Easy 4 Ingredient Sweetened Condensed Milk (+ Video) (2024)

Sweetened condensed milk couldn’t be easier to make from scratch! Choose from 7 different sweetener options for this easy DIY that you can make ahead for the holidays or any time. You can also make it dairy-free!

The temptation to buy canned goods and pre-packaged items tends to come in waves for me. Right now, with Thanksgiving just around the corner, it’s a tsunami!

My half of the Thanksgiving menu is nailed down: smoked turkey, Slow Cooker Cranberry Sauce, Healthier Sweet Potato Casserole, Homemade Cloud Rolls, Cheesecake Baked Apples, and Pumpkin Pie. With six dishes to make within a 3-day window, taking the easy route and NOT making everything from scratch sounds really nice…

But this tugs a bit with my real food, make-things-from-scratch side. I want to take shortcuts, but I’m learning more about those mystery ingredients. And what I do know scares me more than what I don’t. So, I thought this would be a good time to create a homemade recipe for sweetened condensed milk.

While preparing for the holiday and having company coming into town, now is as good a time as any, right?

REASONS TO MAKE THIS SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK RECIPE

1. Making food from scratch is often the best way to save money on real food. However, you also have to factor in whether it’s worth your time to make it. I don’t typically make homemade pasta because I can buy it for cheap and it takes way too long to make from scratch.
2. Consider the ingredients in store-bought vs homemade foods. Take coffee creamer. We quit coffee creamer a long time ago because the ingredients are just too processed to be considered food. The cost to make Homemade Vanilla Bean Creamer is about the same or more than if I bought it at the store. But the health benefits outweigh the time and cost.
3. You have COMPLETE control over the ingredients you use and can make it yourself based on where you are in your real food journey, what you have access to, your dietary restrictions, and what you can afford.

That’s why I prefer to make this recipe for sweetened condensed milk recipe!

SWEET CONDENSED MILK INGREDIENTS

• Whole milk
• Sweetener
• Salted butter
• Vanilla extract (Here’s how to make your own)

Condensed milk is essentially milk and sugar. When you make this sweet condensed milk, you have the choice of what kind of milk and what kind of sweetener you want to use!

YOU CAN USE WHATEVER MILK YOU HAVE

• Raw milk
• Non-hom*ogenized milk
• Organic milk
• Conventional milk
• Powdered milk
• Dairy-free or lactose-free

YOU CAN USE WHATEVER SWEETENER YOU HAVE

I have tried all of these in this sweetened condensed milk recipe.

• Honey
• Maple syrup
• Coconut sugar (aka palm sugar)
• Sucanat (aka Rapadura, Demera or Jaggery)
• Evaporated cane juice (aka organic sugar, evaporated cane sugar)
• Granulated sugar (aka white sugar, we like turbinado)
• Brown sugar

After experimenting with 7 different types of sweeteners the conclusion is, that the color changed with different sweeteners. But it won’t affect the look of your final dish.

The taste, oddly enough, didn’t differ much. You can taste a little difference between maple syrup vs. honey, or brown sugar vs. evaporated cane juice, but in the end, condensed milk sweetened with any sweetener is delicious!

HOW TO MAKE SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK

Step 1: Combine milk and sweetener in a medium saucepan. Whisk stirring constantly to dissolve sweetener over medium heat.

Step 2: When the milk begins to steam, lower the temperature to as low as possible for this recipe for condensed milk.

Step 3: Dip a straw into the milk and use a permanent marker to draw a line on the straw, just above where the milk hits.

Step 4: Allow the milk to reduce to half in size from what it first was, periodically checking with the straw and stirring. This took approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes for me.

Step 5. When milk is reduced by half, remove from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla extract.

Step 6. Pour into a clean glass jar and allow to cool completely. Store in the refrigerator.

SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK RECIPES

Now that you’ve made your own, here are some favorite recipes and desserts to use it!

• Peanut Butter Fudge
• DIY Ice Cream (without a machine)
• Homemade Granola Bars
• Key Lime Pie

SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK FAQs

HOW TO MAKE DAIRY-FREE CONDENSED MILK

DAIRY-FREE CONDENSED MILK INGREDIENTS

You only need 3 ingredients for this delicious and healthy dairy-free sweetened condensed milk!

• Non-dairy milk. I used Homemade Coconut Milk.
• Sweetener. I used this coconut sugar and this evaporated cane juice.
• Vanilla extract. Try my homemade recipe.

HOW TO MAKE SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK DAIRY FREE

Step 1: Combine dairy-free milk and sweetener in a medium saucepan. Whisk to dissolve sweetener over medium heat.

Step 2: When the milk begins to steam, lower the temperature to as low as possible.

Step 3: Dip a straw into the milk and use a permanent marker to draw a line on the straw, just above where the milk hits.

Step 4: Allow the milk to reduce to half in size from what it first was, periodically checking with the straw and stirring. This took approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes for me.

Step 5: When milk is reduced by half, remove from heat and whisk in vanilla extract.

Step 6: Pour into a clean glass jar (I use these mason jars) and allow to cool. Store in the refrigerator.

MORE DIY RECIPES

• How To Make Homemade Whipped Cream
• Homemade Rice Milk
• How To Make Brown Sugar
• DIY Homemade Lunch Meat
• Homemade Vanilla Extract
• Healthy Homemade Lunchables
• Homemade Apple Cider Vinegar

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WATCH HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK

Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk

Print Recipe

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5 from 8 reviews

Sweetened condensed milk couldn’t be easier to make from scratch! Choose from 7 different sweetener options for this easy DIY that you can make ahead for the holidays or any time. You can also make it dairy-free!

• Author: Tiffany
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
• Total Time: 2 hours 35 minutes
• Yield: ¾ cup 1x
• Category: Make it yourself
• Method: Stovetop
• Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale

• 1 ½ cups milk
• ½ cup sweetener
• 2 Tbsp salted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (Here’s how to make your own)

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

1. Combine milk and sweetener in a medium saucepan. Whisk stirring constantly to dissolve sweetener over medium heat.
2. When the milk begins to steam, lower the temperature to as low as possible.
3. Dip a straw into the milk and use a permanent marker to draw a line on the straw, just above where the milk hit.
4. Allow milk to reduce to half in size from what it first was, periodically checking with the straw and stirring. This took approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes for me.
5. When milk is reduced by half, remove from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla extract.
6. Pour into a clean glass jar and allow to cool completely. Store in the refrigerator.

Notes

• The honey and coconut sugar thickened up considerably more than the other sweeteners, but they also seemed to separate a bit while reducing in size. When using these sweeteners, whisk the milk periodically instead of just stirring.
  In general, these milks were thinner than conventional sweetened condensed milk. If this concerns you, allow milk to continue to reduce in size until all the water is removed.

Nutrition

• Calories: 951