Looking for a substitute for sweetened condensed milk? Try this homemade recipe with 7 different sweetener options! An easy DIY that you can make ahead for the holidays. Plus a dairy-free & lactose-free option!
The temptation to buy canned goods and pre-packaged items tends to come in waves. Right now, with Thanksgiving just around the corner, it’s a tsunami.
My half of the Thanksgiving menu is nailed down: smoked turkey, slow cooker cranberry sauce, healthier sweet potato casserole, homemade cloud rolls, vanilla bean cheesecake apples, and pumpkin pie. With six dishes to make within a 3-day window (and high standards set for every single one of them), taking the easy route and NOT making everything from scratch sounds really nice…
But this tugs a bit with my real food, make-things-from-scratch side. I want to take short cuts, but I’m learning more and more about those mystery ingredients. And what I do know scares me more than what I don’t.
So I thought this week would be a good time to make homemade sweetened condensed milk.
You know, that ingredient you don’t add to your grocery shopping list because you think you already have it at home… and then when you go to make a pie or candied yams, you realize you don’t have it after all.
Yep, that’s the one.
We’ve got nearly a full week until Turkey Day and with all the hoopy-do going on with the holiday and company coming in town, now is as good as time as any, right?
What is Sweetened Condensed Milk?
Sweetened condensed milk is basically slow-cooked milk. This makes the excess water content evaporate but doesn’t scald the milk. Sweetener is added to make it ready for recipes. It doesn’t take a long time to make, but it does take longer than it does to open a can.
Why Make Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk?
Making food from scratch is often the best way to save money on real food. However, you also have to factor in whether it’s worth your time to make it. I don’t typically make homemade pasta because I can buy it for cheap and it takes way too long to make from scratch.
It’s also important to consider the ingredients in store-bought vs homemade foods. Like coffee creamer. We quit coffee creamer a long time ago because the ingredients are just too processed to be considered food. The cost to make homemade vanilla bean creamer is about the same or more than if I bought it at the store. But the health benefits weigh out the time and cost.
In terms of ingredients, the advantages of homemade condensed milk are huge. You have COMPLETE control over the ingredients you use and can make it yourself based on where you are in your real food journey, what you have access to, your dietary restrictions and what you can afford.
That’s why I prefer to make homemade sweetened condensed milk.
Sweetened Condensed Milk Ingredients
Sweetened condensed milk is essentially milk and sugar. When you make it homemade, you have the choice of what kind of milk and what kind of sweetener you want to use!
You can use whatever milk you have:
- Raw milk
- Non-homogenized milk
- Organic milk
- Conventional milk
- Powdered milk
- Dairy-free or lactose-free (here’s how I made it with coconut milk and almond milk!)
More on the difference between organic milk and conventional milk HERE.
You can use whatever sweetener you have (I tried all of these!):
- Honey
- Maple syrup
- Coconut sugar (aka palm sugar)
- Sucanat (aka Rapadura, Demera or Jaggery)
- Evaporated cane juice (aka organic sugar, evaporated cane sugar)
- Granulated sugar (aka white sugar, we like turbinado)
- Brown sugar
Why did I make 7 different types of sweetened condensed milk? Well, I was kinda curious if using a different sweetener would matter in terms of taste and color. The color certainly changed with different sweeteners. But it won’t affect the look of your final dish.
The taste, oddly enough, didn’t differ much. You can taste a little difference between maple syrup vs honey, or brown sugar vs. evaporated cane juice, but in the end, they all taste like sweetened milk… and delicious!
How to Make Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk
Homemade sweetened condensed milk is the ideal multi-task project when you have spare time and the inkling to feel productive. Kinda like homemade yogurt. And both offer the “whoa, I just made that from scratch?!” feeling too.
No special cooking skills are required and you only need a few tools:
- A saucepan
- A whisk
- A jar (I like these)
- And a couple of hours of hanging around the house.
How to Use Sweetened Condensed Milk
The first thing that comes to mind is a traditional pumpkin pie. But there are other desserts like dulce de leche and pound cake. If you need a substitute for sweetened condensed milk, use the homemade version below. Or skip it and try a healthier pumpkin pie!
Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk
Looking for a substitute for sweetened condensed milk? Try this homemade recipe with 7 different sweetener options! An easy DIY that you can make ahead for the holidays.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 2 hours 30 mins
- Total Time: 2 hours 35 mins
- Yield: 3/4 cup 1x
- Category: Make it yourself
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole milk
- 1/2 cup sweetener
- 2 Tbsp salted butter
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (Here’s how to make your own)
Instructions
- Combine milk and sweetener in a medium saucepan. Whisk stirring constantly to dissolve sweetener over medium heat.
- When the milk begins to steam, lower the temperature to as low as possible.
- Dip a straw into the milk and use a permanent marker to draw a line on the straw, just above where the milk hit.
- Allow milk to reduce to half in size from what it first was, periodically checking with the straw and stirring. This took approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes for me.
- When milk is reduced by half, remove from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla extract.
- Pour into a clean glass jar and allow to cool completely. Store in the refrigerator.
Notes
The honey and coconut sugar thickened up considerably more than the other sweeteners, but they also seemed to separate a bit while reducing in size. When using these sweeteners, whisk the milk periodically instead of just stirring.
In general, these milks were thinner than conventional sweetened condensed milk. If this concerns you, allow milk to continue to reduce in size until all the water is removed.
Keywords: homemade sweetened condensed milk
Hey Tiffany!
I wonder if this sweetened condensed milk can be made in a crockpot. I’ve tried the store-bought version of sweetened condensed milk, specifically to make the filling for homemade peppermint patties, and it tastes amazing!
Hey Tiffany!
I’d certainly like to try making this recipe one day, and I wonder if there’s a way to make it in something like a crockpot. I bought sweetened condensed milk at the store and made the filling for homemade peppermint patties with it. https://houseofyumm.com/homemade-peppermint-patties/. Yum-ers! I wonder if it would work for the filling of homemade Oreos. Maybe I could use it to make one of your cakes. Would that make the cake as soft and fluffy as the professional kinds from the bakery?
Annabelle, as long as you got the milk stiff enough it would work for Oreo filling. As for cakes, a large part of getting them soft and light is in the leavening agents but condensed milk is known to make cakes fluffy and moist.
I just tried this using honey….I thought I would speed up the process a bit with more heat and the milk instantly CURDLED…..Wonder if it was just the too high of a temperature that might have caused this???
★★★★★
High heat will make milk curdle (that’s why the recipe says to use low heat 😉 )
Is this something that can be processed? I dont use SCM often, but I would like to have some in my storage.
THANKS!
Good question! I don’t know for sure Carrie, but you could probably freeze it. The consistency MIGHT change, but then again, it might not with all the sugar.
How long does it take to condense. does it condense as it is cooling ?
Hi Brook – it condenses as it cooks, slightly thickens as it cools. It takes awhile – over 2 hours for me. How long it takes you will depend on a few factors, including how hot your stove cooks, but the best gauge is the eye!
Could you reduce down in a slow cooker?
You probably can Roni. Prop the top open with a couple chopsticks and stir now and then to ensure the milk doesn’t burn. I haven’t done this myself, but that’s what I would do if I was going to give it a try.
Did you freeze your extra batches? I’m loving the options you gave us. I used honey and pure maple syrup in combination for a double batch because I didn’t have quite enough honey. It’s going to be wonderful!
★★★★★
Just curious…If I make this with 1 1/2 cups of whole milk & 1/2 cup white granulated sugar approximately how much should the final product yield???
Anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4 cup, depending on how thick you want it.
I made a version of this recipe with canned coconut milk (honestly, just because that’s the only milk I had on hand) and liquid stevia. It tastes SO good! I started reducing it on low heat after I got home from work and 3 hours later, it had reduced less than half. If you like yours thicker, leave it on longer and don’t rush it…it has a tendency to overflow.
1 can whole fat coconut milk (I used organic)
1/4 tsp liquid stevia
2 Tbl butter (I used unsalted because that’s what I have on hand)
1 tsp pure vanilla
I literally have eaten spoonfuls..I added it to my coffee JUST to have more…and at least “look normal” at work.
★★★★★
By the way, has anyone used evaporated milk in this recipe instead? I’m wondering if it would speed up the process. I like the taste of evaporated milk in cooking and had seen another recipe that used it but didn’t see any feedback on how the final product worked and tasted. Would love to hear about it if someone has tried it. Thanks!
Hi Dianna, I know this comment is several years old but I just made condensed milk from evaporated recently, so thought I’d answer! I didn’t use this recipe though, so can just give you feedback generally. 🙂 it was another one that just used 1 can of evaporated milk, 1 cup sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract. I couldn’t use vanilla because it’s really scarce in the shops at the moment! I used Nestle Carnation evaporated milk and it took about 20-25 minutes.
It was really nice and better than when I made condensed from whole milk (using a recipe from another site). The one I made with whole milk tasted quite nice but it was “bitty” (had bits in it), maybe because the milk got caught in the pan, or it separated or something? I don’t know but the one from evaporated was smooth. I mean to try Tiffany’s recipe with the butter and vanilla extract in as well. (Might have to make my own vanilla extract if I still have trouble getting it, lol.). Hope I could help, if you haven’t already made condensed milk from evaporated by now! 🙂
Zania
I was just on another website (www.kitchenstewardship.com) looking at sugar and substitutions that are healthier, etc. Someone brought up a product called Wheylow which is being used by diabetics and others interested in non-GMO, better tasting, low calorie substitutions. I looked at the Wheylow website (www.wheylow.com) to learn more. It is extremely expensive but the testimonials say consumers can taste no difference and the glycemic index for Wheylow is extremely low when compared to various sugar products and substitutes. Don’t know if it will help your readers but it would be interesting to try. By the way, both type 1 and 2 diabetics have been using this products as well as others just trying to use a healthier substitute.
Why wheylow is not healthy: it’s just sugars: sucrose, fructose and lactose. A study reported in Nutrition and Metabolism said: “A high flux of fructose to the liver, the main organ capable of metabolizing this simple carbohydrate, perturbs glucose metabolism and glucose uptake pathways, and leads to a significantly enhanced rate of de novo lipogenesis (fat creation) and triglyceride synthesis… These metabolic disturbances appear to underlie the induction of insulin resistance commonly observed with high fructose feeding in both humans and animal models.” It’s bad the same way agave is bad, it doesn’t spike your blood sugar because it’s going directly to your liver and gets turned into fat, and puts you at risk for fatty liver disease. Here is an interesting study about diabetics and honey: Bahrami, mohsen, Asal Ataie-Jafari et Al. “effects of natural honey consumption in diabetic patients: an 8-week randomized clinical trial”.international Journal of Food Sciences and nutrition, november 2009; 60(7): 618-626. There are other studies to be found online as well, showing that modest amounts of honey would be better for diabetics.
How do you preserve your sweetened condensed milk? Is it possible to use pressure canner or water bath canner to preserve it? I would guess that freezing is not an option because of how it changed the texture of some dairy products.
Hi Anita! Sweetened condensed milk will keep for a LONG time in the fridge thanks to the sugar. Last year I kept mine for 6+ weeks without any issues. I wouldn’t freeze it, so if you don’t need much, I’d halve the recipe.