Boozy Banana Bread Eggnog (Better when aged!)

I’d like to introduce you to your future favorite eggnog: deliciously smooth, perfectly sweet, and devilishly boozy, with notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, French vanilla, and banana that’ll make you think you’re drinking liquid banana bread, even though there’s no actual banana in it.

This is our go-to eggnog recipe that we make around this time every year. I know it sounds ridiculous to make your holiday eggnog in September, but trust me that aging your homemade eggnog is the key to achieving the a velvety thick texture and deep, complex flavor without the harsh burn of the alcohol (but all of the fun).

Look, I know you’re probably thinking, who is this chick posting EGGNOG recipes in SEPTEMBER?! Like, that’s worse than the Xmas merch showing up in stores the day after Labor Day.

And I don’t disagree with you.

But—and hear me out here—if you want to make the best homemade eggnog this side of the nuthouse… you need to make it now.

My advice: drop what you’re doing and make a batch of this eggnog NOW. Don’t wait a week, let alone a month. September is the perfect time to make your holiday nog. Taylor actually has a recurring yearly reminder in his calendar for this very reason. Because fresh eggnog doesn’t hold a candle to the aged stuff, and, while some folks age theirs for upwards of a year, we’ve found that 3 months is just about perfect.

After whipping it up (which will take you less than 15 minutes), decant the fresh eggnog into clean glass bottles with tight fitting lids, and stash them in the very back of your fridge. Don’t be tempted to sneak any before December, you hear? At the very least wait until after Thanksgiving.

Aging eggnog mellows the harsh burn of the alcohol, deepens the flavors, and enhances the texture, so come December, you’ll have the most luscious, smooth, perfectly sweet and devilishly boozy eggnog you’ve ever tasted, with notes of cinnamon, nutmeg, French vanilla, and banana that’ll make you think you’re drinking liquid banana bread, even though there’s no actual banana in it.

Tell me more about the banana!

What if I told you there’s no actual banana in this banana bread eggnog? But then where does the banana flavor come from, you might ask?

Would you believe that the banana flavor actually comes from the rum itself?

When Taylor made his yearly batch of eggnog last year, he picked up an aged Jamaican rum that, when added to the dairy base, tasted like straight up bananas. It’s wild. And wildly delicious.

While they do make banana flavored rums with artificial banana flavor added after the distillation, but that’s not what we used here. The rum we used is called Hamilton, a Jamaican pot-stilled black rum. If you’re unsure what to get, just ask your local liquor store for a dark rum that has natural banana notes (and feel free to leave a comment here letting me know what you found!)

We paired the dark rum with a sweet, vanilla-forward bourbon (Four Roses, which is my go-to basic bourbon for baking), but you can use whatever mix of liquor you like. The original recipe this is based on uses a mix of rum, bourbon, and cognac. You can use regular, non-banana-ey rums too, of course, as well as non-Bourbon American whiskeys (like Jack Daniel’s for example). I’d probably advise staying away from the smokey, peaty Irish whiskys though, as I don’t think the smoke flavor would play well with the vanilla and cream (but hey, you do you).

The recipe originally comes from Alton Brown, though we’ve adapted it quite a bit over the years, scaling it down slightly, and using a different mix of dairy and booze and slightly less sugar overall. And the banana flavor, of course, which was a very happy accident that’s now an intentional choice.

I know a lot of folks are wary of raw eggs, but the high ratio of alcohol in this recipe AND the fact it is aged for longer than 3 weeks make it safe to consume (you can read more about the science behind raw eggs in aged eggnogs here if you’re curious). This means you can skip the finicky process involving water baths and tempering of the eggs.

If you prefer to be extra cautious, pre-pasteurized eggs are a thing, albeit sometimes tricky to find. You can also whisk the egg yolks, sugar, and splash of the milk over a double boiler until it reaches 160ºF, which is hot enough to kill any bacteria—you’re basically pasteurizing them—but not actually ‘cook’ the eggs to the point where they’d scramble. Then whisk in the rest of the dairy and booze and proceed with the recipe as written.

If you opt to omit the alcohol and/or reduce the sugar, then I do recommend the extra effort to heat the eggs or source pre-pasteurized eggs. Also, without the sugar and booze, the eggnog must be consumed within a week or two as it is not safe to age.

Ingredient Notes & Substitutions

Dairy: this recipe calls for half heavy cream and half whole milk. We like to get good quality, fresh, local dairy (the kind with the cream on top). For a lighter nog, you could use a higher proportion of milk to cream, though know that your eggnog will not be as luxuriously thick.

Eggs: This recipe calls for raw, uncooked egg yolks. It is considered safe to consume because of the high percentage of alcohol present and the fact it is aged for more than 3 weeks. If you are omitting the alcohol, or if you just want to be extra cautious, try to find pasteurized eggs, or you can also cook the egg yolks, sugar, and a splash of the milk in a double boiler to 160ºF before proceeding with the recipe as instructed.

Looking for something to do with the leftover egg whites? I’ve got you covered! (They can also be frozen for later use).

Booze: this is a boozy, alcoholic eggnog. We’ve used a mix of dark rum (Hamilton Jamaican Pot Still Black Rum, which is where the banana flavor comes from) and a vanilla-forward bourbon (Four Roses), but feel free to mix and match to your personal tastes (brandy/cognac are also common eggnog additions).

The presence of the alcohol also serves to make the raw eggs safe for consumption, and to preserve the nog by inhibiting bacteria growth so it won’t spoil as it ages. Without alcohol it can no longer be safely aged, but instead should be made and consumed within a week.

Sugar: organic sugar is processed differently from granulated sugar, and as a result often has subtle molasses notes, which makes for a more unique depth of flavor than conventional granulated sugar. We’ve also used a few tablespoons of brown sugar to bring out the molasses flavors even more, but you can use all granulated sugar if you like.

Because the sugar—in addition to the booze—serves as a preservative, I do not recommend reducing the sugar in this recipe if you plan to age it like we have. Same for the alcohol, while you can mix and match different kinds of alcohol, you don’t want to reduce the overall quantity of it for safety reasons.

Spices: This is not a heavily spiced eggnog, with just a pinch of ground nutmeg and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. While I wouldn’t recommend upping the nutmeg (as it can impart bitter flavors in too high quantities especially after aging), you can up the cinnamon if you want a more spice-forward eggnog (spiced rum is also a way to achieve a more heavily spiced flavor), or leave it out entirely.

Vanilla Bean: one whole vanilla bean, seeds scraped (rub them into the sugar before you whisk in the egg yolks). Then cut the pods into pieces and add them to the bottles of eggnog before you stash it away for aging, which will infuse even more smooth vanilla flavor into the final nog. If you have any old, dried out vanilla beans, this is a great use for them, even if you can’t scrape out the seeds. You can also use 1 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract instead.