The Ultimate Cream Cheese Substitution For Tangy, Delicious Dips
If you love the unique and intricate flavor of goat cheese, then you will be excited to learn that you can use this tangy cheese in way more recipes than you may have thought. Most of the time, goat cheese is eaten plainly as part of a charcuterie board or crumbled up in a salad. However, one way to eat more goat cheese is to use it as a replacement for cream cheese. This works especially well in dips — like a creamy buffalo chicken dip – or even in frosting!
For most recipes, it will be easier to use goat cheese as a substitute for cream cheese if you buy fresh goat cheese instead of the aged version because the fresh cheese will be smooth and creamy in texture. However, if you buy the fresh version and it's still not the right consistency, a quick fix is to add a bit of whole milk (cow or goat works) to make it smoother. But before we get into the nitty-gritty of how to use goat cheese in place of cream cheese, it's worth discussing the differences between the two.
To goat cheese, or not to goat cheese
Why choose goat cheese over cream cheese? For one thing, goat cheese tends to be healthier. Goat cheese not only has fewer calories, but it also has more proteins, minerals, and vitamins while still having less fat than cream cheese. Also, goat milk — and therefore goat cheese — has less lactose than cow milk and can be easier on the digestive system, according to Healthline. Besides the bodily benefits, the main reason to use goat cheese over cream cheese is for its nuanced and rich flavor. Reach for goat cheese when you want that cheesy and tangy flavor to shine through in your recipe while still giving you a desirable creaminess.
Of course, whether or not you like goat cheese as a cream cheese replacement will depend on how much you like strongly flavored cheese in general. However, if you've tried certain goat cheeses before and didn't like them, you might want to try again because, according to the Wisconsin State Farmer, goat cheese is made with better-quality milk nowadays and has gotten less "goaty."
How to add goat cheese to your favorite recipes
Conveniently, goat cheese can be used as a substitute for cream cheese in most recipes. The change-up works especially great in dips for get-togethers or just for watching TV on Sunday nights. Instead of cream cheese, add goat cheese to your next rotel dip, creamy dill pickle dip, or bacon cheddar dip. You can also use goat cheese in place of cream cheese in certain soups like cheddar and broccoli soup or potato soup.
If you are a dessert lover who likes to live life on the sweeter side, try using goat cheese instead of cream cheese in frosting. While this might sound like a daring idea, it actually works really well. Goat cheese frosting is thick like its cream cheese counterpart but adds a slight extra sharpness that tastes great and helps cut the flavor of rich and heavy cakes. Martha Stewart even spreads some on her pumpkin layer cake, though her recipe includes cream cheese. However, Broma Bakery whips up a cream-cheeseless goat cheese buttercream to adorn a simple honey cake. If you want to get creative, you can also try making a goat cheese-infused baked cheesecake for a tart and tangy version of the classic treat.