12 Drinks of Christmas: Sous Vide Spiced Eggnog

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I scream, you scream, we all scream for eggnog! It’s definitely an indulgence, but so worth it once or twice a year; any excuse to basically drink melted ice cream is fine by me. And thanks to the magic of sous vide, we can completely pasteurize the eggs at home for worry-free enjoyment.

This homemade eggnog is steeped with fresh nutmeg, cinnamon sticks, and vanilla beans for deep, rich smoothness. It’s up to you if you leave it virgin for the whole family to enjoy or tip in some bourbon; the gentle heat of sous vide will mellow out the alcohol as if you aged it for weeks. Or just make a half-and-half batch so everyone can choose what they want!

Eggs are pasteurized once the yolk reaches a temperature of 138°F. This eggnog ‘cooks’ in the sous vide bath at 144°F, ensuring the eggs are completely pasteurized while staying safely below scrambling temperature.

While this eggnog meets the definition of pasteurization, you should never make anything you’re not comfortable with. I have a verylaissez-faire attitude about experimenting in the kitchen – especially when there’s only a 0.03% chance of contamination without pasteurization, which is then 100% sterile after mixing with booze – but it’s still not for everyone.

I hope this12 Drinks of Christmasseries sparks all sorts of new ideas for celebrating the holidays! I’m sharing a new drink recipe every Tuesday, Thursday, & Saturday from Thanksgiving ’til Christmas. Thursday drinks are family-friendly favorites; the rest of the week is co*cktails, mulled wines, sangrias, and all sorts of boozy party goodies to celebrate the season. Cheers!

Longer resting time will let the boozy flavors mellow out, although quite of lot of mellowing happens thanks to sous vide warming. Without bourbon, this should keep in the fridge for a week; with bourbon, it will essentially keep forever thanks to bacteria-killing alcohol. Booze to the rescue again!

So what do you think – worth the extra effort of sous viding so you can enjoy it right away? Me, I’ll happily give it an hour so I don’t have to wait overnight!

12 Drinks of Christmas


Mistletoe Kiss co*cktail	Peppermint Hot Cocoa	German Mulled Glühwein	Flying Fig co*cktail

Sous Vide Spiced Eggnog	Marzipan Dream co*cktail		Gingerbread Spice Steamer

Christmas Cider Sangria	Frosty Flurry co*cktail	Cardamom Honey Chai	Pomegranate Champagne Mule

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5 from 3 votes

Sous Vide Spiced Eggnog

Sous vide pasteurizes the eggs, mellows the booze, & eliminates the need for aging in this rich eggnog steeped with fresh nutmeg, cinnamon, & vanilla beans.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Total Time1 hour hr 10 minutes mins

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: American

Ingredients

4 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 - 1/2 whole nutmeg grated
1/4 t. salt
1 vanilla bean or 1 T. vanilla extract
2 cinnamon sticks
2 quart mason jars
1 cup bourbon (optional)

Instructions

Preheat sous vide bath to 144°F / 62°C.
Add eggs, egg yolks, milk, cream, sugar, nutmeg, and salt to a blender.
Split the vanilla bean in half and scrape the seeds & juices into the blender. Set the pods aside.
Blend on high until a thick white foam builds on top - see note.
Place one cinnamon stick and half of the vanilla pod in each jar. Pour eggnog evenly into jars. If using bourbon, add now.
Screw lids on 'fingertip tight', just until you feel resistance, and submerge jars in sous vide bath.
Cook at144°F / 62°C for 1 hour.
Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled. Serve cold garnished with grated nutmeg. Store in the refrigerator.

Notes

Joy the Baker teaches us that, like most spices, fresh nutmeg is more potent than dried & ground. I likelots of nutmeg in my eggnog so I use half, but a quarter may be plenty for you!

Blender motors vary quite a lot - a high-powered blender could create thick, dense foam in a couple minutes, while an inexpensive model might take up to ten. Keep blending on high until the foam is very thick.

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12 Drinks of Christmas: Mistletoe Kiss co*cktail
See Also
How To Make Your Own Vanilla Bean Extract — First Thyme Mom
12 Drinks of Christmas: Flying Fig co*cktail
12 Drinks of Christmas: German Mulled Glühwein

Reader Interactions

Comments

Debi Davis says
8 December 2017 at 2:14 am
This egg nog looks amazing! I hope you will be posting your recipe for the Christmas sangria that you brought to the party that you catered For Us.
Reply
- Kate says
  8 December 2017 at 11:48 am
  Thanks so much, Debi! So glad you liked the sangria, it’ll be posted next Saturday. 🙂
  Reply
Jared Michael James says
28 August 2018 at 7:52 am
Hi! I know this post was from a while ago, but made this with my daughter this weekend. We both love eggnog, and I was looking for a new recipe for my sous vide setup. After making this, I have a few comment/questions.
First, I did not have a nutmeg to grind up, so I used pre ground nutmeg. Based on the ~3 teaspoons ground nutmeg to 1 whole nutmeg, we went with 1-1/2 teaspoons. WAY too much! 🙂 Need to back that off to 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg.
Also, the consistency of the eggnog was pretty thin; like drinking spiced, sweetened milk. Is this recipe meant to be thin, or should it be thicker? When you blend, how long do you blend for? I blended for about 1 min, but wondering if a longer blend time would thicken it up some. Any suggestions here would be great!
Thanks for sharing!!
Reply
- Kate says
  28 August 2018 at 8:41 am
  Hi Jared, thanks so much for trying this recipe – great questions!
  I definitely like my eggnog with LOTS of nutmeg (maybe too much!) and fresh is even more potent than ground. Your feedback is really helpful so I’ll add a note for other readers.
  It should be quite thick. Blender motors vary quite a bit so I didn’t include a time, but mine took about 5 minutes to create a thick foam. Something high-powered like a Vitamix would be even quicker, but an inexpensive blender could take up to 10 minutes. I’ve added a time range to the instructions as well.
  Thank you for trying the recipe & leaving a comment! I’d love to hear what you think if you make it again!
  Reply
  - Jared Michael James says
    28 August 2018 at 4:10 pm
    Hi! Thanks for the prompt feedback, and the clarification on the blend time! I suspected that the eggnog was thin due to a short blending, because of how heavy cream will get thick after a long whipping (whipped cream). Next batch I will blend for much longer, and keep an eye on the thickness.
    One more question: Do you suppose I could take what eggnog I have left and put it back in the blender, to see if it will thicken up? I suspect it will, but not sure how the cooking would impact the thicken of the eggnog.
    Thanks again! 🙂
    Reply
    - Kate says
      28 August 2018 at 5:01 pm
      You know, that’s a great question – I believe it should thicken, although maybe not as much as it would pre-cooking. I don’t see how it could hurt so give it a try!
      Reply