Thandai is a refreshing and cooling drink recipe made in Summer, especially at the festival of Navratri. This traditional drink is very famous in the northern states of India.
The authentic Thandai recipe uses nuts, spices, seeds, and Milk, which gives your body a cool and aromatic feel. The homemade thandai is far better than the packed thandai because of its freshness.
About Thandai Recipe: A Famoiuse North Indian Drink
Thandai is a popular coolant drink in North India. It is mainly consumed during the Summer and Navratri festivals. This refreshing drink has many ingredients, including seeds, spices, nuts, rose petals, and Milk. It is believed that consuming this badam ki thandai in the Summer will have a cooling effect on your body, which is why this drink is named Thandai.
This cooling drink is made by soaking all the nuts and seeds to make a paste. The paste of the nuts is then mixed with Milk to make a thandai. Almonds, poppy seeds, and melon seeds are the most essential ingredients of this paste. This is why sometimes this drink is also called a badam ki thandai.
Navratri is a very famous festival in India. People celebrate this festival with complete devotion and in a very traditional way. This Navratri occasion is incomplete without Thandai. In addition to this, lots of people make other snacks, which include Samosas, dahi vada, Malpua, and Aalo tikki.
Ingredients & Substitute To Make Authentic Thandai Recipe
The ingredients are for preparing the Thandai as follows:
- 4½ cups of Milk, approx 1 litre half cup
- 20 Almonds
- 10 Cashews
- 15 Pistachios
- 1½ tsp Melon seeds, poppy seeds and fennel seeds
- 12 Green cardamoms
- 1 Inch Cinnamon
- 5 to 10 Black pepper approx
- 5 to 6 tsp of sugar ( according to taste)
- 1 Pinch Saffron ( optional)
- 20 rose petals
- 5 Ice cubes option ( for serving purpose only)
How to Make a Thandai Recipe?
Here is the complete recipe for making thandai from scratch.
- To make a Thandai drink, put 20 almonds, 10 cashews, and 15 pistachios in a bowl, add water, and soak them for at least 4 hours.
- If you have a shortage of time, you can soak them in hot water for only 1 hour.
- Now, take another bowl and soak 1½ tsp of Melon seeds and poppy seeds in a bit of water.
- After 4 hours, take the almonds out of the bowl, peel them, and rinse the rest of the nuts with fresh water.
- In the next step of the Thandai recipe, add all the Nuts to a blender and blend them.
- Now, drain the water from the seeds bowl. Add all those seeds in the blender with the nut paste.
It is time to Add the following ingredients to the blender with the Nuts and seeds paste:
- 1½ tsp of fennel seeds
- 4 to 10 peppercorns (according to your taste)
- 12 green cardamoms
- 1-inch cinnamon
- 1 pinch kesar ( optional)
- 20 rose petals( if you want to add Gulukand instead of rose petals the you do that also)
- Grind to coarse paste first. Then add a cup of Milk to make a smooth paste.
- Blend till you don’t get a smooth paste.
Make Thandai
Boil 1 litre of Milk in a pan (approx 4 cups) and add sugar to it according to your taste. After one boil, turn off the stove, add healthy thandai paste, and stir well.
Let the thandai recipe cool down and refrigerate it for around 4 hours overnight. Before consuming, give a good mix and filter the thandai. You can use a strainer for the filter. If you find some tiny pieces in a strainer, they are only spices.
Most people love gulkand in their Thandai drink. Add 1 tsp of Gulukand to a single glass of Thandai if you are one of them. Please stir it, and then garnish the thandai with sliced dry fruits. If you want the authentic flavour of Thandai, use clay cups or glasses and rest them for approximately 1 hour. After all this, you will get the best Thandai.
Where You Can Store Your Thandai Paste?
The Thandai paste is preserved well, refrigerated for about a week, and frozen for nearly a month. Keep this paste in a covered container in your refrigerator/freezer.
Afterwards, thaw if frozen & mix the paste with Milk. Decorate with nuts & enjoy the lovely taste of this summer drink.
The prepared Thandai drink is kept nicely in the fridge for about 1 to 2 days. You can also make the drink in a big jar & refrigerate it for some hours until it is cold enough to be served later.
Expert Tips For Authentic Thandai Recipe 2025
Soaking Nuts: Always soak nuts in water to make Navratri-special thandai. Soaked nuts blend well, giving the thandai paste a smooth texture. If you are in a hurry, add hot water and soak the nuts, letting them rest for one hour before blending.
Poppy Seeds: Poppy seeds are the primary and essential ingredient of the Navratri special thandai recipe.
Spices: Cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper, and fennel seeds are the most important and common spices used in thandai.
Saffron: Saffron is unimportant, but you can use it to enhance the taste of thandai.
Vegan Options: If you are a vegan, you can have almond, cashew, or coconut milk. Almond Milk is one of the best choices if you are not comfortable with regular Milk.
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FAQ:
Thandai is a traditional Indian coolant drink made from Milk, seeds, spices, and sugar. It is also very famous during Summer and Navratri.
To make Thandai at home, you must mix Milk, spices, nuts, seeds, etc. It is very easy to make thandai at home. All you need to do is mix all the dry ingredients to make a paste. After that, add that paste to the water. Homemade thandai is a perfect option if you want a refreshing drink.
Yes, this is true: thandai can easily be made without sugar. You can make Thandai without sugar.
Thandai is not only delicious but also a refreshing drink. It is made up of lots of amazing nutritional ingredients that provide complete benefits to the body. Some ingredients are almonds, which are good for the heart; pistachios, which are rich in fats and fibre; and poppy seeds, which are rich in calcium.
Vegan thandai is as simple as normal thandi. The only thing you need to do is use plant-based Milk instead of regular dairy milk. Some of the Plant-based milks are almond milk and coconut milk.
Bhang Thandai is a traditional Indian drink made by infusing bhang. It is a refreshing, spiced milk-based drink that is drunk during the festivals of Holi and Navratri.
Yes, thandai can easily be made in advance. This saves you lots of time during festivals.
Authentic Thandai Recipe: A Traditional Summer Drink In 2025
Ingredients
- 4½ cups Milk, approx 1 litre half cup
- 20 pcs. Almonds
- 10 pcs. Cashews
- 15 pcs. Pistachios
- 1½ tsp Melon seeds, poppy seeds and fennel seeds
- 12 pcs. Green cardamoms
- 1 Inch Cinnamon
- 5 to 10 pcs. Black pepper approx
- 5 to 6 tsp Sugar ( according to taste)
- 1 Pinch Saffron ( optional)
- 20 pcs. Rose petals
- 5 pcs. Ice cubes option ( for serving purpose only)
Instructions
Thandai Preparation
- To make a Thandai drink, put 20 almonds, 10 cashews, and 15 pistachios in a bowl, add water, and soak them for at least 4 hours.
- Now, take another bowl and soak 1½ tsp of Melon seeds and poppy seeds in a bit of water.
- After 4 hours, take the almonds out of the bowl, peel them, and rinse the rest of the nuts with fresh water.
- In the next step of the Thandai recipe, add all the Nuts to a blender and blend them.
- Now, drain the water from the seeds bowl. Add all those seeds in the blender with the nut paste.
Spices Mixture
- Take all the spices in a jar fennel seeds, peppercorns, green cardamoms, cinnamon, kesar and rose petals. Grind to coarse paste first.
- Then add a cup of Milk to make a smooth paste.
- Blend till you don’t get a smooth paste.
Make Thandai
- Boil 1 litre of Milk in a pan (approx 4 cups) and add sugar to it according to your taste. After one boil, turn off the stove, add healthy thandai paste, and stir well.
- Repeat the spices mixture procedure given above.
- Then add healthy thandai paste, and stir well.
