Sweetened Condensed Milk – China Sichuan Food

Sweetened condensed milk is one of the most essential ingredients in my kitchen, especially for beverages and desserts. As you know, I am a fan of milk tea and bubble tea. In most cases, I use sweetened condensed milk as the sweetener of my bubble tea instead of syrup.

It is super easy to make your homemade condensed milk with just three ingredients- milk, sugar, and butter. Once you try making this at home, you’ll never want to go back to store-bought! I love my home version because I can control the amount of sugar as well as the overall quality and quantity. For this batch, I am making it as the dipping sauce of my deep-fried steamed buns.

Ingredients for homemade sweetened condensed milk

• 1 cup whole milk, use high-quality and fresh milk
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp. unsalted butter

About the Pan

I have tested with several types of pans and found that a heavy-bottomed large saucepan is the best option, compared to a pot or a wok. A large surface can save you lots of time.

Let’s start with slow fire to dissolve the sugar.

The trick of making perfectly smooth, textured, sweetened condensed milk is “don’t stir it” when it starts to boil. However, we need to start with a slow fire first to ensure the sugar is well dissolved, so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

So pour in 1 cup of fresh whole milk and then add the sugar.

Start with slow fire and stir for a while until you can’t feel any sugar at the bottom.

Simmering to “condense” the milk

Now turn up the heat slightly to a medium fire, and add the butter. Continue simmering for around 15 to 20 minutes.

The key tip in this stage is “don’t stir it” in the process of simmering. You can see from the picture below that lots of floats will attach to the edge of the pan and also the milk skin. Please don’t mix them with our sweetened condensed milk.

When the milk skin forms. Just discard it.

Judge whether it is ready.

One of the most critical steps is to decide when to stop heating. I love the shape-holding technique when you use a scraper to separate a gap on the surface of the pan. It will hold for a while.

At this time, you may find that the sweetened condensed milk is still too runny compared to the store-bought version. However, it will become firmer once it has cooled.

Strain to get the best texture

The last step is to strain to ensure there is no grainy texture; sometimes, it may contain broken milk skin or floaters.

That’s our perfectly made sweetened condensed milk. Now prepare your coffee, ice cream, pie, iced tea, or bubble tea, and enjoy a milky sweetness with this sweetener.

The reason I made this batch is that I made deep-fried mantou. Mantou is a Chinese-style bread that is deep-fried. But it is plain in flavor. We love to pair it with sauces, sometimes using chili sauce for a savory and spicy taste, and at other times with condensed sweetened milk for a sweet flavor.

How to use sweetened condensed milk

It is a very popular sweetener for most Asian desserts and beverages. For example, Hong Kong milk tea calls for sweetened condensed milk as the only sweetener, because it creates the signature thick, creamy, and velvety texture that defines authentic Hong Kong milk tea.

In addition to the bubble tea or other milk tea, you can also use it on pancakes or pie. This is a similar usage to the deep-fried mantou. I also love to use it for ice cream in the summer. In general, you may use it as a sugar substitute under any conditions, unless milk and butter need to be excluded.

I hope you find the good way of making sweetened condensed milk, the creamy,milker sweetener can be such a helper. Happy cooking!