I Asked 5 Experts To Name the Best Canned Whipped Cream—Here’s What They Recommend

One of the biggest challenges I faced during the pastry lesson at culinary school was whipping both egg whites and cream by hand. Once the whites or cream got to stiff peaks, I was told to flip and hold the bowl over my head, proving it was thick enough to not end up all over my crisp chef whites.

Perhaps that’s where the phrase “egg on your face” came from? Luckily, I kept my uniform clean from both egg whites and whipped cream that day, but I’ve never whipped anything by hand again. That’s what my stand mixer is for!

However, if I’m being really honest, in certain contexts, the only whipped cream I want comes from a can. While whipping cream in a stand or hand mixer is super easy, it’s still so fun to swirl a dollop of whipped cream out of a can. I love it as much now as I did as a kid, so I always have some in the fridge for my kids to experience that joy, too.

While there are many store-bought options, some cans, quite literally, fall flat. When selecting a canned whipped cream, it’s important that the first ingredient is real cream. Some brands will use oils or stabilizers to make a whipped topping which, in my opinion, has an off flavor and weird texture. 

I keep a go-to brand in my fridge, but I wondered what other experts in the food world were reaching for. After all, food people who are not afraid to admit to kitchen shortcuts are my kind of people!

The 5 Pros I Spoke To

• Christine Fiorentino: Food writer, recipe developer, and host of the YouTube Series, Beyond The Plate
• Tina Zaccardi: Recipe developer, baking educator, and quite literally a champion baker. She won Season 4 of The Great American Baking Show! She also regularly publishes amazing recipes on her blog, Tina Zaccardi Bakes. 
• Myo Quinn: Trained chef who worked at Michelin-starred restaurant, Gramercy Tavern, and Untitled at the Whitney Museum. She’s now a freelance food editor.
• Laurel Randolph: Cookbook author and the associate editorial director at Simply Recipes. She is the best-selling author of The Instant Pot Electric Cookbook and The Unofficial Simpsons Cookbook.
• Haley Scarpino: Associate editor at Simply Recipes and classically trained chef. She’s worked on some epic cookbooks as a recipe tester like Julia Turshen’s What Goes With What and Monique Volz’s The Ambitious Kitchen Cookbook.

The Best Canned Whipped Cream You Can Buy at the Store

Usually, when I poll food experts to identify a favorite product in a specific category, it’s easy to nail down a clear winner. Lucky for you, this time around there was an unprecedented tie! The two favorites are Cabot Creamery’s Sweetened Light Whipped Cream and Farmland Fresh Dairies Real Whipped Light Cream. 

Now for my unsolicited opinion. Technically, I’m counting myself as the tiebreaker, but it was a hard choice to make. I love the farm-fresh flavor of Cabot whipped cream, but the height and perfect spiral you get from Farmland Fresh propel (no pun intended) it into first place.

The Simply Recipes crew is Cabot loyal, and for good reasons. Cabot’s ingredient list is highly recognizable with the first three ingredients being cream, skim milk, and sugar. 

Myo likes it because it tastes so similar to homemade whipped cream. She says, “Though it’s not hard to make whipped cream from scratch (I promise), why use elbow grease when you can just squirt it out of a bottle. I love Cabot because it tastes the most like light and creamy sweetened milk and really nothing else much—just like homemade whipped cream.”

Laurel agrees with the natural taste. “Cabot makes quality dairy products, and their canned whipped cream is no exception. It’s creamy with a not-too-sweet, not artificial-tasting flavor. And so convenient!”

Christine, who hoped I would refer to her in this article as a whipped cream connoisseur (I wouldn’t miss the chance!), loves Farmland Fresh because “it’s thick, luscious, and airy. It doesn’t flatten as quickly as other brands.”

Tina was loyal to a brand everyone has seen (hint: it comes in a bright red can), but she’s been buying Farmland Fresh ever since she tried it. She says, “It’s interesting that when compared side by side, I noticed an artificial aftertaste with the other brand, whereas the Farmland tastes more like whipped cream you would make yourself.”

As far as I’m concerned, you can’t go wrong with either option. When it comes to whipped cream, more is more. Now if only I could get my hands on a cup of cocoa piled high with whipped cream right this moment!