What to use instead of sweetened condensed milk
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
Advertisement
Sugar and dairy that set a no-bake filling
It is milk with most of the water boiled out and around 45 percent sugar, so when acid from lime or lemon hits it the proteins tighten and the filling sets sliceable without any cooking.
Milk and sugar reduced yourselfRan out
3 cups whole milk + 1 cup sugar, simmered gently to about 1 1/4 cups
Takes 45 minutes and reads fresher and less caramelised than the can. It sets a lime pie fine and stays a shade looser.
Coconut condensed milkPlant-based
1:1
Sets nearly as firm and tastes plainly of coconut. It browns faster on top if the filling goes in the oven.
Dulce de lecheRan out
1:1
Already caramelised, so the sweetness goes darker and deeper and the mixture stiffens sooner over heat. Brigadeiro comes together in half the time.
What doesn't work: Evaporated milk. It is the same milk with the water out and no sugar in, so a key lime filling made with it never sets and pours out of the crust. If it is what you have, whisk in 1 1/4 cups sugar per 12 oz can and reduce it down first.
Sweetener and creamer in strong coffee or tea
One pour delivers sugar and thick milk together, and the fat is what stops a dark roast or a strong black tea tasting bitter. It also sits in a layer at the bottom until you stir.
Evaporated milk plus sugarRan out
2 tbsp evaporated milk + 1 tbsp sugar per 2 tbsp condensed
Thinner, so it mixes straight in and you lose the layered look. Slightly less of the cooked-milk flavour.
Coconut condensed milkPlant-based
1:1
Coconut comes through strongly in Thai iced tea and hides under a dark roast. Same weight and same layering in the glass.
Heavy cream plus sugarRan out
2 tbsp cream + 1 tbsp sugar per 2 tbsp condensed
Richer and paler with no cooked-milk taste. The drink never gets the syrupy weight the can gives it.
Oat milk plus maple syrupPlant-based
3 tbsp oat milk + 1 tbsp maple syrup per 2 tbsp condensed
Much thinner and the coffee comes out tasting weaker. Use a smaller pour of hotter, stronger coffee to hold it up.
What doesn't work: Plain milk with sugar stirred in. Two tablespoons of milk cannot carry that much sweetness or coat the tongue the way the condensed does, so Vietnamese coffee comes out watery and bitter however much sugar goes in.