Puerto Rican Style Coconut Pudding (Tembleque)

This Puerto Rican coconut pudding or Tembleque is silky, creamy, tropical, and vegan-friendly.

Tembleque with the perfect hint of spices will be the ideal dessert to serve within little shot glasses if you have a party or serve on a big family-style bowl.

What is tembleque?

Tembleque is a Puerto Rican coconut dessert that is very popular. This coconut pudding is made from milk, salt, cinnamon and cornstarch, and more.

You can also use nutmeg, vanilla, and even rum.

You might like these Puerto Rican recipes:

• Instant Pot Arroz con Gandules
• Arroz Con Leche
• Puerto Rican Recipes: Traditional and Modern

For this Receta de Tembleque, we used coconut milk, and we skipped regular milk.

There are many tembleque recipes out there, and this Puerto Rican dessert recipe is vegan-friendly.

Can you make coconut custard ahead?

The great thing about Puerto Rican coconut custard is that this recipe lasts for a while in the fridge, so you can make it ahead of time. It will last fresh for up to 5 days, making it the perfect party dessert, in my opinion. 

Can you use gelatin to make Tembleque?

Yes, you can. Some Puerto Rican Tembleque recipes use gelatin to help it hold its shape; I prefer to go with cornstarch because the result is creamier. However, if you want it to hold its shape, swap the 2 Tbsp cornstarch for 2 Tbsp unflavored gelatin.

Can you Freeze Tembleque?

Yes, tembleque can be freeze but know this. You can freeze tembleque and thaw it by placing it in the refrigerator. The consistency of the coconut pudding might get a little weird, but if you stir and let it defrost in the fridge instead of leaving it out to thaw, it will be OK.

How to Make Puerto Rican Tembleque

We are going to begin with the ingredients, and as stated before, this recipe is vegan-friendly as we don’t use milk and gelatin. Of course, you can swap 2 Tbsp cornstarch for 2 Tbsp unflavored gelatin if you desire.

What are the ingredients to make Puerto Rican Tembleque?

All of the ingredients for this recipe can be found at your local Walmart, and if your Walmart has grocery pick up, even better. If you have never used Walmart Groceries when you use this link, you will $10 off your first purchase, so this recipe will be even cheaper to make.

To make Vegan-Friendly Tembleque, you are going to need the following ingredients:

• coconut milk
• sugar
• cinnamon
• vanilla extract
• cornstarch
• water

Now that you have the ingredients, it is time to make this coconut pudding by following the steps below.

1. Heat up your stove to medium-high heat. Mix the coconut milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla extract using a saucepan.
2. Bring the mixture to a slow simmer for about 7 minutes.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the starch and water and mix the mixture well.
4. After the stove mixture has been simmering for 7 minutes, add the cornstarch to the coconut milk, and while cooking, regularly mix for about 10 minutes.
5. Remove from the stove, pour it into bowls, and allow it to cool completely before placing the tembleque into the refrigerator.
6. Once you place the coconut pudding in the fridge, leave it for 3 hours.

Puerto Rican Coconut Pudding Recipe

Below you will hit the print button and get the exact measurements to create this Puerto Rican coconut dessert.