15 Genius Hacks For Your Can Of Sweetened Condensed Milk

Stashed in the back of your pantry, gathering dust, is a can of sweetened condensed milk. And it's ready for its big break. The syrupy, sweet, complex, and caramel-ly flavor is tough to duplicate and it is a pantry staple you should consider having on hand at literally all times. 

The famous Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk — most likely the can you have at home — was first produced in 1853 when inventor Gail Borden Jr., after two previous attempts, succeeded in creating shelf-stable milk. The canned milk was used as field rations for Union soldiers and caught on in popularity after the war when soldiers spread the word about it being delicious and easy to eat on the go.

These days, keeping sweetened condensed milk on hand is a great idea for easy cooking and baking hacks. Everything from popular cakes and coffee creamers to balancing needs for savory dishes lean on the stuff. Here are 15 amazing hacks for your sweetened condensed milk.

Possibly the best, most amazing, and my personal favorite thing to make with a can of sweetened condensed milk is the all-around delicious tres leches cake. For those of you who don't remember your 4th-grade Spanish lessons, tres leches cake means "three milks cake," and the recipe relies on sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and whole milk or heavy cream (although I've seen some creative recipes using coconut milk and other alternatives, too). The origins of this soaked dessert are a bit contested, with some claiming Mexico is the birthplace of the spongecake while others claim it hails from Nicaragua. Regardless, the cake is probably the most rightful place to use your can of sweetened condensed milk.

A delicious tres leches cake is easy to make. You'll need sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, eggs, sugar, and whole milk. Basically, you'll be creating a classic yellow cake and baking it at 350 degrees. Once that's out of the oven, poke it all over with a fork, then pour over the mixture containing all three milks (or heavy cream). Then top the cake with either marshmallow fluff or fresh whipped cream.

It's easy to just head to the supermarket and snag your favorite coffee creamer, right? Peppermint, pumpkin spice, French vanilla, Oreo, Thin Mint — the flavors are endless, and all at your fingertips. Know what else is at your fingertips? All of the additives and other not-great stuff that comes with those premade big box creamers. But if you've got sweetened condensed milk on hand, you're well on your way to enjoying a sweet coffee creamer that is made from only milk and sugar.

For homemade coffee creamer, you'll need a can of sweetened condensed milk, a can of evaporated milk, a fresh vanilla bean pod with the seeds scraped out, a bit of kosher salt, and hazelnuts. First, heat all of the ingredients together in a saucepan over medium heat. Once the mixture is simmering, immediately remove it from the heat and let it cool, then strain it into an airtight container. Don't like hazelnuts? Ditch them. Want a chocolate twist? Swap in cacao nibs. You can get creative with different extracts, too, like almond, coconut, and even lemon.

You're craving a sweet treat but your freezer is fresh out of any kind of frozen, dairy goodness. If you have a can of sweetened condensed milk, you can make ice cream in a pinch and eat it in as little as a few hours. And all you really need is the star ingredient, heavy cream, and vanilla; no ice cream machine required. Truthfully, there are dozens of other ways to make ice cream without an ice cream machine – from aggressively shaking a Mason jar and rolling around a coffee can to utilizing your ice cube tray.

To create your own ice cream from just a few on-hand ingredients, whip heavy cream until you've created stuff peaks. In a separate bowl, mix together your sweetened condensed milk and vanilla. Add one scoop of the whipped cream at a time to the condensed milk and gently fold together, until all of the whipped cream is in the bowl with the condensed milk. Transfer the mixture to a loaf pan and freeze for about six hours or until firm. You can mix in chopped strawberries, chocolate chips — whatever! — and enjoy.

Craving caramel for your ice cream sundae? Need it to dip apples in? Or to drizzle over a decadent milkshake? You can skip the jarred stuff full of additives and turn to that can of sweetened condensed milk instead. By simply boiling the canned stuff, you can create an incredibly complex caramel sauce without worrying about burning, stirring sugar, violent bubbling, or any of the other anxieties that can come along with making this dessert sauce.

To make cheater caramel sauce, boil water in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Once you've got a gentle simmer going, use a pair of tongs to lower in your can of sweetened condensed milk (unopened and with the label removed). Make sure the water covers the can completely, then replace the pot's lid, and boil for two to three hours, ensuring the water stays covering the can for the entirety. Once time is up, take your tongs and remove the can, submerging it in ice water. Then, once it's cool enough to handle, use a can opener to gaze upon your caramel glory.

Growing up near the Jersey shore, I have fond memories of saltwater taffy and big, decadent, luscious squares of freshly made fudge along the boardwalk. Funny enough, creating fudge is about as simple as it gets if you have a can of sweetened condensed milk on hand. Old-school recipes may require dissolving sugar and butter on a stovetop, tempering chocolate, and other easy-to-mess-up steps. But with good quality dark chocolate and sweetened condensed milk, you don't have to stress.

To create easy homemade fudge, melt your chocolate in the microwave, for about 10 to 20 seconds at a time. Take it out, stir, then repeat until your chocolate is melted but not burned. Once the chocolate is ready to go, add in your sweetened condensed milk, stirring until everything is combined. Pour the mixture into an 8x8 pan lined with parchment paper, sprinkle on any extras — like nuts, coconut, a drizzle of peanut butter, or fruit — and chill until everything is set. You can change it up with white chocolate for a vanilla fudge, raspberries for a fruity fudge, and even peanut butter for an old-fashioned twist.

In college, I may or may not have started several of our days with Bailey's in my coffee mug. It's basically coffee creamer, so I didn't see the harm. My ability to still ace my midterms and graduate early with honors speaks for itself, thank you very much. Academic success and casual drinking aside, if you are also a fan of the ol' Irish cream and happen to have a can of sweetened condensed milk waiting for its purpose in life, you're in luck.

Create your own Bailey's-style creamer with a can of sweetened condensed milk, good Irish whiskey (Jameson, we're looking at you), a bit of chocolate syrup, instant coffee, and heavy cream. In a blender, combine everything except the heavy cream. Arguably, you could do this in a big Mason jar, too, and have fun shaking it. Once everything is combined, add in your heavy cream, mix, and bam — you've got your own boozy coffee creamer. This'll keep in the refrigerator for two weeks, if it lasts that long.

The next time you're out at your favorite pho joint, slurping noodles and desperately trying not to splash yourself, order a Vietnamese coffee. The history of coffee in Vietnam started with the importation of a single coffee tree by a French Catholic priest in 1857. By the 1900s, the region's climate and soil proved to be ideal growing conditions for coffee beans. However, dairy is not popular in most Southeast Asian cuisines, so topping the coffee with heavy cream, half and half, or just plain milk was difficult. The French began importing sweetened condensed milk, and Vietnamese coffee was born.

There are several varieties of Vietnamese coffee — from dark, to milk, to white — but to truly make use of that sweetened condensed milk you have on hand, opt for the bạc xỉu, a lesser-known Vietnamese coffee. You'll need freshly brewed black coffee which you can allow to drip over ice. Then, you'll need cold whole milk, sweetened condensed milk, and ice. Shake everything together, strain, and serve.

Similar to and just as delicious as Vietnamese coffee is Thai milk tea. Although its origins are a bit murky, the general consensus seems to be that tea arrived in Thailand via the Chinese. Although it was traditionally a hot drink, it was adapted to being iced, and Thai milk tea — red tea with added milk and sugar — was born. The drink is served cold, making it a refreshing beverage to help combat Thailand's humid, tropical climate.

Luckily, you don't have to travel to Thailand to sip this refreshing treat so long as you have your trusted sweetened condensed milk on hand. To create your own Thai tea, you'll need sugar, black tea bags, star anise pods, cinnamon sticks, green cardamom pods, tamarind pods, and sweetened condensed milk. First, dissolve the sugar in boiling water, then remove it from the heat and add the tea bags, star anise, cinnamon, cardamom, and tamarind pods. Steep for about five minutes, then remove the tea bags and spices. Once cooled, you can whisk in your sweetened condensed milk and serve the tea over ice.

If you have trouble waking up in the morning and can't find the time to eat breakfast, overnight oats may be a great way to get something in your stomach to start the day. Overnight oats rely on either steel-cut, rolled, or old-fashioned oats soaked in your choice of milk with added nuts, fruit, and other goodies and left in the fridge until morning. If you've got sweetened condensed milk, you can add a little sweetness without going overboard, too.

To create delicious overnight oats with the pantry staple, try your hand at a tres leches-inspired breakfast. In a bowl, combine whole milk, evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, cinnamon, Mexican vanilla, and a pinch of salt. Once that's whisked together, add in your oats and chia seeds. Pour into a Mason jar and leave overnight in the refrigerator. Once it's all come together, top with diced strawberries and enjoy.

After stuffing myself with Carolina-style pulled pork, cornbread, collards, and macaroni and cheese, I still need a little treat. Banana pudding always fits the bill, and if you've got sweetened condensed milk, you're halfway to this delicious dessert. Adding a can of sweetened condensed milk greatly helps the texture of your pudding component, making it lusciously smooth and creamier than just adding whole milk alone. Some may find it cloyingly sweet, but if you're indulging after a salty, rich dinner, it feels perfect.

If you want to make creamier banana pudding the Magnolia Bakery way, start by adding a can of sweetened condensed milk to your vanilla pudding mix and add water or whole milk to thin it out a little. Beat together, then let it set in the refrigerator overnight. Once it's the right consistency, fold in freshly whipped cream, then begin building your layers. Nilla wafers, pudding, then freshly sliced bananas are the traditional order of operations, but any combination will do.

Every once in a while, toast becomes the best thing ever for me. It's like, what could possibly be better than that perfectly golden brown, toasty exterior with a soft interior; slathered in butter or jam or honey or all of the above. It's my breakfast, my lunch, my muse. Imagine my ecstasy, then, when I found out that it's very common in Hong Kong and other locations in Asia to slather your toast with butter AND sweetened condensed milk.

Menus at Hong Kong's Cha Chaan Teng — tea restaurants that serve cheap Western-style food — feature sandwiches made of pillowy white bread, sweetened condensed milk, and butter. These are often served at tea time or, similar to fluffernutter sandwiches in the U.S., as an after-school treat for children. To make your own, it couldn't be simpler. Just toast up your favorite basic white bread. Once it's out of the toaster, spread on some good quality salted butter, then drizzle the sweetened condensed milk inside it like you would maple syrup. Bon appétit!

The isolation of the Florida Keys, coupled with the tropical weather and not-so-great refrigeration techniques in the 19th century, made obtaining and storing milk in this part of the country difficult. Naturally, desserts such as sweet and tart key lime pie (Florida's unofficial dessert), relied on the key limes brought to the area by islanders and shelf-stable sweetened condensed milk.

To create this delicious pie, you'll need key limes, key lime zest, sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks, salt, a graham cracker crust, and fresh whipped cream. In a large bowl, combine the egg yolks and sweetened condensed milk. Stir in the key lime juice, zest, and salt, then once everything is smooth, pour into a prepared graham cracker crust. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the pie is just set. Remove from the oven, let cool, then top with freshly whipped cream.

A good smoothie should be refreshing, healthy-ish, filling, and make use of all the delightful fresh fruit and veggies you can find. They're a wonderful way to get vitamins and minerals into your kids who only want to eat dinosaur chicken nuggets and instant mac and cheese. While it does contain sugar, sweetened condensed milk also adds a bit of calcium to kids' smoothies, and the sweet taste can make them more open to the whole "eat your veggies" request.

To create a delightful kid-approved smoothie, give Vietanemse Sinh To Bo a shot. The smoothie is all about avocado — a powerhouse of potassium, folate, omega-3s, fiber, vitamin C, and more. To create it, blend together two avocados, a quarter cup of sweetened condensed milk, one cup of whole milk, and ice. Serve over ice and let your kids enjoy this lovely green delight that should keep them away from snacks for a bit.

Using sweetened condensed milk in a tall cocktail adds a sweet caramel flavor, and is a little outside the box, which is a good thing! Nobody will complain about a different, unique, and delicious drink. Margaritas and Old Fashioneds are tired, anyway. There are plenty of amazing cocktails in which sweetened condensed milk is right at home, such as a milk punch or a boozy lemonade.

If you're ready to add sweetened condensed milk to your cocktails, try making creamy and citrusy Brazilian lemonade and adding in a good quality vodka. To make it, blend together two quartered limes, sweetened condensed milk, and ice. Don't overly blend the mixture, because the more you do, the more the limes will break down and become bitter. Strain it through a fine mesh sieve, combine it with a shot or two of vodka, then serve over ice. The result is refreshing and delicious while being sipped next to a pool.

Odd, we know, but sweetened condensed milk does have its place in the world of meat. And it is the secret to deliciously caramelized pork. Carnitas, slow-cooked shredded pork synonymous with Mexican dishes, renders in its own fat, and adding a bit of sweetness by way of sweetened condensed milk can help caramelize the meat.

To make your carnitas, grab a three- to five-pound pork shoulder and sear it on all sides in some oil until you have a good crust. Then snuggle it down into a Dutch oven with onion, garlic, cumin, Mexican oregano, and water to cover. Bring the mixture to a simmer, add in a few tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk and a whole sliced orange. Cover and simmer on low heat for a few hours until most of the liquid is gone. Shred and serve with tortillas.