What is coquito: Coquito (Puerto Rican Coconut Eggnog) Recipe

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March 3, 2023
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Coquito (Puerto Rican Coconut Eggnog) Recipe

Coquito is a Puerto Rican holiday punch that’s rich and sweet with coconut, plus a kiss of cinnamon and rum. One batch makes plenty for a party. Give it a try instead of eggnog!

Garrett McCord

Garrett has been writing about food and sharing recipes for 15 years. He is the author of Melt: The Art of Macaroni and Cheese.

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Updated October 28, 2021

6 ratings

Elise Bauer

Every December I throw our annual Christmas cookie swap. It’s a simple event that we’ve honed to turnkey tradition over the years. I throw on some hipster Christmas music, set out plenty of holiday-appropriate nibbles like a cheese plate or crab dip, and put a little Santa cap on our corgi because ohmygod it’s adorable.

Drink-wise I keep it simple: mulled wine and this coquito.

Video: How to Make Coquito (Puerto Rico Eggnog)

Coquito

What Is Coquito?

Coquito is an easy cocktail to make, but unlike mulled wine, no one knows they love it yet. As the host, I feel it’s my merrymaking duty to introduce people to it.

Coquito is a traditional punch from Puerto Rico. It’s often called “Puerto Rican eggnog” due to its very similar flavor profile and occasional use of eggs in some variations.

Elise Bauer

How to Make Coquito

This recipe is simple: coconut milk, rum, vanilla, and cinnamon. Boom. Done.

I like to sweeten mine with sweetened condensed milk and cream of coconut. Look for cream of coconut in the liquor section if you can’t find it with the other canned ingredients. Good brands are Coco Lopez or Goya.

Can You Make This Vegan?

I would recommend using almond milk or soy milk in place of the evaporated milk. As for the sweetened condensed milk, I would add 1 cup of sugar and another milk alternative to make up the volume and sweetness. Start slow with adding the sugar, and taste as you go until you reached the desired sweetness.

Suggestions and Substitutions

Anything after those basic ingredients is up to you. Like so many dishes, coquito doesn’t have an exact recipe. The type and amount of rum, the choice of spices, the type of sweetener, or even whether to use eggs or not can vary from recipe to recipe and person to person.

This means that coquito is a recipe that you shape to your taste.

Choose a rum you like! White, aged or spiced rum all are good. Mount Gay is smooth and affordable; Gosling’s black rum is a little richer.
Don’t want nutmeg? Don’t use it. Ginger, cloves, and star anise are good adds.
Want to serve it on the rocks? Rock on.
Have guests who don’t drink alcohol? Skip the rum and make it virgin!

Have fun, experiment, and make the recipe yours. It will quickly become part of your holiday tradition, too.

Elise Bauer

Make Ahead and Storing Tips for Coquito

You can chill this in the fridge up for as little as two hours and up to three days ahead of time. All you have to do is pull this out when it’s time to serve, and garnish with some cinnamon or grated nutmeg.

You can also keep coquito indefinitely in the refrigerator since the amount of alcohol keeps it preserved. But it begins to separate and look dodgy after more than three days, which may make you nervous. It’ll still be fine, and all you have to do is shake it up to make it smooth again.

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Prep Time
5 mins

Cook Time
35 mins

Total Time
40 mins

Servings
6
to 10 servings

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (15 ounce) can cream of coconut (like Coco Lopez or Goya)
1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
1 (13. 5 ounce) can of coconut milk
2 teaspoons vanilla, or 1 vanilla bean, split and seeded
2 whole cinnamon sticks
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 to 2 cups rum
Grated nutmeg or ground cinnamon for garnish, optional

Steep the spices:
Place the sweetened condensed milk, cream of coconut, evaporated milk, coconut milk, vanilla, cinnamon sticks, and nutmeg (all the ingredients except the rum) in a large saucepan. Warm over medium-high heat until just starting to simmer.
Remove from heat, cover, and let infuse for 30 minutes.
Elise Bauer
Mix in the rum:
Remove the cinnamon sticks and the vanilla bean (if using) and pour the mixture into a punch bowl or pitcher. (Note: I rinse and dry the vanilla bean and cinnamon sticks, and save them future infusions such as rice pudding.)
Add 1 cup of rum and taste; add more rum for a stronger punch. I usually stick to around 2 cups as I prefer it strong.
Chill:
Chill this in the fridge for at least 2 hours or for up to 3 days.
Serve:
Serve neat or over ice in small portions. Garnish with grated nutmeg or ground cinnamon as desired.

How to Make Coquito for the Holidays

food

By Taryn Pire

•

Published Dec 14, 2021

You’ve tried eggnog over and over again, but for some reason, you just can’t get down with the custardy Christmas bev. But that doesn’t mean you’re limited to mulled wine and hot apple cider. Meet coquito, a coconutty concoction from Puerto Rico that’s sipped all over the island and beyond during the holidays. It’s creamy, boozy and—most importantly for eggnog haters—usually egg-free. We asked Chef Hector Prieto, executive sous chef at Caribe Hilton in San Juan, Puerto Rico, how to make coquito at home. Read on for the drink’s history and his real-deal coquito recipe.

Caribe Hilton

What Is Coquito?

Translating to “little coconut” in Spanish, coquito is a coconut-based cocktail that’s similar to eggnog in the sense that it’s creamy, spiked with liquor and served at Christmas (but it’s different in that it usually doesn’t contain eggs). Coquito is one of many creamy, dairy-laced drinks that are enjoyed during the holidays throughout Latin America, South America and the rest of the world, like rompope in Mexico and crème de vie in Cuba. It can be prepared with an array of winter spices (though cinnamon and nutmeg are basically nonnegotiable), and there are a range of flavored versions that can be found around the island, made with everything from pineapple to pumpkin.

“The origin of coquito is still unknown, but the famed holiday drink is usually made and consumed only during the holiday season,” says Prieto. “Coquito marks the arrival of Christmas on the island.” Some families drink it as early as Thanksgiving and as late as Día de los Reyes, or the Epiphany, on January 6, a Christian feast day that celebrates the Magi visiting Jesus.

Coquito’s history isn’t cut-and-dried, but it’s theorized that Spanish colonizers brought their version of eggnog, posset, to the island. (Posset, which dates back to medieval times, is a term used for drinks made with hot milk that’s curdled with some sort of alcohol or citrus juice.) There, it was infused with local Puerto Rican rum, but many varieties have sprung up as a result of the Spanish settling across the Caribbean and beyond.

Many other nations use rum in their eggnog-like bevs (like Panama’s ron ponche and Venezuelan ponche crema), but coconut is what makes coquito uniquely Puerto Rican. (Just for the record though, coconut was a colonial import brought to the island from West Africa by Spanish settlers—it’s only been cultivated in Puerto Rico since the 1500s.) Some O.G. recipes involve cracking a ripe coconut and scooping out its pristine flesh, but nowadays, coconut milk and coconut cream are the go-to ingredients. Canned condensed milk and evaporated milk eventually became key components after the Spanish-American War, once U. S. governance brought the shelf-stable ingredients to the island.

Coquito has become increasingly popular stateside in recent years, a trend Prieto chalks up to Latin culture’s ever-growing exposure in the U.S. “Not only Puerto Ricans, but many Latins are now living in the US,” he says. “The same thing is happening with local dishes such as mofongo, pigeon pea rice and alcapurrias.”

RHJ/Getty Images

How To Make Coquito

Many coquito recipes don’t require any cooking. Instead, the liquid ingredients and spices are simply blended and chilled. But Caribe Hilton uses heat to thicken the concoction and meld the flavors as much as possible. Cooking the coquito on the stove also keeps the ingredients from separating and gives the drink a longer shelf life. (If you’re using a coquito recipe that calls for eggs though, you’ll have to cook it so it’s safe to drink.)

The perfect coquito, according to Prieto, is “not too sweet, but [has] just the right balance of cinnamon, coconut and rum. ” It should be well spiced so you can taste cinnamon and nutmeg in every sip (the stovetop steeping helps with that), but it should still be bursting with tropical flavor and laced with the clean, sweet flavor of rum.

Caribe Hilton’s coquito recipe calls for Ron del Barrilito (aka little barrel rum), which is a brand of premium aged sipping rums from Puerto Rico. It’s packed with notes of almond, vanilla and raisins, which pair beautifully with coquito. But if you can’t find it near you, Prieto suggests using ron cañon (homemade sugarcane rum) if you’re feeling ambitious or any type of store-bought white rum, like Bacardí.

As for the milks, you can use any brand you like, although we’re partial to Coco Lopez’s coconut cream. (That’s Caribe Hilton’s go-to, and they literally invented the piña colada, so we like to follow suit whenever possible.) We’d also spring for pure vanilla extract and fresh spices if you’re serving your coquito to company.

Prieto stresses that the preparation is simple, but the most important step is making sure all the ingredients are refrigerated before and after preparation for both safety and flavor.

Caribe Hilton’s Coquito Recipe

Ingredients

12 ounces unsweetened coconut milk
12 ounces evaporated milk
12 ounces coconut cream
12 ounces sweetened condensed milk
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
5 cinnamon sticks
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
4 cups rum
Ground nutmeg, for serving

Directions

Combine all the ingredients except the rum and nutmeg in a large pot over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil while stirring constantly, then let it simmer and continue to mix until the spices are aromatic and the mixture is well combined, about 5 to 8 minutes.
Remove the pot from the heat to cool and let the mixture come to room temperature.
Add the rum to the pot and stir until combined. Fish out the cinnamon sticks. Transfer the mixture to a pitcher and let it chill in the refrigerator for at least four hours.
Serve the coquito cold in shot or rocks glasses. Garnish with nutmeg and/or cinnamon sticks.

Marilyn Nieves/Getty Images

Ways To Serve Coquito For The Holidays

Coquito is typically enjoyed in shot glasses after dinner, but you can serve it whenever (and however) you’d like. “My favorite way to serve coquito is as a welcome drink to guests,” says Prieto.

You can set out a cold pitcher of it for your relatives to serve themselves with appetizers. It pairs well with fruit, cheese and nuts, in case you have a charcuterie board in mind. But you can also use it to wash down hearty Puerto Rican mains, like pernil asado (roast pork), plantains, arroz con gandules, shrimp stew and bacalaitos (fried salted cod). Because of coquito’s sweet flavor and the spices it’s infused with, you can even serve it with dessert, if you have something like chai crème brûlée or pumpkin pie on the table. “It pairs really well with cinnamon cookies, local white cheese, chocolate and guava, to name a few,” assures Prieto.

Last but not least, you can sip it solo, because coquito certainly doesn’t need any help in the deliciousness department.

Coquito Cocktail Recipe – American Cuisine: Drinks. “Food”

Cocktail Coquito recipe – American cuisine: Drinks. “Food”

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Carbohydrates

469

9000 34

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grams

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40 ml

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5 minutes 90,000 cokito (Puertorikan coconut Gogol -Mogol) – Culinary recipe for 1Cookit. com

Each year in December I in December hosting an annual Christmas cookie exchange. It is a simple event that has become a tradition over the years. I put on some hipster Christmas music, arrange lots of holiday-themed snacks like a cheese plate or crab dip, and put a little Santa hat on our Corgi because he’s just adorable.

What is a coquito?

Coquito is an easy-to-make cocktail, but unlike mulled wine, no one knows they love it yet. As the owner, I consider it my duty to introduce people to this cocktail.

Coquito is a traditional punch from Puerto Rico. It is often referred to as “Puerto Rican eggnog” due to its very similar flavor profile and the use of eggs in some variations.

Coquito (Puerto Rican coconut eggnog)

How to cook coquito

This recipe is simple: coconut milk, rum, vanilla and cinnamon. Boom. Ready.

I love sweetening my coconut milk with condensed milk and coconut cream. Look for coconut cream in the liquor section if you can’t find it along with other canned ingredients. Good brands are Coco Lopez or Goya.

Can you make it vegan?

I would recommend using almond or soy milk instead of evaporated milk. For sweetened condensed milk, I would add 1 cup of sugar and another milk alternative to make up for the volume and sweetness. Start adding sugar slowly and taste until you reach your desired sweetness.

Suggestions and replacements

After these basic ingredients, the rest is up to you. Like many other dishes, coquito does not have an exact recipe. The type and amount of rum, choice of spices, type of sweetener, and even whether or not to use eggs can vary from recipe to recipe and person to person.

This means coquito is a recipe that you shape to your liking.

Choose the rum you like! White, aged or spiced rum are all good. Mount Gay – Sleek and affordable Gosling’s black rum is slightly richer.
Would you like some nutmeg? Don’t use it. Ginger, cloves, and star anise are good additions.
Would you like to serve with ice? Serve with ice.
Do you have guests who do not drink alcohol? Skip the rum and make it virgin!

Have fun, experiment and make this recipe your own. It will quickly become part of your holiday tradition.

Coquito (Puerto Rican coconut eggnog)

Coquito preparation and storage tips

Coquito can be refrigerated for two hours or up to three days. Take it out when it’s time to serve and garnish with cinnamon or grated nutmeg.

You can also store coquito indefinitely in the refrigerator, as the amount of alcohol allows it to keep. However, after more than three days, it begins to delaminate and look questionable, which can make you nervous. But it will still be fine and all you need to do is give it a shake to make it smooth again.

Ingredients

1 (14 ounce) can of sweetened condensed milk
1 (15 ounce) can of coconut cream (such as Coco Lopez or Goya)
1 (12 ounce) can of evaporated milk

1903.