🥛Mexican Horchata Recipe: How to Make Creamy Horchata at Home

What is Mexican horchata?

Mexican horchata is an agua fresca made from soaked, blended rice, cinnamon, water and sugar, and many families add milk to make it creamier. Aguas frescas are Mexico's everyday drinks: water blended with fruit, flowers or grains, sweetened and served ice cold from vitroleros, the big glass jars you see at taquerías, fondas (small home-style eateries) and market stands. Along with jamaica (hibiscus) and tamarind, horchata is one of the most classic aguas frescas.

It tastes sweet and cinnamony with a soft rice background, and the texture is silky, almost like milk. It's a with-the-meal drink, especially next to tacos, tortas and antojitos (masa-based snacks like sopes and quesadillas), because that creamy sweetness plays so well with a spicy salsa. At home it's made by the pitcher: it goes a long way, it uses simple pantry ingredients, and everyone likes it, from the kids to the grandparents.

How long do you soak rice for horchata?

Soak the rice for horchata for at least 4 hours, and ideally overnight in the fridge. Soaking softens the grains so the blender can grind them fine; skip it and you get a thin-tasting, gritty drink. Hot (not boiling) water helps the rice soften faster, and the cinnamon infuses the water during the same soak.

As for the rice, the simplest is best: long-grain white rice, like the súper extra grade Mexican cooks use for everyday red rice. Skip parboiled and instant rice, which don't give the drink the same body or flavor. One note on cinnamon: the cinnamon sticks used in Mexico (canela) are thin and flaky, so they blend without trouble. If yours are the thick, hard kind sold in many U.S. stores (usually cassia), leave them in the soak but pull them out before blending, then add a pinch of ground cinnamon.

of soaking, at minimum

4 hours

is ideal, in the fridge

Overnight

not boiling, so the rice softens faster

Hot water

white rice, never parboiled or instant

Long-grain

How do you strain horchata so it isn't gritty?

To keep horchata from turning out gritty, blend it long enough and strain it twice: first through a fine-mesh strainer, then through cheesecloth (Mexican cooks call it manta de cielo). These are the tricks that make the difference:

• •Blend for 2 to 3 minutes, not 30 seconds. Well-soaked rice needs time to turn into powder.
• •Do the finger test: rub a little of the mixture between your fingers. If it feels sandy, blend another minute.
• •Strain in two passes: the strainer catches the coarse bits and the cheesecloth (or a clean, thin kitchen towel) catches the fine ones.
• •Squeeze the cloth with clean hands to get every drop out; that's where the flavor is.
• •If you still feel grit when you pour, strain it through the cloth again. The fine layer that settles at the bottom over a few hours is normal (it's rice starch), so just stir the pitcher.

Does horchata have evaporated milk or condensed milk?

Mexican horchata can be made with water alone, but many households add evaporated milk, condensed milk or both for a creamier drink. Each option changes the result:

• •Evaporated milk: milk with part of its water cooked off and no added sugar. It adds body and milky flavor without making the drink too sweet. It's what this recipe uses.
• •Sweetened condensed milk: concentrated milk with lots of sugar. It makes horchata thicker and dessert-sweet, so cut back on the sugar, or skip it, when you use it.
• •Whole milk: lighter than evaporated. Use it if you don't have a can on hand.
• •Water only: the lightest, most refreshing version, and the one to make if you don't do dairy.
• •With almonds: some cooks blend a few blanched almonds in with the rice for a rounder flavor. It's a family touch; the base is still rice and cinnamon.

How long does horchata last in the fridge?

Homemade horchata keeps for about 3 days in a tightly covered pitcher in the fridge, and if it has milk in it, try to finish it sooner. It has no preservatives, so after a few days it starts to ferment: if it smells sour, tastes tangy or looks fizzy, it's time to toss it.

A few tips to keep it tasting good down to the last glass: store it without ice (ice waters it down), stir the pitcher before pouring because the starch settles, and if you're making a big batch for a party, freeze some in ice cube trays. Horchata ice cubes chill the glass without diluting it. What you don't want is to leave it out of the fridge for hours, especially on a hot day.

How is Mexican horchata different from Spanish horchata?

Mexican horchata is made with rice and cinnamon, while Spanish horchata, best known in Valencia, is made with tiger nuts (chufas), small tubers that are soaked and ground with water and sugar. The name comes from Spain, but in Mexico the drink became a rice and cinnamon agua fresca, and that's the version this recipe makes.

So if a recipe or a menu says horchata de chufa, it's a different drink: earthier and nuttier, and usually without the cinnamon that defines the Mexican version. Other Latin American countries have their own horchatas too, made with different seeds, each with its own flavor.

Where can you buy horchata ingredients in the U.S.?

You can get the pantry staples for Mexican horchata from MexGoodies, which sells original Mexican products and ships anywhere in the U.S. in 3 to 7 days (Canada too): Verde Valle long-grain rice and cinnamon sticks, Carnation evaporated milk and La Lechera sweetened condensed milk.

And for days when there's no time to soak anything, there's horchata powder. Klass comes in a 220 g bag with the cinnamon already in it and dissolves in cold water, and Zuko Súper Sabor Horchata comes in 13 g packets you mix with cold water on the spot. Follow the package directions and pour it over plenty of ice. It's not the same as rice you blended yourself, but it saves the day when there are tacos and no horchata.

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