Healthy Homemade Coffee Creamer
Posted Mar 17, 2019, Updated May 12, 2024
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This Healthy Homemade Coffee Creamer Recipe is easy to make with 4 ingredients, and it’s even more delicious than store-bought creamers!
A good friend once said to me, “drinking tea is like getting a friendly handshake, but drinking coffee is like getting a warm hug.” It’s so so true.
I look forward to the warm embrace of a good cup ‘o joe every morning with my breakfast. I do like a touch of sweetness and creaminess in my coffee, which is why I created this homemade coffee creamer recipe.
It tastes amazing but has no artificial ingredients, preservatives, etc.
If you’re a creamer user like me, you will love that this Paleo Vanilla Coffee Creamer is just slightly sweet but adds a wonderful, deep, complex, vanilla flavor to your coffee!
Healthy Coffee Creamer: Ingredients & Substitutions
As always, I recommend making this recipe exactly as written! But here are a few substitutions that are possible.
- Coconut milk: lite works well, but full-fat is best.
- Almond milk. The almond milk is added to this recipe to ensure that it doesn’t solidify when stored. In this case, any other nondairy milk can be used in place of almond milk.
- Coconut sugar: Maple syrup or honey may be used in place of some (or all) of the coconut sugar.
- Vanilla beans: If you want to make this quicker and easier, substitute 1 teaspoon vanilla extract for the vanilla bean. Add the extract once the sugar is dissolved and you remove the mixture from the heat.
How to Make Coffee Creamer
Let’s walk through the steps in making this healthy vanilla coffee creamer and don’t forget to watch the video.
Begin by putting the ingredients (except for vanilla beans) into a small saucepan and whisking to combine.
Next, warm the mixture until it just begins to boil then remove the pan from the heat. Be very careful not to actually let it boil, because it will result in a big mess!
Next, scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and stir them into the warm paleo coffee creamer mixture. Then add the whole vanilla bean pods.
After the vanilla beans and pods are added, cover the pot, and let it sit for 30 minutes for the vanilla bean flavor to really infuse into the healthy coffee creamer.
Choose a large glass jar and place a fine mesh metal sieve over it. Strain the vanilla coffee creamer into the jar and discard the vanilla bean pods.
How to Deseed a Vanilla Bean
To remove the seeds from a vanilla bean, follow these instructions:
- Cut the bean in half (as pictured below).
2. Carefully slice each piece of the vanilla bean lengthwise with a very sharp knife. Make shallow cuts that do not go all the way through the pod.
3. Use a small spoon and scrape out the seeds on the inside of the bean.
4. Stir the spoon with the vanilla seeds into the coffee creamer mixture and repeat with the remaining pod pieces!
Using Vanilla Extract
If you use vanilla extract instead of vanilla beans, I still recommend gently warming the ingredients on the stovetop and whisking them until the mixture is smooth.
However, if you use vanilla extract you do not need to use a strainer or let the mixture sit on the stovetop for 30 minutes to infuse! Simply whisk it in!
Store
Store the homemade creamer in a glass jar with a lid in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Freeze
Pour the healthy coffee creamer into an ice cube tray and freeze until hardened.
Transfer the frozen cubes of creamer to an airtight container or bag. Remove one or two cubes at a time to use in your morning coffee. I do recommend warming the frozen homemade coffee creamer in the microwave in your coffee mug before adding the coffee so that it doesn’t cool it off.
Homemade Coffee Creamer Recipe FAQs
If you’re curious about the benefits of making your own coffee creamer, check out this article from Prevention Magazine, where this very recipe was featured, “5 Worst Things in your Coffee Creamer – And What You Should Use Instead.”
While some store bought varieties are not good (at all), this homemade paleo coffee creamer IS totally healthy! It’s dairy-free, refined-sugar free, vegan and paleo! It adds the perfect flavor and creaminess to your coffee without sacrificing health or taste! PLUS it is only 4 ingredients and is crazy easy!
Absolutely! We use coconut milk or coconut cream in this recipe and it turns out amazingly creamy and ultra delicious! Coconut milk is my favorite base for coffee creamer!
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Homemade Healthy Coffee Creamer Recipe
Ingredients
- 13.5 ounces coconut milk
- 2 Tablespoons Almond Milk (unsweetened, vanilla)
- 3 Tablespoons coconut sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ vanilla bean
Instructions
- Shake up a can of coconut milk then pour it into a small saucepan.
- Add almond milk and stir to combine.
- Add the coconut sugar & a pinch of salt, whisk to combine.
- Cook over medium-low heat until the mixture just starts bubbling and sugar is dissolved (don’t let it boil or you’ll have a coconutty mess all over your stove)!
- Cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Add seeds to the milk mixture and stir.
- Put the whole vanilla bean into the pot and cover with a lid.
- Let the mixture sit for at least 30 minutes, or until cooled to room temperature.
- Using a fine mesh strainer, strain your creamer as you pour it into a glass jar. Discard beans.
- Store in a glass jar with a lid in the refrigerator! Give it a shake before adding it to your favorite coffee!
Video
Notes
- Coconut milk: lite works well, but full-fat is best.
- Almond milk. The almond milk is added to this recipe to ensure that it doesn’t solidify when stored. In this case, any other nondairy milk can be used in place of almond milk.
- Coconut sugar: Maple syrup or honey may be used in place of some (or all) of the coconut sugar.
- Vanilla beans: If you want to make this quicker and easier, substitute 1 teaspoon vanilla extract for the vanilla bean. Add the extract once the sugar is dissolved and you remove the mixture from the heat.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was delicious!!!! Thank you for posting! I’ve been on a restrictive diet for a couple of weeks and have not had any coffee as I only like it with creamer. I can finally drink coffee again! Thank you 🙂
Can u use stevia for sweetner?
Just made this and it’s really good. I put everything in the blender with two dates instead of the coconut sugar. It turned out creamy and frothy from the blender. Thank you for sharing!
Do you have a receipt for Peppermint creamer? I love that this time of year! Thank you!
Can I use coconut milk powder instead of canned or carton of coconut milk?
Thank you for sharing this great alternative creamer. Trying to get my husband off that 18% cream & sugar in his coffee. I made this as a gift. It’s delicious & smooth, smells wonderful. I didn’t have almond milk so used unsweetened vanilla cashew milk, mix of honey, maple syrup & coconut sugar, and pure vanilla extract (grocery store didn’t have vanilla beans). This alone in his morning coffee should be tasty, without him adding extra sugar. I’m going to try it in the morning too. Very yummy.
Thanks for this recipe! I’ve tried a few coconut creamer recipes, but this was by far the best. I did make a few adjustments for my taste though. I don’t usually have sugar in my coffee, so I only used 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, just to balance the savory taste of the coconut milk. I also didn’t have any vanilla beans on hand, so I used 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste. Worked like a charm! Delicious 😋
Are there any other coffee creamer flavor recipes that you have made?
I have this pumpkin coffee creamer: https://joyfoodsunshine.com/paleo-vegan-homemade-pumpkin-coffee-creamer/
OMG! Delish … I was so sad because all other non dairy coffees just don’t cut it. Thank you.. made my morning. For non sugar coffee drinkers I reduced amount of coconut sugar to 2 Tbs and only had plain almond milk. Perfecto… creamy like a flat white with a lovely vanilla taste.
I have looked at this recipe for over a year but did not make it because I do not like a strong coconut flavor in things that are not Mounds Bars or Coconut Cake. What a mistake! This recipe is delicious exactly as written! It was very easy to make. (I did make an error and scraped the whole vanilla bean into the saucepan but no harm done.) I hgighly recommend this vegan coffee creamer!
Great recipe! I’ve recently switched to dairy free, but I can’t drink my coffee black and it just doesn’t taste right with almond milk so this is a great alternative. This definitely has a slight coconut flavor but it’s still enjoyable. Thank you for the recipe!