Can You Freeze Sour Cream? Yes, But There's A Major Catch

It seems like you can never have too much sour cream. It's the secret weapon for incredibly rich brownies, the ingredient that gives mashed potatoes the best creamy finish, and so much more. But imagine that with this in mind, you buy a gigantic 3-pound tub of sour cream from Costco and barely make a dent in it after a week. (Unfortunately, it might only stay fresh for about two weeks after opening.) Soaring grocery prices notwithstanding, no one likes to waste food. So before you lose hope, know that there is another way. You can freeze sour cream, but it will alter the texture.

If you want to save excess sour cream a one-way ticket to the trash bin, freezing it is a viable answer and there are a couple of ways to go about it. One method involves transferring the sour cream to ice trays, freezing it and storing the cubes in a zip-lock bag. Using a pastry bag or a plastic sandwich bag with the tip cut off makes short work of getting the sour cream into the ice trays. If you don't have ice trays, simply spoon the sour cream into a freezer bag and remove all of the excess air before popping it into the freezer.

While storing sour cream in the freezer is a better option than letting it go bad in your refrigerator, you must keep in mind that the very low temperatures will cause changes you may not like. As the product freezes and thaws, ice crystals form and then melt. This process disrupts the delicate web of milk proteins and fat that make up the creamy texture we all know and love. After thawing, it's likely your sour cream will be grainy and watery. After defrosting it for several hours in the refrigerator, you can try to whisk or blend it to remove some of the lumps.

With the change in texture, you probably won't want to add a dollop of thawed sour cream in your grilled flank steak tacos, but there are plenty of other uses. Add it to chocolate cupcakes or banana walnut bread for a super moist texture, and for thickening soup and stews, you don't even need to defrost, just drop in a frozen cube and stir as the sour cream dissolves.