For An Extra Boost Of Flavor, Start Seasoning Your Sour Cream

Sour cream is perhaps one of the most versatile ingredients in your fridge. What other item can go from twice-baked potatoes to salad dressing, top a batch of nachos, and make a cake extra moist? The beauty of sour cream is that it's a blank slate, plus it's got some culinary tricks up its sleeve thanks to its acidity and texture. If you're eating or cooking with sour cream just plain, however, you could be totally missing out. The mild, milky condiment can take on almost any flavor you want it to, from savory to sweet. All you have to do is give flavored sour cream a try.

Try doctoring up sour cream with spices, syrups, and mixes — almost any flavor combination can work. Mixing in flavors is an easy way to make a quick dip or spread, but you can also use your spiced sour cream as an ingredient anywhere you'd use the plain stuff to add an extra flavor boost.

Flavored sour cream isn't an entirely foreign concept. If you like store-bought dip for potato and corn chips, all it is is sour cream mixed with dried spices. That's why it's so easy to make your own dips and sides using ingredients you already have in the spice rack. Most people know that it's easy to make onion dip just by mixing sour cream with some dried onion soup mix, and you can take that energy to any dried spice mix. Try adding taco seasoning mix to a cup of sour cream for your next batch of nachos, or mix in a few tablespoons of everything bagel spice mix, za'atar, Italian spice mix, or even sriracha for dipping bagel chips and cut-up veggies.

Flavored sour creams also make excellent spreads for sandwiches and lettuce wraps. The easiest way to make a quick spread is to mix a tablespoon or two of your favorite vinaigrette salad dressing with some sour cream and it's ready to get rolled up into a salad wrap. Some maple or honey and mustard mixed with sour cream also makes an excellent sandwich spread (or pretzel dip).

If you want a sweet dip for cut fruit, cookies, and graham crackers, mix a few tablespoons of pumpkin and pumpkin spice mix for a PSL dip. You can also stir in a spoonful or two of your favorite jam or jelly, or even lemon curd to make an easy, two-ingredient sweet side.

Flavored sour cream, just like the plain stuff, can be used for a lot more than just a side, so if you're mixing up some herbs and spices, keep a little extra around for cooking. If you've got some onion or chive-flavored sour cream on hand, add some to your mashed potatoes or mix some into the filling for a quiche. Savory sour creams are also an easy way to turn a brothy soup into a creamy soup while adding flavor at the same time. Try mixing your taco-flavored cream with a bowl of store-bought or canned chicken soup and sprinkling it with some crushed tortillas for quick tortilla soup, for example.

If you have some sweetened sour cream, use it in place of plain sour cream in any baking recipe to add extra flavor — just be sure to use a little bit less sugar if your sour cream mixture is very sweet. You can also whip a little bit of your flavored sour cream into frosting and whipped cream to give it a little extra stability and some acidic tang.

Since sour cream is fairly inexpensive, it's pretty low stakes to try any flavor combination you want. Use your imagination and mix up just a tablespoon or two at a time to find flavor combinations that you like. Once you start making your own flavored mixtures, you'll start adding sour cream to your shopping list every week.