This Easy Horchata recipe made with brown rice, milk of choice, sugar, and cinnamon served over ice, makes a delightfully refreshing drink for hot summer days. Easy to make dairy-free!
Easy Horchata Recipe
Horchata is a deliciously refreshing Mexican beverage made from rice, milk, sugar, and cinnamon, typically served chilled over ice. And while you can find packets of horchata mix at some stores, making your own from scratch not only tastes better but is super easy too!
Similar to my Colombian avena recipe, which is a beverage made with cooked oatmeal instead, in Mexico, horchata de arroz is a more typical beverage and is naturally gluten-free. It’s usually made with white rice but I experimented with brown rice and raw sugar and the results were lovely. Sweeten to your taste or even experiment with monk fruit or stevia.
Why You’ll Love This Mexican Horchata Drink
- Easy to make. Homemade horchata is simple to make and SO much better than horchata powder mixes. All you need to do is soak and blend the rice then strain it and stir the ingredients together.
- Light & refreshing. Horchata is the perfect drink for cooling down on a hot summer day. Served over ice, it’s light, refreshing, and just slightly sweet.
- Cinnamon-vanilla flavor. This horchata is spiced with cinnamon and a splash of vanilla, for a flavor that’s lightly spiced but not over-powering.
- Pairs perfectly with Mexican food. This rice drink is the perfect alternative to margaritas on your next Taco Tuesday or anytime you cook Mexican.
Recipe Ingredients
This homemade horchata de arroz is made with just a handful of ingredients. Scroll down to the recipe card below for measurements.
- Rice – Use long grain or short grain brown rice.
- Water – For soaking the rice.
- Cinnamon sticks – Adds warm spiced flavor to the drink.
- Milk of your choice – You can use skim milk, evaporated milk, almond milk, coconut milk or another non-dairy substitute.
- Raw sugar – Agave, monk fruit sweetener, or stevia works too.
- Dark vanilla extract – For flavor.
- Ground cinnamon – Adds more of the classic cinnamon flavor.
How To Make Horchata
The hardest part of making horchata is remembering to soak the rice the night before! Scroll down to the recipe card below for printable instructions.
- Soak the rice. Soak the rice in water with the cinnamon sticks for at least 8 hours.
- Blend. Discard the cinnamon sticks and blend the rice and water for about 5 minutes. Pass through a fine mesh sieve twice or a cheesecloth to remove all of the gritty bits.
- Combine. Pour the blended rice, milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla into a pitcher. Stir to combine.
- Chill. Refrigerate until ready to serve, then serve over ice.
Tips and Variations
Here are a few tips for making this Mexican rice drink, as well as some ways to customize it.
- Rice Variations: I used brown rice here, but authentic horchata uses white rice. You can also play around with different types of rice for different flavors like jasmine or basmati rice.
- Be sure to blend completely. It takes a while to blend rice, even after letting it soak all night. I recommend blending for at least 5 minutes.
- Taste test and adjust the sugar. The amount of sweetener needed will vary based on your preferences. Start with a small amount and add more as needed.
- Use your preferred milk. I used skim milk but almond milk is a great alternative. Soy and oat milk can be used too.
- Adjust the consistency. If the drink is thicker than desired after you combine everything, simply add more milk or water to think it out.
Serving Suggestions
Serve your Mexican horchata in a glass over ice and sprinkle with a little bit of cinnamon. It’s a light, refreshing drink that’s perfect for hot summer afternoons. And, of course, it pairs perfectly with Mexican dishes.
Enjoy horchata with your favorite tacos (whether they’re shrimp tacos, chicken tacos, fish tacos or vegetarian tacos like cauliflower, or black bean), enchiladas, shrimp tostadas, shrimp diablo, or whatever your go-to Mexican dish is.
How to Store Homemade Horchata
Horchata can be stored in the fridge for up to 4 days in the pitcher that you prepared it in. Keep in mind that the rice may start to settle to the bottom, so you should always give it a good stir before serving.
More Drink Recipes To Try
- Colombian Salpicón
- Zero-Proof Jalapeno Paloma
- Grapefruit-Ginger Kombucha Mocktail
- Avena
- Watermelon Agua Fresca
Brown Rice Horchata
Equipment
- blneder
Ingredients
- 1 cup rinsed brown rice, I used short grain brown rice
- 4 cups water
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 cup milk of your choice, I used skim milk
- 1/3 cup raw sugar, agave, or sweetener of your choice
- 1 teaspoon dark vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more to topping
Instructions
- Soak the rice overnight or at least 8 hours in water with cinnamon sticks.
- The next day discard cinnamon sticks and blend the rice and water in your blender at the highest speed for about 5 minutes.
- Pass through a fine mesh sieve about two times to catch all the gritty bits. (A stocking works great) Discard the remaining rice pulp.
- Pour into a pitcher, add skim milk, sugar, ground cinnamon and vanilla and mix well by stirring. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- To serve fill a glass with ice, pour horchata into a glass and sprinkle a little cinnamon on each serving just before drinking.
Last Step:
Please leave a rating and comment letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business to thrive and continue providing free, high-quality recipes for you.Nutrition
*This was tricky to calculate, I discarded about 1/2 cup rice pulp so I deducted this from nutritional info.
Refreshing drink for summer. I added much less sweetner. Need to go have a drink of it right now.😄
Could I use brown minute rice?
Really liked this recipe. I did adapt a little…I used 4 packets of Stevia in the Raw and 4 t. organic raw coconut brown sugar, I used almond milk (unsweetened) and Mexican vanilla. It was great and even made for a great protein shake when I used it plus my favorite protein powder.
Wow! It looks so tasty!! I’ll try it for sure, thanks for the post
How about tackling some champurrado next? ☕️
The next day do you need to rinse the brown rice after removing cinnamon stick before blending?
Yes! Remove the cinnamon stick for sure.
The only thing I do differently is no milk – most authentic Horchatas are dairy free. I also like to add almonds with the rice. 🙂
Instead of throwing out the rice pulp, use it to make rice pudding. We tried it once, and it was unbelievable. Plus, no waste!
How long does this stay fresh in the fridge?
My family is having a Mexican themed Mother's Day celebration so this is the perfect treat to bring to spoil my grandmother, aunts and of course my mom. I LOVE your recipes Gina. I am getting married in May of next year and I have been furiously writing down all your recipes for when me and my fiance move in together. Thank you for being a life savor!
Best
Wonderful!
Thank you for all your recipes. I loose weight with them and cook a lot healthier. You're recipes brought me on the right track.
What did I do wrong? Mine came out a bit watery 🙁 I'm sure it was me and NOT the receipe…
So, I am guessing that this could be counted as a serving of dairy on the WW site!?
Aww, I love that coming from a Mexican!! So glad you enjoyed it 🙂
I'm Mexican and this is my absolute favorite drink. This was the best freakin' horchata I've ever had!
looks delish
thank you
Just found this recipe! It's 11pm and it motivated me to get off the couch, find my rice and cinnamon, and give it a soak. I can not wait until tomorrow morning to try it! Your blog is amazing! I may have just fallen in love a little bit. Yep, it's love.
Thanks for this recipe! I'm hoping to try this on my pregnant mother soon. She is very particular with her sweets and I'm hoping she'll like this skinny version. Thank you for helping me master my trickery of healthy drinks and meals~ No one will ever suspect it!
-Bianca
LOVE the brown rice..just made some horchata a second ago..and drinking some now during this hot summer in AZ..so refreshing..love it! I will try short-grain rice next time 🙂
Just soaked my rice (white) last night with cinnamon sticks. Blended in my Vitmaix this morning. Do you get a lot of leftover pulp, cuz when i poured into a fine strainer i didn't see anything left!? So I poured the pureed rice water in a jar along with vanilla and cinnamon. Was off to work but had to try some so I poured a little milk in a glass with a little stevia to sweeten, added ice cubes and poured the horchata mix in the small glass. Gone in seconds! And guess what? When I got home I did the same thing except it was a LARGE glass this time! Fun and simple. Thanks!!
KatyLady- Pier one last year!
Where can I find that striped towel?
Connie, I see we have similar taste in food!
I just finished planning a week's worth of meals only using your recipes! So far, so AMAZING. Your aji verde sauce (from your peruvian chicken recipe) is ON POINT. i love your site and will be using it often! oh and brown rice orchata? GENIUS. thanks!
I love Horchata, and have always wanted to try and make it at home…this will have to be a "must try"!
You should also try unsweetened almond milk, with a dash of nutmeg and cinnamon, a few ice cubes and some sugar or splenda in a blender. For me, the almond milk really does the trick.
This looks awesome! I've never heard of it before. I love your pictures too!
This looks quite yummy! I've never heard of it, sounds like liquid rice pudding 😀
I had to comment and say thank you for your awesome blog. I know it's allot of work but I use it everyday and I'm sure so many others do too. I've made your meals for the last two weeks and they are so tasty and easy. (quick too)
Thanks again,
Rachel
http://designrefinebemine.blogspot.com
if i was to use stevia instead of sugar/agave, how much should i use?
One of my faovrite things, Love it.
I've never had horchata before – is it usually made with white rice? (I'm guessing based on the comments). I just printed it out so I can give it a try!
gina, I love this! looks sooo refreshing yet comforting. jul
I always order this, too, at any Mexican restaurant. So creamy and refreshing. And I get my calcium quotient for the day, too. 😉
Refreshing and cool!!
Yum. I adore horchata so I LOVE that you have a figure friendly version. I usually make mine with vanilla soy milk and almonds (per a Rick Bayless recipe I love) for a fuller flavor, but they both definitely add the calories. I'm curious to see how this compares and also how using brown rice would stack up against using white. I have a cinqo de mayo themed party coming up so I may have to try this and compare.
I love horchata, and love how this is made with brown rice. I can't wait to try making this this weekend!
Just in time for Cinco de Mayo. Thanks.
What is my name- I personally don't like the taste of Stevia, so it really depends on your taste. I prefer the flavor of sugar so I just use less.
Yasmeen, yes soaking it overnight plumps up the rice and makes it soft. So much easier to grind.
Amber- Yes, this is soaked overnight in the refrigerator, raw. No cooking required.
This lasts in my refrigerator about 3 days. My kids love it.
How long can you keep this in the refrig after you make it?
Horchata is one of my favorite drinks…thank you for posting this recipe! 🙂
Oh gosh that looks delish AND refreshing!
oh, i love horchata! i just posted about it a few weeks back. i was missing it hugely since moving out of the US.
i love your version with brown rice and will try that next time! also, i ground up all the rice dry, then added the "rice meal" to the milk + water + cinnamon sticks to soak overnight. perhaps doing it your way and soaking the rice overnight would make it easier to grind in the food processor?
thanks for sharing!
By "soaking" you just put the rice in water? You don't cook it? Thanks! Love your recipes, can't wait to make horchata! We've bought the powder mix kind, and it's not so great 🙂 Thanks again!
Oh my goodness! I am over the moon to see this recipe today. Horchata is my favorite! Can't wait to give this a try 🙂
Do you think stevia would be comparable? I love horchata so I really don't want to sacrifice the taste.
I had no idea horchata was so simple! Can't wait to give it a try!
I was just wondering how to make this the other day. Now I have a healthy way to do it.
Thanks for leaving a comment Cynthia! My daughter likes it sweeter than I do, so she just adds a little bit more sugar but it's so good!
Jenny, it's very simple as long as you don't mind the overnight soaking!
Brilliant! I'll definitely have to try this.
I Love horchata and have to order it at my favorite authentic Mexican restaurant! It will be fun to try out your recipe
btw, I've owed you a comment many recipes ago… I've been lurking (and not knowing how to to comment). I ENJOY your recipes so much, they really are fab, easy and GOOD! I'm hispanic so I love your 'style'
Thank you so much!
Gina, I LOVE horchata and honestly I haven't had very much of it at all since I started this new lifestyle! I CAN'T wait to try it!!! Brown rice, GENIUS!