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33 Recipes with Sour Cream, from Impossibly Moist Cakes to Crowd-Pleasing Party Dips

Sour cream: It’s rich, tangy, refreshing and so many dishes (like tacos, baked potatoes and French onion dip) wouldn’t be the same without it. It makes cakes and cookies supremely moist, brings a much-needed zing of acidity to a wide range of appetizers and mains, and adds cooling creaminess to a variety of sauces, dressings and dips.

In honor of the underappreciated condiment—which often languishes, half-full, in the back of our fridge until it’s past its expiration date—we’ve rounded up 33 of the best recipes with sour cream that prove its magical properties beyond a shadow of a doubt. With these desserts, dips, dinners and side dishes in your back pocket, you can finally take advantage of every last dollop. (Psst: Vegan friends, skip all the way to number 33 on this list to make your own vegan sour cream to sub in any of these recipes.)

Our 10 Best Cake Recipes from the Last 10 Years


1. Aran Goyoaga’s Spiced Sweet Potato Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

  • Time Commitment: 2 hours and 30 minutes
  • Why I Love It: gluten free, special occasion-worthy, crowd-pleaser

Sour cream cuts right though the cream cheese’s fattiness to create a lighter, brighter frosting. This autumn stunner is best served with a pumpkin spice latte, obvi.

2. Homemade French Onion Dip

  • Time Commitment: 35 minutes
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, gluten free, kid-friendly, vegetarian

We love packet French onion dip too, but trust: This recipe blows it away. Think sweet onions, cream cheese and a handful of seasonings united in jammy, caramelized harmony.

3. Meal-prep Creamy Kale Caesar Salad

  • Time Commitment: 15 minutes
  • Why I Love It: <30 minutes, no cook, gluten free, vegetarian, keto-friendly

This enviable lunch costs less than $3 per serving and it’ll only take you 15 minutes to prepare. (Sour cream is the source of the dressing’s creaminess, BTW.)

4. 20-minute Mashed Potatoes

  • Time Commitment: 20 minutes
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, <30 minutes, gluten free, vegetarian

Bookmark this recipe for every hectic holiday you ever host. The spuds are boiled in butter, milk and seasonings instead of water to speed the process along.

5. Classic Banana Bread

  • Time Commitment: 1 hour and 15 minutes
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, make ahead, nut free, vegetarian

Sour cream guarantees that this loaf turns out uber moist every time. If you don’t have enough of the condiment on hand, you can substitute yogurt, mascarpone cheese or buttermilk.

6. Easy 30-minute Beef Stroganoff

  • Time Commitment: 30 minutes
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, one pan, high protein

The secret to this unapologetically rich beef stroganoff? A hearty dollop of sour cream that’s stirred into the thick, mushroom-laden sauce.

7. Cake Batter Dip

  • Time Commitment: 5 minutes
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, kid-friendly, no bake, vegetarian, <30 minutes

Sprinkles are always a hit in our book. Microwave the cake mix in 30-second intervals until it reaches 165°F—this makes the raw flour safe to consume.

8. Strawberry Galette With Whipped Cream

  • Time Commitment: 1 hour and 45 minutes
  • Why I Love It: vegetarian, crowd-pleaser, special occasion-worthy

This isn’t your run-of-the-mill fruit galette, thanks to rosemary in the crust, balsamic vinegar in the filling and sour cream in the whipped cream.

9. Loaded Baked Potato ‘chips’

  • Time Commitment: 1 hour and 5 minutes
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, gluten free, sheet pan recipe, kid-friendly

Trade a fluffy baked potato for crispy, paper-thin potato chips, but keep all the essential fixings. Excuse us while we inhale an entire batch in one sitting.

10. Noodle Kugel

  • Time Commitment: 1 hour and 35 minutes
  • Why I Love It: one pan, crowd-pleaser, vegetarian

This baked beauty is prime for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur or any old Tuesday. It’s packed with classic ingredients like cottage cheese, sour cream and egg noodles.

11. Cauliflower ‘potato’ Salad

  • Time Commitment: 40 minutes
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, gluten free, vegetarian, make ahead

Not only does our favorite cruciferous vegetable stand in for potatoes, but we also use a mix of sour cream, Dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar and fresh herbs instead of gloppy mayonnaise.

12. Meal-prep Creamy Pasta Salad With Broccoli And Raisins

  • Time Commitment: 15 minutes
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, no cook, vegetarian, make ahead, <30 minutes

Even your kids will be happy to find this in their lunchboxes (especially if you finish the pasta salad with crumbled bacon).

13. Mexican Street Corn Dip

  • Time Commitment: 30 minutes
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, crowd-pleaser, vegetarian, special occasion-worthy

The tortilla chips are smothered in Monterey Jack cheese sauce, corn, cotija cheese, cilantro, sour cream and lime juice. All that’s missing is a six pack of cerveza.

14. Pineapple Coconut Cake

  • Time Commitment: 1 hour and 22 minutes
  • Why I Love It: vegetarian, special occasion-worthy, crowd-pleaser

Tangy sour cream-coconut cake is just the match for vibrant, sweet-tart pineapple filling. The cream cheese frosting and coconut flakes drive its decadence home.

15. Classic Chicken Paprikash

  • Time Commitment: 1 hour
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, gluten free, one pot

This Hungarian dish stars butter-browned chicken cooked with onions and paprika. The luxurious sauce is spiked with sour cream for tang and texture, then the chicken is served over noodles or dumplings.

16. Cherry Almond Buckle

  • Time Commitment: 1 hour and 15 minutes
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, vegetarian, special occasion-worthy, crowd-pleaser

Come for the sour cream cake bursting with fresh cherries, stay for the brown sugar-cinnamon crumble dappled with sliced almonds.

17. Creamy Brussels Sprout & Shallot Dip

  • Time Commitment: 21 minutes
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, gluten free, vegetarian, keto-friendly

You can do way more with your favorite winter veggie than roast it. How about sautéing it with alliums, mixing it with sour cream, cream cheese, mozzarella and Parm, then baking it until hot and bubbly?

18. Classic Vanilla Bean Cheesecake With Fresh Figs, Pistachios And Honey

  • Time Commitment: 5 hours and 15 minutes (includes chilling)
  • Why I Love It: vegetarian, special occasion-worthy, crowd-pleaser

If you look up the word “elegance” in the dictionary, you’ll find a photo of this dessert. Sour cream and vanilla beans offer the filling fresh, clean flavor.

19. Spicy Black Bean Chicken Enchiladas With Pumpkin Sour Cream Sauce

  • Time Commitment: 50 minutes (includes chilling)
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, gluten free, special occasion-worthy, high protein

The enchiladas are filled to the brim with black beans, shredded chicken, jalapeño peppers and onions before they’re doused with pumpkin sauce and blanketed in Colby Jack cheese.

20. Old-fashioned Sour Cream Donuts With Coffee Glaze

  • Time Commitment: 35 minutes
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, kid-friendly, vegetarian

We’d most definitely get out of bed at the crack of dawn for these morning glories. (Come on, the base for the glaze is nutty brown butter.)

21. Chocolate Peppermint Bundt Cake

  • Time Commitment: 1 hour and 5 minutes
  • Why I Love It: nut free, vegetarian, special occasion-worthy, crowd-pleaser

Only 20 minutes of prep stand between you and the ultimate holiday confection. Finish it with crushed candy canes, toasted coconut or white nonpareils.

22. Meyer Lemon Herbed Crab Bites

  • Time Commitment: 5 minutes
  • Why I Love It: no cook, gluten free, <30 minutes, pescatarian, keto-friendly

Summer parties at your place will change forever once your guests sink their teeth into this light, refreshing seafood appetizer.

23. Sour Cream Cinnamon Coffee Cake

  • Time Commitment: 1 hour and 35 minutes
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, nut free, vegetarian, make ahead, crowd-pleaser

Complete with the simplest three-ingredient vanilla glaze. We’ll take our slice with sides of eggs and bacon, please.

24. Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

  • Time Commitment: 25 minutes
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, kid-friendly, make ahead, vegetarian, special occasion-worthy

Sour cream zaps the boring right out of this holiday cookie dough. Finish the cookies with all the festive sprinkles and sweet glaze your heart desires.

25. Sour Cream Biscuits

  • Time Commitment: 45 minutes
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, vegetarian

Whether you serve them as a side for barbecue or as a base for strawberry shortcake, your guests will gobble these handhelds up in 30 seconds flat.

26. Buffalo Cauliflower With Blue Cheese Dressing

  • Time Commitment: 30 minutes
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, gluten free, vegetarian, keto-friendly

In our opinion, wings (even plant-based ones) are only as tasty as the dressing served with them. Here, it’s homemade blue cheese made with sour cream, mayonnaise, celery and scallions.

27. Cheesecake Brownies

  • Time Commitment: 5 hours and 40 minutes (includes chilling time)
  • Why I Love It: nut free, kid-friendly, vegetarian, special occasion-worthy

Forget a modest marbling of cream cheese. These bars (which start with store-bought brownie mix) are topped with a thick layer of sour cream-spiked cheesecake filling.

28. Sour Cream And Onion Pasta

  • Time Commitment: 20 minutes
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, <30 minutes, kid-friendly, vegetarian

Your favorite type of potato chip is somehow even tastier in pasta form. We so wouldn’t blame you for crumbling a handful of them on top for crunch in lieu of grated Parm.

29. Peanut Butter Cupcakes

  • Time Commitment: 3 hours and 30 minutes (includes chilling time)
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, vegetarian, special occasion-worthy

Sour cream keeps each cupcake soft and tender, while chopped peanuts add a bit of texture to the pillowy confections.

30. The Modern Lobster Roll

  • Time Commitment: 20 minutes
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, pescatarian, special occasion-worthy, <30 minutes

Fresh citrus, Japanese cucumber, diced celery and snipped chives give this New England staple a whole new vibe.

31. Sour Cream And Cinnamon Crumb Cake

  • Time Commitment: 1 hour and 55 minutes
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, nut free, kid-friendly, crowd-pleaser

Buttery sugar streusel is our love language. The hardest step of making this cake is waiting for it to cool before digging in.

32. Swirled Blueberry Lemon Thyme Cake

  • Time Commitment: 1 hour and 15 minutes
  • Why I Love It: beginner-friendly, nut free, vegetarian, special occasion-worthy, crowd-pleaser

Since the recipe calls for blueberry jam and fresh or frozen blueberries, you can bake this sweet-and-sour treat any time of the year.

33. Vegan Sour Cream

  • Time Commitment: 4 hours and 10 minutes (includes soaking time)
  • Why I Love It: vegan, <10 ingredients, make ahead, no cook, dairy free

In case you're craving one of the above recipes despite not eating dairy, vegan sour cream just might be able to help. All it takes is cashews, a few pantry staples and a blender to pull it off. Give it a cheesy spin by adding a tablespoon of nutritional yeast.


For even more great recipes, check out our first cookbook, Only the Good Stuff.


taryn pire

Food Editor

  • Contributes to PureWow's food vertical
  • Spearheads PureWow's recipe vertical and newsletter
  • Studied English and writing at Ithaca College