Traditional Mexican Horchata (Dairy-Free)
Mexican horchata is traditionally made with water, not milk! This agua fresca is dairy free, made with rice, cinnamon, and sugar.
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 5 hr 47 min
- Yield
- 8 servings
- Difficulty
- HARD
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 8 cups water (divided)
- 1 cup long grain rice
- 1-2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water (optional- for making simple syrup)
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Soak the rice and cinnamon stick(s) in 4 cups of water over night (at least 8 hours). *I use 2 cinnamon sticks when making this for my mom, who LOVES cinnamon. You can use just one if you don't want a strong cinnamon flavor.
- 2
After soaking, pour everything into a high-powered blender. If it is large enough, add 4 more cups of water. If your blender isn't large enough, you can add the additional water after straining.
- 3
Blend on high for 2-3 minutes, or until the rice has pulverized into a fine powder.
- 4
Strain the horchata using a fine mesh strainer and a triple-layered cheese cloth. Discard the rice and cinnamon. Add the additional 4 cups of water at this time, if you didn't already add it to your blender.
- 5
If you don't like a super grainy texture (some people do), I recommend straining at least twice.
- 6
Add 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract. I do not add vanilla extract to my horchata made with dairy, but I find that it adds a nice boost in flavor in this water-based horchata.
- 7
Add the sugar and mix thoroughly.*Pro tip: when adding granulated sugar to beverages, it's much better to turn the sugar into a simple syrup first. It really makes a difference in flavor in my opinion- all you need to do is heat 1 cup of sugar with 1/2 cup of water in a saucepan over medium low heat for a couple of minutes.
- 8
Pour over lots of crushed ice and enjoy :)