Sometimes a single drop of Mexican Crema will be the missing final touch on your taco masterpiece.
But if you've ever fretted when you see Mexican Crema listed in a recipe, then spend five minutes reading this post and next time you see it called for you'll be an expert on your options.
Homemade Mexican Crema Recipe
Creme fraiche, sour cream, heavy cream, Mexican Crema -- what's the deal with all these creamy incarnations?
It's probably easiest to think of them as a group of close relatives that look similar but act differently based on fat content and culturing agent used.
Creme fraiche starts with high fat content cream and uses buttermilk as a culturing agent to thicken it up. This also happens to be the perfect starting point for a delicioso homemade Mexican Crema.
Start by warming up one cup of heavy cream to room temperature. You're not cooking it; just warming for a couple minutes to bring it up to room temp. This will accelerate the thickening process a bit.
Now add 1 Tablespoon of buttermilk to the pan and mix well.
Pour into a jar and cover without tightening the lid.
Now the hard part. You have to let it sit on the counter overnight as it prefers to thicken at room temp (or slightly warmer). Keeping the lid slightly loose will allow just enough air circulation. And since most creams and buttermilks bought from the market have already been pasteurized, you don't have to worry about it spoiling too quickly.
12-24 hours later it will have thickened up considerably. Fasten the lid tight and refrigerate. After a few hours in the fridge it will thicken up even more.
So this is essentially creme fraiche. Take a taste; it's already got incredible flavor. (Note that you can increase the thickness by adding more culturing agent at the beginning of the process.)
To turn this into a Mexican Crema that will outdo anything you can buy at the market, add the juice of 1/2 a lime and a generous pinch of salt to the mixture.
Taste for seasoning and add a bit more salt if you want.
This will produce a rich, tangy crema that does wonders on the entire breadth of Mexican cuisine, with a special nod to tacos.
And of course one of the real benefits to a genuine crema is the thick consistency that lets it cling to the food instead of dispersing.
There are also a few substitutes you can use if waiting around 24 hours to eat your taco doesn't sound appealing.
Sour cream is similar to creme fraiche but it usually has a lower fat content and uses different culturing agents. A quick way to shift it back towards the creamy mouthfeel of Mexican Crema is to dilute it with buttermilk.
Add a big dollop of sour cream to a bowl. Dilute it with 1-2 Tablespoons of buttermilk and serve as is.
This produces a crema that works great in a pinch but will develop an inferiority complex when compared to the version we cultured for 12-24 hours.
It's also worth mentioning that sour cream usually has live culturing agents in it. So sometimes you'll see crema recipes that use a combination of heavy cream and sour cream as the culturing agent. I haven't tried this personally but just know that it is a viable option if you don't want to run out to buy buttermilk.
Your homemade Mexican Crema should keep for at least a couple weeks in the fridge if not longer, but of course its lifespan will vary depending on culturing agent used. But since it's so easy to make you have special permission to make tacos again tomorrow night.
Buen Provecho.
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Homemade Mexican Crema
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 Tablespoon buttermilk
- 1/2 lime
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Slightly warm 1 cup heavy cream to room temperature in a saucepan
- Add 1 Tablespoon buttermilk to the pan and mix well
- Add mixture to a jar and lightly cover
- Keep jar on counter (or in warm place) for the next 12-24 hours.
- Fasten lid tightly and refrigerate
- In a few hours it will thicken even more
- Add the juice of 1/2 lime and a generous pinch of salt to the jar and mix well
- Taste for seasoning
- Serve immediately or store in the fridge
Notes
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Val
Aargh. Just tried to make the crema but appear to have made . . . butter! I'm in Australia and used double cream as we don't have heavy cream, and double has a higher fat content than heavy. The buttermilk did have live cultures. However, it was made from the cultured butter process, using a 'traditional' method, so I'm wondering whether the combination of double cream and traditional buttermilk is a match made in heaven if you want fresh butter! Any ideas as to how I can modify my ingredients? Would single cream work better, or would the fat content be too low? (Min butterfat 18% but varies upwards of that.) I should say I didn't over-beat the mixture - had hardly incorporated the buttermilk before the cream started separating.
Apart from this one epic fail, your site is wonderful, Patrick, and I've had lots of successes. Thank you!
Patrick
Hi Val! Thanks much for the feedback on my site, I appreciate it!
It looks like Australian single cream is very similar to heavy cream in the States (based on Wiki cream article) so I think you would have better success using that. Heavy cream in the States has around 36pct fat content, so anything in that range should work.
And it's kinda tough to comment on that buttermilk you used. I just used a store-bought pasteurized buttermilk, do you by chance have that available in your area?
Val
Hi Patrick, thanks for your reply.
I experimented with a little bit of single cream and a littler bit of buttermilk, and that seemed to mix okay. So I then mixed a cup of the one and a tablespoon of the other. That seemed to blend together alright - though I then found a couple of small lumps of butter floating around! Hastily removed!
So the crema is now sitting in a glass jar and we shall see what happens . . .
The buttermilk was store-bought but is produced by a boutique dairy, which is why I wondered if it has a different formulation. I'll see if I can find a more-mainstream brand for my next attempt.
Tonight's tacos, however, will have to do without the finishing touch. Damn!
Patrick
Okay thanks for the update Val -- I hope that batch turned out well for you!
Kat
I am making this to put on my nachos mole tomorrow. I just hit my 24 hour mark and it thickened beautifully. Do I add the salt and lime now or after a few hours in the fridge?
Patrick
Hi Kat, I hoped the nachos turned out well! I usually let it sit in the fridge for a bit before adding the salt and lime.
Patrick
Thanks for your note Keri! I hope the Suizas turned out well for you.
Bridget
I'm making this right now and it's not thickening up at the 24 hour mark. Should I have bought Buttermilk that lists "live cultures" on the label? I cannot tell if the one I bought has live cultures in it or not. The recipe does not say to use a particular type of buttermilk, so I just grabbed the only full fat buttermilk my store had. Is this the problem?
Patrick
Oh bummer you might be right ... Was the buttermilk you bought chilled and in the dairy section? In my area all the buttermilks in the dairy section are traditional, i.e. they have live cultures and that's what you'll need for this recipe. There's another dried version of buttermilk that I think is sometimes used for baking but it doesn't sound like that's what you've got:
http://www.webexhibits.org/butter/buttermilk.html
And just to confirm...did you let it rest at room temp?
Also...I've found that it thickens up even more after refrigerating it (after the resting period) so there's a chance that you've done everything right and it just needs some time in the fridge to turn into that familiar consistency.
Hope this helps a bit ... Let me know how it goes!
Bridget
I did leave it at room temperature for over 24 hours. It did thicken up a bit after I added the lime and salt and chilled it in the fridge for a few hours. The taste was great, just very thin! I used to live in Mexico City and the flavor was just as I remembered. Next time I will make sure to get buttermilk with live cultures! Regardless, this attempt did turn out delicious.
Patrick
Awesome Bridget thanks much for the follow-up. Since we let it rest at room temp for so long, I'm starting to wonder if humidity could affect the final consistency.
Either way, I'm glad the flavor was there for you -- thanks much for the Crema trip report it's super helpful for other peeps to read. Cheers.
Joy
Hi, can I just use crème fraiche instead?
Patrick
Hi Joy! If you want to add a squeeze of lime and a pinch of salt to the creme fraiche (and maybe some water to liquefy it) then you'll have a decent impromptu Mexican Crema. But if starting from scratch and culturing it yourself I would probably stick with heavy cream as the starting point. Hope that helps a bit, let me know if you have any other questions.
Joy
Thanks for replying, Patrick. I should have clarified ... I meant if instead of making crème fraiche, could I just take a short-cut and use prepared crème fraiche (from our local grocer) and follow the rest of your recipe? Looks like I can ... and WILL for this weekend's tostada party. Thanks for sharing.
Patrick
Yeah, some tang from the lime might be all you need to upgrade the creme fraiche, maybe a pinch of salt too, definitely do some taste testing. And if it's super thick feel free to give it a splash of water. Hope it works out for you!
Linda
I had a delicious light yellow colored cream sauce with a non-battered chili relleno the other day. It was the best I've ever had, so I have been searching for a recipe. Your Creme recipe sounds like it be just that (minus a spice or two). I'm wondering if you might have an idea of Mexican spices that may have been used. It was a light tasting spice, not heavy and not cumin....or at least very, very little if they did use some.
Any ideas?
Patrick
Hi Linda!
Wow interesting. Sometimes Crema from Central American countries can be yellow or off-white compared to Mexican Crema, most likely due to the wide range of culturing agents you can use to make it. So there's a good chance it wasn't colored by spices or additional flavoring. But as far as the exact spice they were using -- that's a tough one! First things that popped in my head were lemon juice and cayenne, but to be honest I never flavor it. I am blown away even by our basic version with just a hint of lime and salt, so it might be worth trying a similarly stripped down version to see how it tastes to you as there's a chance the WOAH factor is due to it be freshly made as opposed to additional flavoring. Hope that helps a little bit. Let me know how it goes!
Patrick
Jennifer
Thanks for the info. I'm looking forward to more recipes.
Reading through your article I found myself hungry! I'm interested in the tacos in the photographs. Are they from the recipe listed above? Crispy chicken tacos?
Patrick
Hi Jennifer thanks for the feedback!
Those tacos were just dinner that night so there is no specific recipe for them on the site. Seasoned chicken sauteed off with onion (seasoning as described in the Spicy Chicken and Pickled Jalapeno post), Basic Guacamole, cheese, cilantro, Crema, lime juice, corn tortilla -- and crisped up on a skillet/comal so that the tortilla gets a little crunchy. Super easy to throw together, let me know if you have any questions about them.
Janie
Patrick,
Thanks so much for your Mexican cooking survival guide! The recipes look and sound amazing! I was looking for a recipe for Mexican crema and found your site! I can't wait to try them! Thanks again for the tips, pics and recipes!
Janie
Patrick
You're welcome Janie! Feel free to send questions along the way 🙂
Edna
I make my buttermilk and i add it to heavy cream and it works great. I did warm some over the stove top and ended up dipping it.So i think i will feel better doing what work's for me I eat a small jar in a very few days. So yes i make it a lot.. if i want it thicker i add some marcapo to it good eats , i can't eat a lot of any so all ways looking some thing that will make what little I can eat taste great.
Patrick
Awesome, this is great to know Edna. Thank you!!
Maggie
Have you tried this with 'homemade' buttermilk? (Milk and vinegar) trying to use as little processed foods and could also sub skim milk if I do it myself, but not sure about the sitting for 12 hours. Thanks!
Patrick
Hi Maggie, tough question! I haven't tried this with homemade buttermilk. Since you are starting with pasteurized milk for your homemade buttermilk I would probably feel comfortable trying it that way for myself, but I wouldn't feel comfortable saying "You go first and let me know how it goes" 🙂
Eyewanders
That isn't really homemade buttermilk as much as it's a buttermilk substitute - there's no live culture. Its easy to make real homemade cultured buttermilk using almost the same method as this mexican crema recipe here (which is fantastic by the way!). Just fill a large jar 3/4 the way with whole milk, then add about a 1/4 cup cultured buttermilk (you can buy the smallest size available of *real* cultured buttermilk - not the fake stuff- from the grocery for this and just use the remainder). Give it a good stir and leave it to sit out (just like this recipe) for about 8 to 12 hours (if it's colder it can take longer) until it "sets" a slight bit. When it's ready it will leave thick coating on the jar when you tilt it. Just cap it and refrigerate and it'll last at least 2 weeks in the fridge or more. You can "refresh" it with new milk and repeat the process when it starts getting low - down to the last 1/4 of the jar or so. I do find that after about 3 or 4 times refreshing it, the culture gets a bit weird tasting (probably from wild yeasts in your own envirnment entering into the mix over time) so I begin again. So good and cheap way to keep buttermilk on hand. And in this, creama by adding to cream in this recipe here!
Anisa
What if you use milk and raw ACV? Then it would have culture.