Recipe
🥤 DRINK
Coquito
Puerto Rico's "little coconut": a thick, coconut-rich Christmas nog of coconut cream and sweetened milk spiced with cinnamon and spiked with rum.
Puerto Rican · easy · serves 10
prep 10 min · cook 0 min
~510 cal · 9g protein · 41g carbs · 31g fat · 4g fiber · 36g sugars · 25g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Coquito, "little coconut", is Puerto Rico's signature Christmas drink, an island cousin of eggnog whose identity is all coconut. Coconut and rum drinks appear across the Caribbean, but coquito is uniquely Puerto Rican, mixed up in December and bottled to give to family, neighbours, and anyone who stops by.
The base is and blended with sweetened condensed and evaporated milk, spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg and vanilla, and spiked with Puerto Rican white rum (or pitorro, the island moonshine). Some families beat in egg yolks for extra richness, but many make it without; this version is eggless and simply blended, then chilled.
Thick, sweet, and heady with coconut and spice, coquito is poured into small glasses over the holidays and argued over endlessly, since every family swears its own recipe is the right one. Built on coconut, it is not nut-free, but it needs no dairy to be luscious.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 10
1 can cream of coconut
1 can
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk
1 cup white rum
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
1
Combine the cream of coconut, coconut milk, condensed milk, and evaporated milk in a blender.
2
Add the cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla and blend until completely smooth.
✎ Chef’s note
Blend well so the spices and coconut fully emulsify; a quick shake before every pour keeps it from separating.
3
Pour in the rum and blend briefly just to combine.
4
Transfer to bottles and chill for several hours or overnight.
5
Serve cold in small glasses with a dusting of cinnamon.
San Juan Christmas tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
San Juan. The earliest written mofongo recipe is in El Cocinero Puerto-Riqueno of 1859, the island's first cookbook. Sofrito does most of the rest of the work in this kitchen, and alcapurrias, often taken for plantain fritters, are actually made from grated green banana and yautia.
🗺️
Puerto Rico. The sofrito here is recaito, and it is greener than the Cuban and Dominican versions because of the culantro and ajies dulces in it. Names matter too: pernil is the roast shoulder, while lechon asado is the whole pig turned over coals along the road to Guavate, and arroz con gandules uses pigeon peas rather than any bean.
🌍
North America. North America's table began with Indigenous foodways, the "three sisters" of corn, beans, and squash, plus chiles, tomatoes, and cacao, then layered on colonial, African, and immigrant influences. From Mexico's UNESCO-recognized cuisine to the Cajun and Creole pots of Louisiana and the fiery jerk of the Caribbean, the region turns ancient staples into something new. Barbecue, tacos, gumbo, and mole all carry stories of migration and adaptation.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Puerto Rico
MofongoFried green plantains mashed with garlic and crackling pork, mounded and filled with garlicky shrimp or stew.
MallorcaA soft, buttery coiled sweet bread, pressed warm and snowed with powdered sugar, the pride of Puerto Rican panaderías at breakfast.
Arroz con GandulesRice cooked with pigeon peas, sofrito, and pork in one pot, forming a prized crust, Puerto Rico's national dish.
Browse all Puerto Rico recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Blender.
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Puerto Rico meal
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Drinks
Frequently asked questions
What is Coquito?
Puerto Rico's "little coconut": a thick, coconut-rich Christmas nog of coconut cream and sweetened milk spiced with cinnamon and spiked with rum.
Where does Coquito come from?
Coquito is a Puerto Rican dish from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Can Coquito be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Coquito recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Coquito safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Coquito take to make?
About 10 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 0 minutes cooking), serving 10.
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