This Mexican Crema is a silky, creamy sauce that’s a little tangy and a little salty. It’s addictively good!
Crema is a Mexican condiment that you’ll often find served as a topping for tacos and other Mexican dishes. Some people here in the United States confuse it with sour cream – but a good Crema recipe is so much more!
How do you make Crema?
In its simplest forms, crema is a mix of heavy cream and buttermilk. Lime juice and salt are also added to the crema – which helps cut the richness of the mixture, giving it a bright, fresh but still creamy taste.
We swapped in sour cream (a common substitute for the buttermilk when making crema) in our recipe today – partly because it’s what we had on hand, but also because we wanted a thicker crema in the end.
Mix the ingredients together, then (similar to making homemade crème fraîche) allow the mixture to sit at room temperature to thicken.
How do you serve Crema?
We placed our crema in a squeeze bottle, then used it to drizzle over the tacos we made with our Tempura Fish Nuggets recipe from earlier this week. It’s delicious with just about any other Mexican dish as a condiment. Crema is also great as a dressing on salad or vegetables, or simply served as a dip with tortilla chips.
Adapted from The New York Times.
You may enjoy these other Mexican sauces, dips, and condiments:
- Restaurant-Style Salsa
- Chile con Queso
- Rocket Fuel (Homemade Hot Sauce)
- Plum Habanero Salsa
- Pico de Gallo
Crema
This Mexican Crema is a silky, creamy sauce that’s a little tangy and a little salty. It’s addictively good!
- Prep Time: 24 hours 5 minutes
- Total Time: 24 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 2 cups 1x
- Category: condiment
- Method: no cooking required
- Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sour cream*
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Whisk all ingredients then let sit at room temperature for at least four hours and up to 24 hours. As it sits it will thicken.
- Refrigerate after 24 hours.
- Crema will stay thick in the refrigerator for a week, then it will begin to separate. Do not keep beyond a week.
Notes
*Buttermilk may be used instead of sour cream
It’s nice recipe, helpful & easy recipe. Thank you very much
You’re very welcome Alba!
I made this Crema and oh my, it was wonderful. I added a touch more lime juice to 2nd batch and liked a little better. We drizzled on protein/veggie bowls, tacos, and other Mexican foods. This recipe is a keeper !!! I wasn’t sure about leaving it out at room temperature to thicken but it worked like magic!
So glad you enjoyed it LorSun!
I’m making this right now, for a rehearsal dinner I’m catering tomorrow. Do I let it sit ‘covered’ or ‘uncovered’??? I have it in the cabinet right now but it’s not covered.
Thanks!
Hi Madeleine – Either is fine. We covered it ourselves, but it won’t change the results if you leave it uncovered.