Soy Cream substitute

Best substitute

Oat cream

Use the same amount as the soy cream you are replacing

Best for pasta sauces

Different taste

Oat cream is the closest swap at 1:1 and behaves almost identically in a sauce, just a little sweeter. Full-fat tinned coconut milk also swaps 1:1 and is richer and more heat-stable, though it brings coconut flavor with it. Blended soaked cashews, at a quarter cup of nuts to a third of a cup of water, make the most neutral and richest option. Be clear which soy cream you have, though: the plain cooking kind will never whip no matter what you do, and only a carton labeled whipping or whippable will hold air.

Other soy cream substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Full-fat tinned coconut milk or coconut cream
Different taste
Use the same amount
Tinned coconut milk, the richest and most widely available dairy-free cream.
What changes
Best for
curries and stews, soups, acidic tomato sauces, desserts and ganache, whipping, using the chilled solid layer
Considerably fatter than soy cream, so sauces come out richer and thicker, which is usually an improvement, and it is by far the most heat- and acid-stable option here, so it will hold in a tomato or lemon sauce that would split soy cream. The cost is flavor: it tastes clearly of coconut, which suits a curry or a chocolate dessert and sits awkwardly in a carbonara-style pasta or a mushroom sauce. Shake or whisk the tin smooth before measuring, and use the chilled solid layer alone if you want something that whips.
3Cashew cream
Close match
Use ¼ cup raw cashews soaked and blended with ⅓ cup water for every ½ cup soy cream
Blended soaked cashews, the most neutral-tasting dairy-free cream and the most controllable.
What changes
Best for
pasta sauces, creamy soups, gratins, quiches and savory tarts, anywhere a neutral cream is needed
The best-tasting substitute for savory cooking, because it is genuinely neutral with a faint sweetness and none of soy's beany edge or coconut's perfume. Soak the cashews in hot water for half an hour, blend until completely smooth in a good blender, and thin to the consistency you want. It thickens more than soy cream does as it heats, so hold back a little water. It will not whip, and it is out for nut allergies. Blend it properly or a sauce will be gritty.
4Blended silken tofu
Taste and texture differ
Use ½ cup silken tofu blended with 2 tbsp plant milk and 1 tsp oil for every ½ cup soy cream
A pantry stand-in made from the same bean as soy cream itself.
What changes
Best for
quiches and savory bakes, creamy pasta sauces, cheesecakes and desserts, soups
The closest option in raw material, since soy cream and silken tofu are both made from soy, and it is high in protein so it holds a bake together well. Blend it absolutely smooth or it shows as white flecks. It is thicker and much less rich than soy cream, which is why the oil is in the ratio; without it the sauce tastes lean and slightly chalky. It also sets more firmly when baked than soy cream does, which is an advantage in a quiche and a drawback in a pourable sauce.
5Single cream or half-and-half
Different taste
Use the same amount
Ordinary pouring cream, the direct dairy equivalent at a similar fat level.
What changes
Best for
every cooking use, pasta sauces, soups, coffee, gratins
Worth naming plainly, because plenty of people meet soy cream in a translated European recipe and have no dairy restriction. Single cream sits at a similar fat percentage, so it swaps directly and behaves better in most respects: it tastes cleaner without soy's faint beaniness, and it browns more attractively in a gratin. It is slightly more likely to curdle in a very acidic sauce than soy cream. Obviously not an option in a vegan, lactose-free or dairy-allergic recipe.
6Plant milk thickened with cornstarch
Taste and texture differ
1 cup soy or oat milk whisked with 1 tbsp cornstarch and 1 tbsp oil
The emergency version, built from milk plus starch and fat.
What changes
Best for
pasta sauces, soups and chowders, gratins, when there is no cream of any kind
This works, and it is honest to say it is a fallback rather than an equal. Whisk the cornstarch into cold milk, add the oil, then heat gently while stirring until it thickens. You get the body and enough fat to carry flavor, but the texture is slightly gluey rather than silky, and it will not reduce like a real cream because the starch sets rather than concentrating. Never boil it hard or the starch breaks down and the sauce goes thin again. Useless for whipping or for anything served cold.

What is Soy Cream?

Soy Cream is a pourable dairy-free cream made from soy milk emulsified with vegetable oil, usually around 15 to 20 percent fat, sold as soya cream, soy cooking cream or soy whipping cream and built to be stirred into sauces and simmered without splitting the way light dairy cream is.

Cooking tips

Check whether your recipe wanted cooking cream or whipping cream, because the cartons look almost identical and behave completely differently. Plain soy cooking cream has too little fat to trap air and will never whip, however long you beat it. If you need a dairy-free whipped cream, use the solid layer from a chilled tin of coconut milk, a carton specifically labeled whippable, or aquafaba whipped with sugar.
Soy cream splits in strongly acidic sauces more readily than coconut milk does. Add it at the end, keep the pan below a simmer, and if the sauce contains a lot of wine, lemon or tomato, stir a teaspoon of cornstarch into the cream first as insurance. If it does split, taking it off the heat and whisking hard sometimes brings it back.
Most soy and oat creams are lightly sweetened or naturally sweet-tasting, which is invisible in a dessert and quite noticeable in a savory sauce. Taste before serving and add salt, a grind of pepper and a squeeze of lemon rather than more cream if the sauce tastes flat and sweet.
Plant creams reduce less well than dairy cream. They contain more water and stabilisers and less fat, so simmering a sauce down to concentrate it tends to make it thin and slightly grainy rather than thick and glossy. Thicken with a cornstarch slurry, a spoonful of cashew paste or a little nutritional yeast instead of reducing hard.
For soy allergies specifically, oat cream and coconut milk are the two easy shelf swaps, and cashew cream is the best if nuts are fine. All three are widely used in vegan cooking, so a recipe written around soy cream will work with any of them once you account for the sweetness or coconut flavor.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best substitute for soy cream in a savory sauce?

Oat cream if you want the easiest shelf swap, at 1:1, with a pinch of extra salt to offset its sweetness. Cashew cream is the best-tasting option, since it is genuinely neutral and rich, and it thickens a sauce nicely; blend a quarter cup of soaked cashews with a third of a cup of water for every half cup of soy cream. Full-fat tinned coconut milk works too and is the most heat-stable of the three, but its coconut flavor will show in anything delicate.

Can soy cream be whipped, and what can I whip instead?

Only if the carton specifically says whipping or whippable. Standard soy cooking cream has too little fat to hold air and will stay liquid no matter how long you beat it. For dairy-free whipped cream, chill a tin of full-fat coconut milk overnight, scoop off the solid layer and whip that with powdered sugar, or whip aquafaba, the liquid from a tin of chickpeas, with sugar and a little cream of tartar for a lighter, more meringue-like result.

Why did my soy cream split in the sauce?

Almost always acid plus heat. Soy cream is an oil-in-water emulsion held together by stabilisers, and a hard simmer in a sauce full of tomato, wine or lemon juice breaks it, leaving oily flecks in a watery sauce. Add it at the very end, off or barely on the heat, and stir a teaspoon of cornstarch into the cream first if the sauce is acidic. If it has already split, pull the pan off the heat and whisk vigorously, which sometimes recovers it.

Can I use soy milk instead of soy cream?

Not directly, because the whole point of the cream is fat and body, and soy milk has a fraction of both, so a sauce made with it tastes thin and watery. You can build it up, though: whisk a tablespoon of cornstarch and a tablespoon of neutral oil into a cup of soy milk and heat gently, stirring, until it thickens. That gets you a workable pouring consistency for pasta sauces and soups, though it is slightly gluey and will not reduce like real cream.

Can I just leave the soy cream out?

Sometimes, if you accept a different dish. In a soup or a tomato-based pasta sauce, leaving out the cream gives you a lighter, sharper, more acidic result, which can be perfectly good with a spoonful of olive oil stirred in at the end. In a quiche, a gratin or any set custard you cannot omit it, because it is providing the fat and liquid that make the filling set softly rather than turn rubbery.

Related substitutes

More dairy alternatives substitutes

Soy Cream substitute

Other soy cream substitutes

2Full-fat tinned coconut milk or coconut cream

3Cashew cream

4Blended silken tofu

5Single cream or half-and-half

6Plant milk thickened with cornstarch