Whether you’re making it for gifts or just for a special treat for yourself, Homemade Kahlua is something that’s very easy to make and very delicious. All it takes is time!
Now is a good time to start making homemade Kahlua. It’ll be ready for the holidays! If you want to make gifts, you can divide it up into little jars and label them. These are six ounce jars and you could get about six jars of Kahlua out of the recipe. Alternately, you can pour all of the Kahlua into a nice decanter and keep it for yourself (or share) during the cold winter months.
Ingredients needed:
- water
- sugar
- vodka
- dark roast coffee beans
- vanilla beans
There are not many ingredients in homemade Kahlua so do try to use high quality coffee and vanilla beans. It will make all the difference in the world! And I would not recommend using vanilla extract in place of actual vanilla beans. You need the real thing here! It will taste so much better!
How to make Homemade Kahlua:
Add water and sugar to a medium pot. Heat and stir until steaming and the sugar is dissolved. That’s the only real cooking you have to do here- heat the water and dissolve the sugar! Then remove the pot from the heat.
Then add your vanilla beans (split down the middle) and the coffee beans to the pot. Lightly crush them so they infuse easier. Don’t grind them completely though.
Stir in the vodka and let it all cool to room temperature. Then pour the mixture (beans and all) into a very clean air tight container and let it sit in your pantry for three weeks. No need to refrigerate it thanks to the sugar and alcohol. No peeking or tasting. Just let it sit away from the light- in a cool, dark place. It needs time to age.
After three weeks, you’ll just strain off the solids and you’re left with delicious coffee-vanilla liqueur, otherwise known as Kahlua! Pour the Kahlua into jars for gifting or into one large decanter to keep for yourself.
A good White Russian is just a few pours away (to a glass of ice, add 2 ounces of vodka, 1 ounce of Kahlua and a splash of heavy cream). Lucky you, because homemade Kahlua has much richer and more unique coffee and vanilla flavors than the store-bought version. CHEERS!
Here are a few more cocktail recipes you might enjoy:
- Homemade Irish Cream Liqueur
- Champagne Mimosa Punch
- The Rum Flip Cocktail
- Slushie Watermelon Mojitos
- Winter Holiday Sangria
- Hurricane Cocktail Recipe
- Mint Mocha Coffee
- Apple Cider Sangria
Homemade Kahlua
Ingredients
- 3 cups water
- 3 cups granulated white sugar
- 2 cups vodka
- 1/2 cup dark roast coffee beans, lightly crushed
- 2 vanilla beans, split
Instructions
- Add the water and sugar to a medium pot. Heat and stir until steaming and the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.
- Add the vodka, lightly crushed coffee beans, and split vanilla beans. Stir together and let cool to room temperature.
- Transfer to a very clean air-tight container. Seal and let sit in a cool dark place for three weeks or longer.
- Strain the solids out of mixture with a fine mesh strainer, and divide up the homemade Kahlua or keep it in a big batch.
- Kahlua keeps fine at room temperature for a few months.
Notes
- Use homemade Kahlua in coffee or with whole milk to make White Russians!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I roast my own coffee at home and make vanilla extract so have been looking for a good receipt that does not use instant coffee. I’ll let you know in 3 weeks how it went !!!!!!!