An easy recipe for Cashew Horchata instead of the typical almonds. This easy cashew horchata is creamy and so delicious you’ll question why you haven’t made it sooner. Spiced with cinnamon and star anise. Drink it chilled over ice or swirl it into your morning coffee.
Why I Love this Recipe
I seriously never knew that I was a horchata fan. I used to live in San Francisco and frequent many a taqueria and always saw the horchata there, but could never bring myself to ask about it, or even better, order it. While searching for recipe ideas, I happened on horchata and I thought, now is the time Heather, to give this stuff a shot. It takes overnight to make it, so there’s no instant gratification in this sipper, but it was worth every second of waiting. Wow. I am now kicking myself for waiting so long to give it a shot. It’s one glass of deliciousness for certain.
I love cashews. Whenever I’m at Trader Joes, I always, and I do mean always, pick up 2 pouches of raw cashews. I smoke them with spices, I oven roast them and sometimes pan saute them for a quick addition to salads. But as I mentioned above, they can also be used to make luscious, delicious, milky horchata. You can seriously go crazy with the spice combos on this recipe. Imagine making a chai spiced horchata with cardamom, and cinnamon sticks or authentic Mexican Horchata. However you decide to do it, my only suggestion is….don’t wait eons. It’s easy, it’s delicious and you should really just go for it.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- White Rice
- Raw Cashews
- Water
- Spices: star anise, cinnamon sticks, vanilla
- Orange Zest
- Water
- Sugar
How to Make
Add uncooked rice to a blender and blend until powdery. Pour into a bowl with warm water, raw cashews, star anise, cinnamon stick, and orange zest. Cover and let stand overnight. Transfer to a blender with 2 cups water and blend until smooth. Pour through a fine mesh sieve into a storage container, stir in remaining 2 cups water, sugar, and vanilla. Stir to combine.
Tips & Tricks
- Store in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks
- Substitute raw almonds for cashews
- Omit star anise if it’s hard to find
- use 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon for the cinnamon sticks
Cashew Horchata
Ingredients
- ½ cup long grain white rice - I used jasmine, uncooked
- 1 ¼ cups water - warm
- 1 cup cashews - raw
- 2 star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- 4 cups water
- ⅔ cup sugar - or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Add the rice to a blender, cover and blend until it starts to become powdery. Add rice to a medium bowl with the 1 1/4 cup warm water, cashews, star anise, cinnamon stick and orange zest. Cover and let stand at room temperature overnight.
- Transfer mixture to a blender, add 2 cups water, cover and blend until smooth.
- Line a fine-meshed strainer with 3 layers of cheesecloth. Pass the liquid through, pressing solids to squeeze out any liquid. Discard solids.
- Transfer the strained mixture to a large pitcher. Stir in remaining 2 cups water, sugar and vanilla extract. Stir to combine. Serve over ice.
Recipe By:
Co-Founder at Spiceology | More About Heather…
Heather is a recipe developer and content creator living in Vancouver, Washington. She started Farmgirl Gourmet in 2006, almost 20 years ago, as a way to share recipes with friends and family. Heather is also the co-founder of Spiceology , a unique spice company, which she started in 2013. She shares family friendly recipes for easy everyday meals with a gourmet twist.
I really love this recipe and hope you will too!
Can you make horchata using brown rice?
I have never tried it before. I assume you could, but I can’t attest to the taste. Let me know if you do it and how it turns out. ~heather
So good! I love horchata and should give it a try at home.
Yum! Crazy enough, I just tried horchata for the first time the other day at the Farmer’s Market. Now I’m dying to make it. What a great idea to make it with cashews! By the way, I don’t know if you ever get to Winco Foods, but they have the best prices on raw cashew pieces that I’ve ever found. They average around $3/pound in the bulk section. That info is too good not to share. 🙂
I’m looking forward to trying this soon!
that’s great to know! I don’t get to Winco as often as I should. Thanks for the advice! 🙂