7 Ways to Make Creamy Pasta Without Cream (2024)

FAQs

What can I use instead of cream for creamy pasta? ›

Whole milk is an excellent substitute for heavy cream. It adds richness to your pasta sauce without the excess fat. Simply simmer your favourite pasta sauce with whole milk until it thickens to your desired consistency. The result is a velvety and indulgent sauce that pairs beautifully with pasta.

Pasta Water: Scoop out some of the cooking water just before draining out the pasta. A few tablespoons of this starchy liquid is a low-calorie way of adding creaminess to any sauce.

Similarly to half-and-half, milk makes a good heavy cream substitute when it's combined with melted butter. Combine 3/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup melted butter for every cup of heavy cream.

Half & half. Instead of heavy whipping cream, we're using half & half. It's much lower in fat than heavy cream, but will give this sauce enough creaminess that you'll never even notice. You can definitely substitute with heavy cream or even whole milk, if preferred.

One simple trick to enhance the flavor of pasta is to add a dash of salt to the boiling water before cooking the pasta. This will infuse the pasta with salty flavor and help it to taste better. Additionally, try tossing the cooked pasta with olive oil, herbs, and Parmesan cheese to add more depth of flavor.

Some cooks recommend soaking the pasta in water after it has been toasted so that it absorbs some moisture before boiling. This involves putting the cooled, toasted pasta into a large zip-top bag, filling it with water, pressing out any air, and letting it sit for 2 to 3 hours in the fridge before boiling.

In a bowl, whisk together equal parts of cornstarch and water—about 2 tablespoons of each for four servings of pasta and sauce. Add 2 teaspoons of the slurry to the Alfredo sauce. Bring the sauce to a boil to activate the starch, then add more slurry, 1 teaspoon at a time, as needed.

How do you thicken pasta sauce without dairy? ›

Add some corn starch or flour little by little until sauce thickens. Cornstarch or flour are common ways to thicken a sauce. I like chana (garbonzo bean) flour. Use about half as much as you would wheat flour.

Butter does not provide any thickening to a sauce, since it is made of just fat and water. But a chunk of butter, salted or unsalted, swirled into a sauce at the end, can temporarily emulsify a sauce, while adding richness and sheen, all of which are good things.

You can make a stand-in for the heavy cream called for in a recipe where it will be mixed with other ingredients. Melt 1/4 cup unsalted butter in a large glass bowl and gradually whisk in 3/4 cup whole milk or half and half. You'll end up with 1 cup of a cream substitute. Use in soups, sauces, puddings, etc.

Thanks to all of its wonderful qualities, butter is the perfect addition to any pasta sauce, especially as a replacement for cream. The reason is that the fat in butter helps to calm the acidity of tomatoes, onions, and any other ingredients you've added.

Sour Cream, Crème Fraîche, or Mascarpone

These three ingredients can be used in place of heavy cream with a one-to-one substitution with just a few caveats. Sour cream will add tanginess to your dish, and if you use it for soups or other hot dishes, it's best to add it in at the end to avoid curdling.

Greek yogurt is one of the best swaps for sour cream that you can find. (Just be sure to look for plain Greek yogurt, not the flavored variety.) It has a similar creamy texture and that characteristic tang; plus, it's a healthy ingredient that'll add protein to your dish.