Out of Milk? Try Making Homemade Oat Milk from the Pantry!
Did you know that you can make milk from rolled oats?
Making your own oat milk at home can be a handy kitchen tip if you need a bit of milk for cereal, smoothies, or coffee, and you don’t have any in the fridge. Just head to the pantry to grab old-fashioned rolled oats and follow along with our recipe. It’s actually really easy to make your own oat milk using a blender or food processor!
If you’re dairy-free then you may have already hopped on the oat milk trend by buying it at the grocery store as a vegan or plant-based milk substitute. I’m happy to report that making oat milk yourself at home is easy, less expensive than store-bought, and tastes creamy & delicious!
Just blend, strain, and pour!
The process consists of blending rolled oats with water and then straining it. After that’s done, the result is smooth and creamy oat milk to pour into breakfast cereal, coffee, or use in recipes.
Water and oats are the main components, however, I added a bit of vanilla extract, sugar, and salt to make it a bit sweeter (and I love using this vanilla oat milk variety for eating cold cereal). This, of course, can be customized to taste.
Here are my best recipe tips when making homemade oat milk –
- The only drawback to homemade oat milk is it won’t keep as long as store-bought since it contains fewer preservatives. So consider only making what you think you will use sooner than later, and store what isn’t used right away in a closed jar in the fridge for up to 4 days.
- You’ll need to strain out the pulp after processing. I used a piece of cheesecloth over a fine-mesh strainer and that method worked great. You could also try straining through a piece of clean, thin cotton, like from a shirt, if you don’t have time to source the cheesecloth. If you use only a mesh strainer, you may just need to strain it twice for the best results.
- What to do with the leftover oat pulp? Try using the oats to thicken pancake batter, blend in smoothies, or to use at bath time for a soothing & moisturizing oatmeal bath.
Homemade Vanilla Oat Milk
yield: 6 SERVINGS
prep time: 20 MINUTES
total time: 20 MINUTES
Blend up some sweet & creamy oat milk to use in cereal or as a great non-dairy substitute that can easily be made at home!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cups rolled oats
- 3 cups water
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar (optional)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
- pinch of salt (optional)
Directions
1
Add rolled oats and water to a blender or food processor. If making vanilla oat milk, add in the sugar, vanilla, and salt now as well. Process until smooth, for about 15-20 seconds.
2
Strain the oat milk by pouring into a bowl topped with a fine-mesh strainer and cheesecloth. You may have to do this in a few batches.
3
Once strained, pour into a jar and chill in the fridge. When ready to use, shake well and pour on top of cereal, in smoothies, or as desired. Makes about 3 cups.
Making homemade oat milk worked brilliantly!
My main use for it so far has been to use it for cold cereal because we always seem to run out at the worst time, and my kids didn’t notice a difference. I love this method for making a milk alternative as it’s easy, inexpensive, and oats are always something I have in the pantry.
Thank you Lina! We always seem to run out of milk at the worst times.
Sure! And I agree – that’s so annoying when that happens! ha
Thanks for this! Can’t wait to try it.
Sure- enjoy!
Thank you for this! Oat milk has been hard to find at times in my area due to Corona. Do you have any tips on making the milk creamy? I buy the extra creamy because it reminds me of the consistency of coffee. I am not a fan of the watery oat milks. Thank you!
Well, you can definitely experiment with using less water for it to be a thicker cream texture. I hope that helps!
alternatively you could also reduce it a bit on the stove before you store it in the fridge
O love homemade oat and soy milk. Instead of sugar you can add a couple of dates, healthier and tastier 🙂
Came to say this. I do this as well.
Thanks for sharing!
Perfect thanks!
An added bonus of this is that it will boost your supply if you’re a nursing mother. One recipe for boosting milk calls for boiling oats in water, straining the oats and discarding them, and drinking the water, similar to this.
That’s a great tip! Thanks for sharing Marinova!
Great idea! I have a ton of rolled oats in the pantry to use up too
Oh awesome! Thanks Kitty!
Thank You for this! I went to the grocery this morning and totally forgot to grab a gallon of milk! I remembered your post from yesterday and just whipped up some and put in the fridge. I used 2 1/2 C water to begin and thought that gave me a thicker consistency like whole milk. I only used the vanilla, no salt or sugar. Will see how it goes with the kids if they want cereal later!
Oh yay! Thanks for sharing Mel!
Have you tried it with quick oats?
Seems like a coffee filter would work as a strainer?
Oh you could give that a try!