The first time I made vegan condensed milk was for my dairy-free banana pudding. I feel in love with it and love using it my dairy-free and vegan recipe!!

Is Condensed Milk the Same as Sweetened Condensed Milk?

Long story short, yes. A lot of people say condensed milk when they mean sweetened condensed milk.

Most supermarkets in the US only carry sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk.

Sweetened condensed milk/condensed milk is a shelf-stable product made of exactly what it sounds like, concentrated milk and sugar. Roughly 60 percent of the water gets removed from the milk, then sugar is added before it’s canned.

Condensed milk is usually about 40 percent sugar, which gives it a thick, cream texture and a super-sweet flavor.

There aren’t any products labeled unsweetened condensed milk, since that’s essentially evaporated milk.

Ingredients and Substitutions

This recipe is pretty straight-forward but some swaps and substitutions you can made!

Unsweetened coconut milk – I highly recommend using the full fat coconut that comes in a can, like this! Be sure to avoid coconut milk that comes in a carton, it usually doesn’t have a high fat percentage and makes it a lot harder to cook down.

If you have a coconut allergy, use other types of dairy-free milk. They are usually thinner than coconut milk, so they will yield a thinner condensed milk. However, they still work great! You can use oat, almond, soy, hemp, or flax milk!

If you use one of these alternative milks, I recommend cooking down the mixture for an extra 15 minutes, and using 1 cup of sugar instead of 3/4 cup to help give it a thicker consistency.

Vegan sugar – Not all sugar is vegan! Most brands of white sugar aren’t vegan because they’re usually bleached with bone char.

A few brands of sugar that are vegan and work great in this recipe are Sugar in the raw, Wholesome, and Trader Joe’s. If you want your vegan condensed milk to be white, be sure to use one of these.

You also can use less processed sugars that aren’t bleached like turbinado sugar, light brown sugar, or coconut sugar.

I personally like using turbinado sugar in this recipe because of the flavor it adds. However, if you use these your condensed milk will look brown once it’s fully cooked down (like in the photo below).

Or if you’re just focused on making dairy-free condensed milk, you can use regular white sugar.

How to Make This Dairy-Free Condensed Milk

Let’s quickly walk through how to make dairy-free sweetened condensed milk!

Start by pouting the coconut milk and vegan sugar to a large sauce pan. Heat over medium, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved.

Once sugar has dissolved, reduce the heat to allow the mixture to simmer.

Continue to stir occasionally until the mixture has reduced in volume by half. It should look thicker and darken in color.

This usually takes me about an hour, and I stir the mixture every 5 minutes or so. Don’t be worried if it starts to form a skin. It will cook down and be smooth in the end, I promise!

Once it’s cooked down down you should be able to drag your spatula through it and see the bottom of the pan for a couple seconds.

Remove the pan from heat and let the mixture cool to room temperature. It should continue to thicken as it cools.

Place in an air tight container (I like to use mason jars) and store the fridge for up to a month.

Making this Dairy-Free Condensed Milk in Advance

As an added bonus, this stuff keeps forever!! It can be stored in an airtight container for up a month.

I like to make it advance and love having a batch in my fridge at all times.

Tips for Making the Best Vegan Condensed Milk

• Use a large skillet to help the mixture cook down more evenly and quickly.
• Stir frequently as the coconut milk cooks down to make sure the mixture at the edge of the pan doesn’t brown or over-thicken.
• Make sure the mixture is gently simmering, not boiling as it cooks down. You don’t want the heat to be too high or you can burn the condensed milk.

What Can I Make with this Vegan Condensed Milk?

This vegan condensed milk can be used any way regular sweetened condensed milk is! I love using it to vegan or dairy free versions of the following recipes.

• Dairy-free banana pudding
• Mirror glaze recipe
• Dulce de Leche
• Fudge
• No-bake cheesecake
• Vietnamese coffee

Let Me Know What You Think

If you try this vegan sweetened condensed milk recipe, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Leave a rating below, and tag me on social @chelsweets and #chelsweets so I can see your creations.

Other Recipes You Might Like:

• 

• 

• 

•