Heavy cream shows up in everything from curries to soups to desserts, and running out mid-recipe is a common problem. The right substitute depends on what the cream is actually doing in that specific dish — adding richness, thickening a sauce, or both.
Milk + butter (closest all-purpose substitute)
For most savory cooking, whisking together about 3 parts whole milk to 1 part melted butter gets you close to heavy cream's fat content and mouthfeel. It won't whip into peaks the way real heavy cream does, but for simmering into a sauce or curry, it's a solid stand-in.
Half-and-half
A simpler swap for sauces where you want some richness but the recipe isn't relying on cream to significantly thicken it. Half-and-half has roughly half the fat of heavy cream, so the result will be noticeably thinner and less rich, but it's an easy one-for-one swap when that's an acceptable trade-off.
Greek yogurt or sour cream
Works well in dishes finished off the heat, where the cream is stirred in at the end rather than simmered hard — both can curdle if boiled. Greek yogurt in particular adds a pleasant tang that works especially well in dishes that already lean savory and spiced.
Dairy-free: coconut cream
The most common dairy-free substitute, and arguably the closest in texture to real heavy cream — canned coconut cream (the thick part that separates at the top of full-fat coconut milk) whips and thickens similarly. The trade-off is a distinct coconut flavor, which works naturally in some cuisines and clashes in others.
Cashew cream
Blending soaked raw cashews with water into a smooth paste makes a neutral-tasting, dairy-free cream substitute that doesn't carry a strong flavor of its own the way coconut cream does — a better fit when you want richness without a noticeable flavor addition.
If cream's real job is thickening, not richness
In dishes where cream is mainly there to thicken a sauce rather than add richness, a cornstarch slurry (see our cornstarch substitute guide) can sometimes do that job on its own, paired with a smaller amount of milk for a lighter version of the same effect.
