Sous Vide Kahlua

Take weeks off your brew time with this homemade sous vide Kahlua recipe. It's filled with strong coffee, sugar, rum and a vanilla bean, you'll love it for mixing drinks, baking, and gift-giving!

The case is starting to look like a dog-eared book. Well worn, well-loved, and well used. I didn't know that you could crack the spine on a DVD case but here we are.

My favourite DVD has seen better days. I don't know how, or when, or even why, but for years my favourite movie has been The Big Lebowski.

Bad day? The Dude's got your back.
Good Day? Walter Sobchak's antics can only make it better.
Saturday night and nothing to watch? You're out of your element Donny.

This sous vide kahlua recipe is dedicated to my inner dudeness.

Jump to:

• Homemade Coffee Liqueur Tips & Tricks
• Key ingredients:
• How to make sous vide kahlua
• Storage information
• Substitutions
• What does homemade Kaluha taste like?
• How to Make Homemade Kahlua Without A Sous Vide
• Instant Pot With Sous Vide Function
• 📖 Printable Recipe

Homemade Coffee Liqueur Tips & Tricks

No. 1 --> New to sous vide? Check out my comprehensive Sous Vide 101 guide!

No. 2 --> Don't have a sous vide? You should get one! But you can make this recipe without it, I've included directions for both methods.

No. 3 --> Sous vide takes a 3-week project and turns it into a 3-hour one. Infusions are one of the best uses for sous vide!

No. 4 --> use the vanilla bean. This recipe is not the same without it - that said, vanilla bean paste would also work!

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Key ingredients:

The ingredient list is short and sweet:

• strong coffee: When I know I'm running low on Kahlua and decided to make another batch, I'll just make a little larger pot of coffee in the morning!
• sugar: In this recipe, white sugar is used as it's perfect for lending sweetness without adding flavor.
• white rum: My mom likes Bacardi so I like to keep a bottle on hand for when she's visiting, but any decent white rum will work!
• vanilla bean: I love using whole vanilla beans when I'm cooking or baking. Whole beans are incredible when steeped, like in my sous vide vanilla extract!

And damn delicious!

How to make sous vide kahlua

1. If your coffee is cold, heat it up in the microwave until hot. Mix the sugar into the hot coffee - set aside to cool. The sugar may not completely dissolve, that's ok. Set the coffee aside to cool.
2. Meanwhile, prepare your sous vide water bath. I used a large pot, and fill with hot tap water. Set circulator to 135f.
3. Slice the vanilla bean in half lengthwise, and cut into enough sections for the number of jars you're using. (I used 3 500ml jars). Place one section of the vanilla bean into each jar.
4. Once the coffee has cooled, add the rum and mix well to combine. Divide the coffee, sugar, rum mixture between your jars. Leaving 1 inch of headspace in each jar.
5. Place lids on jars and spin the lids on finger-tight. Air needs to escape the jars while in the sous vide bath so not too tight!
6. Place jars into sous vide bath and cook at 135f for 3 hours.
7. Remove jars from the water bath and place them on a cooling rack to cool to room temperature before straining out the vanilla bean.

Storage information

A long time. Like pretty much indefinitely - if it lasts that long! To be on the safe side, I'd say around a year.

There's no need to keep this homemade Kahlua in the fridge. This easy-going recipe can be stored in a cool, dark liquor cabinet. That said, you can keep it in the fridge, like I do - for those moments that a Dudette just needs a Caucasian, man.

Substitutions

RUM: You can certainly swap out the rum, but I have only tested it with white rum. Dark or amber rum would be a quick and easy substitution.

SUGAR: This recipe could also be made with brown sugar, it would add more caramel flavor to the Kahlua.

What does homemade Kaluha taste like?

This easy to make coffee liqueur tastes like strong coffee with a sweet alcohol punch. It can be drunk straight, mixed into drinks, or even whipped up into other recipes!

How to Make Homemade Kahlua Without A Sous Vide

This recipe can definitely be made at home without a sous vide, but be warned, it takes MUCH longer. The beauty of the sous vide method is that it takes a formerly 3-week process down to 3 hours.

If you are making it at home, you'll follow all the same steps until you hit the sous vide part. Once it's bottled up, place your jar(s) into a cool, dark cabinet. Once a week, give it a shake. And after 3 weeks, you'll need to strain out the vanilla bean - save it for another baking project or add to your vanilla extract brew!

Looking for more great sous-vide recipes?

Instant Pot With Sous Vide Function

Follow all the same directions, BUT place your jar(s) on the trivet inside your Instant Pot. This keeps them off the hot base and allows water to circulate more freely around the jars during the infusion process.

Pin this copycat Kahlua recipe for later!