How to Make Oat Milk
Learn how to make oat milk with this easy recipe! Oat milk is creamy, delicious and inexpensive. It's also vegan, dairy free and nut free.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
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Have you tried oat milk in your coffee yet? Oat milk is creamy and quite tasty, assuming you enjoy the flavor of oatmeal. If I had to come up with another name for it, I’d call it, “essence of oatmeal.” Never mind, let’s stick with oat milk.
Oat milk captured my attention as an eco-friendly, plant-based milk alternative. Oats can be good for farming land and good for us, too. It’s a win-win situation, so I’m excited to share this oat milk recipe with you.
Oat milk really has a lot going for it. Here are a few reasons to love it:
- Oat milk is special diet-friendly, since it’s dairy free, vegan and gluten-free (if you’re using certified gluten-free oats). It’s nut free as well, unlike my other favorite homemade milk alternatives, cashew milk and pecan milk.
- Homemade oat milk is the cheapest alternative milk around.
- It’s easy to blend, even if you don’t have a fancy blender.
- It yields little-to-no waste, unlike almond milk. The oats almost completely disappear into the milk when blended. Hooray!
Ready to learn how to make it?
How to Make Oat Milk
Here’s a rundown:
1) Soak a cup of oats in water for about 15 minutes.
This brief step is worth the effort! After soaking, your oats will blend up better and strain out more easily.
2) Rinse and drain the oats.
This ensures that your oat milk has a nice, clean flavor and creamy (not slimy) texture.
3) Add some fresh water, maple syrup and vanilla.
We’re going to add the water in two equal batches (I’m convinced that the oats blend more thoroughly this way). You’ll also add a bit of maple syrup, vanilla extract, and the teeniest pinch of salt to enhance the milk’s flavor.
4) Blend until smooth.
This will take a minute, but even cheap blenders should be up for the job. Then, add the remaining water and blend again.
5) Strain and chill.
Pour the mixture over a fine-mesh sieve into a pitcher. The sieve will catch any stubborn oat bits that refused to blend into creamy oblivion. For best flavor, chill your oat milk for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Oat Milk Notes & Tips
- Fact: Oat milk inevitably tastes like oats. It reminds me of cereal sometimes. Since it’s not entirely neutral in flavor, it’s going to work better in some recipes than others. (If you’re looking for a more neutral milk alternative, try cashew milk.)
- Store-bought (not homemade) oat milk foams up nicely. Store-bought oat milk contains some additives that help it foam (homemade does not). That’s why oat milk is becoming more and more popular in coffee shops as a dairy-free milk alternative. I’ve been having fun playing with store-bought oat milk in our new milk frother (affiliate link/a wedding gift).
- Homemade oat milk thickens when heated. This can be quite undesirable, leaving an oatmeal-like film at the bottom of your pot. I tried making homemade hot chocolate with oat milk, and I didn’t like the results. I’ve tried to find a solution for this issue but haven’t had any luck, unfortunately.
- Is oat milk healthy? Oats are nutritious, so I’d say yes. Oat milk is basically just oats diluted in water, so oat milk offers a lower level of nutrients (and fewer calories) than a thick bowl of oatmeal. Nutrition is relative. My recipe differs from most store-bought options because it is free of preservatives and additives, including added vitamins and minerals.
Change It Up
This recipe, as written below, yields lightly sweet oat milk with the consistency of skim milk. It’s suitable for serving with cereal, etc. Here are a few ways to change it up:
- For thicker oat milk (closer to half-and-half or whole milk), experiment with less water. For the thickest results, use as little as 2 cups water.
- For more savory applications, reduce or omit the vanilla extract and maybe also the maple syrup. Keep in mind, however, that dairy milk contains some naturally-occurring sugar (lactose), so it’s naturally a little sweet.
- For some warming spice, blend in 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon or pumpkin spice blend, or more to taste.
Please let me know how your oat milk turns out in the comments. I want to hear how you put it to use.
Interested in more oat recipes? Here are a few favorites:
How to Make Oat Milk
Learn how to make oat milk with this easy recipe! Oat milk is delicious and inexpensive. It’s also vegan, dairy free, nut free and gluten free.* Recipe yields about 4 ¾ cups oat milk.
Ingredients
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats*
- 4 cups water, divided
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Tiny pinch of salt
Instructions
- First, we’re going to soak the oats for 15 minutes so they blend and strain more easily. Place the oats in a pitcher or bowl, and add enough water to cover by a couple of inches. Set aside for 15 minutes.
- Drain the soaked oats in a fine-mesh sieve, and rinse them thoroughly under running water.
- Next, transfer the oats to your blender. Add 2 cups of the water, plus the maple syrup, vanilla extract and tiny pinch of salt. Blend on high speed until the oat milk is smooth, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add the remaining 2 cups water and blend again.
- To strain, place the fine-mesh sieve over a pitcher and pour the mixture through. Taste, and add more maple syrup for sweetness, if desired.
- Oat milk tastes best after it’s been chilled in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. It will separate over time, so give it a stir before serving. Oat milk will keep well in the fridge, covered, for up to 5 days.
Notes
*Make it gluten free: Be sure to use certified gluten-free oats.
Suggested equipment: My Vitamix blender (affiliate link) blends oat milk and nut milks like a champ.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Thick hot chocolate milk is very tasty and called champurrado. It is a popular beverage in Mexico.
Oat milk may be great for it.
Let me know what you think! It does seem to thicken a little when warmed, but you may like it with this.
Made the oat milk! I did not put anything it. Kept it plain. Used it to make smoothies. My 7year old certified it tasty! This weekend going to try pancakes.
Almond milk does not yield waste. The pulp can be used in a variety of ways! If someone chooses to throw the pulp out, it’s them creating the waste. Not the milk.
Hi, thank you so much for sharing this. I wonder if I can make Oats milk powder out of it; just to carry around with me wherever I go.
Can you help me with that ?
Hi, Sorry I don’t have a method for that. Thanks for your review!
I just made this oat milk. I used 3 to 3.5 cups of water as I wanted it to be a tad bit thicker. The flavor is fine as I am a big fan of maple syrup. I think it bit less vanilla and tad bit more salt would be best for me. I made a mocha coffee, and hot chocolate mix I use and add in the oat milk after I let the coffee cool just a bit. I don’t notice any grit from the oatmeal, no sliminess, and the test will be tomorrow morning’s coffee. I will have to tweak the vanilla for sure but I think this will work for me. I am trying to reduce my dairy to the lowest possible level I can when I can. Kate, thank you! Your recipes work and I appreciate your efforts in testing them!
Followed the recipe and instructions to the letter yet still got slimy texture. Oat milk is still acceptable after 2 days’ use, but slimy texture a bit off-putting, for example, when poured on dry cereal. May be able to salvage what’s left by using it in a smoothie. But will not be making this recipe again.
I’m sure that the recipe will work out but when you scale 2X and print it, the recipe does call for 8 cups water but the instructions line 3 only call for 2 cups and 2 cups, leaving 4 cups unaccounted for.
Hi Stephen! Thank you for your comment. I’m sorry to hear that it’s not working well for you. I will look into it!
Oh, Kate, I figured it out and the oat milk is great. Thanks.
I switched out the maple syrup for a date and it turned out great. Using it in breakfast bakes – like pancakes – for my mini. This was helpful thanks.
This is the recipe I use regularly for my oat milk, and it’s great! I use sugar instead of maple syrup (for cost), chill my water with ice cubes, and don’t blend for more than a minute (to stop it going slimy). I find that it’s good for 2/3 days in the fridge. Thanks for the recipe! xx
Thank you for sharing how you make this, Nerys!
You are an angle posting this recipe. This oat milk glides down my throat more easily than any liquid I have ever created! And if anyone is wondering what to do with the mushy oats leftover, I think I’ve solved the crime :-P. If you find any kids or children lying around the house, you can feed it to them – I placed some in a bowl in the middle of the floor and it was gone in just days! Now thats what I call a win-win-win-win-win! ;-D
You’re sweet! I’m happy you love this recipe and its perfect for you. Thank you for your review!
Thanks for the recipe! I made it but despite rinsing and soaking, my oat milk is still quite slimes. Any pointers there?
Hi Angela! I’m sorry to hear that. I honestly haven’t experienced slimy homemade oat milk, so I’m not sure what to suggest, but hoping to get to the bottom of it soon. Can I ask what kind of blender you used, and if you had to blend it for a long time to make it creamy?
Hi Kate!
Thanks for the response. I didn’t blend it for long. I used a typical cuisinart and blended it for less than a minute because it was completely blended already!
Super easy to make once you have the right equipment. I have a nutri bullet so quick and easy creamy to. i added i date and 2 teaspoons of maple syrup and a pinch of salt
can i strain the oat milk through cheesecloth or a coffee filter ??
Hi Gabriella! Cheesecloth should work well. I’m afraid a coffee filter might filter too much—you might end up with oat-flavored water!
Thanks for the recipe! This is going to save me so much money.
I would recommend straining the mixture twice. After my first strain, it felt a little slimy but straining it a second time made the texture much more like what I’ve come to expect from oat milk. I can’t wait to try this in a latte!
Jerome,
You can add the oats to a compost bin if you have one. They decompose rather quickly. Other than that, I can’t think of a suitable use for the oat remains.
I’ve been making oat milk for a number of months now. I use the 1-cup-of-oats to 4-cups-of-water ratio. I also use oat groats which, when soaked overnight, give the milk a very oat-y taste which I love and which I don’t get with rolled oats. I use a NutriBullet Pro (the small 32 oz blender), and blend for about 30 seconds. However, I want to make bigger batches at one time, so I purchased the bigger, 64 oz NutriBullet blender, but even when I do everything the same, I still can’t get the same results from the bigger blender. The milk isn’t as good. The pulp is different. I’ve tried blending longer, which didn’t make a difference. Any ideas on how to go from a small blender to a large blender for oat milk? Thank you.
Hi John, that sounds interesting. I haven’t had any issues with my recipe and blender combination. It could be the power mixed with volume of contianer?
Thank you for the reply. I ended up using rolled oats instead of groats and make a double batch with the same blending time — 30 seconds. That seems to work.
I add the left over oats pulp to my morning yogurt.
The upside of oat milk thickening with heat is that it makes the most awesome, seriously delicious vegan chocolate pudding! And it only takes15 minutes! I made it the first time with a purchased oatmilk but it works just fine with DIY oat milk.
I would have thought that the left over oats make good porridge
Could honey be substituted for maple syrup?
Hi Jen, I prefer maple here but you could try it. It may be harder to mix in.
Yay! I had heard about oat milk a few years back, but neither my life nor my kitchen were up to the task of trying to make it. Then recently commercial oat milk started showing up in my markets so I jumped at the chance to try it and I fell in love! I have a nasty allergy to anything cow milk, and the first 20 years were rough. Nowadays there are so many more options! I can make pizza and grilled cheese these days! Anyway, even though the cost of non-dairy milks and creamers is not the only issue for me, if I can DIY it I want to try, and I happen to adore the taste of oats (had my bowl of Cheerios with oat milk this morning LOL). Looking forward to trying this ASAP, since I am nearly out of my commercial ‘milk’ and creamer. If I have questions after my first try I’ll be back, but this sounds wonderful! Hoping to make both a milk and a creamer by adjusting the water content, so maybe I can stop paying through the nose to enjoy my coffee ;-)
Been a reader off and on (scheduling recreational reading being a major issue for me) so it doesn’t surprise me to find my dream recipe on your site <3
I’m glad you love this one and have been able to find something you can enjoy! I appreciate your review, Sylvia.
i loved the idea of this its just tastes a bit watery and weak. Can anyone tell me what i am doing wrong?
Hi! I’m sorry to hear that. Did you measure the correct amount of water? Did you add the maple syrup and vanilla?
So I used 3 cups with a measure 250 ml of water, and I used 1 cup of oats. Not sure if that’s the right measurement. I did add vanilla essence but cant get my hands on maple syrup or honey. I think I over blended it and that made it watery but I am not sure. And I found it creamy and had no slime it just tasted weak and watery. Thanks for the help!
I am so excited to try this! We spend $16 a week on oat milk and throw away four containers each week, but we don’t have a high powered blender (except a personal blender, but I don’t want to make a million batches).
A tip for those who find it is not strained enough — line the outside of your mesh sieve with a clean t-shirt!
I Love your recipes thank you for
Doing what you do! I did make it and it turned out slimey although I did soak it first but based on other reviews maybe I blended too long. I used the vitamix and by the time I finished blending (maybe 3 minutes total) there were no oats to strain out it was all blended and just poured right through the sieve. I will use it for baking bread and see if Blending less will help.
Hi Kathy, I’m sorry to hear that. I didn’t blend mine that long so that is quite interesting.
I made this recipe yesterday and it turned out kind of sticky and thick. But it tastes good! It also works well with honey and not maple syrup.
Do you use rolled oats?
Hi! Did you soak and then rinse before adding to the blender? Yes, I did use rolled oats.
Kate, for non sliming oat milk you need a digestive enzyme called amalyze. Add it to the blender at the start, just a tiny amount is needed. Like milligrams tiny.
Even better, if you want you can now pasteurize your quarts in a hot watter bath. You are not canning! refrigeration is still required.
Also for foaming, a small dose of Lechithin and Guar gum helps greatly. I mix hem at low speed in the blender after filtering them milk.
All of the above are perfectly natural.
Can this be done using oat groats?
Hi Rachel, I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for certain. But since they are more dense, I don’t think this recipe would work.
I tried ( decided to spare borrowing Vitamix ) with what was cupboard available – quick?) oats and used for ai iced ‘ latte’ with half cup of ‘capsule ‘ coffee: ( thanks to my hairdresser for idea !) and stick blender..I I soaked a little longer before straining . it was great and my picky latte taster couldn’t mail it was oatmeal ! Thank you!
Hi Kate, and thank you for this. Yet another amazing simple recipe :)
My oat milk still ended up being kind of slimy. I did soak it and rinse it quite thoroughly, and then strained it after the first foray in the blender. No particulate matter really detected.
Any suggestions ?
It tastes great aside from the slime!
Hi Paul, I’m sorry to hear that. It could be the brand of oats, possible. I’m sorry it wasn’t ideal.
Ok, thank you. I followed the recipe as is and it turned out great!! I’m a huge fan of yours :)
This turned out really goopy and thick for me, I couldn’t drink it :P
Worth a try though !
Hi, I’m sorry to hear that! Did you soak and rinse your oats?
I did! Maybe I soaked them for too long – I think I left them for closer to an hour
My daughter loves chocolate oat milk, but store bought is a bit pricey. I found your recipe and saw that I already had all the ingredients so I decided to give it a whorl. I added 2 TBS of unsweetened cocoa powder and a little more maple syrup. Voila! Chocolate oat milk. My daughter liked it and she said it tasted similar to the store bought one she likes. Score! Thank you Kate!
That’s great! Thank you for sharing, Farrah.
Thank you for the recipe! You mention water in three parts of the recipe but the volume specified in two areas only adds up to 4c. Could you please clarify? Thanks.
Hi! Your volume will increase with the oats. I hope that helps!
Hi,
As we speak I’m baking the blueberry oatmeal bake. Made half batch for me, live alone. Question: you mentioned it doesn’t heat well., but what about baking. My dad’s going thru radiation to his bladder & may need to cut out his Lactaid brand milk. So wondered if he liked the oatmeal bake minus fruit, if I could try oat milk? I personally thought almond milk was horrifying & I’m soy intolerant so almond milk is as far as I got. I’m ok with goat milk (certain brand), go figure.
Hi Annette, I find it thickens as it warms. You could try it, but I haven’t loved the results in the past. Let me know if you do and how it works for you!
You can use the left over pulp for bliss balls! Just add dates, cocao powder and some maple syrup. Blend it back up and roll into balls. Pop into refrigerator for 30mins and you’ve got some healthy delicious bliss balls to devour!
Thank you for sharing, Krystina!
I have been trying different oat milk recipes and so I tried this one. I must say that this was by far the slimiest so far. Others said not to soak the oats or to process them nearly as long as this recipe. I think they were right. This was not quite as bad as the “slime” that kids make to play with but it was that close. If I did something wrong I don’t know what it was. I had to strain it through a nut bag because the dates left pretty large chunks in the milk. I have a high speed blender (Vitamix) so maybe I should have soaked those dates a while too. Sorry but this one was a bust.
I’m sorry to hear you didn’t love this recipe. Did you rinse the oats after soaking?
I’ve had the same experience, trying multiple oat milk recipes using my vitamix and, no matter what I try, it still ends up slimy. Think I’ve made 5 batches to date – tried soaking the oats and not soaking the oats; used very cold water and only blended in the vitamix for 30 seconds to ensure the milk doesn’t get hot; strained through a nut bag twice. I’ve noticed immediately after making the milk I can drink it without as much slim, then it sits in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or longer and turns slimy. Even after shaking it up, still slimy. I’m going to buy some rolled oats vs. quick oats to see if that helps, and also try the amylase, but I’m definitely getting discouraged. I really want it to work since it would save me a lot of money each month. Any suggestions on how to use the amylase would be appreciated.
Have you tried different oat brands?
So my oat milk separated is that normal
Hi Johnna, It will separate over time, so give it a stir before serving. Oat milk will keep well in the fridge, covered, for up to 5 days.