How to Make Coconut Milk at Home: 3 Easy Ways

Have you always wanted to learn how to make coconut milk? Good quality coconut milk can sometimes be tricky to get your hands on. Here are a few ways to make it yourself.

Whether you’re trying to get a bit more for your money, or just want to learn how to make your own food, here are a few ways you can make coconut milk with your own two hands (and a blender).

There are a few ways to do this, and different things you can add or try with your milk. 

For most of these recipes you’ll need:

• Either shredded coconut, fresh coconut, or coconut cream
• Warm water
• Sea salt
• Natural sweetener
• a food processor or blender
• Cheesecloth

If you don’t have a cheesecloth, you may have a suitable cheesecloth alternative in your home already.

1. How to Make Basic Coconut Milk

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 2½ cups  shredded coconut
• 1 liter warm water
• pinch sea salt

Instructions:

1. Add all ingredients into a blender, and carefully pulse until smooth.
2. Strain the liquid through the cheesecloth into a reusable bottle or jar, and allow it to cool. Keep your new coconut milk in the fridge for up to a week.

Note: If you need a thicker or thinner consistency, you can change the volume of water you use, adding or taking away 50ml to get the desired consistency. It’s important that the water is warm, so it helps soften the coconut when blended.

If you’ve got some shredded coconut left over, you could try making our healthy coconut oatmeal cookies.

2. How to Make Coconut Milk With a Twist

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

• One large or two small fresh coconuts
• 1-liter warm water
• Pinch of salt 
• Sweetener of your choice (optional)

Instructions:

1. Slice the coconut flesh into small chunks, and blend in a food processor until you have shredded coconut consistency. You have an option here to roast your coconut if you want a deeper flavor to your milk. To do this, spread the coconut onto a lined baking sheet, and roast in the oven until it has just started to turn golden brown. (Be careful not to burn your coconut at this stage or it might give your milk a bitter taste).
2. Add the salt, water and coconut to a blender. The same measurements apply here – 2 ½ cups of coconut to 1 liter of warm water. Blend until smooth, then strain through a cheesecloth and leave to cool. It will likewise keep for up to a week

Note: If you’re someone who likes sweeter milk, then before you blend you can add a tablespoon of maple syrup, organic agave, or ethically-sourced honey into your mixture to give it a sweet edge. This works great as a pairing with coffee or for iced drinks.

Be sure to conserve the fresh coconut water from this recipe, as there are many benefits of drinking coconut water too!

3. How to Make Simple Coconut Milk

The easiest way to make coconut milk at home is to make it with coconut cream, which can be easier to find in stores than other variations of coconut.

Yield: Variable

Ingredients:

• 1 can or carton of coconut cream
• Cold water

Instructions:

1. Using a ratio of 3 tablespoons of coconut cream to 1 tablespoon of cold water, add the ingredients to blender and blend until smooth. There’s no need to strain this version, you can bottle it right away and keep it in the fridge.

Note: You can choose between low-fat or full-fat coconut milk when you buy it. Either will produce the same results.

How to Use Coconut Milk

A fun way to make this milk is to add some good-quality organic cocoa or cacao powder and a sweetener of your choice before you blend.

Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of chocolate powder depending on how strong you want your milk. This will give you a lovely coconut chocolate milk drink for summer days to serve in a glass with ice and a straw. The kids will definitely love it!

The homemade coconut milk can be consumed on its own, in your coffee, or in cereal and can be used in recipes like our fruity overnight chia pudding. You can also try coconut milk oatmeal. Separation with any nut milk is natural, so make sure that before you use your milk, you give it a good shake.

Read more:

• Can You Freeze Coconut Milk? What to Keep in Mind
• Healthy Banana Bread With Oats
• Coconut Milk vs. Coconut Cream: What’s the Difference Anyway?

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Tags: Cooking Guide Healthy Living Recipes