Recipe Roundup

77 Best Coconut Milk Recipes for Desserts, Curries, Soups, and More

Rich, versatile canned coconut milk plays a central role in many curries—but that's just the beginning of what this pantry superstar can do.

By The Editors of Epicurious

May 13, 2020

Photo of one of our best coconut milk recipes chickpea curry with cubes of sweet potatoes and greens in a bowl.

Looking for coconut milk recipes? You've come to the right place. Coconut milk is central to many of our favorite dishes from India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brazil, the Caribbean, and around the world. (Plus so many more recipes inspired by those places.) There are lovely ways to add coconut milk to your meals from dawn to dusk, whether you're making Baked Eggs With Coconut Milk and Cilantro, Prawn Moilee, or Coconut Flan With Coffee Caramel. Coconut milk makes rice and other grains creamier, beautifully offsets the bitterness of hearty greens, and adds richness, flavor, and fragrance to braises and curries. (Which canned coconut milk is best? We tasted our way through 16 brands to find out there, too.) Make the most of this wonder ingredient—read on for 77 of our best coconut milk recipes.

Photo by Andrew Purcell, Prop Styling by Alex Brannian, Food Styling by Carrie Purcell
1/77
Coconut–Key Lime Sheet Cake
This moist and fluffy dessert uses toasted coconut, coconut milk, and coconut oil to infuse as much flavor as possible into the cake.
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Photo by Noah Fecks and Paul Wagtouicz
2/77
Ultimate Green Curry (Gaeng Khiaw Wan Gai)
This green curry from chef Hong Thaimee can start with homemade or storebought green curry paste, plus coconut milk, Thai basil, eggplant, and chicken thighs.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton
3/77
Coquito
Add the creamy Puerto Rican coconut and rum drink known as coquito to your festive cocktail rotation and enjoy throughout the holiday season.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle
4/77
Coconut-Braised Chickpeas With Sweet Potatoes and Greens
This easy chickpea and coconut milk recipe gets a drizzle of yogurt and a sprinkle of slivered almonds and cilantro leaves.
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5/77
Prawn Moilee
A light, fragrant and utterly delicious south-Indian-style curry, packed with juicy prawns and tempered with coconut milk. Our editor Lauren Joseph named this recipe “the best thing she cooked” last year.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Prop Styling by Sophie Strangio, Food Styling by Monica Pierini
6/77
Ginger Turkey Meatballs with Coconut Broth and Noodles
This Thai-inspired recipe was written with the family in mind: Three options for plating mean that it can appeal to an array of palates. Start with a simple, savory noodle and meatball bowl, then add a gingery coconut broth and spicy red curry paste as you wish.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Ali Nardi
7/77
Coconut-Pandan Jam (Kaya Jam)
This creamy custard is popular in Southeast Asia, especially in Malaysia and Singapore, where it's slathered onto toasted fluffy white bread and served with poached eggs as a morning snack.
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Photo by Alex Lau
8/77
Coconut-Lime Dressing
This creamy dressing is delicious on a colorful cold noodle salad with shrimp, but you can also improvise with whatever protein and vegetables you have on hand.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Rhoda Boone
9/77
22-Minute Coconut Chicken Curry
In this easy weeknight recipe, store-bought curry powder gets an assist from fresh garlic and ginger and creamy canned coconut milk—and you get dinner on the table in just about 20 minutes.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Kat Boytsova
10/77
Homemade "Dole Whip"
You don't need to visit the Magic Kingdom to get your hands on this iconic Disney soft-serve dessert. All you need is frozen pineapple and banana, canned coconut, and a food processor or a blender.
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Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by Anna Stockwell
11/77
Mochi Cake, Any Way You Want It
This flexible mochi cake recipe is entirely dairy-free when made with coconut milk and coconut oil. Then you can add your flavoring of choice to further customize your chewy, bouncy coconut milk dessert.
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donna hay magazine, photography by William Meppem
12/77
Thai Coconut, Broccoli and Coriander Soup
The perfect quick-fix dinner for chillier nights when you want something warming but don't have much time to cook. The combination of feel-good greens and creamy coconut is a real winner, and a favorite of our editors.
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Photo by Chelsea Kyle, Food Styling by Katherine Sacks
13/77
Toasted Coconut Cold-Brew Iced Coffee
This refreshing drink gets infused with rich coconut flavor in two ways: a nutty, toasted coconut syrup and a creamy coconut milk floater.
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14/77
Coconut Beef Curry
From Charleston chef Shuai Wang, this curry is designed to come together in a hurry, offering restaurant-caliber flavor in a weeknight-dinner time frame. Garnish with cilantro, sliced chiles, and lime wedges.
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