Horchata Recipe – Dairy Free

What is horchata?

Glad you asked lol. Pronounced ohr-chah-tah, it’s a refreshing Mexican cinnamon drink made with rice and almonds. In Spanish, it’s part of a family of drinks known as aguas frescas – meaning fresh waters. All aguas frescas are made with raw and fresh ingredients, hence the name 😉

Since we are coming up on Cinco de Mayo, I thought it would be a perfect time to post a recipe on how to make horchata! We love this recipe because it’s refreshing, light and adaptable to whatever sweetness level you prefer.

If you’re looking for a cooling drink this coming summer or a fun authentic addition to your Cinco de Mayo party, this horchata drink is perfect! 

Easy Horchata Recipe

Makes about 4 cups

Ingredients

• 1 cup long grain white rice, uncooked
• 1/2 cup of slivered blanched almonds
• 2 sticks of cinnamon, broken into pieces
• 4 cups very warm water, plus 2 cups cold water
• 1 cup almond milk
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup (not pancake syrup)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Equipment

• medium bowl
• blender
• linen cloth or cheesecloth
• whisk

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, soak the uncooked rice, almonds and cinnamon sticks in 4 cups of very warm water for 7-10 hours.
2. After they have fully soaked, drain the water in the sink and throw away half of the cinnamon stick pieces.
3. Pour the rice, almonds and remaining cinnamon sticks into the blender with the almond milk and blend on medium for about 5 minutes until the rice and almonds are completely pulverized.
4. Next, lay your linen cloth over your medium bowl and pour the blended mixture into the cloth.
5. Wring out the cloth making sure you extract all the smooth almond milk from the rice and almonds. This step could be a little tedious, but it’s also so important, so just be patient and get as much of the liquid out as you can, then discard what’s left in the cloth.
6. Lastly, whisk in 2 cups of cold water, 2 tablespoons maple syrup and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.
7. From here, you can taste to see if you would like to add more syrup for sweetness and adapt it to your preference.
8. Refrigerate and serve cold over ice. You can also garnish it with some ground cinnamon and stick for presentation. When it settles, separation is normal, just stir well before serving.

Cheers to Horchata and good times! We hope you love this recipe, and if you are looking for other dairy-free recipes make sure to check out our Dairy-free Coffee Creamer recipe.

For more delicious recipes, check out the posts below.