by Faith VanderMolen
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Using just oats and water you can make and enjoy this cheap and delicious Homemade Oat Milk! Pour it over cereal, use it for baking or drink it straight!
We love non-dairy milk in our house. Whether it's homemade almond milk, homemade soy milk, walnut milk or today's recipe for homemade oat milk, we are down for a chilly glass anytime of day! Oat milk and chocolate oat milk are probably our favorite milks to make at home as they are super tasty, nutritious and incredibly inexpensive! Pour this oat milk over some homemade bran flakes and you'll have a delicious, all homemade breakfast!
Jump To
- Why You'll Love This Recipe!
- Ingredients
- Variations
- Homemade Oat Milk vs. Homemade Almond Milk
- How to Make Oat Milk
- Expert Tips
- Storage
- Recipe FAQs
- More Homemade Milk Recipes
- 📖 Recipe
Why You'll Love This Recipe!
- Non-dairy milk is getting pretty expensive when purchased at the grocery store, but this homemade oat milk is incredibly inexpensive! It's probably the cheapest non-dairy milk you can make at home!
- This milk works perfectly in baking. It's my go-to milk to use whenever I'm making vegan pancakes or muffins as it saves me lots of money to use a couple cups of homemade oat milk instead of a store-bought non-dairy milk.
- Making oat milk at home takes about 5 minutes from start to finish! There have been times when I didn't realize I was out of non-dairy milk and I was able to whip up this oat milk in minutes.
Ingredients
- Rolled Oats - I personally like to use rolled oats when making oat milk at home, but quick oats could also work. Don't use steal cut oats!
- Cold water - If you've ever made oatmeal, then you how oats thicken as they heat up. For this reason I like to use super cold water whenever I'm making this recipe. If you use water water and let your blender blend too long, your oat milk will start to thicken and become slimy!
- Pinch of salt - While it's not necessary, I always like to add a pinch of salt to my homemade non-dairy milks. Especially if you're adding some kind of sweetener, the salt helps to bring out the sweetness.
Variations
- Sweetened Oat Milk - You can blend in some dates, maple syrup, coconut sugar, etc. to make sweetened homemade oat milk.
- Flavors - I love to add in a touch of vanilla extract whenever I have it on hand to make vanilla oat milk. Yum!
- Chocolate Oat Milk - Add in 1-2 tablespoons of cocoa powder to make Chocolate Oat Milk...yum! You could even add in some peppermint extract to make a festive peppermint chocolate milk.
Homemade Oat Milk vs. Homemade Almond Milk
Both oat milk and almond milk are delicious, but there are some pros and cons to both, especially if you make them at home.
Homemade Oat Milk
- Pros - Making oat milk at home is super affordable and can be made in just about 5 minutes because you don't have to soak the oats ahead of time.
- Cons - You can't warm up homemade oat milk or use it in things like coffee or hot chocolate.
Homemade Almond Milk
- Pros - Homemade almond milk can be warmed up and therefore can be used to make almond milk hot chocolate or can be poured into hot coffee without it thickening.
- Cons - If you have access to a store that sells nuts in bulk and if you turn your almond pulp into almond flour, then you might find that Homemade Almond Milk is economical and worth your time, but otherwise almond milk is a lot more expensive to make than oat milk. Homemade almond milk also takes a lot more time to make as you need to soak your almonds for at least a few hours or overnight before making almond milk.
How to Make Oat Milk
Step 1: Pour the oats, cold water, and any optional ingredients into your blender.
Step 2: Blend all of the ingredients on high until smooth, only about 10-30 seconds. Be careful not to blend too long as you don't want the oat milk to get warm.
Step 3: Strain the oat milk by pouring it through a nut milk bag (or cheese cloth) into a pitcher or bowl.
Step 4: Use your hands to squeeze the milk out of your nut milk bag. Once no more milk is coming out, you can discard the oat pulp or save it for another use.
Expert Tips
- Use cold water to make homemade oat milk. The colder your oat milk stays, the less slimy it will be.
- Don't blend the oats and water too long. To be honest, using a Vitamix, I only blend the milk for about 10-20 seconds. If you don't have a high speed blender, you may need to blend a little bit longer, but not much. If you blend the oats too long, the mixture will start to warm up and thicken.
- Always shake your oat milk before using it as the oats will separate from the water and settle on the bottom of the container.
- Don't heat up homemade oat milk! Because there are still lots of oat particles in this homemade milk, if you heat it up it will thicken and get slimy and goopy. I only recommend enjoying this oat milk cold or using it for baking.
Storage
Because homemade oat milk doesn't have any strange thickeners or preservatives, it won't last as long as store-bought oat milk. However, this oat milk is so tasty that I'm sure it won't last long in your fridge anyways! To store homemade oat milk, place it an a sealed jar or container and store it in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Shake the oat milk thoroughly before using it as the oats and water will separate as they sit.
Recipe FAQs
Can you heat homemade oat milk?
One downside to homemade oat milk is that it will thicken up when you heat it. Even though you can strain the oat milk to remove the excess oat pulp, there are still super-fine oat particles in the oat milk. Heating the milk causes those fine particles to thicken, as if you were cooking oatmeal on the stove.
How can I make barista oat milk?
I haven't tried this with oat milk, but I have made barista almond and cashew milk by adding ¼ teaspoon of xanthum gum and 1 tablespoon of coconut oil to the blender with the raw nuts and water. The xanthum gum and oil help to emulsify all of the ingredients and produce a thicker non-dairy milk that doesn't separate when poured into hot drinks such as coffee or tea.
Can you bake with homemade oat milk?
While homemade oat milk will thicken when warmed up over the stove top, I have found that the heat from baking doesn't affect it. I don't know how many times I've started baking something only to realized that I don't have enough non-dairy milk to complete the recipe. That's when I quickly whiz up some oat milk!
Can I put oat milk in my tea or coffee?
While I don't think homemade oat milk is great heated in large quantities (remember the oatmeal reference??), I have had readers comment that it works great in small quantities in their coffee or tea. Instead of heating it, just add a splash to your hot coffee or tea and enjoy!
Which is better, homemade oat milk or Oatly?
If you're looking for an oat milk that tastes good in coffee and can get frothy for lattes, I highly recommend Oatly. However, if you just need a cheap, non-dairy milk for baking or smoothies, try making homemade oat milk!
What do I do with oat milk pulp?
Homemade oat milk is already really inexpensive, but you can make even more bang for your buck by saving the oat pulp and using it in other recipes.
I haven't experimented a ton with oat pulp, but you can always cook it similarly to oatmeal or add it to smoothies for some added whole grains and fiber. You can even make Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Pulp Cookies!
More Homemade Milk Recipes
- Homemade Soy Milk
- How to Make the Best Homemade Almond Milk
- Homemade Cashew Milk Hot Chocolate
- Chocolate Oat Milk
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
📖 Recipe
Homemade Oat Milk
Faith VanderMolen
Using just oats and water you can make and enjoy this cheap and delicious Homemade Oat Milk!
4.55 from 53 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes mins
Total Time 5 minutes mins
Course Nut Milk
Cuisine American
Servings 3 servings
Calories 199 kcal
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 3 cups cold filtered water
OPTIONAL
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 Medjool dates
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
Pour the oats, water and any optional ingredients into yourblenderand blend on high until smooth.*
Strain the oat milk by pouring it through anut milk bag(orcheese cloth) into a pitcher or bowl. Use your hands to squeeze the milk out of yournut milk bag. Once no more milk is coming out, you can discard the oat pulp. Refrigerate your oat milk until chilled.
Store your oat milk in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Shake thoroughly before using.
Notes
*This milk CANNOT be heated up, unless you want a thick, gelatinous mess:)
*If you have a high speed blender and want your oat milk to remain thick, you can drink it without straining it.
*If you are using a liquid sweetener to sweeten your milk, first make and strain your milk using only the oats and water. After you've strained your milk, then pour the oat milk back into your blender and blend in your liquid sweetener.
Nutrition
Calories: 199kcalCarbohydrates: 43gProtein: 4gFat: 2gSaturated Fat: 0.3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 2mgPotassium: 324mgFiber: 5gSugar: 22gVitamin A: 48IUCalcium: 35mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!
More Nut Milk
- Homemade Walnut Milk
- Simple Chocolate Syrup Recipe + Homemade Chocolate Milk
- Homemade Non-Dairy Hemp Seed Milk
- Homemade Cashew Milk
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Reader Interactions
Comments
Pierre says
Don't discard the pulp! Either keep it in, or use it in cakes, as your next mornings overnight oats with some dried raisins and a bit of the oat milk this created. And there are plenty of other applications out there!
Reply
Faith VanderMolen says
Thanks for sharing!
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Alan says
Hi Everyone,
Just made this and has come out 'ok' (for a first effort), I made the recipe and gave it a taste, not bad but then wanted it a bit thicker (like the store bought) so as an experiment I put it on the hob in a large pan to use the gluten as a thickener then restrained in to a jug and bottle. If it's too thick add some more water?
Good fun, just made a tea with it and taste was ok, no slimy mouthful at the bottom but taste was a little weak, might try twice the amount of oats/ingredients to water next time.
Thanks for the recipe, definitely worth further investigation!
Reply
Faith VanderMolen says
Thanks so much for sharing your experience Alan! I hope you find greater success in future attempts!
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john xin says
thank you in norwegian
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Lynellen says
Just tried out oat milk using steel cut oats soaked for 20 minutes and put in my Vitamix blender for the amount of time suggested. Strained it twice. Try to put it through a nut bag but it would not go through so gave up on that idea. Added a couple of shakes of salt and three drops of liquid Stevia and then decided it needed double that. Then tried it in my tea. At first I thought it was too oaty and raw tasting but that could be because I used steel cut oats instead of the other type. I wasn’t crazy but the taste but I kept drinking it and I got used to it and it seem to soothe my stomach more than milk in my tea as I hadn’t been feeling all that great for a day or two. My cup of tea was large and by the time I got to the bottom it was lvery thick. I think large cups of tea are not the way to go.
I’m interested to see how this will turn out with steel cut oats soaked overnight or a different type of oat being used. I would like to reduce the oaty taste. I didn’t read that anyone else felt it was soothing but I did and so I will keep using it. I love how you can make a milk substitute with dried ingredients in your cupboard and don’t need to run out to the store when you run out of regular milkReply
Faith says
Thanks for sharing your experience Lynellen!
Reply
Gord Northmore says
Make this all the time & love it. Re: heating..I successfully make soups, sauces & even hot chocolate with it as long as I add 2Tbp of a neutral oil (sunflower etc) during the blending process. Does not thicken. Thanks for the great recipe 🙂
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Faith says
That's so great to know about the addition of oil. Thanks so much for sharing Gord!
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Debbie Barone says
Hi, So you do NOT have to soak the oats and rinse them first? I thought that you had to soak and risen well so that the mik was not slimy? Are old fashion oats important? Thank you
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Faith says
Hi Debbie! You can definitely soak and rinse the oats, and I’d recommend that if using rolled oats. I make oat milk with quick oats sometimes and in that case I don’t soak or rinse. Hope that helps!
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Cheryl says
Can you clarify the serving size? On my browser it says serving size: 3. Thank you for the post!
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Faith says
Hi Cheryl! Yes three servings is correct. This recipe makes about three cups of oat milk, give or take a little. Hope that helps!
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Sarah says
What a great recipe! I added a cup and a half of oats and about 24 oz of water, plus two dried plums for sweetness! It turned out great, and I even gave the strained "oatmeal" to my little one for a snack! Bonus!!Reply
Faith says
Oh plums! What a great addition. Thanks for sharing Sarah!
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Quijntessential Queen says
Is it necessary to prewash the oats before beginning this process?
Reply
Faith says
I don’t believe so!
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Theresa Harding says
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I got excited when I saw this on Pinterest. I love making my own nut milks, so seeing your pin made me click through to learn how to make this one. I'm excited to try this soon. Thank you again.Reply
Faith says
You're very welcome Theresa! I really hope it works out for you!
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Peter says
Thanks for the recipe. I think that your version is rather better than shop bought. Try adding a little sunflower oil and some salt. That will counteract the chalkiness.
Best wishesReply
Faith says
So glad you enjoyed this recipe Peter! And thanks for the tips!
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Ic Girl says
Love this! Just mafe some. My partner and I both think it tastes a bit chalky...i did add vanilla and maple syrup. Think maybe we didn’t strain quite enough? But pretty good for my first try! We had the idea because we recently visited a coffee shop where oat milk was the only non-dairy option, and it tasted goid! I will kerp experimenting. I’ve read about some people adding a thickener to rice milk... might be with a try with some xanthan gum or lecithin?
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Faith says
Glad you liked it overall after your first try! I've found store bought oat milk to be a little better in quality than homemade so far, so I'm curious what additional ingredients like xanthan gum would do. Let us know if you find something that works for you! In my opinion, this recipe is great in a pinch for baking and cereal eating needs:)
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