7 Best Dairy Substitutes – Non-Dairy Alternatives for Vegans

Whether you’re committed to a plant-based diet, wading in gradually, or tending to a milk allergy, eating less dairy is easy, as long as you know what to swap and when. Many swaps for cheese, sour cream, milk, and the like are as simple as that—easy ingredient swaps using items you already have in your pantry, plus maybe a little blender power. Here are a few ideas for making non-dairy substitutions in the recipes you love.

Almond Milk

Getty Images

Whether you’re baking, making your morning coffee or smoothie, or just pouring a cold glass of something to wash down a cookie, almond milk is an easy swap for dairy milk. Unsweetened almond milk, the most neutral-flavored, is the best for baking and cooking.

Non-Dairy Buttermilk

Combine any non-dairy milk you like with a little apple cider vinegar—for 1 cup buttermilk, measure out ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons non-dairy milk and add 2 tablespoons vinegar. The acid from the vinegar will do the work of the acid in buttermilk, tenderizing and giving lift to baked goods.

Coconut Oil

Like butter, coconut oil is hard when cold, somewhat soft at room temperature, and melts easily—which makes it a near-perfect substitute for butter no matter what you’re baking. (It does bring a little coconut flavor.) With its high smoke point, coconut oil is also ideal for popping popcorn, and thanks to some alchemy in the pot, makes the popcorn taste movie-theater-buttery.

Nutritional Yeast

Getty Images

You wouldn’t know it from its name, but nutritional yeast is a super-savory “dust” that tastes a whole lot like cheese. Use it generously as a seasoning—toss it with just-popped popcorn, fold it into scrambled eggs or scrambled tofu, sprinkle it over salads, season kale chips with it, or add a few tablespoons to a cracker recipe.

Coconut Cream

Coconut cream is extra-rich coconut milk, practically solid at room temperature and every bit as luscious as dairy cream. You can even whip it! Use it wherever you’d use dairy cream, as long as you don’t mind a coconut flavor in your recipe. (For a more neutral-flavored cream substitute, try cashew cream, below.) And be sure to get unsweetened coconut cream instead of cream of coconut (that stuff’s for piña coladas!).

Cashew Cream

Cashews, tossed into a blender with water and a pinch of salt, whirl up into a silky, spoonable sauce. A squeeze of lemon juice gives it a tang, and that’s really all you need for a dairy-free sour cream sub—but you could also season it with smoked paprika and turmeric for drizzling over nachos, or fold in minced chives and garlic powder for a ranch-like dip.

Banana Ice Cream

Getty Images

Instead of ice cream, try banana ice cream—that is, frozen bananas puréed in a blender until creamy and sweet as soft serve. Add a spoonful of cocoa powder or you favorite nut butter (or both!) if you like, or go fruity with a handful of frozen berries.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io