What Is Heavy whipping cream and How Can I Use It?

Wondering what to do with heavy whipping cream? This guide covers how to pick it, cook it, store it, and swap it, plus 2,464 recipes to put it to work.

What is heavy whipping cream?

Heavy whipping cream is the richest cream most US kitchens stock, with a butterfat content of 36 percent or more. It is the top rung of the cream ladder below British double cream.

That extra fat is what makes it the most useful cream you can buy. It lets the cream whip into a foam that holds its shape, and it lets the cream take heat and acid and long reductions without splitting. Lighter creams cannot do either.

What It Does in the Pan

Heavy cream is the backbone of cream sauces. Because the fat resists curdling, you can simmer it down hard to thicken, the way Chicken Dijonnaise reduces cream and mustard into a glossy coating, or Jalapeño Cream Sauce builds body without any flour.

It is also the base for ganache. Hot cream poured over chopped chocolate melts it into a smooth emulsion, and the ratio of cream to chocolate decides whether it sets up firm for truffles or stays loose enough to pour.

For sauces, it folds into a New New Orleans Pasta and turns the pan juices of Cognac Sauce smooth and rich. And it is the dairy that makes ice cream bases like Ben & Jerry's Sweet Ice Cream Base scoopable rather than icy.

Whipping It

Heavy cream whips faster and stiffer than 30 percent whipping cream, and it holds its peaks longer on a dessert. Start cold, with a chilled bowl and beaters.

Soft peaks droop and fold over when you lift the whisk. Keep going and you reach stiff peaks that stand straight up. Soft peaks fold into mousses and batters; stiff peaks pipe and hold their lines.

The classic warning is real. Beat past stiff peaks and the foam collapses, the fat clumps into grains, and the buttermilk weeps out. You have made butter. Watch the texture in the last few seconds and stop the moment it looks done.

Substitutes

There is no clean swap, but a few work by job. For a sauce you plan to reduce, light cream or evaporated milk will thin it; reduce longer to compensate.

For whipping, nothing under 30 percent fat will hold air, so half-and-half is out.

A spoon of confectioners sugar or a little gelatin can stiffen a cream that is borderline. In a pinch, melted butter whisked into whole milk at about 1 part butter to 3 parts milk mimics the fat for cooking, though it will not whip.

Buying and Storage

Labels vary. "Heavy cream" and "heavy whipping cream" both mean 36 percent or more; plain "whipping cream" means 30 to 36 percent and whips a touch softer. Check for "ultra-pasteurized," which keeps longer but whips less eagerly than standard pasteurized.

Store it cold, at the back of the fridge, and use within about five days of opening. Unopened ultra-pasteurized cartons last weeks past the print date.

Heavy cream freezes well for cooking. It separates on thawing, so whisk it back into a hot sauce rather than trying to whip it.

Nutrition

Quick facts

Where to find heavy whipping cream: Heavy whipping cream is usually found in the dairy section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.

Food group: Heavy whipping cream is a member of the Dairy and Egg Products US Department of Agriculture nutritional food group.

In Chinese

重奶油

British (UK) term

double cream

en français

crème

en español

de crema de leche

How much does heavy whipping cream weigh?

Related

Dairy and Egg Products

Recipes using heavy whipping cream

There are 2464 recipes that contain this ingredient.

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