10 Creamy Recipes that Don’t Use Cream

We love cooking luxuriously creamy dishes. You might not expect to find rich, indulgent meals on a slimming menu, and yet all of the gorgeously silky recipes in this article won’t take you off track – from breakfast right through until dessert.

By swapping full-fat cream for dairy-free alternatives, and getting creative with reduced-fat ingredients, we’ve made preparing wholesome, lower-calorie comfort food easy – without a pot of cream in sight!

Apple Pie Porridge

While you can use higher-calorie ingredients to make your morning porridge thick and silky, like double cream or yoghurt, you only need dairy-free oat milk to give our Apple Pie Porridge its velvety texture. 

To recreate moreish apple pie inspired decadence, we’ve teamed rolled porridge oats with cinnamon, nutmeg, honey and vanilla extract. You’ll want to add your toppings when you’re ready to eat breakfast – the honey-glazed apple slices and almonds are much better served fresh and crisp!

If you’re on the lookout for more slimming-friendly porridge topping inspiration, we’ve got plenty of lower-calorie ideas to help you get your morning bowlful just right here.

Curried Creamy Carrot Soup

Nothing says ‘comfort food’ quite like a hearty, nutritious bowl of Curried Creamy Carrot Soup. We’ve blended potatoes and carrots to prepare the base, and added curry powder to give every spoonful an exciting, mildly-spiced kick.

Rather than using full-fat cream, we’ve given our spiced soup its creamy richness by stirring in a few tablespoons of reduced-fat cream cheese. If you’d prefer, you can make this recipe totally dairy-free by replacing the reduced-fat cream cheese with a non-dairy cream cheese alternative (please make sure to double or triple check all of your ingredients, if you’re cooking for people with allergies!).

Beef Stroganoff

An oh-so-creamy midweek winner, you can’t go wrong with Beef Stroganoff! You might be familiar with restaurant versions that come with lashings of butter, oil or cream. Our method makes the most of Philadelphia Lightest, so that every forkful is just as mouth-wateringly indulgent, for far fewer calories (only 274 per serving!).

By sautéeing onions and mushrooms in a bubbly mixture of Dijon mustard and stock, our sauce is already rich with flavour when it’s time to gently melt in the cream cheese and tenderise your beef.

A versatile batch-cook favourite, you can freshen up your leftovers with rice, pasta, Roasted Potatoes or Creamy Mashed Potatoes!

Creamy Garlic Prawns

Our tapas-inspired Creamy Garlic Prawns come brimming with colourful, crunchy vegetables, in a smooth, garlicky sauce. While you can swap in low-fat cream cheese to lower the calories in lots of creamy recipes, reduced-fat cream cheese works best here – it’ll make your prawns seem really lavish!

We’ve used trusty, store cupboard staples and spice-rack essentials to turn up the luxury without breaking the bank. Both fresh and frozen prawns or vegetables will work for this one, it just depends on what suits you. Be sure to thoroughly defrost and drain frozen prawns, before cooking!

Creamy Red Thai Curry

We honestly think this Thai-style Creamy Red Curry is one of our tastiest fakeaways, and you’d never know it’s an Everyday Light midweek dream. Our sauce is far thicker and milder than more traditional takeaway or restaurant versions, so it’s a great way to introduce aromatic, Thai-style flavours to the whole family.

We’ve combined dairy-free coconut milk and low-fat cream cheese with our zesty, homemade curry paste, for lower-calorie indulgence. An explosion of colour and flavour, serve over a portion of fluffy, basmati rice for total perfection!

Sausages with Creamy Lentils

A fuss-free, one-pot wonder, our Sausages with Creamy Lentils is always a good idea on chillier days. Once your sausages and lentils have finished simmering in the comforting, apple-infused sauce, add reduced-fat spreadable cheese and stir until it melts.

The classic combination of pork, sage and apple is what makes this recipe super tasty, for minimum effort. You’ll want to serve it with pickled beetroot, red cabbage and a crusty wholemeal bread roll, to mop up what’s left of the unforgettably creamy sauce!

Carbonara Risotto

If you can’t get enough of cheesy dinners, you’ve hit the jackpot with our Carbonara Risotto. It takes around half an hour for the fluffy Arborio rice to soak up all of the stock, but trust us – the results are so worth the wait!

Once the ingredients have been stirred to silky perfection, there’s really no need for heavy cream or cheeses. A small helping of Parmesan, and a dollop of Philadelphia Lightest, goes a long way in this seriously-impressive dish.

It’s filling all on its own, or you can try serving it at the centre of an Italian-inspired spread with Cheesy Garlic Bread, for an extra-special treat.

Creamy Lemon Chicken

The beauty of our Creamy Lemon Chicken is that it feels like you’re treating yourself to a luscious, restaurant-quality meal, at home. It’s so satisfyingly smooth, you’d be forgiven for thinking we’ve used double cream for our tangy sauce.

Like most of our creamy chicken dinners, this vibrant midweek wonder pairs nicely with a variety of sides. It’s a match made in heaven with fluffy potatoes, rice or your favourite pasta.

Our recipe uses wilted spinach to add a pop of green, but you could always add a crunch with green beans, if you’d prefer.

Cheesy Fajita Orzotto

If you love fajitas and you love risotto, you’ll be in heaven with our Cheesy Fajita Orzotto. Most people are surprised to learn there’s not a hint of cream cheese in this dish! Rather than risotto use, we’ve used rice-shaped orzo pasta. It fluffs up nicely once it’s soaked up all the stock, and makes every spoonful silky by default.

When it has the consistency of a risotto, for a fraction of the effort, you can melt in your grated, reduced-fat Cheddar cheese. 

Don’t forget to serve with a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkling of spring onions! We add a small dollop of sour cream to ours, if we’re feeling fancy.

If you do make any changes to recipes, just be sure to take note of additional calories, if you’re counting.

Creamy Biscoff Pie

With ‘creamy’ in the name, you might expect our Creamy Biscoff Pie to be just that. Taking inspiration from our delightfully light and airy Biscoff Mousse, you’d never know we’ve folded together the luxurious centre using reduced-fat double cream alternative and fat-free, Greek-style yoghurt.

Even with a pie-style ‘crust’ made from crushed Biscoff biscuits, every caramelised slice of this sweet treat comes in at just 283 calories each. It’s so impressive and simple to make, we’re betting you’ll have no trouble getting friends and family around the table to try this one! 

When you make it and love it, you can take a look at our other Biscoff recipes here.

Banana Cream Pudding

These lovely little Banana Cream Puddings are just the ticket when you’re short on time. Once you’ve got the knack of whisking together the custard (curdled custard isn’t fun!), you can sit back and relax while it sets in the fridge.

Thanks to our fresh, homemade custard, and a swirl of Elmlea Double Light, each gorgeous pud comes in nice and light at only 236 calories per ramekin.

To complete the look, we decorate each pot with finely-sliced bananas and a crumbled, treat-sized, chocolate Flake.

Why not take things up a notch with a drizzle of low-sugar chocolate syrup?

Which creamy recipe will you tuck your spoon into first?

We’d love to know which of our top creamy dishes you’ll be rustling up first. Share your photos over in our Facebook group – there’s a community made up of almost 1 million members who are waiting to support you on your slimming journey.

Stop by our PON Gallery for even more inspiration. There’s plenty of hints, tips, quotes and photos shared by our incredible community.

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