24

I've found mascarpone cheese can be pricey. What would be a good (in taste and price) substitute?

JustRightMenus
  • 10,907
  • 29
  • 66
  • 94

7 Answers7

19

I found a highly rated mascarpone cheese substitute recipe on food.com. I haven't personally tried it, but it's highly rated on that site, and is ridiculously simple.

  • 1 16 oz block of cream cheese
  • 1/2 cup sour cream

  • 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

  • Blend until smooth

Try it and let us know? :)

hobodave
  • 38,650
  • 16
  • 150
  • 216
7

8 ounces of full-fat cream cheese blended with 1/4 cup of heavy cream and 2 tablespoons of full-fat sour cream make a decent replacement for mascarpone. A tip: don't try to blend the ingredients when the cream cheese is stone cold!

Iuls
  • 4,994
  • 6
  • 34
  • 47
3

It depends on the application. Try ricotta (much lower fat, so may not be suitable for some recipes) or a mixture of ricotta and generic cream cheese.

It's pretty easy to make your own ricotta, also, if you want to get into that.

user468
  • 61
  • 1
3

Really, really good thick Greek yoghurt. Might not bake like mascarpone, but it certainly acts like it when you spoon it over a dessert.

TarkaDaal
  • 161
  • 3
2

I bought some mascarpone and tried the cream cheese (full fat) substitute side by side. Cream cheese was creamier. The mascarpone definitely had a grainier texture, sort of like ricotta. I will play with it a bit, but I think mixing about half and half to 1/3,2/3 ricotta and the cream cheese sour cream mixture would hit it right on the head.

Arlene
  • 21
  • 1
2

There is an excellent page that describes how to make your own Mascarpone Cheese with just milk and culture at "http://www.cheesemaking.com/Mascarpone.html" The cheese is very good, and inexpensive.

user19622
  • 21
  • 1
0

Why not make your own? 1 litre of cream makes about 750gm of mascarpone. Pretty easy, but best to have a cooking thermometer.

user119370
  • 41
  • 1