You Can Make Dalgona Coffee Without Sugar Using These At-Home Swaps

You've probably seen your friends sharing their dalgona coffee creations all over social media. The photogenic drink is simple to make and has a short ingredient list. It's also super easy to swap out ingredients, so if you don't have any sugar on hand or you'd like something less sweet, don't fret. Here's how to make dalgona coffee without sugar for a tasty at-home sip.

In early March 2020, TikTok creator @iamhannahcho shared a recipe for whipped coffee, which quickly became a hit on social media. Whipped coffee had been a popular sip in countries like India, Pakistan, and Macau long before the video went viral, but it became widely known as "dalgona coffee," thanks to a recent surge in popularity in South Korea in January 2020. The original recipe features equal amounts of instant coffee powder, sugar, and hot water in a bowl (most people use around two tablespoons of each ingredient, but you can adjust the amounts according to how much coffee you want). Once you've got all your ingredients, you're ready to whip up your dalgona coffee by mixing all three ingredients together with a whisk, blender, or a milk frother until stiff peaks form. Then, you pour it over your choice of milk to enjoy.

It's a simple enough recipe, but you can make it your own with a few tweaks. Although the recipe calls for two tablespoons of sugar, there are some swaps that'll do the trick if you'd like a not-too-sweet beverage without the granulated stuff. You can replace the sugar in the original recipe with honey, vanilla syrup, maple syrup, or stevia. You can try first using two tablespoons of whichever replacement sweetener you use, but you may need less or more depending on how sweet you want it.

Some fans have even been experimenting with making dalgona coffee without any sweetener at all, noting although it's possible, the mixture won't stay as fluffy as a sweetened version. So, even if you don't have sugar in the cupboard, you can still try the latest drink capturing the internet's attention.

Instant coffee is another ingredient you might not have on hand, but thankfully, there are hacks for that, too. If you happen to have regular coffee or coffee beans in your cabinet, you can make it work. You can also swap out the coffee for matcha green tea or cocoa powder to forgo the coffee altogether. There are plenty of twists you can put on the original recipe to make it your own and tailor it to what ingredients you have available. No matter what you make it with, just make sure to whip it up good for that 'Gram-worthy fluff.