Description
Ingredients
🌾 Soak
- 1 cup / 190 g long-grain white rice
- ½ cup / 70 g blanched almonds
- 1 Mexican cinnamon stick
- 4 cups / 960 ml warm water
🥤 Finish
- 3 cups / 720 ml cold water
- ½ cup / 100 g granulated sugar, plus more to taste
- 1 tsp / 5 ml vanilla extract
- 1 pinch kosher salt
Instructions
Soak the rice
- Rinse the rice under cold water until the water runs mostly clear. This removes excess surface starch and helps the finished drink taste cleaner.
- Put the rice, almonds, cinnamon stick, and warm water in a large bowl or container. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 8 hours.
- Break the cinnamon stick once or twice before soaking if you want a slightly stronger cinnamon flavor.
Blend and strain
- Transfer about half of the soaked mixture, including some of the soaking liquid, to a blender. Blend for 1 to 2 minutes, until the rice and almonds look very finely broken down. Repeat with the remaining mixture.
- Strain the blended mixture into a pitcher through a very fine-mesh strainer. Press on the solids to extract as much liquid as you can, then strain once more if you want an especially silky drink.
- Stir in the cold water, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Taste and add a little more sugar if you want a sweeter glass, or a splash more water if you want it lighter.
Chill and serve
- Chill for at least 1 hour before serving. Stir or shake well before pouring, because some settling is completely normal.
- Serve very cold. Success looks like a pale, silky drink with a clear cinnamon aroma, gentle sweetness, and just the faintest soft rice sediment after stirring.
Notes
- Chill it fully before deciding on the final sweetness, because cold horchata tastes softer and less sweet than it does at room temperature.
- A second strain is worth it here if you want the most polished, silky texture.
- Blend in batches if needed, because overcrowding the blender makes it harder to break the rice and almonds down finely.
- Press the solids firmly but not aggressively through the strainer, so you get body without forcing too much grit into the pitcher.
- Serve over plenty of ice only if the horchata is well chilled first, otherwise the first glass can taste watered down too fast.
- Vanilla should stay quiet in the background, so stop at a small amount if you want the rice and cinnamon to stay in front.
- If you like a richer glass, hold back a little of the finishing water and add it only after tasting.
- Natural settling is part of the drink’s character, so a quick stir before pouring is all it needs.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Soaking + Chilling: 5 hours
- Cuisine: Mexican