Learning How to Make Coconut Milk is super easy, extremely delicious and saves you a ton of money – three of my favorite things in a recipe. If you’ve been wanting to jump on the plant based milk bandwagon, this simple recipe will get you started in 15 minutes.
If you have coconut flakes and a sturdy blender, there is really no reason for you to not try this! It is so fresh and delicious! This recipe only takes about 15 minutes in total to make and that includes gathering everything and clean up.
🍽️ Why This Recipe Works
Fast and Easy – These are some of my favorite recipe terms. This only takes a couple minutes to make and it’s simple. There is nothing complicated about this at all.
Cheap – It doesn’t cost much to make this recipe, especially compared to how expensive buying it can be in the grocery store.
Plant Based – If you are allergic or unable to have regular milk, learning how to make coconut milk and using in your diet is a wonderful alternative.
🥛 Ingredients
Having your own homemade milk is fantastic anytime you need it. This is saved me many times when I’ve tried to make various recipes and didn’t have any on hand.
Unsweetened Coconut: Always use unsweetened coconut. You could swap it for sweetened if you’re making a dish or dessert recipe that requires, but it isn’t necessary.
Agave Syrup: Agave syrup is a great way to add some sweetness without adding refined sugar. If you don’t have agave syrup, substitute it with honey. This syrup is a sweetener that is made from the blue agave plant. The fluid that is extracted from the plant is filtered and heated up to a simple syrup which is concentrated into a syrup.
Vanilla: You’ll just need a little bit of pure vanilla extract for this.
🥥 Instructions
Step One: Add the coconut and water to a high speed blender. Add a sweetener like agave or honey with vanilla extract. Learn how to make vanilla extract yourself.
Step Two: Blend for two minutes.
Step Three: After the two minutes are over, pour the coconut mixture into a nut milk bag over a large bowl. It will flow through the bag very quickly.
Squeeze out all of the fluid several times with your hands.
Step Four: Pour the new coconut milk into a jar and store in the refrigerator for three or four days.
🥤Storage
Since there are no preservatives in this milk recipe, you will only want to store it in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
After that you will want to toss out any leftover milk as it can spoil. Store bought coconut milk has a longer shelf life as preservatives were added.
Learn everything you need to know on Can You Freeze Coconut Milk?
🍨 Differences
Change the taste of your milk just by using sweetened coconut flakes vs the unsweetened. I know you are thinking “isn’t it all the same?”
Sweetened coconut can be found in the baking aisle of your grocery store. You will rarely find the unsweetened there, however. Check your whole foods/organic area of the grocery store for that. You can even order unsweetened coconut flakes online if you can’t locate it locally.
We used the leftover pulp in our smoothies and it was incredible!!!
Recipe FAQ
Absolutely! You will notice there is a difference in the taste, but it is excellent. I love using it in my coffee as a substitute for half and half. I now prefer it over the heavy half and half. My husband still prefers the almond milk in his coffee.
You can keep this in the refrigerator for three to four days. There are no preservatives in this homemade coconut milk, so I would toss it out after that time period if you haven’t used it.
Absolutely. It is easy to cut the recipe in half. We did. There are just the two of us drinking it and we just will waste the excess if we had made a full batch.
📌 Related Recipes
How to Make Coconut Milk
Ingredients
- 2 cups Unsweetened Coconut shredded
- 4 cups Water
- 2 tsp Agave Syrup can substitute honey
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a sturdy blender and blend well for 1-2 minutes. Make sure to keep watching it as you will notice it change colors and all of the milk become fully combined.
- Place a nut milk bag in a large bowl and pour the coconut milk into it to strain away the milk. Keep squeezing until there is just coconut pulp left.
Notes
Nutrition
Hi!
Ginny Collins is a passionate foodie and recipe creator of Savor and Savvy and Kitchenlaughter. Indoors she focuses on easy, quick recipes for busy families and kitchen basics. Outdoors, she focuses on backyard grilling and smoking to bring family and friends together. She is a lifelong learner who is always taking cooking classes on her travels overseas and stateside. Her work has been featured on MSN, Parade, Fox News, Yahoo, Cosmopolitan, Elle, and many local news outlets. She lives in Florida where you will find her outside on the water in her kayak, riding her bike on trails, and planning her next overseas adventure.
Turned out wonderfully! Thank you!!
Thanks for sharing! Due to the fact that honey is an excellent preservative–bread made with honey lasts very well–I think I’ll try sweetening with honey. I can’t wait to try this recipe!
Awesome!! Enjoy!
Awesome!~!