Creamy homemade eggnog recipe to enjoy your holiday season with your loved ones.
Choose if you want it spiked with alcohol and if you want to add egg whites.
I show you further below how to make eggnog from scratch easily with whole ingredients.
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📕 What is Eggnog?
Eggnog is a thick holiday milk egg punch that may or may not include rum or any other alcohol.
Traditionally the creamy liqueur is served during the Christmas season and sometimes around Thanksgiving as well.
Eggnog is kind of like a liquid version of custard because the preparation is almost the same.
In fact, this liqueur recipe resembles my vanilla ice cream recipe because the preparation is almost identical.
The beverage also resembles the german egg liqueur (Eierlikör), the dutch advocaat and the South American Ponche Crema.
Popular coffee shop chains came up with their version, and these can be easily recreated at home too. For example, the Starbucks eggnog latte recipe counts as a favorite.
🥛 Ingredients
These are the main ingredients that make eggnog:
- Milk
- Vanilla Bean
- Nutmeg ground
- Whipping cream or heavy cream
- Egg yolks
- Sugar
These are the optional ingredients:
- Alcohol - rum, brandy and similar
- Stiff egg white peaks - egg whites are raw. It can be added to make the egg punch thicker.
🥄 How to make it?
Prepare your own creamy eggnog at home this holiday season!
Making it is not only fun but also super rewarding.
I have broken down the whole process into 3 easy steps.
The full recipe with ingredients, detailed instructions, and video can be accessed further at the bottom of this post.
Step 1
Slit open a vanilla bean and scratch out the seeds.
Heat up a pan and add the milk, vanilla bean, pinch nutmeg and whipping cream to the pot and combine.
Allow the milk to get infused over the heat until the milk starts to get frothy. Do not boil.
Take from the heat and allow the milk to get infused with the flavors by covering in the pot and letting it sit in a corner of your kitchen.
Step 2
Separate egg whites and yolk. Keep whites in the fridge.
Beat egg yolks with the sugar to a pale yellow.
Take out the vanilla bean from the infused milk and discard the bean.
Pour infused milk to the yolk sugar mixture and combine.
Take the eggnog back to the heat.
Cook, whisking continuously until it all thickens and gets frothy. Do not boil!
Place eggnog into a container to keep in the fridge overnight so that flavors get a chance to develop.
Step 3
Just before serving decide if you want a warm or a cold eggnog. Heat up eggnog in a pan if you want it warm.
Decide if you want to make your liqueur thicker by adding stiff egg white peaks (involves raw eggs) and if you want to spike your nog with rum, brandy or whiskey.
If yes to both, beat egg whites stiff and pour and mix the alcohol into the eggnog.
Pour eggnog into a glass and add egg whites to the nog as a white layer. (stiff peaks can be folded into the whole batch too before serving)
Garnish with a pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon.
You can place a cinnamon stick too into the Christmas beverage as a deco piece for your delicious and perfect eggnog.
⏱️ How long does it last?
Your homemade eggnog will last 2-3 days in the fridge and a couple of more days if you add alcohol.
Do not keep it standing out at room temperature because it will turn bad quickly.
I don't think that presenting the egg liqueur in a punch bowl at a party is such a good idea because of that.
Keep your eggnog in the fridge at all times and consume it as soon as possible.
❄️ Freezing
Yes, you can freeze eggnog.
Prepare the recipe as per instructions to add the alcohol if you like but not the stiff egg white peaks.
Keep in a freezer container and freeze.
To thaw take out the eggnog and keep in the fridge overnight to thaw slowly.
When completely unfrozen take your egg nog to a blender to just mix it through before serving warm or cold with or without stiff egg whites.
🥣 Uses
You can also use your finished egg nog in other recipes.
For example to make cake, pancake, waffles or muffins with eggnog flavor.
An easy way to use egg punch in your baked goods is to switch the egg liqueur with the eggnog in my german egg liqueur cake.
💭 FAQs
Eggnog tastes like a drinkable creamy thick custard. The taste is similar to the European egg liqueur.
Alcohol is optional. I think the best alcohol for eggnog is rum, whiskey or brandy. Sometimes I combine 2 or 3. You can also add bourbon and cognac.
Just skip adding the eggnog at the end and you have non-alcoholic eggnog. A great treat for kids, pregnant ladies, and health-conscious folks.
You can make this eggnog recipe lactose free but not vegan because eggs are the star of this holiday beverage. To make it lactose-free switch the milk and whipping cream with coconut milk and coconut cream or use lactose free milk and whipping cream.
Yes, you can drink eggnog while pregnant if alcohol hasn't been added. That is why I give you the option to spike your alcohol at the end of the beverage making process. It's not recommended to drink eggnog spiked with liquor when pregnant.
I like to sprinkle some ground nutmeg and cinnamon over my eggnog with a layer of stiff egg white peaks. I just mix it in with a spoon when I'm ready to enjoy it. You can serve your eggnog warm or cold.
👁️ More recipes
- White Chocolate Liqueur
- Glühwein - German mulled wine
- Glogg - Scandinavian mulled wine
📖 Recipe
Homemade Eggnog Recipe
Ingredients
For the Milk infusion
- 2 Cups Milk
- 1 Vanilla Bean
- Nutmeg pinch
- 1¼ Cup Heavy Cream or heavy cream
For the Egg Custard
- 5 Egg Yolks
- ½ Cup Sugar
To serve
- 1½ Cup Rum optional; or Brandy/ Whiskey *see Notes
- 1 Egg White optional *see Notes
- Nutmeg pinch, optional
- Cinnamon Ground powder and or stick, optional
Instructions
For the Milk infusion
- Start by preparing the infused milk. Pour milk into a pot and heat up.
- Slit open your vanilla bean to take out the seeds with a pointy knife.
- Add the vanilla bean with scratched out seeds into the milk with the nutmeg.
- Pour in whipping cream and combine.
- Heat up the milk until it gets frothy then take from the heat and leave covered at the side somewhere to infuse (covered so that no skin forms). Never boil the milk. Leave to infuse for a minimum 30 minutes, the longer the better for the best flavor result.
For the Egg Custard
- Separate the yolks from the whites. Keep whites at the side.
- Add sugar to the egg yolks one batch at the time and whisk until the two ingredients combine. Add in all the sugar and whisk vigorously. The yolk will turn lighter. Whisk until the yellow is pale.
- When your milk is infused, pick out the vanilla bean and discard the bean.
- Add the infused milk whipping cream mixture to the whisked sugar yolk and combine. If the milk is still hot, a ladl at a time so that the egg doesn't curdle.
- Take the eggnog back to the fire and heat up gradually while whisking. The eggnog will get frotty and hot, don't boil it! Take from the heat.
- Leave the eggnog to cool in a container overnight in the fridge so that the flavors get to develop.
To serve
- Decide if you want to serve your eggnog warm or cooled. Heat up in a pan or take it from the fridge cooled and prep for serving.
- You can spike your eggnog with rum, whiskey or brandy by mixing it in. Boozy eggnog is optional.
- Decide if you want thicker eggnog by adding whisked fluffy stiff egg white peaks. Whisk the egg white for that until stiff and add to the eggnog during the serving time or mix it in before you pour the eggnog into the glasses. *See Notes
- Pour eggnog into glasses, garnish with a pinch of ground nutmeg and cinnamon. Decorate with a cinnamon stick. Serve up!
Notes
- You can choose to spike your eggnog with rum, brandy or whiskey. I used a blend of rum and brandy in the video. Alcohol is optional, so if you want to make eggnog for the kids, skip adding alcohol into the batch and just add your rum or whatever to each glass before pouring in the eggnog.
- To make a thicker eggnog, add stiff egg white peaks to your eggnog. Keep in mind that egg whites are raw so use with caution. Uncooked egg whites have a bad reputation being blamed for salmonella contaminations. Use fresh raw eggs (and perhaps sterilized eggs if that is a thing where you live) and stick to a hygenic enviroment and you are good. I personaly have never had a problem with raw eggs but you need to make the call. You can always skip adding the egg whites to your eggnog if you have health concerns and that's ok too.
- I create an egg whites layer in the glass after I poured the eggnog in because I think it looks nice. Kind of like a latte.
- You can garnish with a pinch of ground nutmeg and cinnamon. This is also optional
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