The Best Tasting Vegan Eggnog

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You will not believe the incredibly authentic taste of this vegan eggnog! The secret ingredients are coconut milk, jello instant pudding, and rum flavoring. Add a few other seasonings along with plant milk and you will be happily surprised at the rich and creamy flavor of this cashew-free, egg-free, and dairy-free eggnog!

Using coconut milk makes creamy vegan beverages a snap to make! You get the rich texture you would expect from dairy cream without the dairy!

Vegan hot chocolate, pumpkin spice coffee creamer, or homemade dairy-free chocolate liqueur wouldn’t be as rich, creamy, or smooth without coconut milk as a main ingredient.

It’s about the holiday traditions

Once we decided to eat vegan, the challenge was to make our family’s favorite traditional foods vegan-friendly. What would the holidays be without Cranberry Bliss Bars, Classic Breakfast Casserole, or Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats?

Sometimes it's simply a matter of finding "accidently vegan" products and incorporating them into your recipes. Other times you will need suitable substitutions to make family-favorite non-vegan foods vegan.

My family has always been big on holiday traditions. Would you believe that one of our traditions is to toast the season with eggnog from a glass moose cup just like the Griswalds on National Lampoon’s Christmas vacation! I know – we’re weird…

I think you will really like this vegan makeover on one of our favorite holiday traditions. We always loved the eggnog out of a carton – not the fancy recipe “homemade” eggnog. I searched and search to find suitable vegan substitutions that gave this eggnog recipe that particular flavor.

You might be surprised to find Jello Pudding Mix in the ingredient list below. Yes, besides the possible sugar issues, Jello pudding mixes are known as accidentally vegan. They are thickened with cornstarch and NOT gelatin! Using coconut milk was also a real game-changer in this recipe and gave it that creamy

Ingredients needed to make vegan eggnog

You will need:

• large instant vanilla jello pudding mix (Is it vegan? See below.)
• sugar
• rum extract
• nutmeg
• ground cloves
• ground cinnamon – also you can use cinnamon sticks for garnish
• 2 cans of lite coconut milk
• oat milk – I use extra creamy (you can use another plant milk of choice)

No cashews?

I really wanted smooth and creamy eggnog, just like I remembered. So I tried a few different cashew-based vegan eggnogs.

They were good…enough. But didn’t exactly meet my standards for flavor. Remember, I was looking for that carton eggnog flavor. Which I understand might not be everyone’s ideal…. But don’t judge it – try it! You won’t be sorry!

I then tried with various starches but the texture wasn’t right.

I even had a few silly failures. Here is a photo from one failed attempt with cashews and starch. Just so that you know that my food blogger’s kitchen isn’t always a perfect kitchen.

Luckily, a friend with egg allergies told me about a trick she used with Instant Vanilla Jello Pudding. It was a Christmas Eggnog miracle!

Is Instant Jello Pudding mix vegan?

Well…probably. The pudding mix does not contain diary or eggs. It is known as accidentally vegan in several vegan food circles.

I like to be honest about ingredients though so that everyone can meet their ethics. There is one questionable ingredient: mono- and diglycerides which may or may not be sourced from animal fats. They don’t say and we may never really know.

But for my level 50 and above vegans (and I say this with respect), you might want to find another recipe. For my plant-based eaters and other vegans, using instant vanilla pudding is the perfect mix-in for smooth and flavorful dairy-free and egg-free eggnog!

How to make vegan eggnog

It’s super easy!

Just combine all the ingredients except the oat milk into a blender. Blend for a few minutes until smooth.

You could certainly add the oat milk too, BUT there just isn’t a blender large enough!

After everything is blended smooth, pour into a 2 quart or larger pitcher and gradually stir in the plant milk.

Can I add alcohol?

Of course, you do you! I prefer to mix up the eggnog without alcohol first, and then let people add what they want. I prefer without, while others like bourbon and some choose rum. Just pour your glass, leaving room for your shot of choice.

This will serve eight and can keep in the fridge covered for a couple of days. Enjoy!

The recipe for vegan eggnog