How to Make Coconut Whipped Cream

There are a lot of people, me included, who cannot tolerate dairy products. Dairy can cause a lot of digestive issues and bathroom problems for most people, it can also cause that proverbial runny nose that some of us have, and  avoiding it can be difficult.

Did you know that the cream from a can of FULL FAT coconut milk can be used to make whipped cream? It's really not difficult to do - the hardest part in
this process is waiting for the cream to solidify enough to whip.

Here are the steps to making your own non dairy whipped cream:

Take an organic can of full fat coconut milk, right side up (do not shake the can to mix contents), and place it in your frig - you want the cream to separate from the water, this could take several hours or leave it overnight. Don't make the mistake of thinking that freezing it will speed up the process - I put mine in the freezer and forgot about it. After thawing and trying to make whipped cream, it came out gritty from being frozen - you won't like it, trust me.

With your can properly chilled, turn it upside down. By turning it upside down, you get to the liquid first and that makes getting to the cream easier - I've tried both ways and this one is the best.

Give your new top a good rinse. You should make it a habit to rinse ALL your canned goods before opening them. Do you know where it's been before you got it? or What's been crawling on top of it?

Open the can and you'll see some liquid on the top. Pour that liquid in a storage container - you can use it in smoothies or curry recipes. It freezes wonderfully for when you need it - it's ok to have a little of the cream mixed in, you just don't want the two to totally mix together.

This is what the cream will look like in the can.

Using a spatula, take out all the cream from the can (you can see it's a little gritty from being frozen).

Squeeze out about 2 tablespoons of honey - you can measure it if you need too.

Then add about 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract - you could add any flavor you like.

Now, get out your hand held mixer and start mixing. If you're brave, you could do it by hand, but I'm not brave. You could also do this in a Kitchen Aid stand mixer - just put the cream in your mixer bowl and follow the rest of the steps.

Whip to your desired consistency. I have a little ways to go here.

Here it is all done - rich and thick like whipped cream should be. t'll last a couple of weeks in the frig - either place some plastic wrap over the top of your bowl, or spoon into a storage container, then use as desired.

Printable Recipe


Here are some ideas of what you can do with the whipped cream other than using it as just a topping:

I took some of the whipped cream and put them in a mini chopper with some frozen strawberries. I then froze the whole thing. It got pretty solid and was hard to eat - I had to chip away at it, but it was still tasty. I have eaten it at this stage - so yummy!

Here, I chopped some frozen strawberries and put them on the whipped cream. I then chopped some crystallized ginger and topped off my dessert with it, you can even add nuts - just like eating a rich dessert.  

See, making non dairy whipped cream is that easy, and you can do so much with it. I can eat a good amount of this with no problems.  I have another recipe you can make with the cream from canned coconut milk - be sure to come back next week to see another sweet treat.

What foods do you like to put whipped cream on?

Comments or questions are always welcomed. I would love to hear what you think of this post or any of my other posts. Thanks!