Strawberry Horchata

🥄 Ingredients

• 1 cup uncooked long grain white rice
• ½ cup blanched slivered almonds
• 1 Mexican cinnamon stick, (broken in half (also known as Ceylon cinnamon))
• 6 cups water (divided)
• 3 cups whole milk
• 12 ounces evaporated milk
• ½ - ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Ground cinnamon, (for topping)
• 1 ¼ pounds strawberries, (stemmed, hulled, and quartered)
• 1 cup water
• 1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar
• Quartered or diced strawberries

👨‍🍳 Instructions

1. 1

   Rinse the rice under running water until the water runs clear.

2. 2

   Add the rinsed rice, almonds, cinnamon stick, and 3 cups of water to a large bowl or pitcher. Cover and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours, up to 24 hours.

3. 3

   While the mixture is soaking, make the strawberry puree. In a medium saucepan, add strawberries, water, and sugar.

4. 4

   Over medium-low heat, bring the strawberry mixture to a simmer and cook uncovered for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow it to cool slightly, about 10 minutes.

5. 5

   Blend the strawberry mixture until smooth. Transfer to an airtight container and set aside to fully cool, about 20 minutes, before transferring to the refrigerator until ready to mix into the horchata.

6. 6

   Pour the soaked almond mixture and all its contents into a large blender and add in the 3 cups of remaining water. Blend on high until completely smooth, about 2 to 5 minutes depending on the power of your blender. You may need to work in batches depending on the size of your blender.

7. 7

   Strain the blended mixture through a fine mesh strainer or nut milk bag to remove any solids. This may require straining 2 to 4 times to remove all the grittiness.

8. 8

   When completely smooth, pour it into a large pitcher and mix in the strawberry puree, milk, evaporated milk, granulated sugar, and vanilla extract. Stir until all the ingredients are well combined.

9. 9

   Serve over ice and top with ground cinnamon and chopped strawberries.

📊 Nutrition (per serving)

Nutritional values are estimates from the original source.