Desserts

Tembleque

Name: Tembleque
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Puerto Rican
Ingredients: 2 cans (13.5 oz) coconut milk; 1/2 cup cornstarch; 1/2 cup sugar; 1/4 teaspoon salt; Ground cinnamon for dusting

A coconut milk pudding that jiggles — the holiday dessert on every Puerto Rican Christmas table.

20 min + chill Easy

By Josh Ortiz·August 2026·4 min read

Say the word tembleque at any Puerto Rican holiday gathering and watch people's eyes light up. This coconut milk pudding is the dessert that sits next to the arroz con dulce on every Nochebuena table — a wobbling, snow-white mound dusted with cinnamon that jiggles when you shake the plate. The name literally means "trembling" in Spanish, and that's exactly what it does. Made with just five ingredients — coconut milk, cornstarch, sugar, salt, and cinnamon — tembleque is one of the simplest and most elegant Puerto Rican desserts. No eggs, no baking, no oven. Just stovetop stirring, patience while it chills, and the satisfaction of unmolding a perfect, jiggly coconut pudding that makes everyone ask for the recipe. It's proof that the best things in life don't need to be complicated.

Jump to Recipe

What is Tembleque?

Tembleque is a Puerto Rican coconut milk pudding thickened with cornstarch and chilled until set. Unlike panna cotta (which uses gelatin) or flan (which uses eggs), tembleque relies entirely on cornstarch for its structure. The result is a smooth, creamy pudding with a distinctive wobble — it's firmer than a mousse but softer than Jell-O, with a silky texture that melts on the tongue. It's served cold, unmolded from a bundt pan or ramekin, and dusted with ground cinnamon. The cinnamon isn't just garnish — it's an essential flavor contrast to the sweet coconut.

Tembleque is deeply tied to Puerto Rican Christmas traditions. Alongside arroz con dulce (sweet coconut rice pudding), it's one of the two holiday desserts that no Nochebuena table is complete without. Families often make large batches — the recipe doubles easily — and serve it in individual cups or one large molded pudding. It's the dessert that kids sneak bites of before dinner, that abuelas guard their "secret" versions of, and that disappears faster than anything else on the dessert table.

Ingredients

Scale recipe:

8 servings

Serves 8:

2 cans (13.5 oz) coconut milk — full fat, not lite. The fat is essential for creaminess and proper setting. Shake the cans before opening.
1/2 cup cornstarch — this is the thickener that gives tembleque its jiggle. Measure precisely — too much makes it gummy, too little makes it too soft to unmold.
1/2 cup sugar — regular white sugar. Some families add a touch more, some use less. Start here and adjust to taste.
1/4 teaspoon salt — just a pinch to balance the sweetness and bring out the coconut flavor.
Ground cinnamon for dusting — generous. Use a fine-mesh sieve for an even, beautiful coating.

Variations

Chocolate tembleque: Add 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder to the cornstarch mixture before cooking. You'll get a rich, chocolate-coconut pudding.
Coconut cream version: Replace one can of coconut milk with coconut cream for an even richer, denser result.
Individual cups: Skip the unmolding entirely — pour into small cups or ramekins and serve with a spoon. Less dramatic but just as delicious, and easier for parties.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Make the slurry. In a small bowl, whisk the cornstarch with 1/2 cup of the coconut milk until completely smooth — no lumps. This is critical. If you add dry cornstarch directly to hot liquid, you'll get lumps that won't cook out.

Heat the coconut milk. Pour the remaining coconut milk into a medium saucepan. Add the sugar and salt. Heat over medium, stirring occasionally, until it just starts to simmer around the edges. Don't boil it aggressively.

Combine and thicken. Whisk the cornstarch slurry one more time (it settles fast), then slowly pour it into the simmering coconut milk while whisking constantly. Keep whisking — this is not a walk-away moment.

Cook until thick. Continue cooking and whisking for 3-5 minutes. The mixture will go from thin and watery to thick and glossy. It's ready when it coats the back of a spoon and you can see the bottom of the pot when you drag the whisk through it.

Pour and chill. Pour the hot pudding into a bundt pan, mold, or individual cups. Let it cool to room temperature on the counter (about 30 minutes), then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. Overnight is best — it needs time to fully set.

Unmold and serve. Run a thin knife around the edges of the mold, place a plate on top, and flip. Give it a gentle shake — it should release with a satisfying wobble. Dust generously with ground cinnamon. Serve cold and watch it jiggle.

Save to Pinterest

Tips for Perfect Tembleque

Measure the cornstarch precisely. This is the most important ingredient. Too much and it's gummy and stiff. Too little and it won't hold its shape when unmolded. Use a measuring cup and level it off.
Whisk constantly at the end. Cornstarch thickens fast once it hits the hot liquid. If you stop whisking, it'll clump at the bottom and burn. Keep moving until it's thick.
Chill completely. Four hours is the minimum. If you try to unmold it too early, it'll collapse. Overnight in the fridge gives the firmest, cleanest unmolding.
Dust with cinnamon right before serving. If you dust too early, the cinnamon absorbs moisture and turns dark and patchy. A fresh dusting right before it goes to the table looks beautiful.

Want more recipes like this?

La Mesa Boricua — the complete bilingual cookbook with 30 authentic Puerto Rican recipes.

Get the Cookbook — $47

Or start with the $9 Starter Kit

Frequently Asked Questions

You can, but the result will be much richer and denser. Coconut cream has a higher fat content than coconut milk, which makes a heavier pudding. If you want to try it, replace one can of coconut milk with one can of coconut cream (not cream of coconut like Coco Lopez — that's a sweetened cocktail mixer). The jiggle will be more subtle and the texture more like a thick custard.

The jiggle comes from the cornstarch. When heated, cornstarch granules absorb liquid and swell, creating a gel-like structure. As it cools, that structure sets into a smooth, wobbly mass. Unlike gelatin (which forms an elastic network), cornstarch creates a softer, more fragile gel — which is why tembleque has that distinctive "trembling" quality rather than a firm bounce. The ratio of cornstarch to liquid is what determines how much it jiggles.

It already is. The recipe as written contains zero dairy — coconut milk is plant-based, cornstarch is a starch, and sugar and salt are vegan. This makes tembleque naturally dairy-free, gluten-free, and egg-free. It's one of the most allergen-friendly Puerto Rican desserts out there, which is part of why it's so universally loved at holiday gatherings where people have all sorts of dietary restrictions.