Coconut Milk Powder

One US cup of coconut milk powder weighs between 96 and 144 grams (3.4 to 5.1 ounces), depending on how the cup is filled and which source measured it. That range is the answer; a single number would not be. Every figure behind it is below, with the method each source used.

Also called powdered coconut milk, dried coconut milk, coconut cream powder, instant coconut milk powder, santan powder.

Coconut products compared: cup weights side by side, the source behind each, and why they differ.

A cup of coconut milk powder weighs 96 to 144 g (3.4 to 5.1 oz), depending on the brand. Native Forest and NOW Foods label a tablespoon at 8 g (128 g per cup), Nutricost labels 2 tablespoons at 15 g (120 g), Maggi's recipe works out to about 104 g, Z Natural gives a tablespoon at 6 g (96 g) and Anthony's at 9 g (144 g). King Arthur's 114 g sits inside that span. The brands disagree by far more than the 10% tolerance, so this entry publishes the range.

Coconut milk powder is coconut milk dried onto a carrier so that it stays a free-flowing powder instead of a block of coconut fat. Most US natural-foods brands use tapioca maltodextrin and gum acacia; Maggi's lists coconut milk powder (78%), maltodextrin and sodium caseinate, a milk protein, so check the label if you need it dairy-free. It is mostly fat: Maggi's label gives 65 g per 100 g, and the Malaysian food composition table gives 60 g for an instant coconut milk powder. Whisked into hot water it becomes coconut milk; spooned in dry it goes into curries, soups, smoothies, coffee and baking mixes.

USDA's Standard Reference has no record for coconut milk powder, so the figures here come from producers. Native Forest's label and NOW Foods' both give 1 tablespoon at 8 g, the only figure two brands share. Nutricost labels a 2-tablespoon scoop at 15 g, 120 g per cup. Maggi's UK directions mix 55 g, which they call half a cup, with 220 mL of water; their cup is the 250 mL metric cup, so 55 g fills 125 mL, about 104 g per US cup, and their three-quarter-cup line, 85 g, works out to 107 g. Z Natural Foods gives 6 g per tablespoon, 96 g per cup, and Anthony's label, as transcribed by ReciPal, 9 g per tablespoon, 144 g per cup. Label tablespoons are printed in whole grams, so each 1 g step is 16 g per cup.

The physical check starts from the fat. Coconut fat is lighter than water, about 0.92 g/mL, so a powder that is nearly two thirds fat is light even before air is counted: from Maggi's composition the solid powder works out to about 1.06 g/mL, against about 1.43 for buttermilk powder. At 96 to 144 g per cup, coconut milk powder runs from under two fifths solid to well over half, the difference between a fluffy, agglomerated powder and a fine, dense one. None of the figures is physically impossible, so none is rejected; they differ because the products do, in carrier, fat content and how the drying leaves them.

King Arthur lists coconut milk powder at 1/2 cup = 2 oz = 57 g, 114 g per cup, inside the range, so it is not a correction. King Arthur's directions for its own coconut milk powder, now discontinued, mix 1 part powder with 3 parts hot water.

Practical guidance: weigh coconut milk powder, or use your own bag's label: multiply its grams per tablespoon by 16 for a cup. For an unknown brand, 120 g per cup, 7.5 g per tablespoon, is the middle of the range. To make about a cup of coconut milk, Maggi uses 55 g of powder in 220 mL of water. The powder takes up moisture and clumps once opened, so keep it sealed and break up clumps before measuring.