How to make oat milk with a few simple ingredients in about five minutes! Our oat milk recipe is easy and perfect for baked goods, pancakes, smoothies, coffee, or cereal.
I’m a big fan of oat milk and love making it at home. Homemade oat milk is inexpensive and delicious and only calls on a few simple ingredients, which I bet you already have sitting in your kitchen!
Once I realized how simple oat milk is to make, I found myself making it regularly. Whenever I’m baking and realize I’ve run out of regular or other dairy-free milk, homemade oat milk is my hero! All I need is 5 minutes, and I am ready to go! Use oat milk for breakfast treats like our vegan pancakes and vegan blueberry muffins, or add it to cold brew coffee and your favorite smoothie recipes!
Key Ingredients
- Rolled Oats: We recommend using rolled oats to make oat milk for the best results. Instant oats are more processed and risk a slimy oat milk. Steel cut oats are more challenging to blend and won’t make oat milk as creamy as rolled oats. We also use rolled oats to make our everyday oatmeal recipe and easy oatmeal cookies! If you are sensitive to gluten, look for gluten-free certified oats before making your oat milk.
- Cold Water: Icy water is the secret to the best homemade oat milk. If you’ve had issues with slimy oat milk, use freezing cold water when blending the oats. Cold water controls the starch in the oats, preventing that gummy, slimy texture.
- Optional: Feel free to flavor your homemade milk with vanilla extract, sea salt, cocoa powder, or sweeteners like maple syrup or honey. You can even make strawberry oat milk and blend in some strawberries (frozen is best)!
How to Make Oat Milk
Making your own oat milk is incredibly easy, and once you try it, you’ll be hooked! I used to find myself constantly running out of milk, especially when I was in the middle of baking. Now, homemade oat milk is my go-to solution. It’s so simple and convenient. I make it all the time.
To make oat milk at home, toss 1 cup of rolled oats and 4 cups of very cold water into your blender. You can add a bit of vanilla, maple syrup, or a pinch of salt for flavor.
Blend the mixture for 30 to 45 seconds until it’s nice and smooth. Then, grab a nut milk bag, a clean cotton dishtowel, or even a few layers of cheesecloth to strain the milk. This removes any leftover oat bits and gives you a silky smooth texture. It also helps prevent the gummy or slimy texture that homemade oat milk can sometimes have.
I recommend straining the oat milk a second time for the absolute best results. This extra step ensures a creamy (not slimy) consistency that is perfect for coffee, smoothies, or baking.
Easy Homemade Oat Milk
- PREP
- TOTAL
Oat milk is a creamy, delicious, plant-based milk that only requires a few ingredients and about five minutes to make. Use oat milk to replace dairy milk in baked goods, add to smoothies, coffee or pour over your favorite cereals.
You Will Need
1 cup (113g) rolled oats
4 cups (946ml) cold water
1 to 2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey, optional
1/2 to 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional for vanilla milk
Pinch fine sea salt, optional
Directions
1Add the oats, cold water, and any optional ingredients to a blender. Cover with the lid and blend for 30 to 40 seconds. It’s okay if you see little speckles of oats. It is best not to over-blend since it can cause a slimy texture.
2Strain the oat milk. This is best done with a nut milk bag, a clean cotton dish towel, or multiple layers of cheesecloth set over a large bowl or pitcher. (I like to double strain the mixture so that most of the solids are removed.)
3Store homemade oat milk in a sealed container in the fridge for up to a week. Shake or stir before using.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Steel cut oats: These will not make milk as creamy as rolled oats, but they will work. For the best results, use a high-powered blender. We do not recommend using instant oats since they are already processed, which adds more starch to the milk (risking a slimy texture).
- Preventing slimy homemade oat milk: Starches in the oats can contribute to a slimy texture in homemade oat milk. To prevent it, use very cold, icy water, don’t soak your oats, do not over-blend the oats, and strain the oat milk to remove excess starch.
- Make strawberry oat milk: Add frozen berries for a berry-flavored milk. Fresh are fine, but the cold berries help reduce starch.
- Chocolate oat milk: Add a tablespoon or two of cocoa powder and sweeten it to taste with maple syrup or honey.
- Why did my oat milk separate? Some separation is completely normal. Stir or shake the milk before using.
- Does homemade oat milk froth? Unfortunately, no. Store-bought oat milk that froth has a few more ingredients added (like stabilizers) to help it froth and heat up without turning slimy.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
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Easiest and tastiest I have tried so far! Not over blending was the game changer for me. My oat milk used to come out slimy. Not anymore 🙂 And the use of cold water makes it so you can put it right on your cereal. Yum!
Easy Peasy. Added vanilla and honey for my powdered protien milk shake all week. Ah yum… and lost 4 lbs ! Score! Thank you both.