Agua de Horchata
Horchata is Mexico’s famous cinnamon-infused rice water drink. Is it worth it to make homemade? Absolutely! Of course, you can buy horchata concentrate and it’s super easy to use but it doesn’t compare to the real stuff.
We’ll show you how to make traditional horchata from scratch using rice, not rice flour. Sweetened condensed milk gives it its refreshing sweet taste.
How to Make
You will need the following to make horchata. When you prepare it with soaked rice the texture is smooth, not chalky.
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups rice
- 1 can (14oz.) sweetened condensed milk (reduce by half for a mildly sweet drink)
- 1 cup whole milk
- 5 cups hot water
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 tsp.ground cinnamon (add to taste)
Process
In a mixing bowl, add the rice, whole milk, sweetened condensed milk, cinnamon sticks.
Pour hot water into the mixture and stir until the sweetened condensed milk dissolves.
Allow mixture to come to room temperature. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap then refrigerate the mixture for a minimum of 2 hours.
We recommend refrigerating overnight for a more concentrated flavor.
After refrigerating, uncover the mixture. Remove the cinnamon sticks and discard.
Strain the mixture to separate the rice. Reserve the liquid.
Add the rice and 1.5 cups of the strained liquid to your blender. Blend for 3 minutes until the rice is liquefied.
Strain the blended rice back into the reserved liquid.
Check to make sure that the rice has been completely liquified. There shouldn’t be any bits of rice remaining in the strainer. If there is blend the horchata mixture again.
Serving
Serve over ice with a sprinkle of cinnamon. You can garnish each glass with a cinnamon stick if you like for a posher presentation.
Variations
Boozy Horchata
- Turn horchata into a grownup alcoholic beverage by adding half a shot of your favorite rum or vodka to each glass. It’s great with a splash of Kahlua too.
Fruity Horchata
- Strawberry horchata – when you are blending the soaked rice add 1 cup of sliced strawberries and prepare as usual.
- Mango horchata – when you are blending the soaked rice add 1 cup of sliced mango and prepare as usual.
- Apple horchata – when you are blending the soaked rice add 1 cup of sliced peeled apple and prepare as usual.
Dairy-free
- You can make it without milk. Substitute 1 cup of unflavored, unsweetened almond milk for the whole milk and prepare as usual.
Provecho!
Horchata Recipe
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups rice
- 1 can 14oz. sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup whole milk
- 5 cups hot water
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 tsp.ground cinnamon add to taste
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, add the rice, whole milk, sweetened condensed milk, cinnamon sticks.
- Pour hot water into the mixture and stir until the sweetened condensed milk dissolves.
- Allow mixture to come to room temperature. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap then refrigerate the mixture for a minimum of 2 hours. Refrigerate up to 12 hours for a more concentrated flavor.
- Uncover the mixture. Remove the cinnamon sticks and discard.
- Strain the mixture to separate the rice. Reserve the liquid.
- Add the rice and 1.5 cups of the strained liquid to your blender. Blend for 3 minutes until the rice is liquefied.
- Strain the blended rice back into the reserved liquid. Blend the horchata mixture again if the mixture is gritty.
- Serve over ice with a sprinkle of cinnamon.
Notes
- For a less sweet drink, reduce the sweetened condensed milk by half.
- For a dairy-free horchata, substitute 1 cup of unsweetened, unflavored almond milk for the whole milk.
- If it is too thick, add 1 cup cold water and stir well.
- Horchata will keep for 2 days in the refrigerator.
Nutrition
More Aguas Frescas
Some more of our favorite Mexican drinks.
Gena says
Thank you so much for sharing this. I was always afraid to try to make this but this looks doable.
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Katja says
You said you can make a dairy-free if you substitute almond milk for the whole milk, and prepare as usual, but the condensed milk obviously has dairy as well…. What do you substitute for the sweetened condensed milk?
Eva says
You can use condensed coconut milk.
Q says
It is not horchata if you use almond juice and coconut by products – it is simply a Frankenstein concoction with no similarity to the real thing.
THE Sgt. Jim Jones says
HEY Q SHUT YO STUPID ASS UP YOU BUILT LIKE A FRANKENSTEIN CONCOCTION YA BIG BACK KNUCKLEHEAD
Choke on my big meat kid,
-Sgt. Jim Jones.
Paul Jones says
What kind of rice do you generally use?
Sydney says
Are dulce de leche and standard sweetened condensed milk interchangeable here?
Lina says
No… very different character to each. Dulce de leche is much closer to caramel sauce in overall qualities; sweetened condensed milk is thick and sweet but still has a very “milk” quality…it is what is traditionally used to sweeten Thai ice tea, if that helps.
Tiffany Nkezabahizi says
I grew up drinking horchata. I made it for the first time with your recipe. It is on point. Thank you so much for posting it.
Jeff Tovar says
Can I use skim or 1% milk? I don’t drink whole milk.
Mercedes Fuentes says
Very good recipe. I like mine with cafe and sambuca or vodca maybe even some mooneshine
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– THE Sgt. Jim Jones
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Pastrychef says
The product pictured is caramel or dulche de leche, not plain sweetened condensed milk.
Natalie says
That’s what I was confused about. The sweetened condensed milk is caramel in color in the picture here, so looks like dulce de leche. But she mentioned in a previous reply that it is not what is used, just regular sweetened condensed milk.
lola says
im a mexican eveything that we says its good except the hot water! we don’t use the hot water in the rice, we use cold water.i haven’t here someone make it like he does he is american guy jajajjaajaj .
Chris says
So, question…
Am I using cooked or uncooked rice?
I tried this recipe yesterday, let it (uncooked rice) soak overnight. The rice was still quite firm and a bit chalky. I think I screwed up the blending of the rice as I forgot the part about adding liquid to the strained rice so I ended up with something akin to cream of wheat after the blending. It didn’t mix with the liquid and I ended up straining it back out which left me with a liquid that was very close to what I know to be horchata (American, only know horchata from local “taco stands”). However, I would add – be absolutely sure to use “fresh” whole milk if you are going that route; I think ours was not quite fresh as it had a bit of a sour taste which really came through in the end product.
MARK says
You are supposed to use uncooked rice. Your error was that you did not add liquid to the rice in the blender. I bought some horchata recently already made at a local hispanic grocery store and it was wonderful. Since then I have been researching how to make it.
Andrea Stephens says
Favorite recipe for horchata!
Taylor says
To make it dairy free, you note the almond milk can be used in place of whole milk. However there are no substitutions given for the sweetened condensed milk. What can be used? I might just use cream of coconut but that will likely change the flavor drastically.
chelsoon says
I recommended doubling the milk with almond milk and then adding sugar – experiment with your sweetness level and tasting as you go. 3/4 cup is usually good but start with 1/2 cup and add quarter cups until reaching your desired sweetness
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