Coconut Water substitute

Best substitute

Water Plus a Pinch of Salt and Sugar

Per 1 cup coconut water: 1 cup water, ⅛ teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar

Best for coconut rice

Different taste

Unglamorous and genuinely the best answer for cooking. Coconut water is about 95 percent water, and the two things it contributes beyond that are a trace of salt and a trace of sweetness.

Other coconut water substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Diluted Coconut Milk
Different texture
1 part canned coconut milk to 4 parts water, used 1:1 in place of coconut water
The right move when the coconut flavour is the point rather than the liquid.
What changes
Diluting the milk brings its fat down to a level that behaves like a cooking liquid.
Best for
coconut rice, rice and peas, curries, stewed fish, porridge, smoothies
This is richer and rounder than coconut water and definitely more coconut-tasting, and the liquid goes opaque white, so the finished rice looks creamy rather than clear-cooked. It also softens the grains slightly because of the fat. In a drink it is cloudy and heavier on the tongue, which is fine in a smoothie and wrong in a cocktail. Add a pinch of salt, since coconut milk has almost none of coconut water's mineral edge.
3Unsweetened Coconut Milk Beverage (the carton kind)
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount plus a pinch of salt
The thin drinking coconut milk sold in cartons next to the almond milk, not the canned stuff.
What changes
It is already diluted to roughly the right body.
Best for
smoothies, iced drinks, porridge, rice, chia puddings
Convenient and mild, but it is creamy and slightly gummy from added stabilisers where coconut water is thin and clean, and even the unsweetened versions taste sweeter and blander than the real thing. Read the label, because most sweetened cartons carry a lot of added sugar and will make a savoury rice dish taste like dessert.
4Watermelon Juice or Diluted White Grape Juice
Different taste
Use the same amount for watermelon juice; 1 part white grape juice to 1 part water
For drinks, smoothies and cocktails, these are the closest things in a supermarket in terms of body and sweetness level: light, clear-ish, mildly sweet, no fat.
What changes
Best for
smoothies, cocktails, agua frescas, iced tea, punch
Both are sweeter and much more obviously fruity than coconut water, which is sweet in a flat, mineral, almost savoury way, so a cocktail built on either tastes fruitier and less refreshing. Add a small pinch of salt and a squeeze of lime and it gets surprisingly close. Do not use either in a savoury pot of rice.
5Canned Young Coconut Water or Coconut Water Powder
Close match
Use the same amount as directed; for powder, follow the packet, usually about 1 tablespoon per cup of water
Not so much a substitute as the same ingredient in a shelf-stable form, and worth knowing about because both keep in the cupboard for months.
What changes
Best for
coconut rice, drinks, cocktails, broths, anywhere the recipe says coconut water
Canned young coconut water often comes with jelly pieces and a little added sugar, so drain it and cut back any sugar in your recipe. Both taste slightly cooked and less bright than fresh, in the same way canned pineapple differs from fresh, but in a cooked dish that difference disappears completely.
6Nothing (for drinking straight, there is no real substitute)
Taste and texture differ
The honest verdict.
What changes
If you wanted a glass of jelly coconut water on ice, nothing on this list is going to satisfy you, and the salted-sugar-water trick that works beautifully in a pot of rice tastes like exactly what it is in a glass.
Best for
drinking straight
Fresh young coconut water has a faint sulphurous nuttiness and a mineral finish that no fruit juice imitates. Bottled and boxed coconut water is a fair distant second and is what most people buy anyway. If it is the drink you want, buy the bottle rather than trying to build one.

What is Coconut Water?

Coconut Water is Coconut water is the thin, clear, faintly sweet and slightly salty liquid inside a young green coconut, and in a recipe it is a cooking liquid, not a fat.

Cooking tips

Coconut water and coconut milk are not interchangeable and this is the mistake almost everyone makes. Coconut water is the thin liquid from inside a young green coconut and contains essentially no fat. Coconut milk is made by grinding and pressing the white flesh of a mature coconut with water and is roughly 15 to 25 percent fat. Swapping one for the other at 1:1 will either make a dish greasy or make it watery.
When you cook rice in coconut water, keep the liquid ratio exactly the same as for water. Coconut water is not thicker than water and does not need any adjustment, which is different from cooking rice in coconut milk, where you normally cut the total liquid.
Coconut water browns and turns slightly bitter if you boil it hard for a long time, because of its natural sugars. Bring it up to a simmer and keep it there rather than at a rolling boil, especially in a light fish broth where the colour shows.
Fresh coconut water ferments fast. Once you crack a coconut, use it the same day or refrigerate and use within two days, and taste it before it goes in the pot, because a fizzy or sour smell means it has turned.
In Caribbean cooking, coconut water and coconut milk often both appear in the same dish and do different jobs. The water cooks the grain or the provision, and the milk goes in near the end for richness. If a recipe lists both, do not consolidate them into one.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use coconut milk instead of coconut water?

Not straight. Dilute it first, one part canned coconut milk to four parts water, then use it 1:1 in place of the coconut water. Undiluted coconut milk has fifteen to twenty-five times the fat, so rice cooked in it turns heavy and sticky and a drink made with it is thick and cloudy. Diluted, it is a good substitute and actually tastes more of coconut than coconut water does.

Can I just leave the coconut water out and use plain water?

Yes, and the dish will be perfectly good. Add 1/8 teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of sugar per cup to get closer, since those two traces are most of what coconut water contributes to a savoury pot. The only place it really shows is a simple coconut rice with few other seasonings, where the light nutty aroma is a noticeable part of the dish.

Is the water from a mature brown coconut the same as coconut water?

It is the same liquid but at a much later stage, and it tastes quite different. The water in a mature brown coconut is less sweet, more sour and often slightly soapy, because the sugars have gone into building the flesh. It is fine in a pot of rice or peas but it is not what recipes mean by young coconut water or jelly water, and it is not pleasant to drink.

Does sweetened bottled coconut water work in savoury cooking?

It works, but check the label first and pull back any sugar in your recipe. Some bottled coconut waters have several teaspoons of added sugar per cup, which is enough to make a savoury rice and peas or a fish broth taste faintly sweet in a way that reads as a mistake. Unsweetened bottled coconut water is the safer buy for cooking.

What can I use instead of coconut water in a cocktail?

Watermelon juice at 1:1, or white grape juice cut half and half with water, both with a small pinch of salt and a squeeze of lime. Neither tastes like coconut, but both give you the same light body and gentle sweetness, which is what coconut water is doing in a drink. If the coconut flavour matters, a splash of coconut milk beverage or a quarter ounce of cream of coconut will supply it, though it will also make the drink cloudy.

Related substitutes

More beverages substitutes

Coconut Water substitute

Other coconut water substitutes

2Diluted Coconut Milk

3Unsweetened Coconut Milk Beverage (the carton kind)

4Watermelon Juice or Diluted White Grape Juice

5Canned Young Coconut Water or Coconut Water Powder

6Nothing (for drinking straight, there is no real substitute)