Evaporated Milk vs Condensed Milk: What’s the Difference and How to Use Each

When a recipe calls for evaporated milk, a shelf-stable canned milk with about 60% of the water removed, no sugar added. Also known as unsweetened concentrated milk, it’s used to add richness without sweetness—it’s not the same as condensed milk, a thick, sweetened milk product with over 40% sugar by weight. Also known as sweetened condensed milk, it’s basically milk and sugar boiled down into a syrupy paste. Mixing them up is one of the most common baking mistakes, and it turns your fudge into a candy bar or your custard into a sugary mess. You can’t swap them. Not even a little.

Evaporated milk is what you reach for when you need creaminess without sweetness—like in pumpkin pie, creamy soups, or homemade ice cream. It’s unsweetened, so it behaves like regular milk, just thicker and more concentrated. Condensed milk, on the other hand, is sugar first, milk second. It’s the secret behind caramel sauces, no-bake pies, and those sticky Vietnamese coffee desserts. If you use condensed milk where evaporated is called for, you’ll end up with something that tastes like dessert and looks like glue. And if you use evaporated milk in place of condensed? Your caramel won’t thicken, your cookies won’t brown right, and your banana bread will taste bland.

Both are shelf-stable, both come in cans, and both are staples in American and global baking traditions. But their roles are totally different. Evaporated milk enhances texture. Condensed milk adds sweetness and structure. You’ll find recipes using both in the posts below—from fudge that needs the right milk to make it creamy without crystallizing, to banana puddings that rely on condensed milk for that signature stickiness. Some recipes even use them together, like in certain pecan pies or old-school cake frostings. But you’ve got to know which is which. This collection of posts breaks down exactly how these two milks behave in baking, what happens when you mess up, and how to fix common mistakes. No theory. No fluff. Just what works in your kitchen.