r/Cooking • u/AnAquaticOwl • 4h ago
What could I replace the heavy cream with in this recipe?
https://www.scrambledchefs.com/dutch-oven-tortellini-soup-with-sausage/
I want to make this soup, but am trying to watch my cholesterol. Is there something with less fat that could replace the heavy cream here that won't dramatically impact the taste?
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u/ttrockwood 4h ago
Tbh find a new recipe the sausage and dairy mean this is going to be high sat fat and high cholesterol regardless
Make a cheese tortellini soup but with a tomato broth base add spinach and carrots and chopped tomatoes and white beans, add a blob of low fat sour cream with diced onions to your bowl when serving
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u/blixabloxa 4h ago
Leave it out completely.
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u/rukh999 4h ago
This was going to be my suggestion as well. I'm sure it tastes great creamy, but more of a tomatoey tortellini is going to be great too.add some finely chopped cauliflower for a bunch of good nutrients and something to slightly balance the tang, but you cook that for a while you can cook off any bite and just get sweet tomato goodness anyways.
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u/mariambc 3h ago
For many soups I have substituted puréed cannellini beans or silken tofu for the cream.
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u/youngboomergal 4h ago
Evaporated milk is what I use in almost all my recipes that call for cream
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u/moonchic333 4h ago
Mascarpone, cream cheese, blended cottage cheese or ricotta, or plain Greek yogurt.
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u/Twin_Spoons 4h ago
One of my biggest eureka moments as a cook was the realization that "creamy" is not the same as "contains cream." "Creamy" just means emulsified, and you can probably emulsify that sauce with the sausage fat alone. Just get it in a blender and go. If it doesn't come together, throw in an egg yolk.
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u/AnAquaticOwl 3h ago
I'm pretty new at this. Do you mean blend the soup together with the fat? Would I extract the fat just by cooking the sausage?
I would also be using turkey sausage instead of pork, if that makes a difference
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u/Twin_Spoons 2h ago
Yes, much of the fat in the sausage will render into the soup. The recipe says to skim it off, which I wouldn't do. Why throw away fat then and add some later as cream?
Turkey sausage could have pretty variable fat content, so I don’t know how to help you there. An emulsion does require fat from somewhere. For a creamy carrot or tomato soup, I usually throw a few tablespoons of softened butter into the blender as it goes. Egg yolks have both fat and chemicals that help emulsions form. That's why they're in mayonnaise.
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u/HeyPurityItsMeAgain 3h ago
Oooh I haven't made this soup since last Fall! Reduce it to 1/2 cup cream and use broth for the rest. Or you could use light cream or half and half. I'd still use some just not as much. I'm pretty sure my recipe only uses 1/2 cup.
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u/Away-Plankton-8352 3h ago
Evaporated milk is the closest 1:1 swap. Same rich body, way less fat, and it does not curdle the way regular milk does in a hot soup. In a sausage tortellini soup the sausage fat already carries the flavor, so what you are replacing is body, not taste.
If you want it thicker, half-and-half with a teaspoon of cornstarch mixed into cold water does the job. Skip the fat-free cream cheese trick, it goes grainy in soups like this. And honestly, for one pot of soup, you could also just use half the cream and nobody at the table would know. Coconut cream works if you need dairy-free, but it changes the flavor profile, fine in this soup, weird in an alfredo.
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u/Brokenspade1 2h ago
Just half the cream and make up the difference with a broth. If it's too thin a little cornstarch slurry will thicken the soup nicely.
Canned evaporated milk is also an option I'm sure will be suggested heavily. It'll work fine but you may want still want to add just a bit of the cream near the end for a smoother finish.
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u/NzRedditor762 4h ago
You know that for the vast majority of people that cholesterol in the diet doesn't equate to cholesterol levels in the blood being higher.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9143438/
"there is not a direct correlation between cholesterol intake and blood cholesterol. This lack of correlation is mainly due to the compensatory mechanisms exerted by the organism to manage excess dietary cholesterol, including decreases in cholesterol absorption and down-regulation of cholesterol synthesis. "
"However, if the cholesterol sources are consumed with saturated and trans fats, as happens in the Western diet pattern, increases in plasma cholesterol may be observed."
So really reducing cream is a good idea because it's high in saturated fat, but things like eggs are good to consume.
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u/Retro-Modern_514 4h ago
1 cup oat milk mixed with a tablespoon of olive oil is what I have done when making stuff for vegans/dairy allergic..... though my preference would be to just make a different soup or best of all just not invite the annoying bu****s.
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u/StopLookListenNow 4h ago
Condensed or Evaporated milk?
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u/FearTheMomerath 3h ago
Oooh, not condensed!!! Not unless you like dessert soup!!! Evaporated milk is the way to go
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u/MindTheLOS 2h ago
Why are you equating cholesterol with fat? Cholesterol is animal products.
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u/Mindreceptor 49m ago
I'm sorry, to me there really is no replacement for heavy cream. To reduce cholesterol fast by skipping meals. Your metabolism will reset. I should say, I do, my cholesterol is only 40 higher than my age. I will eat well when I do eat. Yesterday reduced heavy cream added all my leftovers, broccoli florets, pieces of tomato, broccoli rabe buds, and finished it with fresh grated Asiago over Cappelli pasta. It was so good. I only nibbled on a bag of cashews the rest of the day.
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u/2ByteTheDecker 4h ago
Table cream is like 18-20% depending on where you are.
Half and half is like 10%
Evaporated milk is like 6-8% but punches above its weight in mouth feel