Easy 1 Minute Instant Iced Coffee
No time to run to the coffee shop? No worries! You can make this Easy 1 Minute Instant Iced Coffee at home without wasting time or money. This recipe is made with mostly cold water and instant iced coffee granules. You can sweeten it up or leave it black, its delicious no matter how you like it!
I am a HUGE coffee lover and haven been for most of my life. I started as a kid dunking chocolate chip cookies in my moms coffee when I was just seven years old (no judgements please HAHA). Which in turn led to this chocolate chip coffee cookie recipe now that I am an adult and a trained professional baker!
This instant ice coffee recipe requires only a few simple ingredients and takes only 1 minute to make. It uses mostly cold water to mix it up and can be sweetened to the way you like it. It’s perfect for when you need a quick caffeine fix and dont have time to run to the coffee shop.
You can also turn this into a caramel iced coffee or a vanilla iced coffee with different syrups!
How to make instant Iced coffee
This is how I make my iced coffee alllll the time, I pretty much stopped measuring and just eyeball it because its so easy.
If you want to make iced coffee with cold water, you need to whisk really hard when mixing to get the granules to dissolve. Doing it this way is easier and I found that it tastes better.
Sweetening
Theres a couple ways you can do this and one way you definitely should not! Let’s start with the do not first.
Never add regular or brown sugar directly to your coffee because it will not melt into a cold drink. The sugar crystals need warm or hot water to dissolve just like the coffee does.
Instead you can:
- Add sugar to the coffee granules before adding the warm water. The water will help dissolve the sugar.
- Make a simple syrup- Add 1 part sugar to 1 part water in a small saucepan (I use 1 cup to 1 cup ). Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Stir and cook for 5 minutes until the consistency is thick. Cool in the fridge and keep for a month! Add it anytime to your coffee, it works in cold drinks!
- Use a sweetener like stevia.
- Use a sweetened creamer.
Recipe Tips and Tricks
You can double or triple this recipe to make it last for a few days. Or just one if you need multiple cups a day.
Add in a flavorful syrup to add a flavor like vanilla or hazelnut.
Easy 1 Minute Instant Iced Coffee
Ingredients
- 1-2 tbsp instant coffee
- 2 tbsp hot water, from the tap
- 6-8 oz cold water
- 1 cup ice
- 3 tbsp half n half, or milk of your choice
Instructions
- In a large 8-12 oz glass add the 1-2 tbsp instant coffee granules and 2 tbsp hot/warm water. Mix to melt and dissolve the instant coffee.
- Add the 6-8 oz of cold water depending on the size of your cup. Mix to combine.
- Add in the cup of ice and milk of choice. Stir and enjoy!
- Add in sweetener if using. See notes below!
Tastes great, thank you! Simple and easy, love it!
Thank you so much Kelly!!!
Thanks I haven’t had instant coffee and this turned out great!
So happy to hear! Thank you for the 5 star rating!
Very good
Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Thank you so much for coming back and leaving a review.
I had figured this out on my own as an easy, fast way to make iced coffee and was curious if anyone else was doing it. I have been making it with cold water but using a bit of hot water initially will help it dissolve so thank sfor the tip I’ll try tht the next time I make it.!
I’m so impressed you already had most of this figured out on your own Therese! Let me know how it goes the next time you make it!
Tastes great! Loved the simple syrup idea and it worked great. I made it in my smoothie blender which made a coffee slushie with the ice in it. Refreshing but drink very slow so you won’t get those eye pains or a brain freeze. Thx
Yay Jeanne! That makes my day to know this turned out so well for you too! Thank you so much for letting me know and I’m hoping you didn’t get too many brain freezes.
Thank you for this detailed recipe. After a little experimentation it turned out great. I look forward to saving money in the mornings by making my own delicious iced coffee!
Hooray! Happy to help out Richard! Thank you for the 5 star rating!
THE BEST Drink EVER, Cant believe I never thought of this in my 50 years of Loving coffee…I did it like you said, used HOT water Coffee, sugar, and I added non dairy french vanilla, mixed them… added COLD WATER, Then added French Vanilla creamer, mixed it up…( I Love French vanilla), added Ice…WOW FANTASTIC MY NEW FAVORITE DRINK….THANKS SO MUCH ..
YAY DAVE!!!! The hot water trick is a game changer isnt it?! So glad you love this recipe, thank you so much for your kind and enthusiastic review and the 5 star rating!! Cheers!
Absolutely amazing recipe I did add some extra milk but still amazing
Yessss I love this recipe too, thank you!
I ran out of my regular ground coffee and only had instant left in the back of cupboard. No time to restock before work. So- I needed a backup plan – this recipe worked so well and I’m caffeinated and happy now. Thanks so much!
Thank you so much Em! I am so happy you loved it!
This iced coffee is amazing! I’ve tried so many complex brewed iced coffee recipes that looked good, but the taste was always disappointing. This one is so easy and tastes great. It is my new go to coffee drink. Thank you!
Hooray Julie! Thank you so much for letting me know that you love this recipe, yay!
👍 delicious recipe
Will make again.
I used French Vanilla instant coffee and it was very good.
That sounds delicious!! Thank you for the 5 star rating!
Thanks! This was helpful and tastes better and stronger than store bought.
YAY great!! Im just about to make one for myself now too!
Love th
Thank you so much Nancy!
Thanks for this wonderfully simple method, Sam! Hubs and I loved it. Used extra milk with no sweetener and it was great!
So glad! Isnt it so easy?! I do it all the time! Thank you so much for letting me know and the 5 star rating!
Love this easy recipe! I always use decaf when I’m craving coffee in the afternoon and this really hits the spot. I make it frothy by using my blender.
yesss! Decaf is the way to go for me too! Glad this is your afternoon pick me up, yay!
what a kind comment, thank you so much Atticus.
I LOVE THIS! SUPER EASY AND FUN!
THIS IS THE BEST!!! LOVE IT
Thank you so much Angeline!
So happy that I came upon your recipes, I love how you explained everything in detail. I used your idea on boiling sugar and water and it made the coffee taste so good. I wondered why I couldn’t taste the sugar in the coffee that I made and you explained why.. thank you so much for all of the good info!!
YAY! Good iced coffee doesnt have to be hard to make at home, so glad you loved it!
The only judgement is you had to wait tii you were 7. Lol i’m going to try your iced coffee recipe in just a few minutes. I’ve been looking for something that was easy and uncomplicated. I’ve been drinking coffee on the regular since I was about four years old. My grandpa used to set me in his lap and feed me what we called Soki‘s and it was sweet and coffee with bread.
hahaha you have 3 extra years on me. I hope you enjoyed!!
I’m looking forward to making this in the morning! I’m curious to know, the 1-2Tbsp of instant coffee, is that more than a normal amount of it were hot? Or is that the same? I think I normally do less for hot, so I’m wondering if I need to increase it…
Hi Kay! Its about the same amount, 2 tbsp is a bit more of the larger side if you like it really strong but its totally up to you and your taste! Enjoy!!
I love your iced coffees. They’re so good.
Thank you so much Julia, I loveeee coffee!
Sam would this work in a cafeterie I wan t iced frothy decaf simple as poss
Love the recipe must try
It should!
This is the only recipe that has ever tasted good to me. The hot water definitely does the trick. I used silk unsweet almond milk and a splash of planet oat milk “sweet and creamy” creamer.
YESSSS So happy to hear it Kristi!!!
I’m writing this review at 4am. Instant coffee calls for TEAspoons not TABLEspoons…I’m wired rn from 2 tbsp at like 1pm….I’m confused why this is so much instant coffee when the back says one standard cup only needs about 1-2 TEAspoons. The flavor shouldn’t be effectives because the ratio of water to powder should be the same as a hot cup. Ugh. There’s 3 tsp in 1 tbsp. You do the math :/
Hey Zoe, instant coffee can call for whatever it does but this is how I like my coffee. If you didnt like it, you didnt have to drink it. You could have also followed the directions on the back. I use this almost every day for decaf and really like the strong taste of coffee and have never had an issue- lots of people have made this and havent had an issue. I don’t need to do the math, its just common sense.