Sweet, nutty, and creamy, coconut milk offers a delicious dairy-free alternative to cook and serve with your favorite foods. It is an ideal substitute for cream in many dishes from desserts to silky soups and homemade ice creams.
In addition, it prepares easily and forms the perfect duo with sweet and savory dishes across many different cuisines.
What to eat with coconut milk? Coconut milk has some coconut flavor, but it’s not too strong that it overpowers other flavors in dishes like curry or when making dessert. In fact, coconut milk can be used in a dish, and the final product will not taste very much like coconut at all.
Whether coconut milk is used in dishes or baked goods, it covers flavors from autumn to spring season, and gives a cool refreshing taste to the meal.
From Indian to Southeast Asian cuisine, coconut milk is widely used in soups, stews, salad dressing, and dessert.
So, what other flavors, foods, desserts and drinks go well with coconut milk? Answered below are frequently asked questions about what to eat with coconut milk. Let’s find out more!
What flavors go well with coconut milk?
Due to its slight bland and creamy mild taste, coconut milk blends perfectly with sweet, spicy and savory flavors.
Sweet and Spicy
To add some spicy and sweet flavors to coconut milk, try incorporating maple syrup, chili pepper, black pepper, vanilla, caramel, cilantro and chocolate.
To take the coconut milk taste to the next level, try some cumin, basil, turmeric, curry, sugar, allspice, ginger, garlic, lemongrass and coriander.
Savory
To create a terrific blend of flavor, mix coconut milk with some almonds, peanuts, walnuts and cashews. Rice, shrimp, pork, shellfish, tofu, chickpeas, fish and beef, are also a perfect combo.
To achieve the sweet, spicy or savory flavors, here are the best flavor formulas for coconut milk:
- coconut milk + apricot + ginger + green tea + lemongrass + rice + vanilla
- coconut milk + honey + lime
- coconut milk + lemongrass + vanilla
- coconut milk + orange + vanilla
- coconut milk + beef + ginger
What food goes well with coconut milk?
Generally, red, green, yellow curries are the most representative dish when it comes to coconut milk based recipes. However, there are other ingredients that go well with coconut milk and need need to be considered when using coconut milk in your next meal.
- Nuts: almonds, cashews, macadamia nuts, pistachios, peanuts
- Herb and spices: allspice, basil, mint, black pepper, cardamom, green or red chili peppers, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, lemongrass, nutmeg, vanilla
- Meat and seafood: beef, chicken, fish, lamb, shellfish
- Grains: rice, oats, lentils, green beans
- Brown sugar
- White wine vinegar
What drink goes well with coconut milk?
Not only is coconut milk useful in cooking, but it also pairs well with other beverages. If you have a dietary restriction toward dairy, this plant based milk is a great alternative for coffee, tea and so much more.
- Milkshakes: vanilla, dark or white chocolate
- Smoothies: with bananas, lychee, mangoes, passion fruit, pineapple, orange juice, or any other tropical fruits
- Cocktails: with dark rum
- Rose water
- Green tea
- Pineapple juice
For the tastiest coconut milk treat, try adding it to drinks. On the other hand, connoisseur pairing with alcoholic beverages are also highly recommended.
- Chardonnay, especially with buttery or baked
- Pinot Gris, especially semi sweet
- German Riesling
- Sparkling wine
- Viognier
If the coconut milk is used in dessert, then ice wine or white wine from Late Harvest is your best bet.
What dessert goes well with coconut milk?
Coconut milk is excellent in desserts that are baked or freshly made. Depending on how the dessert is prepared, canned coconut milk is very reliable and perfect for creating all types of decadent desserts because of its incredibly creamy and rich nature.
Desserts that go well with coconut milk include:
- chia coconut pudding
- coconut milk cakes
- rice pudding
- sweetened bananas
- maja blanca
- bread or tapioca pudding
- mint chip coconut milk ice cream
- Thai sweet sticky rice with mango
- coconut flan
- coconut cream meringue pie
Eat With Coconut Milk: Conclusion
Most stews, smoothies and curries are made better by adding a splash of coconut milk. The richness, naturally infused sweetness, and creaminess has everything to be desired.
The reason why coconut milk is a must-have in every kitchen is that it blends perfectly with most foods without necessarily overpowering their taste.
And generally, sweet, spicy, or savory flavors go well with coconut milk. By adding honey, lime, lemongrass, orange, vanilla, and ginger, it makes plain coconut milk taste extremely flavorful.
As a result, Southeast Asian cuisine widely include coconut milk instead of cow milk to give richness and creamy mouthfeel.
Other than curries, coconut milk pairs well with nuts, beef, lamb, seafood and shellfish.
From sweet smoothies to alcohol beverages, coconut milk is filling. Whether it is freshly blended with tropical fruits or added into baked goods and desserts, it can be consumed with sweet or sparkling wines.
Since it goes well with tropical fruits, honey, and vanilla, coconut rice pudding, coconut crème brûlée, or coconut panna cotta is perfect dessert combination.
Coconut milk is easy to prepare with other foods and comes with a variety of classic flavor combinations. Follow these culinary tips and you will never go wrong serving food with coconut milk.