Super Creamy Homemade Chai Concentrate

Homemade chai can be a daunting recipe to tackle, with a plethora of exotic spices to mix and match to spicy perfection. But! This homemade chai concentrate is so effortless, you can make a new batch every week. It’s also easy to mix things up each time with different spices while staying true to the flavor profile of authentic chai.

Linda Ly
A jar of homemade chai concentrate sitting in front of two mugs of chai, with cinnamon sticks, star anise, and brewed tea bags in the foreground

In my kitchen, sweetened condensed milk is a staple. I grew up with this rich, creamy sweetener in my Vietnamese household, where a dollop was always drizzled into coffee, warmed and served with bread, or mixed into flan.

These days, I use it to make a very addictive Vietnamese coffee every morning and in the spirit of the season, I use it to whip up a weekly batch of this very addictive homemade chai concentrate. Try it and I promise you’ll be addicted, too.

Closeup view of a spoonful of creamy chai concentrate liquid dripping down into a jar of more chai concentrate

Homemade chai can be a daunting recipe to tackle, with a plethora of exotic spices to mix and match to spicy perfection.

But! This homemade chai concentrate is so effortless, you still have time to make it as a gift for Christmas. And so delicious, your loved ones will be impressed at the effort they think you put into it!

Related: 13 Cozy Scents That Make Your Home Smell Like Christmas

A glass bowl of condensed milk next to a small dish filled with ground chai spices, shot against a linen napkin background

What other spices can you use in chai?

In my opinion, cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves are the core ingredients of a good chai. Any other spices you mix in simply kick up the flavor to your liking.

I like to play around with varying amounts of star anise, allspice, coriander, fennel, black pepper, mace, and nutmeg, depending on what I have in my kitchen.

Most of these are whole spices that I also use for pickling, so I give them a quick whirl in my coffee grinder to add to my chai concentrate. An old-fashioned mortar and pestle also works.

Grind up only one batch at a time, since oils released from the spices during grinding cause the flavors to deteriorate quickly.

What kind of sweetened condensed milk to buy

Once you get addicted to this chai, you’ll probably start buying lots of sweetened condensed milk. It starts with a can. Then a few cans. Then you’ll wish Costco carried them.

So here’s a tip: Sweetened condensed milk is less expensive at a Chinese/Vietnamese market. There may be a bunch of characters and words on the label that you don’t understand, but it’s the same stuff.

Just beware of brands (in any market) that use additives—the only ingredients should be milk and sugar.

A jar of homemade chai concentrate with a spoon in it, cinnamon sticks and star anise in the foreground, and and mugs of hot tea in the background

Homemade chai concentrate

Makes 2 half-pints

Ingredients

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground star anise (optional)

Instructions

Pour sweetened condensed milk into a mixing cup. Add in all the spices. Stir well and decant into clean jars. Done!

Various ground chai spices dropped in small spoonfuls in a glass bowl of condensed milk
Overhead view of chai spices being whisked into a glass bowl of condensed milk, shot on a linen napkin
A whisk resting in a glass bowl of homemade chai concentrate
Overhead shot of two jars of homemade chai concentrate shot on a textured white surface with a linen napkin off to the side

The chai concentrate should keep for several months in the refrigerator, but it won’t last that long anyway!

This recipe makes two half-pint jars, which are enough for several mugs of chai (depending on how sweet or strong you like your chai).

To make your hot tea, simply stir a couple spoonfuls of your homemade chai concentrate into a cup of strong brewed black tea, such as Assam, English Breakfast, or Earl Grey. It’s also delicious with Darjeeling (a lighter black tea usually blended with green or oolong tea) or rooibos (a red tea from Africa).

Overhead shot of a mug of hot tea next to another mug with creamy chai concentrate stirred into it
Yield: 2 half-pints

Super Creamy Homemade Chai Concentrate

A jar of homemade chai concentrate sitting in front of two mugs of chai, with cinnamon sticks, star anise, and brewed tea bags in the foreground

Homemade chai can be a daunting recipe to tackle, with a plethora of exotic spices to mix and match to spicy perfection. But! This homemade chai concentrate is so effortless, you can make a new batch every week for yourself and for gifting.

Prep Time 2 minutes
Cook Time 1 minute
Total Time 3 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground star anise (optional)

Instructions

  1. Pour sweetened condensed milk into a mixing cup.
  2. Add in all the spices.
  3. Stir well and decant into clean jars.

Notes

The chai concentrate should keep for several months in the refrigerator.

To make your tea, simply stir a couple spoonfuls of your homemade chai concentrate into a cup of strong brewed black tea, such as Assam, English Breakfast, or Earl Grey. It's also delicious with Darjeeling (a lighter black tea usually blended with green or oolong tea) or rooibos (a red tea from Africa).

Did you make this recipe?

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This post updated from an article that originally appeared on December 21, 2011.

View the Web Story on homemade chai concentrate.

21 Comments

  1. I’m wondering if there is a handy guide for root depths of flowers. I’m moving all my flowers like sedum, phlox,etc to raised beds because I’m through trying to beat the weeds and grass in my flower beds (on old pasture land).

    1. Also, how weird…I just noticed this is a very old post…or the comments are! But it just showed up in my Feedly blog reader today! Crazy….anyway, happy new year, still can’t wait to try it!

        1. I just found this recipe and had to make it. It is delicious. Stands up well to very strong tea. Great way to start 2024!

  2. Thank you so much! It is hard to find chai tea mixes here and my kids and I LOVE chai. I make it from scratch sometimes, but this is my favorite go to when I want an easy cuppa.

  3. What kind of coffee/spice grinder do you reccomend? My coffee grinder just broke after grinding a bunch of different spices — it was over 25 years old. I’d like to invest a good one with multiple coarseness settings but there are so many on the market it’s hard to cull the great from the mediocre.

  4. Do you think it would spoil the shelf life to make this with fresh ginger? And how much would you suggest using? Thanks, this recipe looks so easy and tasty!

    1. If you use fresh ginger, the concentrate should keep in the fridge for a week or two. I’d recommend starting with 2 teaspoons of fresh grated ginger and see how you like the flavor.

    1. I’m unsure, as I’ve never canned condensed milk. I only preserve items that are perishable (fruits and veggies) and since condensed milk comes out of a can, I just make this recipe as I need it.

      Since it naturally contains a lot of sugar, it will keep in the fridge for at least 3 weeks (maybe more – but the longest I’ve kept it is 3 weeks). If you can’t use up the chai concentrate within that month, you can freeze it. The fat might separate, but you can simply thaw it out and give it a good stir.

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