Puerto Rican eggnog—or coquito—will get you in the holiday spirit

Eggnog may be a traditional drink to serve in the punchbowl during the holiday season, but sometimes it’s fun to turn up the dial on traditions. If you’re looking for something a little extra-special for your Christmas party this year, try filling a pitcher with coquito, a creamy and festive drink that many folks refer to as “Puerto Rican eggnog.”

What’s coquito? It’s a drink from Puerto Rico that translates to “little coconut.” The name is slightly deceiving, though, because this creamy concoction is crammed with big coconut flavor. And while coquito has often been called Puerto Rican eggnog, this delicious drink actually has no eggs in it at all.

Without the eggs, coquito is a no-cook recipe. That means less prep and less mess in the kitchen during one of the busiest times of the year.

Once you’ve gathered up the ingredients, you’ll also need a blender, refrigerator and some patience while your coquito mix chills in order to whip up this celebratory beverage.

Coquito can be made in a variety of ways — including with alcohol or without, so the entire family can enjoy a glass to toast the holidays and the upcoming New Year. And even though coquito has a tropical feel, it’s easy to find ingredients throughout the year at your favorite grocery store. Most coquito recipes use some combination of coconut milk, cream of coconut, warm spices (such as cinnamon and star anise) and rum (for the adults at the holiday party).

Recipes for this Puerto Rican eggnog will vary from kitchen to kitchen, and below you’ll find a few different kinds to try out. Once you’ve found your favorite, coquito might become your new holiday drink tradition.

A Classic Coquito

The basic ingredients you will need for this coquito recipe found on Hip2Save include:

• Coco Lopez cream of coconut
• Unsweetened coconut milk
• Evaporated milk
• Sweetened condensed milk
• Light rum (or extra coconut milk for the non-alcoholic recipe)
• Ground cinnamon
• Ground nutmeg
• Ground cloves
• Vanilla extract
• Shredded coconut
• Cinnamon sticks

The full coquito recipe includes lots of helpful photos and specific quantities to get you mixing right away.

Coquito With Rum Raisins

The Novice Chef’s coquito recipe pulls a pro move by including homemade rum raisins to accompany this simple coquito recipe. The drink takes only 10 minutes to mix together. Then, as the coquito chills in the fridge, the raisins soak in all that flavorful goodness.

Most of the ingredients for this recipe are similar to the previous one. However, The Novice Chef recommends dark rum instead of light rum (“You want to give it good flavor!” the blogger declares). And, of course, there’s the addition of the rum raisins, which will get a head start in the pitcher for about an hour before you blend the rest of the coquito and add it to the pitcher.

A Sassy Coquito Recipe

Puerto Rican native Meseidy of The Noshery website knows a few things about authentic Puerto Rican cuisine. She loves to make this coquito recipe every year not only for herself but also to give as gifts to friends and family. She calls coquito “eggnog’s better-tasting sassy cousin.”

Check out The Noshery’s sassy coquito recipe.

Dip The Coquito Glass In A Spice-Infused Mix

Now that you’ve got the perfect recipe for mixing up your own batch of Puerto Rican eggnog, you’ll want to put some finishing touches on your holiday drink. Here are a few ideas for adding some extra flair to your cup of coquito.

Blogger Heather Lucille boosts the warm, holiday spices of her coquito recipe with a glass rim dipped first in the coquito drink, then into a mixture of cinnamon, sugar and nutmeg. Because why just sprinkle the spices on top when you can get a little fancy?

Trim Your Coquito Glass With Shredded Coconut

Can’t get enough of coquito’s coconut flavor? Why stop with the drink recipe? You can add even more tropical flair to your coquito by coating your glass with shredded coconut!

We love the way the Bacardi coquito recipe from Aubrey’s Kitchen wraps the glass rim with extra shredded coconut like a drinkable holiday gift. Or maybe it looks more like freshly fallen snow. Either way, coconut-dipped glasses look lovely.

If you’re partial to toasted coconut, try Cooked by Julie’s coquito recipe, where toasted coconut is used it to rim the glass.

Have you ever tried this festive Puerto Rican holiday drink?