Coconut Milk Powder substitute

Substitutes for Coconut Milk Powder with ratios

1. 2Creamed Coconut Block (Grated)

   Close match

   Use 1 cup coconut milk for every About 50 g grated block whisked into 1 cup hot water

   A solid bar of pure ground coconut flesh and oil, sold in a paper-wrapped block, that melts into hot water.

   What changes

   Best for

   curries, rendang, dry spice mixes, shelf-stable pantry cooking, thickening a sauce

   This is the closest thing to the powder in spirit because it is also concentrated and shelf-stable, and unlike the powder it is usually pure coconut with no maltodextrin or milk protein. It is fattier, so it can look greasy or split if you dump it into a boiling pan; grate it, add it off the heat and whisk until smooth. Grated fine, it can also stand in when a dry mix needs a coconut solid rather than a liquid.

2. 3Canned Coconut Cream

   Close match

   ½ cup coconut cream + ½ cup water replaces ¼ cup powder + 1 cup water

   Thicker and higher in fat than canned coconut milk, so it is diluted rather than used straight.

   What changes

   Best for

   rich curries, desserts, ice cream, coconut caramel

   Used straight without the water it makes a dish distinctly richer and heavier than reconstituted powder, which is sometimes exactly what you want in a dessert. It is also the swap least likely to make a sauce watery. Check the label, because some tins sold as coconut cream are sweetened cream of coconut for cocktails, which will make a curry taste like a pina colada.

3. 4Desiccated Coconut Blended With Hot Water

   Different texture

   1 cup unsweetened desiccated coconut + 1 cup hot water, blended and strained, yields about ¾ cup coconut milk

   Homemade santan, the way it is made from scratch before anyone dried it into a powder.

   What changes

   Best for

   curries, soups, coconut rice, when the shop only has shredded coconut

   Blend for a full minute with water just off the boil, then squeeze it through a clean cloth or a fine sieve, pressing hard. The result is noticeably thinner and less rich than reconstituted powder because a lot of fat stays in the pulp, so blend a second batch through the same pulp only if you want a light coconut milk. Use unsweetened only; sweetened shredded coconut will make the dish sugary.

4. 5Dry Milk Powder + Coconut Extract

   Different taste

   Use ¼ cup dry milk powder + ¼ tsp coconut extract for every ¼ cup coconut milk powder

   A powder-for-powder swap for dry mixes, where the whole point is that nothing is wet.

   What changes

   Best for

   dry curry mixes, instant drink mixes, bubble tea powder, dry rubs, camping and backpacking meals

   This is the only easy answer when the recipe needs a powder that dissolves later, and it works because milk powder brings the creamy body while the extract brings the aroma. Be clear about what changes: it is dairy, so it is no longer vegan or dairy-free, and the flavour reads as sweet milky coconut rather than the fresh nutty coconut of real santan. Skip it in anything savoury and Southeast Asian, where the dairy note is obvious.

5. 6Coconut Flour

   Taste and texture differ

   Not a substitute in most cases

   Included because it is the mistake people make, and because it has one narrow legitimate use.

   What changes

   Best for

   thickening only, and only as a last resort

   Coconut flour is defatted, ground coconut fibre. It will not make coconut milk, no matter how much water you add: it drinks liquid up and turns gritty and dry, which is the opposite of what the powder does. The one honest use is a teaspoon or two stirred into a curry that already has coconut fat in it, to thicken and add a faint coconut flavour. If coconut milk powder is doing the creaming job in your recipe, coconut flour will not cover for it.