Homemade Eggnog Recipe (2024)

This creamy Homemade Eggnog is thick, rich, and spiced with traditional nutmeg to get you into the spirit of the holiday season! It's so much better than store bought, and uses just a few simple ingredients!

Homemade Eggnog

Celebrate the Christmas season right with this ultra creamy and decadent homemade eggnog. It's made with real cream, milk, eggs, and nutmeg that makes a festive drink for the holiday.

It's easy to make, using just a few pantry ingredients, and store bought cannot even compare. Each sip encapsulates the nostalgia of holiday tradition.

What is Eggnog?

Eggnog is a drink that is a sort of rich milk punch made with cream, sugar, eggs, and nutmeg. It is typically served during the Christmas and New Year holiday season. These rich ingredients were thought to be luxurious, celebrating the past year and welcoming prosperity for the new one.

Now, eggnog is a comforting and nostalgic, but still very much luxurious and rich, holiday beverage that people still enjoy during the whole holiday season.

What Type of Alcohol Goes in Eggnog?

Traditional eggnog is most often made with bourbon, rum, or cognac. In fact that signature "eggnog flavor" of store-bought varieties is actually rum extract. Otherwise, it would just taste like sweet spiced milk.

This homemade eggnog recipe calls for rum extract, as it will give you the classic flavor without the alcohol. However, you can omit the extract and instead use 1.5 ounce each bourbon and rum (about 3 tablespoons each). This will give you that classic flavor using actual alcohol instead of extract.

Real alcohol in dairy and eggs actually helps it to not go bad, making your homemade eggnog safer!

Of course, if you're opting for using real alcohol, it's no longer safe to serve children.

How to Make Homemade Eggnog into a co*cktail

There are plenty of elegant, beautiful, and delicious eggnog co*cktails all over the internet. But the easiest one is simply to add 1.5 ounces of bourbon or rum to a glass, and fill the remaining glass with your chilled homemade eggnog. Give it a quick stir, and enjoy!

How to Serve Homemade Eggnog

Since homemade eggnog is made with raw eggs, it's very important that it doesn't sit out. Therefore, I don't recommend serving in a punch bowl, unless you're keeping the punch bowl in the fridge.

Pour refrigerated eggnog into glasses or mugs. Add alcohol to make it a co*cktail, if desired.

To garnish, you can top with whipped cream and freshly shaved nutmeg. You can also top with pretty spices such as cinnamon sticks or stars of anise, or even cookies such as wafer straws or gingersnaps.

More Eggnog Recipes You'll Love

• Eggnog French Toast - a super simple holiday breakfast that uses eggnog and eggs to make a festive French toast.
• Eggnog Muffins - nutmeg spiced muffins with a cinnamon streusel and an eggnog glaze.
• Eggnog Fudge - this easy candy tastes just like your favorite eggnog. Eggnog lovers will love every creamy bite.
• Eggnog French Toast Casserole - a festive make-ahead Christmas breakfast with a moist eggnog French toast base topped with a brown sugar streusel topping.
• Eggnog Pumpkin Pie - everyone's favorite pie made even more decadent with creamy, rich, spiced eggnog.

Homemade Eggnog Video

UPDATE INFO: This recipe was originally published in December 2017. It was updated with new pictures, tips, and video and republished in November 2023.