What does adding sour cream to a sauce do?

Sour cream gives sauces a rich, silky texture and a ton of tart, punchy flavor. You can also add sour cream to other soup and sauce recipes: try adding a spoonful to things like butternut squash and pear soup , beer cheese soup , or easy mushroom sauce for a bit of brightness and tang.

Are there different flavors and types of sour cream?

Yes: There are many different varieties of sour cream! For this recipe, we recommend looking for plain sour cream (as opposed to flavored sour cream or store-bought sour cream dips in flavors like dill or french onion). We tested this recipe with several brands, including: Wegmans Sour Cream , Wegmans Light Sour Cream , and Tillamook Cultured Sour Cream . Different brands of sour cream have different flavors: Tillamook, for example, was a bit thicker and more sour than some of the other brands we tested with. You may find you need to adjust the amount of sour cream in this recipe depending on what brand you use!

What should I do if my sauce separates?

Zap it with an immersion blender to smooth it back out! In our testing, this sauce rarely separated (but certain brands - especially low fat brands or Greek Yogurt brands - were more prone to this issue).

Can I serve this sauce as a dip?

While this sauce is delicious, we wouldn't necessarily qualify it as a "dip." Because it's warm and on the thinner side, it works best as a drizzle or light sauce on other warm dishes. If you want something thicker and more spreadable with a knife (like a thick sour cream dip recipe to serve with snacks such as tortilla chips, celery and carrots, or potato wedges on game day), you might want to use a cold, thicker chive dip recipe or something like this caramelized onion dip instead.

Can I make sour cream sauce ahead of time?

Yes! Let sauce cool completely and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. When you're ready to use it, reheat it in a skillet or saucepan over low heat (you may need to add an extra splash of chicken broth to bring it back to a silky consistency!) If you're planning to make this sauce ahead of time, we recommend leaving the chives OUT of the sauce when you do the initial meal prep: Wait to stir the chives in until right when you're ready to serve! This will keep the herbs feeling bright, crisp, and fresh.

Warm Sour Cream and Chive Sauce

Description

This easy sour cream sauce is perfect for serving with homemade Pierogi!

Ingredients

Scale

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, lightly smashed and peeled (see recipe notes)
1 Tablespoon all purpose flour
2/3 cup chicken broth
8 ounces sour cream (about 1 cup)
1/4 cup fresh chopped chives, plus extra for garnish
kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper, to taste

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Instructions

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add smashed garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2-3 minutes until garlic is soft and fragrant. Use a slotted spoon to remove garlic; discard or compost the cloves.
Whisk flour into butter to form a roux. Cook for 30 seconds until fragrant.
Slowly stream in chicken broth, whisking constantly to work out any lumps of flour. Bring sauce to a low simmer and let it thicken, about 3 minutes.
Add sour cream, salt, and pepper and stir to combine. Cook another 2-3 minutes until sauce has thickened slightly, then stir in chives. Garnish with extra chives and a few turns of cracked black pepper; serve immediately.

Notes

Prep the garlic by lightly smashing each clove with the flat side of a chef's knife. Remove the skins, but leave the cloves whole (it's ok if they fall apart a little: leaving them mostly intact just makes it easier to remove them from the butter later!) This gives us a light garlic flavor and provides a bit of depth to the sauce without adding unnecessary texture.

Every sour cream brand is different! Adjust the amount of sour cream or chicken broth in this recipe to achieve your ideal flavor and consistency. If you're using a sour cream that's especially thick or sour (like Tillamook), you may want to decrease the amount of sour cream or add a bit of extra chicken broth.

Additions and Substitutions. Use vegetable broth or parmesan broth in place of chicken broth here. Use Greek yogurt or crème fraîche instead of sour cream. Mince the garlic and leave it in the sauce instead of using whole garlic cloves, or use 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder in place of the garlic cloves. Add a pinch of onion powder if you like.

If the sauce separates, use an immersion blender to smooth it out before adding the chives. (Certain brands of Greek yogurt and low-fat sour cream are more prone to separating in this sauce recipe.)

Remember: This is a sauce, not a dip! This warm, drizzle-able sauce is best served as an accompaniment to other dishes. If you're looking for a thick, scoopable dip, we recommend trying something like a cold chive dip or caramelized onion dip instead!

Serving suggestions. Drizzle this sauce over potato and cheese pierogis, enchiladas, protein (salmon, chicken, steak), pasta, potatoes (mashed potatoes, hasselback potatoes, twice baked potatoes), and more!

Loosely adapted from My Gourmet Connection.