Dairy-free Eggnog {Paleo + Keto-friendly}

Share This

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

Dairy-free Eggnog {Paleo and Keto-friendly}

Dairy-free Eggnog {Paleo and Keto-friendly}

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!

Dairy-free Eggnog {Paleo and Keto-friendly}

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.

Dairy-free Eggnog {Paleo and Keto-friendly}

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.

Dairy-free Eggnog {Paleo and Keto-friendly}

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.

Dairy-free Eggnog {Paleo and Keto-friendly}

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 and Keto-friendly}

Dairy-free Eggnog {Paleo + Keto-friendly}

gluten-free, grain-free, paleo, dairy-free, vegetarian, keto-option, nut-free option
Print Pin Rate
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes

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.

Dairy-free Eggnog {Paleo and Keto-friendly}

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.

 

Did you make this recipe - or any others from the TY archives?

Share your photos on Instagram, tag @bethmanosbrickey and include the hashtag #tastyyummies

11 Responses

  1. Lia says:

    I love this! How long do you think this would last in the fridge for?

    • Beth @ Tasty Yummies says:

      I just updated the recipe to include this, but to be safe I would say, 2-3 days, probably a little longer with alcohol. (I keep my non-alcoholic a little longer, 5-7 days, to be honest and it’s all good). But note, your senses are usually the most reliable instruments to tell if your eggnog has gone bad. To diagnose bad eggnog this to look for are discoloration (which you will have to have noted your original eggnog color to begin with because it can range from very white to beige to very yellow in color), a lumpy texture and a very distinctive sour smell (which you will notice when opening). These changes occur from lactic acid producing bacteria.

  2. Chelsea says:

    Beth, this looks absolutely phenomenal! I keep meaning to make some dairy-free eggnog, and now I’ll have this recipe to use instead of trying to figure it out for myself. The husband will be so happy!

  3. Helen Peterson says:

    Any way to not use any coconut at all and still be dairy free???

  4. April says:

    Just made this, so good!!! I love it. I also added in a double shot of espresso. Yum!!

  5. Shirley Korson says:

    It looks Delicious! I will go Dairy Free but my Sister has Chickens and I’m comfortable using her Eggs! I can;t wait to try it!!
    Shirley

  6. Allie says:

    Perfection! Beat the eggs in the kitchen aid and blended the other ingredients in the vitamin. Combined both and voila! Didn’t have fresh nutmeg on hand so ended up using about 1 Tablespoon of the less inferior pre-ground nutmeg. Also added a pinch of salt and 1/4 tsp vanilla and dash of all spice. Used mostly stevia to sweeten along with a bit of coconut sugar and maple syrup. Can’t tell it’s mostly stevia and coconut definitely is not overpowering, actually can hardy tell. Thanks for the recipe

  7. Elliot says:

    Do you have to use coconut milk or can I use all almond milk? This looks amazing!

    • Beth @ Tasty Yummies says:

      You can use any dairy or non-dairy milk you’d like, I just find coconut milk to be more rich and thick like traditional eggnog, where almond milk and other nut milks are “thinner” if that makes sense. Hope you love this recipe

  8. Sierra says:

    Hi! I’ve recently had to go gluten/dairy-free for health reasons and was super excited to make this for the holiday season. I opted for the cooked version because I don’t think I’ve ever had uncooked, so I was a bit scared to try it (maybe next time). The flavor was great, but I think I messed up somewhere along the way as there was kinda of a chunky/scrambled egg texture. Maybe the mixture was too hot when I added the eggs?? Do you have any idea what I may have done to cause this odd texture to happen?

Leave a Reply to Helen Peterson Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




STILL HUNGRY FOR MORE?

Sign up for the Tasty Yummies email list and receive notifications when new posts go live, plus get you’ll get exclusive offers, downloads, recipes and more!

DISCLAIMER: This website is written and produced for informational and educational purposes only. Statements within this site have not been approved by the FDA. Content should not be considered a substitute for professional medical expertise. The reader assumes full responsibility for consulting a qualified health professional before starting a new diet or health program. Please seek professional help regarding any health conditions or concerns. The writer(s) and publisher(s) of this site are not responsible for adverse reactions, effects, or consequences resulting from the use of any recipes or suggestions herein or procedures undertaken hereafter.