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Mexican crema is a thickened cream for dolloping over tacos and soups! Creamy and slightly tangy, it’s easy to make at home.
When it comes to dolloping, Mexican crema is where it’s at! This sumptuous thickened cream is at home over tacos and in burrito bowls: basically any meal with Mexican-inspired flavors can benefit from a little crema!
Alex and I love dolloping it on all sorts of recipes to add a little richness, like tacos, enchiladas, nachos, and burrito bowls. Mexican crema can be purchased in stores, but it can also be made at home. It’s truly easy, but involves a little wait time: almost like a science project!
About Mexican crema
Mexican crema is a thickened cream often used to dollop over soups, tacos, burritos, enchiladas, and anything that needs a touch of richness. It’s creamy and slightly tangy, and falls between American sour cream and French crème fraîche.
What’s the difference between sour cream and Mexican crema? Sour cream has about 20% butterfat and an acidic flavor. It’s less stable under heat and tends to curdle easily (so it’s best in cold preparations or added as a dollop at the end).
Crème fraîche is richer and has a higher fat content, about 30%, which gives it body and thickness. It works in soups and sauces; it melts easily and won’t curdle. Mexican crema is similar to crème fraîche: it’s a littler runnier and tastes even more tangy. It’s essentially crème fraîche with lime and salt added!
How to make Mexican crema
Mexican crema is very easy to make, but it does involve some waiting time. Up to 2 days, in fact! The base recipe for a crema is making crème fraîche: then it’s mixed with lime and salt.
To start, stir together heavy cream and a bit of yogurt. Then cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for 36 to 48 hours, until it becomes very thick! Sound a little odd to leave out dairy on the counter? The mixture won’t spoil on the counter, since the acid in the mix prevents bacteria associated with dairy products.
Note: If it’s winter and the bowl is by a cold window, the thickening won’t happen as quickly. Make sure the bowl is in a room temperature location, not by a cold window.
Once the Mexican crema is thickened, stir in the lime juice and salt. It’s that easy! You can use the Mexican crema for up to 2 weeks.
Flavor variations
Want to step up your crema? Here are a few citrusy spins that perfect for dolloping on tacos, burritos and quesadillas.
- Cilantro: This Cilantro Lime Crema is full of tangy, fresh flavor.
- Lime: Lime Crema is so simple to make—no blender needed.
- Avocado: This Avocado Crema is rich, tangy and luxuriously creamy.
- Chipotle: Chipotle Crema is smoky and spicy.
Recipes to serve with Mexican crema
Mexican crema is at home on so many different Mexican inspired recipes! Here are a few of our favorite recipes that would love a dollop of creamy goodness:
- Potatoes like Mexican sweet potatoes or loaded Mexican fries
- Pizza like Mexican pizza
- Tacos like fish tacos, shrimp tacos, or quinoa tacos
- Enchiladas like cheese enchiladas or chicken enchiladas
- Soups like vegetarian tortilla soup or chicken tortilla soup
- Quesadillas like an easy quesadilla or quesadilla in the oven
Dietary notes
This Mexican crema recipe is vegetarian and gluten-free.
Mexican Crema Recipe
Mexican crema is a thickened cream for dolloping over tacos and soups! Creamy and slightly tangy, it’s easy to make at home!
- Prep Time: 2 days
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 2 days
- Yield: 1 cup 1x
- Category: Essentials
- Method: Mixed
- Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon plain yogurt
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- In a sealable container, stir together the cream and yogurt. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 36 to 48 hours, until it becomes very thick*. (The mixture won’t spoil on the counter, since the acid in the mix prevents bacteria associated with dairy products.)
- Mix in the lime juice and salt. Taste and adjust lime as necessary. Mexican crema keeps in refrigerator for up 2 weeks, and will continue to thicken while refrigerated.
Notes
*Note: If it’s winter and the bowl is by a cold window, the thickening won’t happen as quickly. Make sure the bowl is in a room temperature location, not by a cold window.
This recipe is the go to in our house for carnita tacos!
This is so great I can’t make tacos without it anymore!!
Ok, well I have to say that was very much a waste of my time and money. Followed recipe exactly, mixture thickened up nicely and then everything fell apart when I added the lime juice!! I now have a curdled mess – the 33% MF cream was very expensive. I’ve tried to whip it back together but I think at this point it is a write-off.
I’m so sorry about this! We have never had that issue!
How many calories are in 2 tablespoons?
100 cal
I only have 24 hours. Will it still thicken?
Hi! It will thicken slightly but not a lot.
All I want to know is if you can put Mexican Crema in your coffee. I guess not!
No — the sourness would not be good.
Is regular salt ok?
Yes, but just use a tiny pinch!
Thank you, Alex!
My mixture has been sitting for about 46 hours at this point, it has thickened nicely, however it has a bit of an unpleasant smell. Like sour milk, is this normal?
Hi! It should smell slightly sour and tangy, but not bad like sour milk. Sometimes you can get a bad bacteria in there that ruins the recipe. I’m sorry!
Everything look great, my cream think beautifully after 48 hours, I mix with the Lemon and salt, so far so good but I decided to add some salt and them was a disaster, the cream look like cottage cheese, what happened? What was wrong?
Hi! The extra salt probably caused it to split. Try chilling it before stirring in extra next time.
We only had half-and-half. So I used just under a cup of that, plus I added a tablespoon of softened butter and whisked it together. Came out great!
Thank You for this as I only have half and half too! It’s also much cheaper than heavy whipping cream where I live!
Is it plain yogurt or plain greek yogurt?
We use standard yogurt, but greek should work too!
i was bad and mixed everything together at once – will it still work?
I’m not sure if the lime juice will inhibit the thickening. Let us know if it works out!
Just came here to say that I also made the mistake of adding the salt and lime juice before the fermentation but it still thickened up.