What’s the best coconut milk to buy?
What’s the healthiest?
Even though most stores or online sources carry several coconut milk options, you have to be careful.
Otherwise, you might end up coming home with additives or preservatives like caseinate, guar gum, or carageenan. Or sweeteners!
No, thank you! We just want the coconut milk. 🙂
And I can help you out with sourcing the best and healthiest coconut milk — get the whole scoop on today’s #AskWardee. 🙂
I broadcast #AskWardee live each Wednesday at 10am Pacific (1pm Eastern) on Periscope and Facebook Live. Both the podcast and video replay of this week’s show are below. Enjoy!
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The Question: What’s The Best And Healthiest Coconut Milk To Buy?
Dawn M. asks:
What is the best coconut milk to buy for all these smoothies and other recipes that call for it?
My Answer
There are so many brands of coconut milk out there that I can’t possibly cover them all. Though I do have my favorites and we will get to those!
So to arm you with the most information possible as you wade through your choices, I think it’s important to cover the qualities you should be looking for… so you can evaluate the brands in your area.
So… look for these characteristics:
- Organic — Yes, just like our other food choices, it’s best to opt for organic and therefore avoid food laced with pesticides, herbicides, and such.
- No BPA — Often canned coconut milk comes in BPA-lined cans. Look for brands that claim to have BPA-free containers.
- No extra ingredients — Coconut milk often comes with other ingredients, additives and/or preservatives. Pick a coconut milk that pretty much only has coconut and water.
Forms Of Coconut Milk
There are several forms of coconut milk…
- Homemade — just shredded coconut and water (Here’s a FREE guide for making your own dairy-free milks!)
- Powdered — blend with water and chill
- Cream concentrate — also blend with water and chill
- Canned — full fat or “lite”
- Refrigerated cartons
- Shelf-stable cartons
I’m not going to talk about the refrigerated or shelf-stable cartons of coconut milk because I have yet to find a brand that doesn’t have additives or other undesirables. If you know of a brand that sells 100% pure coconut milk in refrigerated or shelf-stable cartons, please comment below!
The cans are very convenient (but also costly). The flavor and results from starting with a powder or making your own are superior, in my opinion.
My Top 3 Picks
Ok, now I’m going to share my top picks with you. I can’t cover all options nor have I tried all options, so compare this with your own knowledge and experience. 🙂
1. Homemade Coconut Milk from Organic Shredded Coconut
Homemade coconut milk is sooo easy. (You knew I was going to say this right?)
To make: blend 1-1/2 to 2 cups of organic unsweetened shredded coconut with 6 cups of warm water in a high powered blender such as a Vitamix for a few minutes. Then strain through cheesecloth.
You can sweeten or add sea salt or vanilla — all to taste or to suit your usage.
If there’s one shortfall, it’s this: if the shredded coconut is defatted (it usually is), the coconut milk is always going to be “lite” rather than creamy and fatty.
Yep, it’s super easy and you can get different thicknesses depending on how much water you use. Homemade coconut milk keeps 3 to 4 days in the fridge.
By the way, you can make other dairy-free milks. I’ve got recipes for you in my FREE Dairy-Free Milk Recipes & Substitutions Guide.
2. Homemade Coconut Milk from Organic Coconut Milk Powder (Wilderness Family Naturals)
Making your coconut milk from Organic Coconut Milk Powder is less work than option #1 (no straining and less blending), but it costs a bit more. However, the results are so amazing!
The coconut milk turns out soooo creamy and delicious. You vary the amount of powder to water to get your desired consistency (from a light coconut milk to a thick coconut cream). It’s the utmost in great results and versatility.
Note: in order to make a nice, usable powder, Wilderness Family Naturals’ organic* coconut milk powder contains 3% maltodextrin. It’s derived from tapioca, not corn or dairy. Many other coconut milk powders on the market contain not only much more maltodextrin but it’s from corn or dairy. Wilderness Family Naturals uses as little as possible so you get a nice powder AND a high-quality, coconut-rich dairy-free product. To me, it’s not a problem at all.
*Only the organic coconut milk powder from WFN is dairy-free and uses tapioca-sourced maltodextrin. Their non-organic coconut milk powder contains sodium caseinate instead (from milk). I only recommend the organic powder.
3. Canned Organic Coconut Milk (BPA-Free)
Canned coconut milk is very convenient. Just open a can and use. When shopping, make sure to choose BPA-free cans and a coconut milk with fewer ingredients (preferably just coconut and water).
The brand that matches my criteria (BPA-free cans, no guar gum or other additives, no sweetener) is Natural Value’s Organic Coconut Milk.
Also, thanks to listener Sue M., we can add Native Forest’s Simple Organic Coconut Milk to the list. Thanks for checking with them, Sue!
Let me know in the comments what your favorite form of coconut milk is!
Helpful Links:
- Organic Coconut Milk Powder
- Natural Value Organic Canned Coconut Milk (BPA-free, no additives)
- Native Forest’s Simple Organic Coconut Milk (BPA-free, no additives)
- FREE Traditional Cooking Video Series
- FREE Dairy-Free Milk Recipes & Substitutions Guide
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Do you use coconut milk? How do you choose which one to buy?
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I’ve found that instead of squeezing through a bag, if I run the strained pulp through my juicer I get all load of good cream to mix back in. An extra step but worth it
Wow! great discovery! I love that cream in my coffee!
Thanks
Inez
The brand we started using while we were in China (it’s made in Thailand) is Aroy-D; it’s not organic but is 100% coconut milk, thick, creamy, and delicious, and comes in shelf-stable boxes. I’ve never seen it in stores here in America, but it is available on Amazon. After using this, I’ve never been able to understand how people like the grocery store kind, which to me tastes completely fake and watery in comparison. I get the small boxes since I’m using it mostly just for one son who is sensitive to dairy; an opened box will last me a week or so in the fridge, though sometimes once it’s cold I have to cut open the box in order to scoop out the nice thick cream that has hardened.
Please correct me if I’m wrong, but my uneducated assumption is that coconut trees tend to be more naturally cultivated rather than needing lots of pesticides and such–so that they are probably fairly “clean” even if they’re not certified organic. What do you think?
Hi Kristin,
Coconut is one of the foods that is ok not to buy organic, according to this article:
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/7-foods-you-dont-need-to-buy-organic/
Wardee prefers to buy organic if possible, but she think it’s an ok compromise if one can’t afford it or can’t source it. 🙂
~ Millie, TCS Customer Success Team
Aroy-D Does make an organic version. I have found it in Asian groceries.
Aroy-D is my favorite brand too! It doesn’t separate like the typical store brands and tastes amazing. I am lucky enough to find the can version in a store (Woodmans in Wisconsin) for a little over $1/can. The only down side is that it is not a BPA free can.
The kind I get on Amazon (non-organic) comes in a shelf-stable box, not a can. I can post a link if that’s okay. Definitely recommended, and while not cheap, it’s certainly less than some of the other options mentioned here!
Kristin,
Please do share!
~ Millie, TCS Customer Success Team
Sure! I buy this one: http://amzn.to/2uG8aBm. It’s a 12-pack of 8.5 oz. boxes (which are BPA-free, I just noticed); the current price is $21.60. They also have larger boxes of coconut milk (a better deal per oz., but I have trouble using it all before it goes bad) and coconut cream–those links should be at the bottom of the page.
The cans that I’ve been buying from Thrive Market is Native Forest brand, is organic, unsweetened, no guar, ingredients are coconut and water. I like it very much but you are right it can be a little expensive.
I think I am going to try the coconut milk powder and see if I like it. Thanks Wardee.
The organic cocnut milk powder from WFN says use 1/2-1C for every 1C of water. At 16oz. for $20 that seems like it costs about $10 per cup of finished product. I’m sure I’m mixed up here. Please sort me out! I’d love to try the powder. My hubs doesn’t like canned NF because of the “grainy” consistency, but I like that there is no guar gum. Ideas? Grateful for your site!! Thanks!
Hi, Susanna. The 16ounces is weight not volume. 🙂 It will make more batches than 2. I can’t comment on how many because I haven’t counted. 🙂
Native Forest makes a ‘simple’ version. Also Aroy-D is 100% coconut. Not sure how to tell if the can is bpa free though.
It will be labeled that way on the front of the can. Aroyo-D is a good brand.
The simple version unfortunately may have BPA cans because they advertise them as being “non-intended” BPA. Sounds tricky to me.
I buy my cans from Trader Joe’s. No fillers and they only cost $1.69 per can. Which is much less then most others.
I’ve tried TJ’s coconut milk several times, and I haven’t been happy with it at all. The fat and water don’t emulsify — even when I use my blender! I even tried ice cream with it, and it was so grainy. The flavor is fine, and the ingredients are great — but I won’t use this brand again. 🙁
Let’s Do Organic has a good organic coconut cream and a good sweetened condensed milk and Native Forest Simple is a good no guar gum coconut milk. Unfortunately, they haven’t gotten into BPA free cans. I was in a rush one day and needed these items, otherwise I would have paid more attention to this. I love Wilderness Family Naturals although their coconut milk and cream is often out of stock for ages! I also really like Natural Value Coco milk cream and with Amazon Prime, you can get it in two days. It was good to hear an explanation on the maltodextrin in the WFN coconut milk powder.
I like the Native Forest Simple as it’s organic and is a bpa free can. My husband doesn’t like it so rich so he adds coconut water to it about 50/50.
Has anyone tried making it with an average (not a Vitamix) blender?
we like trader joe’s! it’s organic, no gums or additives, and only $1.69/can. they also make a coconut cream that’s clean. much cheaper than other brands and it works great for us!
also, regarding BPA-free, we know many companies are just replacing the BPA with BPS, which many would say is even worse. so sadly, BPA-free isn’t very reassuring for me 🙁
Could I order Raw Organic Coconut Meat (frozen) online and have the extra fats/oils that have been extracted from the dried coconut?
We haven’t tried it but we think it would work.
It’s a great idea! Let us know how it goes. 🙂
~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team
Has anyone used the “Z Natural Foods ” coconut milk powder? Ingredients-organic dehydrated Coconut Milk(cocos nucifera), 2.5%organic tapioca maltodextrin(from yuca root), .5%organic Acacia powder. The directions say 1-2 Tablespoons powder and 1 cup of water. I am wondering if this is a good brand. It’s about the same price as the wilderness family but you use a lot less powder to make a cup of milk. We go through a lot of coconut milk in our house from the carton in the refrigerator idle and I really want to make my own. But the wilderness brand seems like it will be really expensive. I also really want to get away from all the added ingredients.
Hi Elizabeth,
We haven’t tried this brand. It has a minimum of maltodextrin and a good source (tapioca).
It looks like acacia is a gum for thickening. Here’s more info on acacia so you can weigh out whether or not you want to use it: https://www.mountainroseherbs.com/products/acacia-powder/profile.
~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team
I’ve tried znaturals and wilderness family naturals. it takes a lot of coconut milk powder to make it taste like coconut milk. both are not cost effective. In my opinion using shredded coconut or fresh coconut is the best way to make it.
Are we 100% sure that Aroy-D is emulsifier free? We get the 33.8oz cartons from amazon and mix it with oatmeal and chia. We eat it almost every day. My question comes from the fact that all I have to do is shake it good before opening and it is the smoothest, best tasting coconut milk we’ve had. BTW, I truly believe that the studies are accurate about consumption of coconut milk being good for you, based on my labs and how much they have improved!!
Hi Jr,
We can’t confirm that it is emulsifier free, but we would hope they’re being truthful on the carton.
~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team
Can you make coconut milk from Coconut flour?
Coconut flour is made by taking cocunut pulp after making coconut milk and drying it. You will need dry shredded coconut to make milk.
~Peggy, TCS Customer Success Team
Was told abt coconut milk help flat belly that true? What name brand coconut milk? Can ya helpin where to buy? Shall I drink every night before bed will helps flat belly n Methodism (spell wrong)?
Hi, Patti.
We cannot confirm that coconut milk will help flatten the belly. In the article above WArdee has links to several sources of coconut milk that we recommend.
~Danielle, TCS Customer Success Team
Great post! I never realized there were so many coconut milk options out there. Thank you for breaking down the healthiest choices—I’ll definitely be checking labels more carefully now!
Great post! I’ve been looking for healthier coconut milk options, and your recommendations are super helpful. I appreciate the details on different brands and their nutritional benefits. Can’t wait to try a few of these!