Yes, really! The Keurig, at its core, is a water heater that uses pressure and pods of tightly packed ingredients to serve you your beverage. It’s only natural that a food or drink recipe calling for hot water can benefit from the quick heat-up time of a Keurig brewer. We’ll be going over some additional uses for your Keurig, including some unique drinks that are pod-ready on your grocery store shelf right now.
How to brew tea with your Keurig
Of all the non-coffee uses for a Keurig brewer, this one is the most well known. Keurig and several third party companies offer a variety of tea blends for a delicious alternative to your morning cup of joe. Classic flavors like Earl Grey and Chai Latte are available beside sweeter fare like classic Snapple Raspberry Tea and half-and-half lemonade iced tea. For that one, naturally, you’ll want to keep some ice handy after your tea cools down.
Use your Keurig to make hot chocolate
This one seems like a no-brainer. Hot water, cocoa powder and marshmallows makes for a tasty drinkable treat. Keurig and partner companies offer pre-podded cups of hot chocolate that can be made in your machine the same way you’d prepare your coffee. Swiss Miss even offers a peppermint enhanced variety for an extra bit of wintery zing. Marshmallows, sadly, don’t fit through the water dispenser, so you’ll have to add your own.
Make oatmeal, ramen and other instant food with your Keurig
Consider this a life hack! Nothing is quite as tedious as waiting for water to boil. That said, your Keurig manages to do it in record time, so why not make use of your newly steamed water by whipping up some delicious instant food. Since it goes perfect with coffee, instant oatmeal is an excellent choice for a quick morning meal. Simply fill a cup or bowl with your choice of oats, open and close your Keurig without placing a K-Cup inside, and run a brew cycle. Stir to perfection. You’re not just limited to breakfast fare, either. Cup noodles, the staple diet of college students and computer hackers alike, seems like its tailor made for your Keurig. You don’t even need to provide the cup! The hot water takes care of the cooking, but make sure to close the flap and let your ramen cool before chowing down.
Keurig alternative for ice cream
Unlike your Keurig, this one runs cold. The SnowWhite isn’t made by Keurig, but the LG manufactured device also uses ingredient pods to craft instant treats in the comfort of your kitchen. Making its debut at the 2019 South By Southwest festival, the home soft serve brewer looks like the perfect way to beat the heat in upcoming summers. The SnowWhite is able to craft a variety of frozen desserts besides ice cream as well, including gelato, sorbet and even frozen yogurt.
Coming soon: Cocktails by Keurig
Your current machine isn’t quite ready for this, but the newest release from Keurig is already turning heads with its unconventional function. Just like your coffee brewer, the Keurig Drinksworks uses single serve pods to craft classic cocktails and bartender favorites. There’s even a C02 tank built into the device for drinks requiring fizziness. This is no joke! The Drinksworks has some major financial muscle backing it, including support from Anheuser Busch InBev. Pods available at launch include mixes such as the Cosmopolitan, Margarita, Old Fashioned, and Moscow Mule (copper cup not included). As it stands, Keurig is only taking pre-orders in limited number of states including Missouri, Florida and California for now with plans to expand availability in the coming years. The Drinksworks retails for $299. After changing coffee brewing forever, Keurig is continuing to push boundaries in new directions. Instant drinks, treats, and cocktails used to sound like science fiction, but are now common parts of our everyday lives. Perhaps instant-cook food like in “Back to the Future” isn’t too far off either.
