Homemade Vanilla Coffee Creamer (All-Natural)
Vanilla Coffee Creamer is easy to make homemade using just four simple, natural ingredients. This 5-minute recipe is flavored with vanilla extract and sweetened with maple syrup. Learn how to make coffee creamer without condensed milk!
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If you enjoy delicious morning drinks, you'll also love Cinnamon Dolce Syrup, Chai Tea Mix, or Healthy Oatmeal Smoothies!
Who out there enjoys a cup (or five) of coffee in the morning? {*Raises hand.*} Growing up, my parents always drank their coffee black. I didn't understand it then and I can't tolerate it now. When we got married, my hubby drank his with a splash of milk but no sugar, which I honestly didn't find much better...and now he's moved to the plain black coffee camp as well.
As for me? I need plenty of cream/milk, a bit of sweetener, and ideally some sort of flavoring. Enter this homemade Vanilla Coffee Creamer!
You see, many years back -- when I started paying attention to food labels and incorporating more "real foods" into my family's diet -- I was appalled at the ingredients found in my favorite store-bought flavored coffee creamers. How could something so tasty incorporate so many unpronounceable additives?
So I started forgoing all of the fun, flavored coffee creamers, instead making due with milk, sugar, and sometimes a splash of flavored coffee syrup (and I learned you still have to work hard to find a mostly-natural store-bought coffee syrup!).
But then I got on my make-your-own kitchen staples kick, and it occurred to me that surely it wouldn't be too hard to whip up my very own batch of flavored coffee creamer to store in the refrigerator and enjoy all week long. So this good ol' Vanilla Coffee Creamer was the first flavor in my little experiment!
Ingredients
Would you believe you can whip up your own Vanilla Coffee Creamer in a matter of minutes with just four all-natural ingredients?!
- Heavy cream + whole milk. These ingredients put the cream in creamer. However, depending on exactly how *creamy* you like your coffee, you can adjust the ratio to your liking (more on that below). You can also opt to sub half-and-half for the cream and milk combo.
- Pure maple syrup. This all-natural sweetener is the secret to how to make coffee creamer without sweetened condensed milk (an ingredient that's found in many recipes for homemade vanilla coffee creamer). I know that I'd be better off learning to drink my coffee unsweetened altogether, but if I'm going to ingest breakfast-time sugar on a daily basis, at least maple syrup is natural and unrefined. 😉 The lighter your maple syrup, the lighter the flavor it's going to have, so be sure to use Grade A golden or amber in this recipe. You might be wondering if the resulting coffee tastes maple-y...and the answer is no. You could also sub agave syrup instead if that's your preference.
- Pure vanilla extract. Use the real stuff! My all-time favorite brand of vanilla is particularly delicious in recipes like this where the vanilla flavor shines through.
How to Make Vanilla Coffee Creamer
(The below photos are intended to be helpful, but please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for FULL DIRECTIONS.)
It's beyond easy to whip up homemade Vanilla Coffee Creamer in a matter of mere minutes!
- Add heavy cream and milk to a small pot set over medium heat.
- Add maple syrup and stir to combine.
- Allow to heat, stirring occasionally, until the creamer is nice and steamy with small bubbles starting to form around the edges of the pot.
- Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Since vanilla is alcohol based, too much heat can cause some of that alcohol to burn off, which also carries away some of the flavor.
- Allow to cool for about 30 minutes.
- Transfer your vanilla creamer to a jar or bottle. Cover and store in the refrigerator.
Tweaking to Your Liking
I think this Vanilla Coffee Creamer recipe is a great starting point, but please know that you can easily adjust the richness of your creamer by tweaking the ratio of heavy cream to milk.
Feel free to add more or less heavy cream -- and adjust the milk proportionately in the opposite direction -- as long as you keep the total amount (2 ¼ cups) the same.
Or if you prefer an equal ratio of milk and cream, you can substitute 2 ¼ cups half-and-half instead of using separate milk and cream.
Finally, you can make your creamer more or less sweet by fine-tuning the maple syrup to taste!
So whether you're a chronically sleep-deprived parent, a Starbucks addict trying to kick the habit, or someone who simply wants to enjoy a frou-frou tasting coffee made with better ingredients, I think you're going to love this Vanilla Coffee Creamer!
Please let me know what you think if you give it a try. 🙂
More All-Natural Homemade Coffee Creamers + More
- Caramel Coffee Creamer
- Chocolate Almond Coffee Creamer
- Pumpkin Spice Coffee Creamer
- Dairy-Free Almond Cashew Coffee
Homemade Vanilla Coffee Creamer (All-Natural)
Video
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 cup whole milk
- ⅓ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Combine cream, milk, and maple syrup in a small pot set over medium heat. Stir together until bubbles start forming around the edges of the pot and mixture is hot and steamy. Remove pot from heat and blend in vanilla. Allow to cool at room temperature for about 30 minutes before transferring to a jar or bottle. Cover and store in the refrigerator for 7 to 10 days.
Notes
- Feel free to adjust the milk-to-cream ratio if you prefer your Vanilla Coffee Creamer lighter or richer, as long as the total amount (2 ¼ cups) remains the same.
- You may substitute all half-and-half in place of the heavy cream + milk if you prefer equal ratios of each.
- For neutral flavor, use a light maple syrup (such as grade A golden or amber). You may tweak the amount of maple syrup (more or less) depending on how sweet you like your coffee.
- Agave syrup may be substituted for maple syrup.
- If you are bothered by the skin that forms on top of the creamer while it sits at room temperature, you may strain the creamer through a fine mesh sieve before storing.
- The nutrition estimates on this recipe card are based on dividing this recipe into 12 (approximately 3 ½ Tablespoon) servings. Or if you prefer less creamer in your coffee, this recipe will yield 16 (approximately 2 ½ Tablespoon) servings.
Nutrition
Adapted from Deliciously Organic. Post originally published on February 19, 2014, and updated on May 7, 2021, and March 22, 2024.
I'm so grateful to have found your page! my husband loves creamer in his coffee I've been making it homemade for over a month now and he loves it. no more coffee mate in this house. I just started looking through all your other homemade staple items I'm excited to use more if your recipes
I would never drink coffee if it wasn’t for creamer (so stop drinking creamer/coffee, right?? No.) but I wanted to get rid of the chemicals first thing in the morning. (Working on the rest of the day next. Baby steps!) Tried a few other recipes for creamer, but this is the only one I liked (and I never thought I could give up my vanilla I.D. creamer). I will say that for me, I don’t bother with heating it anymore. I didn’t notice enough difference in taste. And I don’t always put vanilla in either (crazy, right?) Target has a half and half that lists the ingredients as JUST milk, cream. Nothing else. What?! Also, Sams’s Club has a jug of organic pure maple syrup for the cheapest price anywhere. This recipe got me off the chemicals! Thank you!
Could I swap mint extract for the vanilla to make a peppermint mocha flavored creamer?
Hi Kimberley! You can definitely tweak this homemade coffee creamer with different extracts or flavorings to your liking! However, adding mint to this particular recipe (instead of vanilla) still won't give you the mocha flavor that you're going for.
So I'd probably advise starting with this Chocolate Almond Coffee Creamer recipe instead, but swap the almond extract for mint extract. That recipe already includes some cocoa powder, so it will give you the mocha flavor you want. Hope this helps and hope it turns out the way you like it! 🙂
How do I prevent it from being slightly chunky?
Hi Rebecca! I'm afraid I don't know what you mean by "chunky"? The creamer should be smooth, just like store-bought coffee creamer. Is it possible that any of your ingredients were curdled?
Thank you!! Life saver woke up to find out I was out of creamer!!
I just made this during my Sunday prep and so excited to try it during the week in my to go coffee for work!! Question how long does it normally last in the fridge? I dont always drink coffee in the morning, but like to have creamer when I do. Thank you so much for the recipe!
Hi Courtney! Hope you've been enjoying this creamer! It will keep in the fridge for up to 10 days or so. 🙂
it could be frozen in ice cube tray. pop one or two in a small container for the office.
i'm subing products I buy with natural ones I make at home.
will use less syrup, 1/2 & 1/2 instead of milk/cream. someone suggested steeping a vanilla bean in the mixture too. 😉
Freezing them into cubes is brilliant! That would work really well to use them for iced coffee too.
I made with 1% milk and half/half; Canadian maple syrup and vanilla extract. I think next time I will steep a vanilla bean in the milk for more vanilla flavor; which is really what I looking for to make Keurig coffee more flavorful; making up for doing away with all the harmful “creamers” out there. Thanks for the start!
I made this creamer tonight and I am so excited to try it in the morning! This may be a silly question, but what is the “serving size’? It says 12 servings, but is that per tablespoon? 2 tablespoons, etc?
I have started faithfully tracking calories in a food-logging app, and have added this recipe/ingredients for easier tracking, so that is why I am asking. Thank you!
Hi Tammy! If you divide this recipe into 12 servings (per the nutrition calculations at the bottom of the recipe card), each serving will be about 3 1/2 tablespoons. You could divide the recipe into 16 servings for servings that are closer to 2 1/2 tablespoons, or you could go even further from there. It really just depends on how much creamer you like in your coffee! 🙂 Hope that helps.
Sam, I haven’t tried this, yet, and have a couple of questions. 1) Do you need to cook the mixture? If so, why? 2) In one of the comments below, you state that you sometimes sub coconut milk. I love the coconut cream store-bought creamer and am wondering if it can be replicated with this exchange? Thank you!
Hi there! Cooking the mixture just helps ensure that everything combines smoothly. 🙂
And yes, I have made this recipe with unsweetened coconut milk in the past (the kind in the carton from the refrigerated section), but I wouldn't say it tastes overly coconutty made with refrigerated coconut milk (which has a pretty subtle coconut flavor). If you want your creamer to taste like coconut, I think you'd have better luck if you incorporate some canned coconut milk (well-shaken) in place of the heavy cream in this recipe. Hope that helps!
Awesome! Thanks for the tips!