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Best Eggnog Recipes – (Includes Allergy Friendly Options)

For me, the best eggnog recipes are the ones you make at home. When I was a little girl, mom would make eggnog as a special treat when we had a bounty of eggs (we had a dairy farm and raised our own chickens). I never remember her measuring – she always just threw some milk, eggs, vanilla and sugar in the blender.

eggnog in cup

Around the holiday season, eggnog seems to start popping up in all the stores, but most commercial eggnogs use high fructose corn syrup and other questionable ingredients. They also seem cloyingly sweet to my palate.

Here's the ingredient list from one popular commercial eggnog:

Milk, Sugar, Cream, Skim Milk, Corn Syrup, Egg Yolks, contains Less than 1% of each of the Following Ingredients: Natural and Artificial Flavors, Water, Spice, Salt, Annatto and Turmeric (Color), Guar Gum, Mono and Diglycerides, Carrageenan.

That's about half the length of the ingredient list on the brand I saw on sale today at the store. Blech.

It's pretty darn easy to make homemade eggnog, so I hope that you'll be inspired to whip up your own batch of this holiday classic.

Rum or rum flavoring is commonly added, but my crew doesn't care for it, so I've left it out of most of the recipes. Use at your discretion. I think a dash of Amaretto would be a nice twist for the chocolate eggnog.

Remember to always heat warm eggnog gently to avoid curdling your eggs.

Always use eggs from a source you know you can trust if you are eating them raw. If in doubt, go for a hot eggnog and heat thoroughly.

#1 – Traditional Eggnog

Adapted from Betty Crocker's New Picture Cookbook (1961)

  • 1 egg, well beaten
  • 1-2 tablespoons sugar or maple syrup
  • 1 cup chilled milk
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla (homemade vanilla is great if you have it)
  • Dash of Nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon rum flavoring or splash of rum, optional

Whisk egg and sugar (or syrup) together. Blend in milk and vanilla. Serve cold in a tall glass sprinkled lightly with nutmeg, if desired. Serve immediately. Makes one serving.

#2 – Hot Eggnog

Adapted from Betty Crocker's New Picture Cookbook (1961)

  • 4 eggs, separated
  • 1/2 cup sugar or maple syrup, or less, to taste
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • Nutmeg, to taste
  • 3 tablespoons sugar

In large saucepan blend egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar and salt. Beat in milk until thoroughly blended.

Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until heated through and bubbles form around the edge. Don't overcook – you'll get egg chunks. Add vanilla.

Beat egg whites until frothy. Gradually beat in 3 tablespoons sugar, a little at a time. Beat until stiff and glossy (think meringue).

To serve, fill cups half full with meringue. Pour hot eggnog over meringue. Sprinkle with nutmeg, if desired. Makes 12 servings.

#3 – Dairy Free Eggnog

Adapted from “Eat Fat, Lose Fat

  • 1 can whole coconut milk (I prefer Thai Kitchen Organic)
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons brandy (optional)

Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until frothy. Makes 2 servings.

#4 – Probiotic Eggnog

  • 1 cup plain milk kefir
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 5-7 drops liquid vanilla stevia or 1/8 teaspoon vanilla and sweetener to taste
  • 1 egg or egg yolk

Whisk all ingredients together and serve cold. Makes one serving.

eggnog recipe collage

The following two recipes resemble a very rich hot chocolate. The first one is less sweet, but I enjoyed them both. When I made the second one up for the boys (with the added whipped cream), they asked how I made the “hot chocolate” taste so good.

#5 – Chocolate Eggnog with Cocoa

  • 1 cup milk or 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup cream
  • 3 tablespoons cocoa
  • 1-2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 small/medium egg

Whisk all ingredients together in a small saucepan. Warm gently on low heat, stirring frequently, until heated through. Makes one serving.

Alternatively, may by served cold by blending all ingredients until well mixed.

#6 – Warm Chocolate Eggnog with Dark Chocolate

Ingredients

  • 1 cup milk or 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup cream
  • 1 ounce dark chocolate, preferably organic, broken into pieces
  • Dash of vanilla
  • 1 small/medium egg, beaten
  • Dash of nutmeg
  • whipped cream, optional

Directions

Place 1/2 cup milk and chocolate pieces into a small sauce pan. Heat gently until chocolate is melted, stirring frequently.

Add the rest of the milk or cream, vanilla and egg. Heat through, serve warm. Top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg, if desired. Makes one serving.

For those who are avoiding eggs, an eggless nog recipe that doesn't use instant pudding mix.

#7 – Eggless Eggnog

Adapted from Healthy Vegan Nogs

Ingredients

  • 1 cup almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
  • 1 medjool date, pit removed
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon rum extract
  • 2 teaspoons chia seeds
  • dash of nutmeg
  • dash of cinnamon

Directions

Place all ingredients except nutmeg and cinnamon in a high powered blender. Blend well. Let rest ten minutes to allow chia seeds time to gel.

Blend until frothy, pour into serving glass and sprinkle with spices.

White chia seeds are great if you have them, to make a lighter eggless nog, but regular chia will work just fine.

Click here to open 1 page PDF file with all the recipes, ready to print.

Happy nogging! 🙂

More Holiday Recipes

Holiday drinks for you to enjoy:

Sweets and Treats

eggnog in cup

Originally published in 2011, last updated in 2017.

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15 Comments

  1. So I turned the carton of Egg Nog around. I could pronounce the words but … the last line said, “contains no eggs.” I put the carton back.

    [WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.

  2. I worry about the Salmonella factor in many of the recipes.

    Cooking the Egg Base

    Start with a cooked egg base for eggnog. This is especially important if you are serving people at high risk for foodborne infections: young children and pregnant women (non-alcoholic eggnog), older adults, and those with weakened immune systems.

    To make a cooked egg base:

    Combine eggs and half the milk as indicated in the recipe. (Other ingredients, such as sugar may be added at this step.)
    Cook the mixture gently to an internal temperature of 160 °F, stirring constantly. The cooking will destroy Salmonella, if present. At this temperature, the mixture will firmly coat a metal spoon (but please don’t lick the spoon if the custard is not fully cooked!).
    After cooking, chill the mixture before adding the rest of the milk and other ingredients.

  3. Thank you for your submission on Nourishing Treasures' Make Your Own! Monday link-up.

    Check back later tonight when the new link-up is running to see if you were one of the top 3 featured posts! 🙂

  4. Misty – I'll bet we have the same old cookbook. I list it at the top of the post. I think it's the season for comfort food, for sure.

  5. I've actually made the hot egg nog. I have an old, worn out Betty Crocker cookbook. It's delicious. I'm really interested in trying it with the kefir. Its funny, eggnog must really be on the mind. I just bought a quart of Organic Valley eggnog. Its also really, really good, and it doesn't have any of the junk in the commercial stuff.

  6. Thanks for sharing different version of eggnog as holidays are nearby, it is awesome addition of recipe collection. Love to see this in Hearth and soul blog hop.

  7. Beth – thanks so much for stopping by and taking the time to comment. I'll be sure to visit your place soon. Looking forward to seeing all the wonderful holiday recipes.

  8. I am stopping over from the Homeschool Blog Awards – saw your nominations and wanted to ceck out some new blogs =-) The eggnog looks delicious!! If you have an Christmas baking coming up I'd love for you to link it up to my Holiday Baking Linky – http://livinglifeintentionally.blogspot.com/2011/11/holiday-traditions-3christmas-cookies.html – I am your newest follower. I'd love for you to follow me back, if you want to!

  9. Thank you!! I was just complaining about the store-bought nogs and the paragraph of ingredients in them. Now, if I can only convince my chickens to start laying again…:)