That’s right. You know why you’re here. It’s coquito season, baby! For those of you who don’t know what coquito is (pronounced coh-kee-to), it’s a Puerto Rican coconut drink very similar to eggnog (but not eggnog) that’s packed with tons of flavor, sweet coconut, and body warming rum-y goodness.

My mom makes the best coquito ever. I know that’s biased but hear me out. By best ever, I mean she finally taught me how to make the family recipe last year. LAST YEAR, y’all. After having asked how to make coquito for about 10 years. I’m not exaggerating. 10 whole years. Because of that, I won’t be sharing our secret family recipe here but this is a simpler adapted version I came up with.

The beautiful thing about coquito is that every Puerto Rican family makes it different and everyone loves sharing their batches of this sweet drink during the holidays. Keeping that in mind, there’s always a debate on whether coquito should have egg yolks in it, but I grew up in a egg-free coquito household, so that’s how I make mine. Fun fact: not adding the egg helps extend the shelf life of your batch for up to 4-6 months. Just give it a good shake before drinking in case the coconut fat has separated to the top of the bottle and you’ll be good to go.

We like making huge batches of coquito since we give out bottles during Christmas as gifts. You can easily scale down the recipe in half if you’re wanting to make a small batch for yourself or your family. It’s best to store the coquito in standard mason jars or glass bottles for easy sipping and gift-giving throughout the holiday season. ¡Que sigue la fiesta!

Note: lactose-free and/or plant-based friends, you can most definitely substitute your favorite lactose-free milk or plant-based milk, like almond, oat, or cashew milk for the evaporated milk in this recipe. I’m a huge fan of oat milk since its consistency is very similar to evaporated milk. If you’re wanting something creamer that pairs well with the coconut milk, I’d suggest cashew milk. Use whatever you like and make it your own!

Puerto Rican Coquito

Prep time: 15 minutes

Prior to serving: refrigerate at least 1 hour

Yield: about 1 gallon (around 8 standard 16oz mason jars)

3.5 cans full-fat coconut milk (13.5 fl oz size)

3.5 cans Coco Lopez cream of coconut (15 fl oz size)

3.5 cans evaporated milk (12 fl oz size)

1.5 cans sweetened condensed milk (14 fl oz size)

2 tbsp ground cinnamon (additional to taste)

2 tbsp pure vanilla extract (additional to taste)

1 750mL bottle white Puerto Rican rum (Don Q Cristal is my favorite and preferred rum for this recipe)

In a very large stockpot or mixing bowl, combine all of the canned milks. Whisk well and add the ground cinnamon and vanilla extract. Taste and adjust any additional flavoring to your liking.

Next, whisk in the white rum. For this, you’ll be adding the rum to taste. Start with a single cup and work your way up from there. It shouldn’t be overpowering but just enough to hit you and warm you up a bit when you take a sip. Of course, it will be personal preference, but we like ours pretty boozy, so we add quite a bit of rum which normally ends up being at least a few bottles when we make our very large batches.

Then, when you have your coquito boozed up, pour into glass bottles or mason jars and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. When ready to drink, give the bottle or jar a good shake and garnish with a little dash of cinnamon.

Just a hint: if you make this the day before your planned festivities, it tastes even better to begin with.

¡Buen provecho!