This Dairy-free Eggnog is creamy, rich, frothy and can be made with or without alcohol for a delicious holiday treat!

Holiday traditions of the edible and drinkable persuasion, those are as powerful and important as any others. But the traditional, seasonal foods of today, they pale in comparison to those our grandparents enjoyed. Store bought eggnog is generally loaded with tons of sugar and corn syrup, artificial flavors, pasteurized and denatured dairy, theres gums and other stabilizers and who knows what else. Even the vegan nogs at the store, the amount of sugar in there is just insanity and there’s so much non-food products hidden within. For me, it’s just not worth it, even if just once a year, especially when you can make your own and kill it!

While I prefer to avoid most dairy and have developed a pretty solid vegan eggnog recipe in the past, I realized recently that I was shorting myself on a pretty rad eggnog experience by skipping out on the eggs. Like, why was I doing that? I mean, after all, it wasn’t called “cashewnog” for the last however many decades. Why had it never dawned on me to meet in the middle with my nog, drop the dairy, keep the eggs, sweeten accordingly.

This homemade dairy-free eggnog has the same creamy, richness of a traditional eggnog, with a really, nice, light frothiness that I prefer to a super duper, heavy cream-loaded nog. Thanks to the separated yolks and whites (inspired by this recipe), it’s simple to make but the texture is perfect every time. It’s the perfect balance of creamy and frothy. This is a really solid base recipe and from here you can play with spices and flavorings. Try a Bourbon Maple version, or maybe a Pumpkin Spiced rendition, add in some pumpkin puree and pie spice, maybe cinnamon liquor in the mix. Or Gingersnap inspired with a little molasses and ginger or gingersnap liquor.

But Raw Eggs? 

You might wondering: Is it safe? As many of you already know, eggs (especially when raw or very lightly cooked) are an excellent source of Vitamins A, D and E, they are rich in essential fatty acids, protein, enzymes, choline, riboflavin, biotin, magnesium, potassium, copper and so much more.

While salmonella is often thought of as a concern with raw eggs, I personally am not worried about this, when I am consuming eggs from healthy, pasture-raised hens. To read more about the many reasons why raw pastured eggs shouldn’t be something we fear, check out this post from The Food Renegade.

Plus, it’s also really important to note that statistically speaking, only about one in every 20,000 egg that are sold in the US is contaminated with salmonella.  Assuming you’re getting a random sample of eggs and using 4 of them in a batch of this nog, that’s a .02% chance of being exposed. You’re good.

But here’s a great reason to really get into the holiday “spirit”, eggnog that contains booze, helps increase the safety. Alcohol kills bugs. In an experiment conducted by Rockefeller University with NPR’s Science Friday, for more than five decades, microbiologists at Rockefeller’s Laboratory of Bacterial Pathogenesis and Immunology have made a batch of eggnog before Thanksgiving, aged it for about a month in the lab’s cold room, and then served it at the December holiday party. They discovered that even in adding salmonella to the nog, over time, the spirits lessened the bacteria present.

Sweetness

Babe you so sweet you don’t even need any sugar. Seriously though, since I don’t really consume much sugar or sweeteners, personally my palette is wired for minimal sweetness. Additionally, I find coconut milk to have an inherent sweetness on  it’s own, so I go quite light when sweetening this eggnog. For me, in one batch, I use a small amount of monk fruit 1/4 cup or less and a little maple syrup under 1 tablespoon and it’s perfect and I don’t have to worry about a blood sugar spike. Check out the notes below the recipe for other ideas, but you can literally use any sweetener you’d like. Honey, maple syrup, stevia, raw cane sugar, etc. Go light, make a batch and then add more sweetener as needed to your taste.

Dairy-free Eggnog {Paleo + Keto-friendly}

gluten-free, grain-free, paleo, dairy-free, vegetarian, keto-option, nut-free option

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Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes minutes

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Ingredients 

• 4 pasture raised eggs, yolks and whites separated
• ¼ cup sweetener, see notes
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup, optional
• 1 can full fat organic coconut milk
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk or other non-dairy milk, see notes
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
• optional: 3 ounces dark rum, brandy, bourbon or a mix

Instructions

• In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg yolks until they lighten in color. (or use a handheld mixer or hand blender with a large bowl) Gradually add the sweetener(s) and continue to mix until it is completely dissolved, about 2 minutes. The yolks should be ribbony.
• Add in the coconut milk, almond milk and freshly ground nutmeg. If you are adding liquor, add that now. Mix at a low speed until well combined and creamy. Move to a large mixing bowl. Give the bowl from the stand mixer a quick clean.
• Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a handheld mixer or hand blender with a large bowl) and beat the egg whites to soft, not quite stiff peaks, about 90 seconds.
• With a handheld whisk or rubber spatula, fold /whisk whipped whites into egg yolk/milk mixture until completely incorporated.
• Chill until ready to serve. It continues to thicken as it chills. Give it a good shake or whisk before serving, a little separation is natural. Ladle or pour into goblets, serve garnish with grated nutmeg.
• Store in the fridge: keeps for 2-3 days, probably a little longer with alcohol

Notes

Notes on sweetener:
Sweeten to taste, with your desired sweetener. Combine, use as little as you want, add more as needed.
You can use all maple syrup or some coconut sugar, some maple syrup (obviously coconut sugar will darken the color)
You can also use honey, regular granulated pure cane sugar, a few drops of stevia, etc.
I use barely 1/4 cup granulated monkfruit and just a smidge of maple syrup, this is plenty sweet for my taste.
I find that there is a sweetness from the coconut milk, so this is also quite delicious without any sweetener at all.

Notes on milks: you can certainly use ALL coconut milk, but I find the coconut flavor to come through this way. Additionally, any non-dairy milk will work, almond, cashew, hemp, etc.

For a quicker, less frothy nog, you can use a cocktail shaker. Working in 2 batches, combine all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake vigorously until homogeneous. Strain into chilled glasses and repeat. You can also make in a high speed blender.

For Cooked Eggnog:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the sweetener(s) and continue to mix until it is completely dissolved, about 2 minutes. The yolks should be ribbony. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, over high heat, combine the coconut milk, almond milk and nutmeg and bring just to a boil, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and gradually temper the hot mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Then return everything to the pot and cook until the mixture reaches 160º F. Remove from the heat, stir in spirits, if using, pour into a medium mixing bowl, and set in the refrigerator to chill.

Place the egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer (or use a handheld mixer or hand blender with a large bowl) and beat the egg whites to soft, not quite stiff peaks, about 90 seconds.
With a handheld whisk or rubber spatula, fold / whisk whipped whites into the chilled egg yolk/milk mixture until completely incorporated.

Chill until ready to serve. It continues to thicken as it chills. Ladle or pour into goblets, serve garnish with grated nutmeg.