We all love a latte, right? Creamy milk, tasty coffee, and perhaps topped with a lusciously thick layer of whipped cream? There’s one thing we love more than a latte, and that is a little bit of variety. Our very own Starbucks vanilla latte recipe merges all of the above’ loveliness with a little ‘twist’. We will show you how to make it at home and offer some general guidelines so that you can enjoy a consistent result time and time again.
How To Make Starbucks Vanilla Latte
If this is your first time making our homemade Starbucks vanilla recipe, then you might need to do just a teeny bit of prep. However, the good news is that this is something you will only need to do occasionally. The reason for this is that we use vanilla syrup to flavor our drink. You can buy shop-bought syrup, but in our opinion, the home-made stuff tastes so much better! Plus, you will get a real sense of satisfaction knowing that you have made your own.
From there, it is pretty much a case of heating the ingredients, combining them, and adding one or two extra touches to get a result that is exactly like an authentic Starbucks Vanilla latte.
Extra touches? What do we mean?
Starbucks specializes in coffee, and as a result, they have some high tech gadgets such as milk steamers and foamers. Now, if you are anything like us, we don’t just happen to have a milk steamer lying around the house, so we need an alternative.
We find the best way to get fluffy, frothy milk, just like in Starbucks secret menu, is to give your milk a whizz in a blender or with a hand mixer once heated. Don’t have a blender or hand mixer? Don’t worry. You’ll still be able to get light and airy hot milk. Just be sure to check out our tips and tricks below.
Starbucks Vanilla Latte
Course: DrinksCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Easy1
servings10
minutes5
minutes340
kcalThis homemade Starbucks vanilla latte is the ideal recipe to make and allow you to skip the queues at your local chain.
Ingredients
- For the syrup
2 cups 2 white sugar
1 cup 1 water
1-2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- For the Vanilla Latte
1 small cup espresso
1 cup 1 whole milk (or alternative)
3-4 teaspoons vanilla syrup
Whipped cream
Directions
- For the Vanilla Syrup
- To make the syrup add all of the syrup ingredients to a small saucepan and place over medium heat.
- Stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved entirely. Once small bubbles appear and the syrup goes a very light straw color, it is ready.
- Pour the syrup into a heatproof container. Once cooled, cover and store in the refrigerator.
- For the Starbucks Vanilla Latte
- Add your milk and espresso to a small saucepan and place over medium heat. Once the milk begins to bubble slightly, add your vanilla syrup and stir to incorporate.
- Using either a blender, a mixer, or the technique described above, foam your latte mixture.
- Pour the foamy latte into a tall glass or mug and garnish with a couple of tablespoons of whipped cream.
- Sit back, relax and enjoy
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Tips and Tricks
- We love our vanilla syrup so much. It may seem like a hassle making it every time, so let’s offer you this simple tip. Make lots! Our suggested amount in the recipe will easily make 8 cups of delicious copycat Starbucks vanilla latte. Once you have made your syrup, you can keep it covered in the refrigerator for a long time. Starbucks latte to go? Yes, please!
- The key to this recipe (aside from the ingredients) is light and foamy milk. If you haven’t got a blender or mixer, here’s a solution. Prepare the recipe as normal and then add it to a flask and give it a really good shake for around 30 seconds. Be careful when removing the lid as you’ll find that it may ‘fizz’ slightly. You’ll be amazed at how much foam you can make.
- Don’t overheat your milk. Milk has a much lower boiling point than water, so you will need to keep an eye on it. Once small bubbles start to rise to the surface, your milk should be the perfect temperature to use. If you boil the milk, you will find that the milk touching the pan’s base will ‘stick’ and brown. A chunk of browned burnt milk? You don’t see that in the authentic Starbucks recipe, and we certainly don’t want it here!
- Just like in the real Starbucks vanilla latte recipe, you can use a choice of milk. We appreciate that not everyone likes dairy. Feel free to use coconut milk, soy milk, or almond milk as you see fit. The result may not be quite as creamy, but it tastes practically identical.
- Just like the real thing from Starbucks, the whipped cream is entirely optional. We like the contrast of hot and cold, but if you are trying to keep the calories down, then feel free to leave it out entirely.
- Whatever you do, do not mistake vanilla syrup for vanilla essence. They aren’t the same thing. Vanilla essence is really powerful stuff (it even smells slightly alcoholic) and won’t make your drink taste good at all if used neat.
Check out our amazing Starbucks recipes and in particular this Starbucks cake pops treat.
Conclusion
We love our Starbucks vanilla latte recipe. The best thing is that we often use our home-made vanilla latte syrup for other things. It is great over fruit salads and ice creams. How do you make your milk nice and foamy? Why not let us know in the comments below? We always enjoy hearing about your tips and tricks.
