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Hi Bold Bakers!
Working as a professional chef, I have learned a lot of tips and tricks over the years. Now I’m going to share with you some Bold Baking Basics that will help you along your baking journey to make it fun and for you to improve your skills. I’m often asked, “Is there a substitute for sweetened condensed milk?” in my recipes that include it like my 2-Ingredient Homemade Ice Cream or Easy Tres Leches Cake. You can, in fact, make Sweetened Condensed Milk at home with a few, simple ingredients.
What is Condensed Milk?
Condensed milk is traditionally cow’s milk that has much of the water content boiled away and then sugar added. I use Sweetened Condensed Milk a lot in my baking. If you cannot find it in your country you can easily make it yourself at home. It is one of the main ingredients in my 2-Ingredient No-Machine Ice Cream. If you like your frozen desserts a little lighter and fruitier then try my Homemade Sorbet in 5 minutes (No-Machine)
Can I Make Dairy-Free Condensed Milk?
My condensed milk recipe contains milk, however, if you are dairy-free and/or like vegan baking I also have the exact same recipe but using coconut milk rather than dairy milk. It is just as easy to make and it tastes great too. Find my Dairy Free Condensed Milk recipe. You can also use Nut Milks and other sugars such as Agave, Honey, maple syrup, see the notes section in the recipe for more details.
How to Make Sweetened Condensed Milk
Simmering milk and sugar on a low, controlled heat will yield thick, syrupy milk. Once it cools it will thicken and be ready to use. It will last in the fridge for weeks if you don’t need it straight away.
What is the Difference Between Condensed Milk and Evaporated Milk?
The biggest difference between condensed and evaporated milk is the sugar content. Both are made by reducing a percentage of the water content from the milk but the condensed version has sugar added, which caramelized to thicken the milk, so it is called Sweetened Condensed Milk.
Use your homemade sweetened condensed milk to make:
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How to Make Sweetened Condensed Milk (Bold Baking Basics)
Ingredients
- 2 cups (16floz/450ml) full fat milk or low fat milk*
- ⅔ cups (5oz /142g) white sugar
Instructions
- Add the milk and sugar into a small, heavy bottomed saucepan.
- Heat it on a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.
- Once all of the sugar has dissolved bring the mix to a simmer over medium low heat. Do not stir once the mix starts to simmer otherwise it can crack and crystalize.
- Gently simmer for roughly 35-40 minutes, or until the milk has darkened to a creamy color, has reduced by half and thickened slightly. You may notice some foam forming on top, gently skim it off with a spoon. (if there are sugary bits hanging around the rim of your pot don’t stir them into your condensed milk, this can also crack your mix)
- When ready, remove from the heat and pour into a jar to cool. Let the condensed milk cool completely before putting on the airtight lid. Just note, it thickens up alot after a few hours in the fridge.
- Store in a labeled jar in the fridge and it will last for 6 months.
Recipe Notes
The substitute you use needs to be able to caramelize. stevia, xylitol, Splenda will not caramelize so will not work in this recipe.
Hi Gemma You’re a life saver! It is nearly midnight and I thought I had a few cans of sweetened condensed milk in the pantry to make some lemon meringue pie! Nope – one measly can! What to do at midnight? Go to your website and find a recipe to make my own!! Took a little while with the cooking and cooling, but I was able to finish my pie without a midnight run to an all night shop! You’re the BEST chef out there! No-one has recipes like you AND shows you how to make the ingredients if you… Read more »
Gemma,
I would like to thank you for sharing all of these tips and recipes! I’d also like to thank you for not bloating your page with ads. Too many recipe pages are not all ads and it’s irritating when they are blinking, flashing and taking over half of the time. Thank you for NOT doing that. I don’t want to see nothing but ads and you keep yours pretty clean!
Thanks for this method! My son is lactose intolerant and I haven’t been able to source lactose free sweetened condensed milk, so it’s great to be able to make some.
Hi! My condensed milk doesn’t seem to work. I tried it twice but both times just before it reaches ‘n thick consistency, it starts to make crystals and clumps. What am I doing wrong?
I used fresh low fat milk and regular white sugar all measured as mentioned in the recipe. I also use a gas stove. Is the stove maybe my problem?
And how can I make dulce de leche from this?
Simmer this for an extra hour or so, and you’ve got Dulce de Leche. Simmer that for another hour while stirring constantly (It gets thick) and pour into a dish lined in something (I just used foil) and you’ve got an awesome Dulce de Leche candy bar, that you can cut up and drool over.
I never thought to use pure maple syrup. I literally just spent 3 hours making candy, only to immediately regret not having found this first. I have a jar of recently harvested maple syrup sitting in front of me as I write this. Damn.
May I use evaporated caned milk instead of fresh milk ?
Love this recipe!
If I multiply this recipe by 2, will it have the same result?
May I ask please,…if I use evaporated milk…does it still need to reduce? Or just dissolve sugar…I want to make your 3 ingredient coconut cookies ????
Do you know if monkfruit or erythritol sugar would work?
Thank you for this recipe! I don’t stir the milk after it’s simmering, but it still crystallizes when I use the condensed milk to make toffee. Can you help me or give advice on how to fix this issue?