Delicious, sweet, creamy homemade horchata is made with rice, cinnamon, and vanilla. It's the perfect drink for cooling off on a hot summer day, and it makes a refreshing accompaniment to your favorite Mexican food.
Looking for another refreshing drink? Try my Coconut Lemongrass Tea next!
Homemade horchata is incredibly easy to make, and it's even better than what you'll get from a Mexican restaurant!
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🥛 What is horchata?
Horchata is a traditional Mexican drink made with rice, cinnamon, almonds, sugar, and milk. It is a creamy and refreshing beverage, often served chilled and enjoyed as a treat during hot summer days or as a refreshing side to spicy and flavorful meals.
🥘 Ingredients
- White rice
- Almonds
- Cinnamon stick
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Evaporated milk
- Milk: Dairy-free milk (almond milk would work great) can be used in place of milk and evaporated milk.
- Water
- Ground cinnamon
🔪 Instructions
- Add rice, cinnamon, and almonds to a bowl. Cover ingredients with water and let soak until the rice has slightly softened.
- Using a fine mesh strainer, strain the water from the cinnamon, rice, and almond mixture. Pour the strained mixture into a blender.
- Blend the cinnamon, rice, and almond mixture with the evaporated milk. Blend until smooth.
- Strain the liquid through a fine mesh strainer into a pitcher. Add the sugar, vanilla, and milk, stirring until combined. Pour in the water. Serve with ice and a dash of cinnamon.
🥣 Storage
Horchata can be stored in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days, depending on the freshness of the ingredients used. The horchata does separate, so make sure to stir it well right before serving.
🌟 Top Tip
- Strain the rice mixture after blending. Do not skip this step, or else you will have very grainy horchata.
- Use cinnamon sticks. Cinnamon sticks provide horchata with the best flavor over ground cinnamon.
- Give the rice time to soak. The long soaking time allows the flavors of the rice and cinnamon to be absorbed into the water. It also makes the final drink creamier too.
💭 FAQs
Horchata is the perfect accompaniment to spicy Mexican foods as its cool, creamy taste and texture provide a bit of relief to the palate.
Horchata is traditionally served cold over ice, although it can also be served warm if desired.
Separation of the water and rice in horchata is totally normal, especially if it's been sitting in the fridge. Just stir the horchata right before serving.
🌮 Mexican-Inspired Recipes to Serve Horchata With
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📋 Recipe
Mexican Horchata
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup white rice
- ½ cup almonds chopped
- 1 cinnamon stick
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 12 ounces evaporated milk
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 4 cups water
- ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Add rice, cinnamon, and almonds to a bowl. Cover ingredients with water (about 1 ½ cups). Let soak for at least 5 hours or overnight, until the rice has slightly softened.
- Using a fine mesh strainer, strain the water from the cinnamon, rice and almond mixture. Pour the strained mixture into a blender, and dispose of the water.
- Blend the cinnamon, rice, and almond mixture along with the evaporated milk. Blend until the mixture is smooth and the grains of rice are finely ground.
- Strain the liquid through a fine mesh strainer into a pitcher. Add the sugar, vanilla, and milk, stirring until combined. Pour in the 4 cups of water. Serve with ice and a dash of cinnamon.
Tina says
I would love to try this Mexican Horchata recipe but am allergic to almonds. Is it okay to leave them out??
Ashley Amundsen says
Hi Tina! Yes, you can absolutely make horchata without the almonds! I added the almonds to make this horchata extra creamy, but it will still taste great without them. 🙂