Learn how to make oat milk at home! With this easy recipe, it always comes out smooth & creamy - perfect for adding to coffee, baking recipes & more!
Have you tried oat milk yet? Lately, it seems to be popping up everywhere. You can add it to your coffee at Starbucks, buy a carton of it at the store, or even pick up a pint of oat milk ice cream! I had to see what all the fuss was about, so I tried making my own homemade oat milk. I have to say, I’m hooked! It’s super easy to make, it’s smooth and creamy, and it has a yummy oat-y flavor that tastes great in coffee or tea.
Unlike other non-dairy milk recipes, this one doesn’t require any special equipment (looking at you, nut milk bags). And because you don’t need to soak the oats beforehand, it takes minutes to make. All you need is 5 minutes, a handful of whole rolled oats, filtered water, a fine mesh strainer, and a powerful blender! What are you waiting for?
How to Make Oat Milk
Making delicious oat milk is easy! But if you have made other plant-based milks in the past, a word to the wise: it is NOT like making almond milk, where you wring as much liquid as you can out of a nut milk bag. In this recipe, your goal is to squeeze and press the mixture as little as possible. Otherwise, it will end up slimy and grainy. Here’s my method:
- Blend. First, I add the oats and filtered water to a powerful blender (I use a Vitamix) and blend for 30 seconds, until the water looks creamy and white. For the best texture, be careful not to over-blend!
- Strain. Next, place a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl and pour the oat milk through it. Some liquid may pool at the bottom of the strainer. That’s ok! Discard this liquid and any oat pulp below it. DO NOT try to press the pulp to get more liquid through the strainer, as it will make the milk slimy and gritty.
- Strain again (optional). For extra-smooth oat milk, strain the liquid twice, discarding the leftover pulp both times. This step is optional, but it will yield the smoothest final texture.
- Chill, and enjoy! I like my oat milk best when it’s cold from the fridge. Unlike other dairy-free milks, don’t shake it when you go to use it. Instead, allow any leftover oat pulp to settle at the bottom of the container, and pour the creamy milk off the top.
How to Use Oat Milk
Once you’ve made oat milk, use it as you would dairy milk, cashew milk, or any other type of milk you like. I like to chill it and drink it with ice, add it to coffee, or use it to make a matcha latte. It would also be great in breakfast/brunch oat-y recipes like oatmeal, baked oatmeal, overnight oats, or no bake cookies. Alternatively, use it in any brunch baking recipe that calls for milk, like my vegan chocolate cake, blueberry muffins, banana bread, or cinnamon rolls.
Because it has a strong oat-y flavor, I don’t recommend using it in savory recipes. You’ll find my favorite way to enjoy it in the recipe below. I like to add a pinch of salt and a splash of vanilla and maple syrup to sweeten it up!
Next, try these plant based basics: tofu, tempeh, quinoa, chickpeas, or lentils.
How to Make Oat Milk
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup whole rolled oats
- 3 cups water
- 2 teaspoons maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Combine the oats, water, maple syrup, vanilla, and salt in a blender and blend for 30 seconds.
- Place a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl and strain the milk without pushing any excess pulp through the strainer. This will create a creamier texture that’s not gritty or gummy.
- Add more maple syrup, to taste, if desired. Chill overnight. If you want to drink your oat milk right away, I recommend adding ice - it's flavor is best when well chilled.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Detoxinista’s method
I love this recipe! I make a little batch every week now instead of buying oat milk. I use it mostly as a creamer for coffee/espresso. I sometimes add in rose water instead of vanilla. I had been thinking about what to do with the filtered out oats and water and so I threw some flour, butter, sugar, ground almonds and cinnamon into it and make a couple of oatmeal cookie bites so I’m not throwing away anything! I bake them at about 375 until they look done, they’re delish!! An added bonus.
OMG great idea. Do you have any specifics on the ratios for the oat bites or wing it?
Hi, great recipe. Do you have the nutritional value information,?
I finally realized that I don’t have to be so concerned about pulp in any of these alternative milks for myself because I just use them for Chia pudding or Overnight Oats. I was peeling the almonds and using a nut milk bag for my almond milk and thought I was crazy but I was committed to it. I’m excited to try oat milk. Much less expensive than the nut milks.
I have noticed that using a coarse mesh strainer, similar to the one shown on the photo in this recipe, yields oatmilk that is still pretty slimy.
What I do is strain it twice with two different strainers, once with the coarse mesh, then with a fine reusable coffee filter mesh. When I strain with the fine mesh, I need to pour a little bit through at a time, then clean out the mesh in between pours to speed up the process. This removed the slime problem for me.
What setting is the vitamix on? Mine goes from 1 to 10.
What setting is the vitamix in mine goes from 1 to 10 .
What is the best container to store the milk in? Just starting out and I want to ensure whatever I use is best.
do i cook the oats first? or blend them with water uncooked
Hi Grayson, the oats are uncooked.
How long can this last In the fridge?
Hi Lillian, it lasts about a week.
I made this using a Vitamix, 1/2 cup of rolled oats and 2 cups water. I used the blender at it’s highest speed for 30 seconds and it took hours to filter. I had to switch between 3 filters to get it all filtered. I’m guessing I over blended it?
Hi Halcyon, I’m wondering what type of filter you’re using? I just a regular metal fine mesh strainer and it strains immediately.
I used a hand blender, 1 cup of oats, 6 cups of filtered zero water. Dash of salt, dollop of light agave syrup and mixed until I could only see small particles of oats. Then used a vegetable mesh bag and poured my mix into the bag clipped and draped over the faucet into a big pouring pot. Did not squeeze the mesh bag. Then used a coffee wire mesh filter and filtered out the micro sediment and any oils that dripped off. Whole process took 15 min from start to finish and provides two full wide mouth Mason Jars of absolutely delicious full fat flavor. Or whole milk consistency for the Milk drinkers. The Wire mesh coffee filter does clog from the oil just stop and pour back into pot, rinse mesh and continue. Took about 8 times to completely strain off. If you are getting long strain times its most likely you have used too much oat. Dial it back or check with your oats. I used whole oats and will experiment with steel oats next time.
You’re probably using a very fine meshed strainer. I recommend first using a coarse mesh strainer to get rid of the big chunks of oats, like the one shown on the photo in this recipe post, then straining it again with a fine mesh strainer to remove fine particles and to get rid of the slime. Even when I did this, it took a little bit for the fine mesh strainer to work and in between every pour, I washed out the filter in the sink to make it faster, but it resulted in really nice oatmilk.
Correction to my previous calculations: I noticed a bad conversion.
When using 2 cups of water, $/gallon is around $5.43. This assumes 2 cups of water yields around 2 cups of oatmilk.
When using 3 cups of water, $/gallon is actually the same as regular milk, around $3.62.
At my store, oatmilk costs around $8… So you save a ton of money by making it yourself.
Delicious. Thanks for sharing.
I did a cost analysis assuming you use 2 cups of water rather than 3 (I’ve found 2 cups of water makes this oatmilk taste amazing). This recipe costs roughly $2.04 per liter of milk, which is cheaper than purchasing oatmilk. However, the price per gallon is about 2x that of regular milk (which, here in Texas, costs $3).
The biggest cost point are the oats. At my store, oats cost $2 / lb. If you have cheaper prices, then the cost of making this oatmilk will go down substantially.
If you use 3 cups of water rather than 2, you’re cost per gallon goes down to around $5 which is awesome.
How does this compare nutritionally to store oat milk, especially any sugars that might result from processing? Has anyone looked into it?
Thanks!
Hi
Can I just use a nut bag instead of straining twice as I do when I make almond milk?
Thanks
Hi Diane, you could, but you don’t want to squeeze it too much – the oat pulp is much more fine that nut milk pulps.
How long does this keep in the fridge please?
Very good recipe. I make almond milk but organic raw almonds (real raw) have to get from farms. So when I run out, I make this. It is very good, your tips important or it can be awful gooey texture! 😝. I do use a big date instead of maple syrup too for sweetness.
The date is a great idea!
If doubling the recipe do you blend for the same amount of time or longer?? Thanks!
The same amount of time should be fine – until it looks milky and a bit foamy on top.
I made this with 3 cups of water. I’d recommend bumping it down to 2. It came out much better and thicker/creamier like what you get from the store.
How long can it keep for?
up to 1 week.
I hate wasting food and the leftover oat sludge feels so wasteful for some reason. So I put it in a bowl with a big dollop of peanut butter and a handful of chocolate chips and made cookie dough with it. (To eat raw, would need to add more stuff to it to bake it)
And I already had a cup of oat milk to drink with it! Can’t wait to try it on my coffee tomorrow morning and start saving money. Thanks for the easy recipe! I never would have thought it was so simple to make oat milk
Thanks for the idea!
I was wondering about how to use the “sludge” as I too thought it seemed wasteful. Love this idea. I’m going to try adding it to my fruit and yogurt.
This is fantastic! We’ve spent so much money on oat milk. Not anymore! Thank you.
Hi Susan, I’m so glad you loved it!