The Extra Ingredient You Need When Substituting Mascarpone With Cream Cheese

Mascarpone is a tasty ingredient, but it's not exactly a kitchen staple. And sometimes, once you manage to track down a container and bring it home, you only use a spoonful or two and end up discarding the rest. So if you want to sub in cream cheese for mascarpone in a recipe, we don't blame you, as you're much more likely to use the entire container of the former for other dishes.

However, you typically can't swap out mascarpone for cream cheese in a 1:1 ratio — you need to get heavy whipping cream involved as well. Why? The former uses whole cream instead of regular milk as its base, meaning it's much richer and has a much higher fat content (containing at least twice as much fat) compared to cream cheese. On the flip side, cream cheese on its own is lighter and more acidic thanks to the addition of lactic acid. But you can (mostly) make up for the difference in consistency by incorporating heavy whipping cream, which is the type of cream with the highest fat content at up to 40%.

If you want to sub in cream cheese and heavy whipping cream for your mascarpone, you'll want to use full-fat cream cheese. Then, combine ¼ cup of heavy whipping cream with 1 cup of cream cheese (or make a larger amount by following this ratio). You can use one cup of the resulting mixture in place of each cup of mascarpone in your recipe. If you have time, let your replacement ingredients chill in the fridge for a firmer consistency.

If you want a little extra tang here, you can also employ sour cream instead of heavy whipping cream. Sour cream has a bit less fat than heavy whipping cream, so again, you'll want to purchase a full-fat container. In this case, go for a mixture of half of each component. Keep in mind that since this combination will be more acidic than if you used heavy whipping cream, you may want to stick to using it in savory recipes only, such as lobster ravioli or this creamy, lemony asparagus galette. For desserts with the initial concoction, however, you can sweeten up your creation even more by incorporating a little sugar, which will help mimic the light sweetness of mascarpone. Whether you go the sweet or savory route, be sure to start off with room temperature cream cheese stirred and loosened up to replicate the fluffy texture of mascarpone cheese.