Ready to use

Horchata served ice-cold in a clear glass, showing its opaque milky-white color.

Shows the drinker exactly what horchata looks like at the point of consumption — its opacity, pale color, and chilled presentation.

Beverages

Horchata

Sweet, creamy tiger-nut or rice drink served ice-cold

Sweet, milky, and cinnamon-kissed, horchata is a refreshing chilled drink — Spanish from tiger nuts, Mexican from rice. Serve it very cold; keep it refrigerated and drink it fresh.

Horchata is a family of sweet, milky, plant-based drinks served chilled across Spain and Latin America — but the two main traditions differ. Spanish horchata de chufa is made from tiger nuts (chufa), nutty and earthy; the Mexican version is made from rice (often with cinnamon and vanilla), creamy and cinnamon-sweet. Both are dairy-free, sweet, and aromatic. In cooking, horchata's spiced-creamy sweetness makes it a lovely base for desserts: it flavors ice cream, panna cotta, rice pudding, custards, and lattes, soaks cakes, and lends a cinnamon-rice or nutty backbone to sweet dishes — a ready-made dessert liquid with built-in spice.

Measured in: ml
Storage: Refrigerate
Shelf life: 5 days

Find it in

Beverages

Types & varieties

Mexican (rice)

Creamy, cinnamon-vanilla — classic agua fresca

Spanish (chufa/tiger nut)

Nutty, earthy — Valencian

With added nuts/seeds

Almond or sesame variants

How to use in cooking

Horchata is essentially a sweet, spiced dessert liquid. Churn it into ice cream, set it as panna cotta, or use it as the milk in rice pudding, custard, flan, or French toast soak — its cinnamon and vanilla flow straight into the dish. Reduce it slightly to concentrate the flavor for sauces and frostings, or steam it into a horchata latte. The Mexican rice version suits cinnamon desserts; the Spanish chufa version brings a nutty depth to creams and cakes.

How to choose

Know which horchata you have: Mexican rice horchata (cinnamon-vanilla, creamy) for cinnamon desserts; Spanish horchata de chufa (tiger nut, nutty) for nuttier creams. Fresh or refrigerated horchata is best and very perishable. You can easily make rice horchata at home by blending soaked rice, cinnamon, water, and sugar, then straining.

Common uses

Churn into horchata ice creamSet as panna cotta or flanMake a cinnamon rice puddingSoak French toast or bread puddingSteam into a horchata latteFlavor custards and frostingsReduce into a cinnamon dessert sauce