12 Recipes to Use Up Your Heavy Whipping Cream
Whether you’re craving creamy cheesecake bars, caramel-laced bread pudding, saucy pasta, or keto-friendly soup, there's a recipe that will use every last drop.
An open container of heavy cream lasts up to 1 month, according to the USDA. So once you crack open that carton, turn to these dinner and dessert recipes that use heavy whipping cream. Including low-carb keto recipes that use heavy whipping cream and decadent sweets, these ideas will help you make the most of every last drop.
Marbled Pumpkin-Chocolate Cream Cheese Bars
Heavy cream used: ⅓ cup
Canned pumpkin, bittersweet chocolate, cream cheese, and warm baking spices—plus a splash of cream—ensure that this is a supremely cozy and craveable fall treat. “I have made it several times, exactly as written and everyone loves it. It doesn't hurt that it's absolutely beautiful—and with just a few swirls of a knife. Bring it to your next gathering and bring copies of the recipe with you,” confirms BHG home cook Dee. “You'll be handing them out to everyone,” once they taste this dessert recipe that uses heavy whipping cream.
Creamy Sausage Rigatoni with Peas
Heavy cream used: ¾ cup
If savory is more your style, this recipe that uses heavy whipping cream is our top recommendation for your next family dinner. It’s totally restaurant-quality, and most of the ingredients come from your freezer or pantry staple stock! (Just add that cream—if you don’t have it already—fresh basil and a package of chicken or pork sausage to your express lane shopping list.) In tandem with the starchy cooking water, chicken broth, and a bit of Parmesan cheese, a generous pour of heavy cream creates a lusciously silky sauce for this sausage and pea pasta recipe.
Strawberry-Cardamom and Cream Cake
Heavy cream used: 2 cups
Created by Top Chef and Taste the Nation host Padma Lakshmi in honor of BHG’s 100th anniversary, this lovely layer cake is like the grown-up, global cousin of strawberry shortcake. The cardamom-scented buttermilk cake is wrapped in a thick layer of remarkably fluffy homemade frosting. That frosting, by the way, is the part of this dessert recipe that uses heavy whipping cream. Two cups of the dreamy dairy product lend loftiness to the cream cheese-based coating.
Pick-a-Flavor No-Churn Ice Cream
Heavy cream used: 2 cups
No guide to recipes that use heavy whipping cream would be complete without a homemade ice cream or two. This no-special-equipment-required earns rave reviews from readers, one of which declares it, “SO good. It tasted like an expensive and very creamy ice cream or frozen custard.” Our Test Kitchen adores it so much as well that they couldn’t stop at one way to make this easy no-churn ice cream. Start with the 3-ingredient vanilla variety, then we’ll coach you through how to transform that same base into 14 other flavors, including chocolate, cherry, coffee, honey, birthday cake, and lavender ice creams.
Zesty Peaches and Cream Tart
Heavy cream used: ½ cup
Each summer, we have this dessert recipe that uses heavy whipping cream on repeat. Thanks to a store-bought shortcut, frozen puff pastry, all you need to do is slice and macerate the peaches (aka toss them with sugar and citrus juice, then refrigerate for a couple hours). Then roll out and bake the pastry and whip up the triple-cream topping with cream cheese, sour cream, and heavy cream. Layer that up like a fruit pizza; this is truly a no-sweat summer dessert.
Fettuccine Alfredo
Your search stops here, according to one BHG fan. They say this is “hands down, the very best Alfredo recipe I have tried. So easy and delicious. I serve it with pan-seared chicken breast and either broccoli or asparagus.” True, you could buy jarred Alfredo sauce, but our DIY version of this recipe that uses heavy whipping cream shows how simple it is to make from scratch. Besides the cream, you just need butter, garlic, Parm, salt, pepper, and your pasta of choice.
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Apple Cake with Buttery Caramel Sauce
Heavy cream used: ⅓ cup
Some cooks add vanilla, salt, water, and other ingredients, but butter, cream, and some source of sugar are the key components required for classic caramels and caramel sauce. For this dessert recipe that uses heavy whipping cream, we use equal parts butter, cream, brown sugar, and white sugar—plus a splash of vanilla extract—to create the rich and nutty-flavored drizzle. It’s the proverbial cherry on top of the tender apple-walnut cake.
Creamy Keto Roasted Salmon Soup
Heavy cream used: 1 cup
Due to the popularity of the keto diet, in the last decade, many more refrigerators are stocked with multiple cartons of cream. As you can tell by now, it’s a quick and easy way to boost the fat and creaminess factor in savory and sweet recipes. For this keto recipe that uses heavy whipping cream, it joins forces with chicken broth to act as the sippably-tasty base for this unique seafood soup. Instead of serving it with bread or croutons, we suggest baking up quick cheese crisps to keep the entire dish keto (if you need to, otherwise get your bread on!).
Caramel-Banana-Pecan Bread Casserole
Heavy cream used: 2 ½ cups
If you happen to have a majority of a quart carton to use up, this recipe that uses heavy whipping cream will help you make a great dent in the remaining dairy. And you’ll be treated to one of the best brunch recipes for a crowd if you give it a go. Use 2 cups of cream in the slow cooker bread casserole, then polish off another ½ cup in the caramel-banana sauce to spoon on top of the finished set-and-forget product.
Test Kitchen Tip: Feel free to make the caramel-banana sauce on its own to use as a topping for sundaes, French toast, waffles, pancakes, or to stir into oatmeal.
Parmesan Potato Gratin
Heavy cream used: ¾ cup
Prepare to take grandma’s scalloped potatoes to the next level. Crispy bacon, a bounty of fresh herbs, a full pound of Parmesan cheese, and a pile of finely-sliced potatoes star in this recipe that uses heavy whipping cream. Everyone will be coming back for scoop after scoop of this up-scale potato recipe. Luckily, since it yields 24 servings, you shouldn't have to worry about running short before dinner is done.
Mushroom Fricassee with Fresh Herbs
Heavy cream used: ½ cup
Spoon these ‘shrooms atop chicken, pork, or steak. Use them to top toast. Feature the fungi in omelets or scrambles. Fold them into mashed potatoes or cauliflower. Whatever you do, just make this keto recipe that uses heavy whipping cream. With a slight nutty quality from walnut oil, bright flavor from fresh herbs, complexity from garlic, and featuring a savory backbone of a mix of mushrooms, this mushroom cream sauce is showy enough for holiday meals but easy enough for any Sunday dinner.
Gianduja Cream Puffs
Kristada Pachigul
Heavy cream used: 1 ½ cups
It makes total sense that this dessert recipe uses heavy whipping cream. It is in the name, after all, and we showcase 1 ½ cups in the batter for the buttery cream puffs. As far as the filling goes, think of gianduja like a denser form of Nutella, made with hazelnuts, cocoa, and sugar. We call for ¼ cup of milk in that chocolate mixture, but if you have an extra splash of cream, we give you full permission to swap that in!
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