Creamy, silky-smooth, lightly spiced, delicious, and YES, dairy-free! This Vegan Coquito is an amazing vegan Christmas drink that can be served spiked with rum or made kid-friendly. Everything about this traditional Puerto Rican eggnog will bring joy to your holiday!
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What is coquito?
Coquito is a traditional Christmas drink originating from Puerto Rico. It is typically made with a combination of coconut milk and cows milk, rum, as well as sugar, spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, and a little vanilla. Think of it as a Puerto Rican eggnog.
I had some years ago and I fell in love with the rich creamy flavor, so I wanted to create a vegan coquito!
Coquito tastes a little like Irish cream liqueur, but with rum instead of whiskey as the alcohol.
Related recipe: Vegan Eggnog
Easy vegan coquito
Traditional coquito is made with a combination of sweetened condensed milk and cream of coconut, both of which help give me a nice thick texture. In this vegan version of coquito, I make a super quick and easy vegan milk syrup from plant-based milk and organic vegan sugar. I also thicken the coquito with juuust a bit of tapioca starch (a great gluten-free thickener for sauces).
If you want, you can use sweetened condensed coconut milk instead of making the syrup, but it is hard to find sometimes and can be very expensive.
Then I combine this sweetened vegan milk mixture with coconut milk, spices, vanilla extract, and yes—a little rum. Or a lot.
No one is judging!
How to serve coquito
Coquito is best served chilled (or poured over ice). You can get fancy and line the rim of your glass with shredded coconut to make it look like snow (read below for how to do this). You can adjust the amount of rum to your liking. You can garnish the coquito with cinnamon sticks and sprinkle with a bit of ground cinnamon on top. Serve it with vegan coconut whipped cream. There's no wrong way to enjoy coquito!
Don't forget to check out these vegan holiday recipes!
How to make shredded coconut "snow"
Add a few tablespoons of shredded coconut (aka coconut flakes or desiccated coconut) to a small food processor and process until the coconut is in tiny pieces and resembles snow. You might need to add ¼ - ½ cup of shredded coconut to get it to start blending properly. This "coconut snow" will keep well at room temperature for weeks, just like shredded coconut, so it's OK if you make more than you need.
Keep the coconut snow in a sealed zip-lock bag or sealed container to prevent humidity from getting in. You can use it throughout the holiday season to decorate all your glasses for fancy drinks, or add some to your oatmeal! You can also use it to coat these vegan coconut balls.
Vegan coquito ingredients
Tip: Keep your plant milk and rum in the fridge (the rum can even go in the freezer) so that the coquito is chilled and ready to be served faster.
- 4 cups plant milk, divided (such as almond milk or coconut milk from a carton, not the canned coconut milk)
- ¾ - 1 cup organic vegan sugar (use ¾ cup for a less-sweet but still sweet coquito)
- 2 cinnamon sticks (or ½ - 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon)
- 1 tablespoon tapioca flour (tapioca starch, or use cornstarch)
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 14-oz can unsweetened organic coconut milk (full-fat)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ - 1 cup dark spiced rum (start with ¾ cup and add more to taste)
- 1 tablespoon agave nectar (optional, for decorating glass rim)
- ¼ cup shredded coconut (optional, for decorating rim)
Equipment
Aside from the typical measuring cups and spoons, you'll need the following for this recipe:
- Blender (or immersion blender)
- Small saucepan
- Wooden spoon or silicone spatula
- Small food processor (optional, for breaking up shredded coconut)
- Large bowl with ice for an ice bath (optional, but this speeds things up!)
Check out this other great vegan holiday idea: Vegan Charcuterie Board Ideas
Instructions
Step 1: Make vegan milk syrup: Combine 2 cups plant milk with ¾ - 1 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon tapioca starch, 2 cinnamon sticks (or ground cinnamon), and nutmeg in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring once in a while, until the sugar dissolves. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until the mixture becomes syrupy, stirring frequently to prevent burning.
Step 2: Place the saucepan into an ice bath (a large bowl filled with ice) so it cools down quickly. Remove the cinnamon sticks.
Step 3: Once cool, combine the vegan milk syrup with the rest of the plant milk, canned coconut milk, vanilla extract, and ¾ cup rum in a blender. Pulse a few times to mix thoroughly. Taste it and see if it needs more rum. Transfer to a pitcher or glass jar to cool in the fridge until serving.
Step 4: Optional step to add a coconut rim to the glass: Add the shredded coconut to a food processor and process until it is a fine powder, almost like snow. Transfer the coconut "snow" onto a plate. Dip the dip of your glass into agave nectar (or water, but the agave is thicker and holds the coconut better), then dip into the coconut powder. Take care not to mess up the decoration when you pour the coquito into your glass.
Step 5: Serve coquito cold or over ice, garnishing with cinnamon sticks, ground cinnamon, or vegan whipped cream.
More vegan holiday recipes: Vegan Cheesecake with Raspberry Drizzle
Recipe tips
→ For the 4 cups of plant milk, choose a somewhat neutral tasting plant milk, such as Silk's NextMilk, NotMilk, almond milk, oat milk, or a blend or almond/coconut or cashew milk. The kind in the refrigerated section in a carton. I really like Califia Coconut & Almond milk blend because it's a little thick. I don't recommend using soy milk because I find it has too strong of a flavor, and I do not recommend using more canned coconut milk because it is very high in fat.
→ Using 1 cup of sugar makes a really sweet, dessert-like coquito. I find that the rum nicely balances out the sugar though! For a non-alcoholic coquito, I would use ¾ cup sugar just to make a less sugary drink.
→ What kind of rum to use: I used a dark spiced rum, I find that it works best for this recipe! If you only have white rum on hand, that would work too. A flavored coconut rum would make this vegan coquito extra coconutty and tropical-tasting!
→ I often blend everything except for the rum, then divide between two containers and add half the rum to just half the batch. You can always add more rum if needed, but you can't take it out! If adding rum to the whole batch, start with ¾ cup and blend in more to taste.
→ For a less coconutty flavor, you can use 2 cups of vegan half and half instead of a can of coconut milk.
More vegan holiday recipes: Vegan Tamales
If you enjoyed this recipe, let me know with a comment and a star rating below. And don't forget to share it on Facebook and save it on Pinterest for later!
Recipe
Vegan Coquito
Ingredients
- 4 cups plant milk, divided (such as almond milk or coconut milk from a carton, not canned coconut milk, see notes)
- ¾ - 1 cup vegan organic sugar, use ¾ cup for a less-sweet coquito
- 2 cinnamon sticks, or ½ - 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon tapioca flour, (tapioca starch) or use cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 14 oz canned coconut milk, (full-fat)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ - 1 cup dark spiced rum, start with ¾ cup and add more to taste
- 1 tablespoon agave nectar, optional, for decorating rim
- ¼ cup shredded coconut, optional, for decorating rim
Special equipment
- Blender or immersion blender
- Wooden spoon or a whisk
- Small food processor (optional, for breaking up shredded coconut for the glass rim)
- Large bowl with ice for an ice bath (optional, but this speeds things up!)
Instructions
- Make vegan milk syrup: Combine 2 cups plant milk with ¾ - 1 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon tapioca starch, 2 cinnamon sticks (or ground cinnamon), and nutmeg in a small saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring once in a while, until the sugar dissolves. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until the mixture becomes syrupy, stirring frequently to prevent burning.
- Place the saucepan into an ice bath (a large bowl filled with ice) so it cools down quickly. Remove the cinnamon sticks.
- Once cool, combine the vegan milk syrup with the rest of the plant milk, canned coconut milk, vanilla extract, and ¾ cup rum in a blender. Blend for a few seconds until completely smooth. Taste and add more rum, if needed. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.
- Optional step to add a coconut rim to the glass: Add the shredded coconut to a food processor and process until it is a fine powder, almost like snow. Transfer the coconut "snow" onto a plate. Dip the dip of your glass into agave nectar (or water, but the agave is thicker and holds the coconut better), then dip into the coconut powder. Take care not to mess up the decoration when you pour the coquito into your glass.
- Serve coquito cold or over ice, garnishing with cinnamon sticks, ground cinnamon, or vegan whipped cream.
Carmen
It is not puertorican eggnog. In no shape or form. It is coquito. It is coconut milk coconut cream evaporated milk vanilla cinnamon and alcohol. It is not eggnog
Kate
Hi Carmen, thanks so much for your comment. I found that the word "eggnog" is the best way to describe to people what coquito will taste like if they've never heard of it, since it's hard to imagine the flavor and texture just from listing the ingredients out. My Puerto Rican friends who treated me to coquito in PR also described it that way to me. This is my vegan take on it without using evaporated milk.