Name: Make Strawberry Horchata (With a Greek Twist)
Yield: 2 liters
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 1 cup white rice; 6 cups water, divided; 1 cinnamon stick; 1 teaspoon vanilla; one can sweetened condensed milk; one pound fresh strawberries

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It's strawberry season, and this Mexican strawberry horchata recipe is a brilliant way to turn some of those bountiful summer berries into a delicious and refreshing beverage.

Pitcher and glass of strawberry horchata, garnished with fresh strawberries and white flowers. Text overlay reads "how to make Strawberry Horchata."

I recently returned from a trip to Thessaloniki, Greece, where I learned all about rice production in Europe. I didn't realize that Greece even produced rice before the trip! But the four rivers in Macedonia create a river delta that is absolutely brilliant for rice production.

Collage of images of rice production in greece, including rice grains on the stalk, a drying facility, a packaging factory, and the studded wheel of a tractor designed for wet rice paddies.

We visited rice farms, saw the freshly planted rice paddies, and learned all about the drying and refining process to bring this exceptional rice to your table. And of course I came home with a lot of rice to cook with! We lived in Phoenix, Arizona for many years, and that's where my family fell in love with traditional horchata. Horchata is a creamy drink made with white rice, cinnamon, vanilla, and sweetened condensed milk. I now live in England, where I've never found horchata for sale, so I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to make homemade horchata. But not just any horchata--agua de horchata de fresa, Strawberry horchata. It's strawberry season here in England, and the fresh strawberries are absolutely amazing!

Ingredients for making strawberry horchata on a white wooden surface.

Ingredients for Strawberry Horchata Recipe:

6 cups of water, divided (4 cups initially, and two more cups added at the end)
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or a 2" piece of a vanilla pod)
1 pound (16 ounces) of fresh strawberries
1 can of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup of white rice

Strawberries, vanilla bean, and cinnamon stick on a cutting board made from olive wood and green resin.

Wash, hull, and cut strawberries in halves or quarters.

Cut a two inch piece of your vanilla pod if you're using one. If you're using vanilla extract, I'll tell you when to add that later.

Rice, cinnamon stick, and vanilla bean soaking in a clear glass bowl to make homemade horchata.

Place the rinsed rice, cinnamon stick, and portion of vanilla bean in a bowl. My cinnamon sticks actually came from the market in Athens, too! More greek flavors for my horchata.

Cover with four cups of hot water (not boiling, just hot!). Cover and let soak for at least four hours, but preferably overnight.

Strawberries and rice mixture ready to be blended to make strawberry horchata.

The next day, pour the rice (including the rice water, whole cinnamon stick, and vanilla bean) in a blender. Add your strawberries and blend thoroughly. Depending on the strength of your blender, you might want to blend the mixture several times. You want to pulverize all of the solids to extract all of the delicious flavor.

Strawberry horchata mixture being strained with a fine mesh strainer.

Next it's time to remove the solids so we're left with a smooth beverage with no grit. I found it easiest to do this using a two step process.

First, I used a fine mesh strainer to strain out the larger sediment (although you can see that my blender did a good job pulverizing the ingredients).

At this point, the flavors of the horchata are there, but the texture is still a little gritty. It's time to move on to the second straining.

strawberry horchata being strained a second time through cheesecloth.

Pour the strained liquid through a fine sieve lined with cheesecloth to catch the extremely small sediment in the horchata.

Sediment left over from the second straining when making strawberry horchata.

If you make your own nut milks, you can use a nut milk bag instead of the cheesecloth. You'll be left with a silky smooth liquid.

strawberry horchata being blended together with sweetened condensed milk.

Return the liquid to your blender (remember to clean it to remove any grit!), add two cups of cold water, and one can of sweetened condensed milk. If you are using vanilla extract instead of a vanilla bean, now is the time to add your vanilla. Blend well.

Pitcher and glass of strawberry horchata garnished with fresh strawberries and a white rose.

This easy strawberry horchata recipe makes about two liters, perfect for a large pitcher of this delicious drink. Serve the pink horchata over plenty of ice on a hot summer day and I bet this will become one of your favorite drinks, too.

strawberry horchata in a glass and pitcher, garnished with fresh strawberries and white flowers.

Refreshing horchata with a delicious fruity twist--what could be better on a warm day? Thank you to European Rice for teaching me about rice production in Greece and inspiring this delicious recipe.