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Making crème fraîche at home is not only easy, but it also delivers a rich, tangy cream that’s perfect for topping desserts, adding to sauces, or stirring into soups. The best part? It takes just two ingredients and a little patience—plus, you can customize it to your taste!
Crème fraîche is a delicious cultured cream with a velvety texture and slightly tangy flavor, and it’s so easy to make at home. It’s a lot easier than yogurt or most homemade cheeses, and it comes together with just two ingredients quickly stirred together and then left to culture.
This cultured cream is a staple in many French dishes, from rich sauces to delicate desserts, and it’s as versatile as it is delicious. Whether you’re spooning it over fresh fruit, swirling it into soups, or dolloping it on pancakes, crème fraîche adds a touch of luxury to everyday meals.
The first step to making homemade cultured butter is making crème fraîche, so learn this simple process. You’ll be able to make the absolute best butter (better than anything you can buy in the store), and you’ll get cultured buttermilk, too.
But even if you never take those extra steps, simple crème fraîche is amazing on its own, and it’s the secret ingredient to many of my homemade soup recipes (especially pumpkin soup in the autumn months).
What is Crème Fraîche?
Crème fraîche is a thick, tangy cream that has been cultured with beneficial bacteria, similar to sour cream, but with a milder flavor and smoother texture. The word “crème” refers to its rich dairy base, while “fraîche” means fresh in French, since it’es a fresh, fermented cream (made quickly, without aging, thus “fresh”). It’s both creamy and lightly tangy. Unlike sour cream, which can have a sharp acidity, crème fraîche is milder, richer, and less prone to curdling when heated, making it perfect for sauces and soups.
While you can buy crème fraîche at most grocery stores, homemade versions have an unbeatable richness and a more complex, naturally cultured flavor. Making it from scratch allows you to control the quality of the cream, and it’s an ideal way to use up extra heavy cream.
Crème Fraîche Substitutes
In case you don’t have crème fraîche on hand, there are a few easy substitutes that can help you get the same creamy, tangy texture. One quick option is mixing sour cream with heavy cream in a 1:1 ratio, then allowing the mixture to sit for a few hours at room temperature to culture. The result will have a similar richness and tang, though it may be a little thinner than homemade crème fraîche.
Alternatively, you can mix plain Greek yogurt with heavy cream. The yogurt will add the tang you need, and the cream will smooth it out to the right consistency. This can work well in a pinch, though it’s worth noting that it may have a slightly different texture than true crème fraîche.
Neither of those are quite as good, but if you happen to have a recipe that calls for crème fraîche and you need it in a hurry, they’ll work in a pinch.
Why Make Crème Fraîche?
Why buy crème fraîche when you can make it at home? The beauty of homemade crème fraîche is that it’s incredibly simple and much more flavorful than the store-bought varieties. When you use high-quality cream, you’re left with a luxurious, creamy product that enhances your recipes. Plus, making crème fraîche is much more affordable than buying small containers from the store!
Making your own crème fraîche also allows you to avoid the added preservatives and stabilizers found in many commercial brands. Plus, it’s incredibly versatile—use it in everything from baked goods to savory dishes, or simply serve it as a topping for fresh fruit or pie.
Ingredients for Crème Fraîche
Crème fraîche requires just two basic ingredients, which makes it super easy to whip up at home. First, you’ll need heavy cream, the rich, fatty base that gives crème fraîche its luscious texture. Choose high-quality, preferably organic or grass-fed cream if you can, as it will give your crème fraîche a fuller, more nuanced flavor. The second ingredient is cultured buttermilk or a crème fraîche starter culture. This will introduce the live cultures needed to ferment the cream and give it that signature tang.
The live cultures in the buttermilk or starter culture will convert the natural sugars in the cream into lactic acid, creating the tangy flavor and thicker texture that make crème fraîche so irresistible. It’s important to use a product with live cultures, as this is what makes the cream ferment properly.
If you don’t have access to fresh buttermilk with live cultures, you can also buy a packet of Creme Fraiche starter culture online. Once you have a culture started, you can keep it going indefinitely.
Buttermilk starter culture also works just fine, as does a general mesophilic starter culture for cheesemaking.
In a pinch, natural live culture yogurt will also work to culture the cream, but they’re different cutlures. The flavor will be different if you use yogurt, and you’ll get “yogurt cream,” that’s kinda similar but not quite.
Ideally, use buttermilk, live culture Creme Fraiche from a previous batch, or either of those as powdered cultures.
How to Make Crème Fraîche
To begin, pour 1 pint (2 cups) of heavy cream into a clean jar or bowl. Next, add about 2 tablespoons of cultured buttermilk or a crème fraîche starter culture. (Or a powdered culture, either way.)
Stir gently to combine, making sure the cultures are evenly distributed throughout the cream.
Cover the jar loosely with a lid or a cloth, and let it sit at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours. This allows the cream to thicken and develop that wonderful tangy flavor.
If your house is very cool, as mine is here in Vermont in the winter months, you may need up to 48 hours. You can put it in a warm spot to speed things along, but make sure that it’s no more than 80-90 F, as you don’t want to overheat it and cook the wee beasties that are culturing the cream.
After about 12 hours, check the cream—it should be thickened to a consistency similar to sour cream. If it’s not quite thick enough, let it sit for a bit longer until it reaches the right texture. Once it’s thickened and tangy, give it a quick stir, cover it tightly, and transfer it to the fridge. The flavor will continue to develop as it chills, and your crème fraîche will be ready to use!
Once your crème fraîche is ready, you can use it in a variety of ways! Swirl it into soups or sauces for a velvety finish, spoon it over fresh fruit for a simple dessert, or use it as a topping for cakes, pancakes, or scones.
It’s perfect for both sweet and savory dishes, adding a creamy tang that works with so many different dishes. I love it on homemade pumpkin pie around the holidays in place of whipped cream, and it also works well in soups.
Tips for the Best Crème Fraîche
- Use High-Quality Cream: The better the cream, the better your crème fraîche will taste. Grass-fed or organic cream will yield a richer, more flavorful result.
- Let It Sit Long Enough: Be patient during the culturing process. Don’t rush it—let the cream develop the perfect thickness and tang over 12-24 hours.
- Chill Before Using: After culturing, refrigerate the crème fraîche to allow its flavor to mature. It will thicken slightly as it chills.
Ways to Use Crème Fraîche
Crème fraîche can be used in both sweet and savory dishes. Dollop it over fresh berries, swirl it into soups, or mix it into pasta sauces for extra creaminess. It’s also great as a topping for baked potatoes, roasted vegetables, or even as a tangy addition to salad dressings.
My kids are especially fond of strawberries dipped in crème fraîche for dessert. I’ll stir in just a bit of our homemade maple syrup for them, but personally, I like it tangy and I skip the sweetener most times for myself.
Enjoy your creamy, homemade crème fraîche—once you try it, you’ll never go back to store-bought!
Crème Fraîche
Ingredients
- 1 pint heavy cream, preferably grass-fed or high-quality cream
- 2 Tbsp cultured buttermilk
- or a packet crème fraîche starter culture
Instructions
Culture the Cream
- Pour the heavy cream into a clean jar or bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of cultured buttermilk (or crème fraîche starter culture) to the cream. Stir gently to combine.
- Cover the jar loosely with a lid or cloth and let it sit at room temperature for 12-24 hours. It’s ready when the cream has thickened and has developed a mild, tangy flavor.
Refrigerate
- Once the cream has thickened, stir it again, cover it tightly, and transfer it to the fridge. Let it chill for a few hours before using to allow the flavor to fully develop.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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