Cream of coconut substitutes

This is the accurate conversion, because cream of coconut is literally coconut cream with sugar added. Get the sugar in and you have made the product.

Best for

pina colada, coquito, coconut cake and poke cake, tembleque, flan de coco, frozen cocktails

Warm it gently rather than boiling, and stir until you cannot feel grit on a spoon, or the sugar will sink and the drink will taste unevenly sweet. Homemade tastes cleaner and more genuinely of coconut than the canned product, which has a slightly candied, vanilla-tinged note from added flavouring, and it is a little less thick and viscous. If you want it closer, add a quarter teaspoon of vanilla extract per cup.

A very good substitute and often better than the real thing in a coquito, where condensed milk belongs in the recipe already. The condensed milk supplies both the sugar and the thick, glossy body.

Best for

coquito, pina colada, coconut flan, coconut cake, ice cream bases, tres leches variations

This is not dairy-free, which rules it out if that matters. It also tastes of caramelised milk alongside the coconut, so a pina colada made with it is rounder, creamier and slightly toffee-ish rather than purely tropical, and the colour goes ivory rather than bright white. In a coquito nobody would call it wrong. Shake the coconut milk can hard before opening or scoop the thick top layer for a richer result.

The pantry version, using the can of coconut milk that is far easier to find than either coconut cream or cream of coconut.

Best for

pina colada, frozen cocktails, coconut rice pudding, smoothies, sorbet

Coconut milk has roughly half the fat of coconut cream, so the result is noticeably thinner and less luxurious, and a blended pina colada made with it comes out slushy rather than creamy and separates faster in the glass. To fix it, chill the can, scoop off only the thick solid cream from the top and use that, discarding the watery layer. Using a rich 2:1 syrup instead of dissolving sugar saves a step but dilutes the coconut a little more.

The emergency option when there is no coconut in the house at all but there is a tin of condensed milk. It gets the sweetness and the thick body right, and borrows the coconut flavour from a bottle.

Best for

coquito, coconut cake soak, frostings, milkshakes, iced coffee

The texture is very close and the sweetness is right, but the flavour is dairy-forward with a coconut top note rather than the other way round, so it tastes like a coconut-flavoured milk drink instead of a coconut drink. Add the extract a few drops at a time and stop early, because coconut extract turns soapy fast. Definitely not dairy-free.

Worth knowing if you avoid refined sugar. Liquid sweeteners dissolve instantly with no heating, which makes this the fastest version on the list.

Best for

smoothies, pina colada, coconut panna cotta, dessert sauces, overnight oats

Each sweetener brings its own flavour and they are not shy about it. Honey makes the coconut taste floral and a bit heavy, maple pushes it toward butterscotch, and agave is the most neutral of the three and therefore the best match. All three are slightly sweeter than sugar by volume, so start with a little less than the quantity above and taste. The mixture stays looser and pourable rather than setting up thick.

Included because it is the swap people reach for by default, and it is the one that produces the disappointing result. Coconut milk on its own has around 3 grams of sugar per cup where cream of coconut has well over 100.

Best for

savoury dishes where the recipe's sugar comes from elsewhere, curries, rice

Without added sugar, a pina colada made this way tastes watery, faintly savoury and vaguely disappointing, and a coquito tastes like spiced coconut soup. It is not a matter of taste, it is a matter of arithmetic: you have removed most of the sugar from the recipe. If coconut milk is genuinely all you have, add the sugar and use the thick cream from the top of a chilled can, and it becomes a decent substitute.