Refreshing, creamy agua de horchata, or Mexican rice water, with hints of cinnamon over ice is perfect for warm days or to serve for large gatherings with some tacos!

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What is agua de horchata made of?
For sure must have ingredients are white rice, cinnamon and sugar. All other ingredients are for flavor and creaminess. Some might add regular milk instead of evaporated, others sweeten with only sugar and not sweet condensed milk. I like the added creaminess the canned milks give this drink.
What does horchata taste like?
Agua de horchata taste like really sweet rice milk with cinnamon. The better question is what does it FEEL like. Even after you put the blended mixture through a strainer, you still end up with some grittiness from the finer particles that went through the strainer. It almost feels like fine sand when you touch it. But honestly the grittiness of it isn’t bad at all!
How do I strain the rice water so that there is no gritty texture?
The best solution I found for this was a nut milk bag. Nut milk bags have a much finer mesh than the metal stainers and will hold back more of the blended rice pieces.
How long will this keep?
Stores well for about 5 days in the refrigerator.
Step by step process
Rinse your rice with a strainer and add it to a bowl.
Soak the rice and cinnamon stick in water overnight or for at least 6 hours. You could maybe get away with 4 hours of soaking.
Place your chocolate in the microwave for about 30-45 seconds or until soft, but not melted.
To a blender add the soaked rice and cinnamon stick with the soaking water, evaporated milk, sweet condensed milk, sugar, vanilla, and softened Mexican chocolate.
Blend for about 1-2 minutes, depending on if you have a a regular or a high speed blender.
To a half gallon size pitcher, while holding a strainer, strain your blended drink mix into the pitcher or jar.
Add 4 more cups of water to fill. You should end. up with half a gallon of liquid total.
Serve in a cup over ice and enjoy!
Agua de Horchata Recipe
- Prep Time: 4-8 hours
- Cook Time: n/a
- Total Time: 4-8 hours
- Yield: 8 (1 cup) Servings 1x
- Category: Drinks
- Method: n/a
- Cuisine: Mexican
Description
Refreshing, creamy agua de horchata, or Mexican rice water, with hints of cinnamon over ice is perfect for warm days or to serve for large gatherings with some tacos!
Ingredients
- ½ cup uncooked white rice
- 1 ½ cups water for soaking
- ¼ Mexican cinnamon stick or 1 teaspoon powdered cinnamon
- ¾ cup evaporated milk
- 1 cup sweetened condensed milk
- ⅓ cups sugar
- 1 teaspoon Mexican or regular vanilla
- ¼ round Mexican chocolate tablet
- 4 cups of water to fill
Instructions
- Rinse your rice over the sink in a strainer.
- In a bowl soak your rice and cinnamon stick in 1 ½ cups of water for at least 4 hours, overnight would be best.
- Once your rice has soaked for 4-8 hours place it into your blender along with the soaking water and cinnamon stick.
- To the blender add the sweet condensed milk, evaporated milk, sugar, and vanilla. Set aside.
- In a microwave, heat the Mexican chocolate for about 1 minute. You want it to be soft like room temperature butter.
- Add the softened chocolate to the blender.
- Blend all of your ingredients for 1-2 minutes or until it looks like there are no big rice pieces.
- Pour over a strainer into a half gallon sized jar or pitcher.
- Pour 4 cups of water into the jar/pitcher with your horchata mix. Stir.
- Serve in a glass over ice and enjoy!
Notes
Stores well for about 5 days in the refrigerator.
Use a nut milk bag for a finer strain.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 8 (1 cup) Servings
- Calories: 233
- Sugar: 32g
- Sodium: 76mg
- Fat: 5g
- Saturated Fat: 3g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 42g
- Fiber: .3g
- Protein: 5.5g
- Cholesterol: 20mg
Keywords: agua de horchata, mexican rice water
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