Here is a quick overview of the most common dairy substitutions you can use to make your favorite keto recipes 100% dairy-free:
- Replace Milk with Coconut Milk. In recipes, you can substitute coconut milk in for regular milk in a 1 to 1 ratio.
- Replace Heavy Cream with Coconut Cream. You may have to blend in a bit of water or skim some water out of the container depending on the creaminess of the coconut cream.
- Instead of Butter use Coconut Oil or Vegan Butter. Coconut oil has a slightly lower melting point than butter and the same smoke point as butter, which makes it a good butter replacement. If you are not a fan of the flavor of coconut oil, look for vegan butter in your local health food store. Make sure the vegan butter doesn’t contain any hydrogenated oils because these oils increase the risk of heart disease tremendously.
- Replace Dairy-Based Cheese with Nut-Based Cheese. There are plenty of vegan cheeses on the market right now. If you want to avoid soy (for the reasons we will discover later), then you can find coconut, cashew, and other tree-nut-based cheeses. My personal favorite vegan cheese-making companies are Treeline and Miyoko’s Kitchen. Their cheeses are some of the best I’ve ever tasted. In fact, many people think that they are better than traditional dairy cheese. If Treeline or Miyoko’s Kitchen doesn’t have the cheese you are looking for, then try Follow Your Heart’s vegan cheese. Follow Your Heart is another company that makes almost every type of vegan cheese you could ever want.
- Instead of Cream Cheese have Nut-Based Soft Cheese. Treeline makes a cashew-based soft cheese that is delicious and savory, and it has almost the same texture as cream cheese. You can also make some creamy cashew cheese on your own with this recipe.
- Replace Yogurt and Sour Cream with Nut-Based Yogurt. At your local health food market, you will probably be able to find plain almond, cashew, or coconut milk yogurt. Just make sure it has no added sugars or hidden carbohydrates.
If you’d like even more dairy alternatives for virtually every keto dairy ingredient, scroll down to the end of our dairy-free keto guide.