How To Make Oat Milk

4.88 from 90 votes
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With just a couple of pantry-friendly ingredients, you can make your own delicious homemade oat milk with creamy, rich results every time.

pouring oat milk into a bottle

Making oat milk isn’t as daunting as it might sound it’s surprisingly easy! Being one of the most popular dairy-free milk varieties, my DIY oat milk gets a little sweetness from maple syrup and vanilla extract and makes a perfect substitution for dairy milk in baking, for breakfast, or even just in your cup of coffee.

I’ve spent a long time perfecting my oat milk recipe so it doesn’t turn out slimy, has a deliciously creamy taste, and is quick and easy to make.

Oat Milk Ingredients

  • Rolled Oats: I prefer to use organic oats, but you can use any you have to hand, including steel-cut oats and certified gluten-free oats.
  • Cold Water: It should be ice cold.
  • Salt: Just a pinch of salt will bring out the sweetness in the milk.
  • Maple Syrup (Optional): I like to add this as a sweetener, though you can substitute it with honey (either ordinary or vegan) or agave nectar.
  • Vanilla Extract (Optional): I also use this for flavor, though you can adjust the amounts based on your taste.
ingredients for oat milk

Flavored oat milk

You can flavor your oat milk – just add your desired flavoring either when blending or when ready to drink. These are some of my favorite options:

  • Vanilla
  • Maple Syrup – or your favorite sweetener. Medjool dates can also work great here if you prefer.
  • Cocoa – cocoa powder will make a delicious chocolate oat milk – great for kids!
  • Strawberry or your favorite berries.
  • Coffee.

How to make oat milk

Add your rolled oats, water, salt, vanilla extract, and maple syrup (if using) to a high-speed blender and blend for 10 seconds (15-20 seconds if you’re not using a high-speed blender).

Once the oats have been fully blended, pour the mixture into a nut milk bag or a fine mesh strainer lined with a few layers of cheesecloth. I recommend having the bag in a bowl already before you pour the oat mix in.

Using your hands, strain the milk through. You should have a thin liquid with no lumps or extra mix in it and the pulp still in the bag. For super-smooth milk, strain the oat milk twice.

Steps for making oat milk

Top tips to avoid slimy oat milk

If you want to make your own oat milk – you don’t want a slimy result! These are my top tips for getting perfect oat milk every time:

  • Use Dry Oats: Your oats should be completely dry when you add them to the blender. If they’re wet, they won’t soak up as much of the liquid and will give the milk an unpleasant texture.
  • Don’t Over Blend: High-speed blenders work quickly, so you don’t need more than 10 seconds to get the right texture. Over-blending causes heat and friction, which changes the overall composition of the oat milk – making it slimy.
  • Don’t Over-Squeeze: The trick when straining is to handle the oat milk as little as possible. Too much squeezing causes more of the starch compounds from the oats to end up in your milk, which results in a slimy thick texture.
  • Double-Straining: Straining the oat milk mix twice in the bag will remove any extra pulp and starch that could make the milk slimy.
Oat Milk with timer for ten seconds

How to use oat milk

What to do with the leftover oat pulp

The leftover pulp can also be used in a variety of ways – and it’s easy to make this recipe completely no waste. Use the pulp for:

  • Breakfast dishes, especially overnight oats, muesli, oatmeal, and chia seed pudding.
  • Use in baking for extra fiber – it works great for cookies, brownies, and muffins.
  • Add to smoothies for fiber and protein.
  • Use around the house – you can use it to make face masks, body masks, and compost.
Oat leftover pulp in a nut milk bag

Can you heat oat milk?

Yes – but it’s best to do it slowly. Heat it gently over low to medium heat and stir it until it’s reached your desired temperature. Just be careful to not overheat, as it can thicken and get a strange taste if it’s heated too fast.

How long does homemade oat milk last

Once it is ready, transfer it into pre-sterilized containers or glass jars. Stored in the refrigerator, the homemade milk should be kept for up to 4-5 days. If you decide to use extra flavorings in your oat milk, this can affect the shelf life, so keep an eye on it after a few days.

More homemade plant-based milk recipes

If you try this oat milk recipe, let me know how it goes in the comments below. I’d appreciate a recipe card rating and would love to see your recipe recreations – tag me on Instagram @Alphafoodie!

How To Make Oat Milk

4.88 from 90 votes
By: Samira
With just a couple of pantry-friendly ingredients, you can make your own delicious homemade oat milk with creamy, rich results every time.
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Servings: 4

Ingredients 
 

  • 3/4 cup rolled oats use organic and/or gluten-free if needed
  • 4 cups water ice cold
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1 Tbsp maple syrup optional, or sweetener of choice
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract optional

Instructions 

  • Add all the ingredients into a high-speed blender and blend for 10 seconds (15-20 seconds if you're not using a high-speed blender).
  • Pour the mixture through a nut milk bag or a fine-mesh strainer lined with several layers of cheesecloth (don't over squeeze!).
    Optional: Strain twice for super-smooth milk.
  • Enjoy immediately or transfer to a sterilized bottle.

How To Store

  • Fridge: Once bottled, store it in the fridge for 4-5 days, shaking it well between each use. When it's bad, it will start to smell and taste sour/off.
    Freezer: It will freeze for up to 3 months. However, upon thawing, it may be a little gritty and require re-blending for a few seconds and/or re-straining.

Video

Notes

  • Use Dry Oats: Your oats should be completely dry when you add them to the blender. If they’re wet, they won’t soak up as much of the liquid and will give the milk an unpleasant texture.
  • Don’t Over Blend: High-speed blenders work quickly, so you don’t need more than 10 seconds to get the right texture. Over-blending causes heat and friction, which changes the overall composition of the oat milk – making it slimy.
  • Don’t Over-Squeeze: The trick when straining is to handle the oat milk as little as possible. Too much squeezing causes more of the starch compounds from the oats to end up in your milk, which results in a slimy thick texture.
  • Double-Straining: Straining the oat mix twice in the bag will remove any extra pulp and starch that could make the milk slimy.
  • Flavor Options: Add your desired flavoring when blending or when ready to drink. Here are some of my favorite options:
    • Vanilla
    • Maple Syrup or your favorite sweetener. Medjool dates can also work great here if you prefer.
    • Cocoa to make chocolate milk.
    • Strawberries or other berries.
Check the blog post for my favorite ways to use oat milk and how to use leftover pulp to make this recipe zero-waste!
Course: DIYs, Drinks
Cuisine: American, Global
Freezer friendly: 3 Months
Shelf life: 4-5 Days

Nutrition

Serving: 1cup, Calories: 73kcal, Carbohydrates: 14g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 1g, Saturated Fat: 0.2g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g, Monounsaturated Fat: 0.3g, Sodium: 87mg, Potassium: 68mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 3g, Calcium: 21mg, Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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Recipe Rating




111 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Just wondering because it’s not clarified here, should the water you blend with be cold, warm, or hot? I think this also could make a big difference in the sliminess but it’s not addressed. Another question, if I want to steam this milk for a latte or something will it retain its original texture or will it get slimier?

    1. Hi Kyle,
      It’s best to use cold water to blend the oats. Then you should be able to warm it up for your latte as usual.

  2. 5 stars
    Followed your recipe to a T… came out perfectly! And the color and consistency is just as you pictured. Thank you so much! Buying an organic version without stabilizers is so expensive! This is amazing!

  3. I’d like to try oat milk, I just bought a 40oz plant milk maker. Any tips for using the machine version?

    1. Hi Jackie,
      Not sure which machine you have exactly. If it allows you to just blend the oats with the water and stop the process quickly, that would be best – they don’t need to be blended too long.

  4. I will give this a try. Though the headline reads ‘two-ingredient Oatmilk” it is in truth four ingredients. Perhaps you could be straight about that up front.

    1. Thanks for your comment, Stacie. You only need oats and water to make the milk. Optionally and not necessarily, you can add a pinch of salt or cashews.

  5. I have discovered the solution for slimy oat milk that requires no extra ingredients. Oat milk is slimy because there is starch in the oats. Starch is not soluble in water, it absorbs the water and makes the slimy texture. Starch is a chain of sugar molecules, but if you break those chains into smaller chains they are soluble in water. This is called dextrin. So if you can convert the starch into dextrin you will not have slimy oat milk. The way you do this is to bake the oats at 275 for 60 minutes. I first ground the oats to flour which makes smoother and creamer oat milk, and then bake them. The resulting milk has a tan color, as that is the color of dextrin, but it is not at all slimy.

  6. Amazing
    Wonder how many cashews do I add to the receipt?? I didn’t see any count for that though, thanks so much for sharing!!!