If you’ve never had a Puerto Rican Piragua de Mantecado or haven’t had one in a long time, get ready to fall in love with this recipe. This piragua has a sweet vanilla ice cream taste. I’ll show you how to make the syrup and the piragua!
In Puerto Rico, piraguas are usually sold on small carts in the streets, and this Piragua de Mantecado is one of the most popular flavors, along with the Puerto Rican cream piragua.
The piragua is a shaved ice that is then drizzled with a syrup. Unlike Mexican raspados (that is how piraguas are called in Mexico), they have fruit added.
With the homemade mantecado syrup, you’ll be able not only to shave ice but also to make ice cream flavor frozen cups.
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Recipe Ingredients
- Whole milk and sugar- The milk and sugar are our syrup base. I used white granulated sugar, but brown sugar can also be used.
- Vanilla extract- We use vanilla extract but can also use a vanilla bean pod if you can fit it into your budget.
- Orange food coloring- You don’t need a lot. A few drops will get the syrup a bright orange color, and you can adjust to your liking.
- Ice- You need crushed ice.
How to Make Piragua de Mantecado
- Photo 1: In a small pot, add all the milk and sugar. You have to mix for the first few minutes while it cooks for 5 minutes. Remove the syrup from the heat and add the food coloring and vanilla extract. Mix and let it cool.
- Photo 2: After the syrup has cooled, transfer it to the bottle. Keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to use.
- Photo 3:Crush your ice with a blender or a manual ice shaver.
- Photo 4: Fill a cup with ice, and give it a cone or dome shape on top. Drizzle the syrup over the top until you fill the cup, and you’re ready to enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- Sugar-free version- You can make a sugar free version by using granulated stevia or splenda for the white sugar.
- Ice texture- For piraguas, try not to crush the ice so much. The ice should still have some texture. Plus, this helps the ice melt slower.
- Make it a cocktail- If you want to make this into a shaved ice cocktail, just add 1 ounce of rum per cup.
- Buying the syrup- You can buy the syrup already made online or at some Latin stores, but they can be hard to find outside of Puerto Rico. My favorite brand is Poly Sirops made in Puerto Rico.
More Shaved Ice Recipes
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Piragua de Mantecado (Ice Cream Flavor Shaved Ice)
Ingredients
Mantecado syrup
- 2 cups milk
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon orange food coloring *see notes
Piragua de mantecado
- ice *see notes
- ½ cup Mantecado flavor (vanilla cream syrup)
Instructions
Mantecado syrup
- In a small pot over high heat, add sugar and water and cook for 5 minutes. Stir for the first 2 minutes or until you no longer feel the sugar at the bottom of the pan. Then let it simmer. Remove from the heat.
- Add the orange food coloring and the vanilla extract, and stir. Allow it to cool before storing it in an airtight container or a glass bottle.
Piragua de mantecado
- Add the ice to a blender and crush it. Add the ice to your cup until you have a dome shape on top. Drizzle the syrup on top. ¡Buen Provecho!
Recipe Notes
- Sugar free piragua- You have to elimanate the white sugar to make a syrup sugar free. Use granulated stevia or splenda. Use half of what you need of white sugar.
- Ice- When measuring how much ice I need, I just double the cup I am using and fill it up with ice twice.
- Vanilla extract- You can also use a vanilla bean by adding it in while the milk is cooking.
- Storing- You store the syrup in your fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Nutrition
*The nutrition information is automatically calculated, so this is only an approximation.
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