1 1/2 cups, the chocolate cake takes 1 cup. Both are delicious!

Beef Stroganoff or Hamburger stroganoff. Most recipes use about a cup of sour cream.

Ranch dressing? In our house it most often gets made into dip. But it's also great on peirogies.

My favorite banana bread recipe uses sour cream.

Thanks for all the great ideas, everyone! This is great!

Round this time of year the favorite after school snack is quesadilla (which I put open faced in the toaster oven for even less clean up) topped, after folding with a thin layer of sour cream and some sliced avocado, it keeps them going during homework time and is so popular in fact that it get requested day after day, until finally I declare avocados out of season.

I rarely use sour cream, and usually substitute plain yogurt instead. But when I do have extra sour cream....

In either Cook's Country or Cook's Illustrated (can't remember which) there's a great recipe for lemon pound cake that uses sour cream. It really is the best pound cake ever, very moist and lemony, and fun to make. I used to bring it into work (an office of 4 plus driveby snackers) and it would be gone by the end of the day.

My boyfriend also makes a dip (that I don't care for but he loves) made with 1 part sour cream and 1 part mayo, and enough curry powder to taste. Eat with carrots and other veggies.

I like to use sour cream on a sandwich instead of mayonnaise. Half the calories. And the best fruit salad I ever tasted was made with sour cream.

Sour Cream Spice Cake is to die for. (I got my recipe from the Buttercup Bakeshop cookbook)

A dollop of sour cream on top of spaghetti bol

Gourmet Hotdogs - Fancy sausage in a bagette, with bacon, sour cream and other delights!

o_0 leftover sour cream is a problem? :D

I like the stuff on enchiladas, bean/cheese burritos with sour cream and black olives on top, it makes a good base for tzatziki, on top of taco salad and many other tex-mex style foods, in stroganoff, on some soups, etc etc.

But, I will say, it's really good just plain on fritos :)

Also, it's fantastic on savory waffles.

You can use sour cream in cornbread. Delicious!

I usually use plain, non-fat yogurt instead, which is a little more versatile. However:
*I second adding it to scrambled eggs
*ranch dip for veggies
*instead of buttermilk for pancakes/muffins/bread
*frosting - sour cream chocolate frosting is the absolute favorite in our household.

I second using it in scrambled eggs (leftover cream cheese, too), but my favorite use is in mashed potatoes either in place of or along with milk. It gives them a nice, subtle tang.

Beef Stroganoff or Chicken Paprikash.

I think it's harder in my house to find enough sour cream leftover to use on anything. ;) Love to use it in mashed potatoes or as a topper on a number of savory foods (cornbread, tacos, burritos, pierogi, chili, eggs...).

a coworker brought in a pastry that was basically a waffle topped with strawberry jam and a huge dollop of sour cream.... SOOOO good!

i thought the sour cream was whipped cream at first, so it was an awkward and then delightful surprise for my taste buds.