[1] Some liken horchata to “drinkable rice pudding” because of the notes of rice, cinnamon, and vanilla. This recipe uses sweetened condensed milk (photo © Pampered Chef).

[2] Parents sometimes add a spoonful of cocoa powder to children’s horchata (photo © Sunbasket).

[3] This recipe adds a lime wheel for garnish. Squeeze it into the drink for a bright note (photo © Taste of Home).

[4] The original horchata was made thousands of years ago from tiger nuts. You can buy them online for horchata, snacking, salads and desserts (photo © Anthony’s Goods).

[5] You can buy horchata ready-to-drink, made with almond milk or rice milk (photo © Califia Farms).

[6] How about a horchata latte? Here’s the recipe (photo © Gelson’s).

[6] You can also make a horchata milkshake: horchata ingredients x vanilla ice cream. Here’s the recipe (photo © The Nibble)

Updated September 2026

September 24th is National Horchata Day, celebrating a refreshing from Mexico. It’s one of the more popular varieties of Mexican agua fresca.

A classic, creamy drink, often described as a think milkshake or milk punch, horchata is made with milk, ground rice, cane sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. You can make nondairy versions with your milk of choice.

Brands like Almond Breeze and Rice Dream sell horchata, ready-to-drink; we’re particularly fond of Califia Farms’ horchata, in Classic Cinnamon and Vanilla Coconut flavors (photo #5).

> Horchata recipe.

> Beyond drinking: more ways to enjoy horchata.

> Adding alcohol to horchata.

> The history of horchata.

> The different styles of horchata.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The different types of cinnamon.

> The year’s 24 non-alcoholic beverage holidays (including juice and soft drinks).

> The year’s 25+ Mexican food holidays.
 
 
1. RECIPE: HORCHATA

This recipe requires the overnight soaking of rice. It makes 34 ounces of beverage. If you don’t have a 60-ounce pitcher, you can reduce the amount of water for a 32-ounce pitcher (and a slightly more concentrated flavor).

Mexico uses local cinnamon (canela, a.k.a. Mexican cinnamon), but you can use what you have on hand,
 
Ingredients

 
 
3. ADDING ALCOHOL TO HORCHATA

Because horchata is creamy, lightly sweet, and pronounced with Mexican cinnamon (canela) and vanilla, it behaves much like an airy, plant- or rice-based equivalent of Irish cream or eggnog. The best pairings have roasted, barrel-aged, spiced, or nutty flavor profiles that complement the milky base and warm spice.

• Tall drinks: For a tall glass over ice, use 4 parts chilled horchata to 1.5 parts spirit (e.g., 4 ounces horchata to 1.5 ounces spirit). Stir gently and dust with fresh grated cinnamon or a freshly torched cinnamon stick.
• Layered Drinks: Start with a Spirited Horchata Latte. Shake 1.5 ounces Bourbon or dark rum with 1 ounce espresso or coffee liqueur. Strain over iced horchata, and let the dark spirit float or cascade down through the pale rice milk for a dramatic presentation (photo #6).

Caribbean Spirits

• Aged Dark Rum or Spiced Rum: This is the undisputed classic pairing. Dark rum brings molasses, caramel, and baking spices that seamlessly meld with cinnamon, while spiced rum doubles down on vanilla and clove notes.
• Añejo or Reposado Tequila: Oak aging gives reposado and añejo tequilas notes of vanilla, toasted wood, and cooked agave. This creates an authentic Mexican cocktail (often dubbed a Dirty Horchata) where the earthy agave cuts through the sweetness without curdling the drink.
• Mezcal: For something sophisticated and unexpected, mezcal (made of espadín, Agave angustifolia, not blue agave like Tequila) adds a thread of campfire smoke, minerality, and roasted agave that contrasts brilliantly against the sweet, cooling rice milk.

Whiskies & Brown Spirits

• Bourbon: Bourbon’s high corn content and char-cask aging yield natural notes of vanilla, brown sugar, and toasted oak. It gives horchata a rich, Southern comfort-style profile reminiscent of a light bourbon milk punch.
• Cognac or Aged Brandy: Adds dried fruit, plum, and silky oak elegance, making for a luxurious after-dinner libation.
• Rye Whiskey: If your horchata is on the sweeter side, rye is ideal. Its bold black pepper and baking-spice punch tempers the sweetness and highlights the canela.

Nut Liqueurs

 

[6] Liqueur adds more sweetness than straight spirits. Above: coffee liqueur, amaretto, and chile liqueur (photo © The Nibble).
 
Other Complementary Liqueurs

• Ancho Reyes (Chile Liqueur): Made from macerated ancho chiles, this liqueur brings warm cinnamon-chocolate undertones, subtle vegetal earthiness, and a gentle spicy kick that creates a “Mexican hot chocolate” effect over ice.
• Chai, Ginger, or Spiced Herbal Liqueurs (e.g., Canton): Ginger and allspice amplify the festive, warming qualities of the canela stick garnish.
• Coffee Liqueur (Kahlúa, Mr Black): Combining coffee and horchata produces an instant café de olla or horchata latte vibe. The bitter roasted coffee beans balance the sugary milk, while cinnamon ties the two together.
• Orange Liqueur (Grand Marnier or Cointreau): Citrus oil and cinnamon are classic culinary partners (think sangria or spiced mulled punch). Grand Marnier is especially effective because its Cognac base harmonizes with the creamy rice milk.

We think of horchata as a creamy, refreshing drink from Mexico that tastes similar to rice pudding.

But the first horchata, horchata de chufa* originated in North Africa around 2400 B.C.E., in the area of present-day Nigeria and Mali [source].

The drink was originally made from dried, ground chufa nuts (tiger nuts), Cyperus esculentus), which were combined with water and sweetener, then filtered into a milky-looking drink. Sometimes melon or squash seeds were used.

The “horchata” portion of horchata de chufa derives from the Valencian dialect (a variant of Catalan), where it is called orxata de xufa.

“Orxata” is a name given to various kinds of plant milk beverages.

It was brought to Spain by the Moors in the 8th century, during the Muslim conquest†. It began to spread throughout Hispania (the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces) in the 11th century, and became a popular drink.

The drink spread from Spain to Mexico in the course of colonization.

The Spanish didn’t bring tiger nuts with them to the New World, but they did bring rice. Hence, the genesis of horchata de arroz, flavored with New World cinnamon and vanilla.
 

We think of horchata as a creamy, refreshing drink from Mexico that tastes similar to rice pudding.

But the first horchata, horchata de chufa* originated in North Africa around 2400 B.C.E., in the area of present-day Nigeria and Mali [source].

The drink was originally made from dried, ground chufa nuts (tiger nuts), Cyperus esculentus), which were combined with water and sweetener, then filtered into a milky-looking drink. Sometimes melon or squash seeds were used.

The “horchata” portion of horchata de chufa derives from the Valencian dialect (a variant of Catalan), where it is called orxata de xufa.

“Orxata” is a name given to various kinds of plant milk beverages.

It was brought to Spain by the Moors in the 8th century, during the Muslim conquest†. It began to spread throughout Hispania (the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces) in the 11th century, and became a popular drink.

The drink spread from Spain to Mexico in the course of colonization.

The Spanish didn’t bring tiger nuts with them to the New World, but they did bring rice. Hence, the genesis of horchata de arroz, flavored with New World cinnamon and vanilla (and in some regions, marigolds [source]).
 

[8] Sunbasket adds toasted sesame seeds to its horchata. Here’s the recipe (photo © Sunbasket).
 
 
5. DIFFERENT STYLES OF HORCHATA

We begin with the mother of all New World horchatas, horchata de chufa from Spain. It originated in Alboraya (or Alboraia in Valencian), a coastal town and municipality in the province of Valencia, Spain.

Alboraya is globally famous as the heartland of horchata and for its unique chufa (tiger nut—photo #4) cultivation. The chufa—which holds the official Designation of Origin status of the E.U. (D.O. Chufa de Valencia), are not real nuts‡ but marble-sized tubers dating back to the land of the pharaohs.

Spanish horchata is strictly non-dairy and made from soaked, ground, and pressed chufas. They were brought to the Iberian Peninsula by Arab colonizers in the 8th century (they also brought other foods—see the †† footnote).

Horchata de chufa is blended with water, sugar, and sometimes a hint of lemon peel and cinnamon, to create an earthy, naturally creamy, and slightly nutty beverage.

It’s traditionally served ice-cold alongside sweet, elongated, sugar-glazed yeast pastries called fartons, created specifically to be dipped in the cold tiger nut horchata of Valencia.
 

[8] Horchata de chufa from Valencia, Spain, and the elongated pastries (called fartons) created for dipping (photo © The Nibble).

New World Horchata

Rice** came to Mexico with the Spanish conquest and early colonial settlement in the 16th century.

While in Spain horchata was made from chufa, in Mexico horchata de arroz rice replaced the chufa (which weren’t avaialble in Mexico), along with ground almonds, cinnamon, sugar, and in modern recipes, a touch of vanilla.

Other areas put their own spin on horchata. For example:

• Colombia and Venezuela: chicha de arroz or masato de arroz is a spiced rice-and-milk drink commonly scented with cinnamon and cloves. In the southern Andean regions (near the Ecuadorian border), you also find cross-border culinary cousins to Ecuador’s herbal horchata lojana.
• Ecuador: horchata lojana is a red herbal tea made from steeped medicinal flowers and red herbs rather than grains, but adds a similar mix of the herbs and spices that are used in other types of horchata.
• El Salvador and Honduras make semilla de jicaro with licorice-flavored jicaro seeds (from a calabash that grows on a tree).
>Guatemala: Horchata de arroz con semillas builds upon a long-grain rice base, but is often enriched with toasted seeds, creating a deeper, toastier flavor profile than Mexican horchata. Pepitas (pumpkin seeds) and sesame seeds are lightly toasted on a comal (a traditional, flat metal griddle) alongside the raw rice and cinnamon sticks before being ground together with water. Some old family recipes also add crushed allspice berries (pimienta gorda) or vanilla bean, giving the drink an intensely aromatic, spiced complexity.
• Nicaragua: There are two related drinks. Nicaraguan rice horchata is similar to other Central American varieties. It uses soaked rice and milk, but frequently incorporates toasted sesame seeds (ajonjolí) and a touch of lime zest or peel steeped with the cinnamon. Semilla de jícaro, often grouped under the horchata umbrella, is made from the ground seeds of the jícaro tree (calabash), toasted and blended with rice, cinnamon, vanilla, and milk. It has a distinctive grayish-brown hue and a deeply earthy, cocoa-like undertone.
• Oaxaca Mexico: Here horchata con tuna y nuez offers a famous, colorful twist. Glasses of traditional white rice horchata are topped with a vibrant magenta syrup or purée made from tuna—the sweet fruit of the prickly pear cactus. When served, the striking pink fruit syrup cascades down through the white rice milk, making it as visually stunning. The garnish is chopped cantaloupe and toasted pecans or walnuts (see photo #9 below).
• Puerto Rico: horchata de ajonjoli is made with coconut milk, ground sesame seeds, and rum.
• Venezuela: While referred to as chicha rather than horchata, Venezuela’s chicha criolla shares a very similar lineage. It’s a thick, ultra-creamy, dessert-like beverage made by simmering white rice until very soft, blending it with whole milk, condensed milk, and evaporated milk, and serving it over plenty of crushed ice with an extra drizzle of sweetened condensed milk and a heavy dusting of ground cinnamon on top.

 
Whatever the country, today flavors of the beloved horchata beverage can also be found in baked goods (cake, churros, donuts), candies, chocolate, coffee ice cream, puddings, and more.
 
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[9] Oaxaca-style horchata with added prickly pear purée (photo © The Nibble).
 

**Rice was present in New Spain in the 1500s, brought by the Spanish conquerors. Cultivation of rice led not only to horchata, but over time to preparations such as arroz con leche, sweet rice cooked with milk; buñuelos de arroz, rice-based fritters; and savory rice dishes such as arroz rojo (rice with tomato) and rice as a side with meat or seafood.

†Muslim forces invaded Andalusia (southern) Spain in 711, and in seven years conquered the Iberian peninsula. The Muslim civilization in Iberia reached its peak in the 10th century. Muslim rule declined after that and ended in 1492 when Granada, the heartland of Muslim reign, was conquered by the forces of the [Catholic] king of Castile. This ended nearly eight centuries of Muslim rule.

††Muslim-ruled Iberia became a major channel for crops, farming methods, technologies, and culinary practices from North Africa, the Middle East, and wider Asian trade networks. Among the most important were improved irrigation and water management, including expanded systems for farming in dry regions; and new or improved food-processing and preservation practices, including syrups, dried fruits, flavored waters, and sophisticated milling.

Rice may have been present in Iberia earlier, but cultivation was greatly expanded under Muslim rule. Other key foods: almonds and other nuts; bananas; citrus, especially bitter and sweet oranges; dates; sugarcane (which later became central to Iberian and Atlantic food history; spices including anise, cinnamon, coriander, mint, saffron, and others; and vegetables such as artichokes, eggplant, spinach and a wider range of vegetables and legumes.

Pasta in the form of a dried, string-like durum wheat food called itriyya, that laid the foundation for modern Italian pasta culture. Arabs were introduced to the pasta concept along the Silk Road, from the Chinese who are credited with its invention.

‡Chufa are called “nuts” because they have a wrinkled, striped exterior and a crunchy, nutty flavor that tastes a bit like almonds or pecans. In addition to making horchata, they are dried and eaten as a snack and ground into flour.
 
 

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