Hey! This site is reader-supported and we earn commissions if you purchase products from retailers after clicking on a link from our site.
Eggnog is an incredibly popular drink around the Christmas and holiday season of the year alongside other notable beverages such as mulled wine and hot chocolate. Eggnog can be alcohol-free but is usually of a decent strength, which means it is best to eat something alongside it.
Table of Contents
What is Eggnog?
Eggnog is an alcoholic cocktail that has a sweet taste and creamy texture. As you can tell by the name, a key ingredient in eggnog is eggs. Alongside the eggs, the other key ingredients are whipped cream, sugar, milk, and dark rum. The ingredients are quite straight forward so any homemade eggnog recipe is going to be easy to follow no matter your experience with mixology.
Similar to any cocktail, it is difficult to get just the right mix of ingredients to satisfy everyone. Commercial eggnog is too weak for some people, and it can be too watery for others, to guarantee you get the perfect glass of this creamy drink every time, you will want to make it at home. When it comes to serving, it can be easy to garnish the drink with nutmeg and cinnamon. Eggnog can also be served chilled or served warm if it is a generally cold day.
What Does Eggnog Taste Like?
Because of how creamy it is, eggnog has a very thick flavor with a strong hint of sweetness. Eggnog can be compared to custard quite easily due to its sweet richness and high dairy content. The eggnog flavor can be easily changed depending on what alcohol you put in it and at which strength it is added. A lot of people pair rum with eggnog but brandy, bourbon, and cognac are also great choices. As the drink is typically sweet, any added alcohol will start to take that flavor and make it more bitter and while there isn’t a written rule about it, a lot of people suggest one part alcohol to 5 parts of eggnog. This ratio mixes the flavors perfectly while also ensuring the eggnog is strong enough to get you in the Christmas spirit.
What to Pair with Eggnog
The great thing about eggnog is that it pairs so well with such a diverse list of food and drink. If you want to serve eggnog with a twist, then you will be pleased to know that it can be used as an ingredient in a lot of drinks.
Hot Chocolate
Hot chocolate is naturally creamy and sweet, so adding a bit of eggnog to it can’t do anything bad. Eggnog will add a nice flavor to your hot chocolate, and if you have used alcohol in your recipe then the hot chocolate will now be alcoholic, which is always a nice touch.
Coffee
Similar to hot chocolate, eggnog will add a nice flavor to your coffee. On top of this, eggnog can also be a replacement for your creamer as it is just as creamy and has a nicer taste. This can easily get your day started right, and with some alcohol, can be a nice midday boost to keep you going with a smile on your face. Coffee is considered by some to be a labor of love. If you make it at home from scratch it will taste infinitely better than if you were to buy the instant counterpart, with that being said, it might be time to look for a great coffee grinder and maker.
Alcohol
I’ve already spoken a lot about alcohol but that is easily just the tip of the iceberg. It doesn’t just serve the purpose of adding a percentage to the eggnog, but it also massively helps the flavor. Eggnog is sweet so you can play off of that and use bourbon and brandy, or even some cognac. However, you can also go in the completely opposite direction and add bitter alcohols like whiskey and dark rum. This will make the drink less sweet but you will also have the added warmth and flavor of your whiskey and rum. Sweet flavors go well with minty flavors so it comes as no surprise that eggnog pairs brilliantly with peppermint schnapps. The peppermint schnapps doesn’t add too much in flavor except a minty taste so your eggnog is still perfectly sweet just how you like it.
Cookies
Christmas cookies are insanely popular and for good reason, they’re delicious. A couple of cookies on the side of your eggnog is a surefire way to have a great time and enjoy some delicious festive fun. Gingerbread cookies work exceptionally well as their flavor is somewhat bitter so they balance out the sweetness from the eggnog. There is also a type of cookie that tastes like eggnog. The eggnog snickerdoodle cookie uses nutmeg and sugar as the main flavorings which make it taste like a glass of eggnog
Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms
The sweetness and cream in eggnog pair perfectly with divergent flavors such as savory, salty, and spicy. A super simple and delicious snack to pair with eggnog is cheese-stuffed mushrooms. It consists of getting large white mushrooms and peeling them, removing the stalk, and filling them with cheese, typically parmesan or mozzarella. As well as this, they can be served with ham as well to add even more flavor to them. The cooking method is very straightforward as you can either cook them in a pan on the stove or grill them on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet.
