How to Make Oat Milk
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Learn how to make delicious Oat Milk with easy recipe and video! Simple oat milk recipe makes creamy, dairy-free milk for baking, coffee and more!
Oat milk is one of my favorite milks. It has a wonderful flavor. It’s a delicious plant based, dairy-free and vegan option that’s perfect to add to coffee, eat with cereal or use in some baked goods too. I became a fan many years ago when I tried it in a favorite coffee shop. So of course I decided to make my own oat milk at home. And the result is so good – it’s smooth, creamy, rich and could not be simpler!
Homemade Oat Milk
You can make this very simply with a few basics. My recipe only takes a couple of ingredients along with basic kitchen equipment. It also comes together quickly and is cost effective too.
Here’s how I make it.
How to Make Oat Milk
Ingredients:
Just two ingredients are all that are really required to make it. But the optional ingredients I’m sharing add a little more to the flavor that I love.
- rolled oats – I prefer high quality, organic rolled oats for a richer flavor.
- water – use filtered water so there is no taste that may remain from tap water.
- sea salt or kosher salt – optional – most of the time, I add a pinch of salt to round out the flavor.
- vanilla extract – optional – many times I stop at the pinch of salt, but for a faint vanilla flavor, this is delicious added to the recipe.
- maple syrup – optional – this adds a hint of sweetness that is really good – and it makes a delicious oat milk creamer when added along with all the other ingredients.
Step by Step Instructions:
To make this, you will only need a couple of kitchen tools. A powerful blender (I use a Vitamix), a fine mesh strainer, large bowl, and container to store milk in the fridge.
- Soak. Add your rolled oats to a large bowl and then cover them with water. Soak the oats for 15 minutes. I recommend setting a timer for this step. Fifteen minutes allows the oats to soften enough for using without becoming too soft for using in this recipe.
- Rinse and Strain. Once the oats have soaked, pour the soaked oats through a fine strainer and rinse until the water runs clear, about 30 seconds. You want to make sure that your oats are well rinsed so that the consistency of the milk is perfect. This removes the starches from the oats that may still be clinging to them.
- Blend. Put your rinsed oats and clean water in high-speed blender. Add any optional ingredients like salt, vanilla extract, and/or maple syrup. Blend ingredients until smooth, about 1 minute. This is a good consistency for most uses, but you can add up to 1 cup additional water if you desire a thinner consistency.
- Strain again. Pour the milk through a sieve or fine strainer to strain away any oat bits. I generally recommend straining about 2-3 times to make sure that the milk is as smooth as possible.
- Refrigerate and Enjoy! Pour your oat milk into a container with a tight fitting lid and store in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Note – If you are planning to use your oat milk in both sweet and savory dishes, then you may wish to wait til prior to use to add vanilla and maple syrup.
Uses for Oat Milk
As you begin to use your oat milk, shake it well before using.
Use as a delicious coffee creamer, make homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk, pour over your favorite cereal or enjoy a cold glass with a Sugar Cookie or two. This milk is also great to make overnight oats and French Toast as well as in baked goods such as my Best Chocolate Cake! Basically use as you would any other milk in a recipe. Just realize that the oat milk does have a distinct oat flavor. Remember you may not want to add to savory dishes if you’ve added the vanilla and maple syrup to your milk.
Take a few minutes to try making your own oat milk. Its so easy and delicious – I think you’ll love it!
Here’s my Homemade Oat Milk Recipe. I hope you enjoy it!
Homemade Oat Milk Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats
For Soaking
- water, enough to cover the oats
For the Oat Milk
- 3 cups water
Optional Add Ins for Oat Milk
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup, optional
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, optional
- 1 pinch kosher salt, optional
Instructions
- Soak the oats. Add oats to a large bowl and cover with water. Allow to soak for only 15 minutes. This allows the oats to soften enough for using without over soaking, which can make them not as enjoyable.
- Rinse the oats. Pour the soaked oats through a sieve and rinse until the water runs clear, about 30 seconds. This removes the starches that may still be clinging to the oats.
- Blend. Put the rinsed oats, along with the any optional ingredients you may be using such as vanilla extract, salt and/ or maple syrup into a blender. Cover with about 3 cups fresh water then blend until smooth, about 1 minute with a high-speed blender.
- Strain. Pour through a strainer into a large pitcher. Discard the small pieces of oats left in the strainer. Repeat until the oat milk is smooth, about 2 more times.
- Store. Pour the oat milk into a container with a tight fitting lid, such as a Mason jar. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week. Shake well before use.
Notes
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy!
Robyn xo
I made the oat milk this am , so easy , I added an additional cup of water after I tasted it , I’m having in my coffee now , love it 😊
When I poured it into a glass it had that oatmeal slime (sorry for the word ) I thought , is this normal or should I have rinsed more than 3 times
Hi Diane,
I’m so glad you love it. I definitely rinse at least 3 times, but noticed the other day with a different brand that I needed to rinse it more. I’ll make a note of that in the recipe notes since you noticed the same. xo
Thanks so much for Oatmilk recipe. I use a lot of your recipes & enjoy all….Have not made yet but will let you know when I do!Don’t care too much for commercial and sounds like the homemade is yummy……
I hope you enjoy the oat milk, Carol. I like the homemade much better than the commercial ones, too. I’m so glad you have enjoyed my recipes. Thanks so much.
Can you make oat milk with steel cut oats?
Karen, I haven’t used steel cut oats to make the oat milk. I would think the milk would not be as creamy with the steel cut oats.
Very informative. I like that the recipes are very simple! I am a beginner!
I hope this recipe helped you, Lorraine. I want all my recipes to be easy to follow.
Tried it with quick oats it came out great. MY, YOU HAVE REALLY EASY RECIPES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Still hope you liked my tips > oh and this milk is a family tradition now>.
hello .I made this today beacuse I ran out of milk for blueberry muffins.and this came out perfect my parents loved it in there coffee,me and my three brothers had a cup of this and we loved it!!SMILY FACE!! all right well I want to give you a few tips .first if you want a cup of oat milk add a splash of maple syrup and a table spoon of honey and a teaspoon of cinnomin and a little bit of ground clove and nutmeg, do not blend the sweetning you put the plain oat milk in a mixing bowl then take a wisk and blend it till you think you like it. also if you made fresh oat milk spice it up then or any time put Ice in it this make it cold and refreshing. I hope you guys like my tips, and this comes out good for you. O bout a way robyn I tryed this out with quick oats I will let you know how this will come out.HAPPY FACE from your favoirt baking friend. I also had to make 3 pints of this I cant tell you how much me and my faimliy liked this but I got to say one thousand stars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Looking good thanks for the post.
I was so tired of going to the grocery store and having the oatmilk shelf empty again— sold out! I made this version and I think it is delicious! 1tsp of vanilla is very mild in flavor, i will probably add a bit more next time, and I love the idea of adding maple! Thanks Robin!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Paula! Yes, it is so hard to find it in stock at many groceries lately and I especially knowing every little thing that went into it! 🙂
Robyn, this sounds interesting. Can you share some of the recipes where you use the Oat Milk?
Thank you!
Hi Bobbie,
I love it in my morning coffee, but I also have used it as a replacement for the milk called for in so many recipes. The ones that I started with also contained oats so that the oat flavor wasn’t “weird” in the recipe: overnight oats, steel cut oatmeal, etc as well as my morning smoothies. I’ve been using it in my banana bread and even pancakes lately and absolutely love it!
Doesn’t look very creamy when poured into the coffee. My hopes were up but I guess I just need to give up coffee. LOL
I’m sure you said it and I’m missing it, but the water we add to the blender is fresh water? Not the original strained water?
Yes, fresh water. The strained water gets discarded when you drain the oats.