Homemade Oat Milk

Deliciously creamy, sweet and non-slimy: this Easy Homemade Gluten Free Oat Milk is the perfect dairy-free milk alternative for your breakfast cereal, smoothies or simply enjoy as a drink on its own. Easy oat milk recipe to make at home and no complicated equipment or ingredients required. 

Homemade is always better, right? Right. This definitely applies when it comes to making your own dairy-free milk at home. I have loved creating my own milk over these past couple of years and this Homemade Gluten-Free Oat Milk recipe that's naturally sweet and also gluten-free is one of my favourite ways to create delicious non-dairy milk to drink and use with my breakfast cereal.

This recipe is:

• 100% vegan
• gluten-free
• dairy-free
• naturally sweet, but refined sugar-free
• not slimy
• a delicious non-dairy milk
• a great alternative to dairy milk
• better than store-bought dairy-free milk
• using gluten-free rolled oats
• naturally sweetened with dates
• great if you enjoy making your own milk at home
• one of the best oat milk recipes I've tried!

Luckily there are plenty of dairy-free milk alternatives available in store these days, if you're however just about to enjoy your breakfast and realise you've run out, this easy gluten-free oat milk recipe is just what you need and it creates delicious, sweet and non-slimy oat milk within less than 5 minutes.

Oats are something that is always in my pantry, so going for homemade oat milk in an 'emergency' like that is a given. It's also one of the most sustainable dairy-free milk alternatives out there when you compare the space and water they require in production to other milk such as coconut or almond milk, so oat milk is the best dairy-free milk to pick if you're looking to be kinder to our planet.

I really hope you enjoy this Easy Gluten-free Oat Milk as much as I do! It's super easy to make and most importantly: not slimy at all, which can be one of the difficulties in making your own oat milk from scratch. How to make your own oat milk in the perfect texture, I'm explaining in more detail below.

Is oat milk gluten-free?

Regular oats are often not gluten-free and therefore not suitable for those with gluten intolerances and allergies, such as coeliacs. Lots of people with this intolerance however can enjoy gluten-free oats and they are perfect for making this delicious non-slimy oat milk from scratch at home.

On most store-bought oat milks (at least in the UK), oats are marked as an allergen and most products are not marked as 'gluten-free', so we can assume they use regular oats for their oat milk - or simply mark their products as containing allergens as a security measure.

🌱 Ingredients for Homemade Oat Milk

• water: I always use filtered water from my Britta filter to make any dairy-free milk at home.
• gluten-free oats: these are easy to get by these days, simply check the free-from section of your local grocery store or alternatively order gluten-free oats online.
• dates: I've used soft Medjool dates on this occasion and removed the pits before blending. Alternatively, you can also use a dash of maple syrup to sweeten your homemade oat milk.
• ground cinnamon
• vanilla extract: I've used the liquid kind on this occasion, but you can also use vanilla powder or fresh vanilla beans, in this case, add about ⅛ teaspoon to the recipe.
• salt: don't worry, this won't make the milk salty but instead helps to bring out the full flavours of your other ingredients and creates a delicious flavour profile for this easy dairy-free oat milk.

Equipment

• a high-speed blender (I use a Greenis blender): if you don't have a high-speed blender, you can alternatively also use an immersion blender
• a nut milk bag or a fine-mesh strainer (you can also use a tea strainer)
• a bowl or large jug
• a bottle to store your oat milk in
• a funnel to make filling the bottle easier

🧑‍🍳 How to Make Non-Slimy Oat Milk

One of the difficulties in creating homemade oat milk is to avoid it becoming slimy in the process. If you've ever made porridge or oatmeal before, you probably know that oats create a slimy and creamy texture, that's great for your breakfast bowls, but not so great if you're trying to make deliciously creamy, but not slimy oat milk.

The steps for this recipe are pretty straightforward: add your ingredients to the blender, blend for 30 seconds on the highest speed and strain through a nut milk bag. Whilst the steps are generally very straightforward, there are a few tricks to avoid your oat milk becoming slimy:

• do not soak your oats in advance
• add the oats to the blender last, then instantly blend
• blend on the highest speed for 30 seconds - overprocessing the oat milk will result in slimy milk. Best use a timer!
• strain the oat milk instantly after blending, the longer you leave it standing after the blending process the slimier it will become, so strain right away
• give it a good shake before using

All in all, the most important thing is to have all your ingredients and equipment prepared upfront, so there are no delays that could cause your milk to become slimy.

🥛 What to Use This Homemade Oat Milk For

There are a bunch of delicious uses for this easy oat milk recipe! I personally love the creamy and sweet flavour and enjoy simply drinking the milk straight from the fridge but it's also a great addition in a number of recipes:

• with your breakfast cereal
• in your coffee
• Chocolate cookies
• Oat milk eggnog
• Smoothies
• Turmeric Latte
• with your protein shake
• in hot chocolate
• to make strawberry milk (see notes below)

♻️ How to Use Leftover Oat Milk Pulp

When making oat milk - or homemade dairy-free milk in general - you're often left with a small amount of pulp that you filter out of the milk in order to keep your milk smooth and creamy. This oat milk pulp is full of fibre and great to use for a variety of purposes. Here are some inspirations of how you can turn  the pulp into something delicious and avoid the food waste:

• add the pulp into your porridge or oatmeal: it's the perfect addition to your morning bowl of porridge or oatmeal, adding some extra fibre and also sweetness, considering that this particular pulp will also include dates
• add the oat pulp to your smoothies for a thicker, creamier texture: oats, in general, are a great addition to your smoothies if you love thick and creamy smoothies just as much as I do! Check out my recipe for a Chocolate Protein Smoothie Bowl, this one works perfectly with the addition of this delicious pulp.
• pancakes: not only oat flour is a delicious ingredient for healthy pancakes, but this oat milk pulp is also a perfect base, bringing some delicious sweetness to your pancakes! Add a binder, such as flaxseeds or chia seeds, then add some more liquid until you get a thick but pourable texture and let the batter rest for 10 minutes before spooning it into a non-stick pan.
• waffles: same as with the pancakes, this oat pulp makes a great base for simple and healthy vegan waffles! Follow similar steps to making pancakes, but create a thicker batter by adding less liquid.
• muffins: the pulp is a great base for oat muffins. I personally don't have a recipe for these, but simply google 'oat pulp muffins' and you will find a number of delicious options!
• overnight oats
• granola

💡 How to Froth Oat Milk for Coffee

A question I get on the regular: which milk is best to use in coffee? And how to make the milk frothy? In dairy milk, it's the fat component that allows for the milk to froth. So if you're looking to make your milk frothy, there's a quick fix!

In the original recipe, you can see that we're not adding any fat source to the ingredients - it's because I like drinking this milk on its own as well as enjoying it with my morning cereal and with the natural creaminess of the oats I don't feel like I need anything to make the milk even smoother. If you're looking to use this oat milk recipe for your coffee, however, simply add a teaspoon of coconut oil to the mix before blending.

How to avoid your oat milk tasting like coconut? Simple - go for refined coconut oil! If you don't mind a coconut flavour in your milk, then of course just go ahead with virgin coconut oil. Also: the coconut oil can be either firm or melted, it doesn't matter as it's going through the blender anyway and doesn't make a difference for the results.

Alternatively to coconut oil, you could also use neutral oils such as avocado or rapeseed, or flavoured oils such as flaxseed or groundnut. For the latter two, please don't heat your milk afterwards as these oils have a low smoke point. 

After straining your oat milk through a nut milk bag or fine-mesh strainer, you can go ahead with frothing your milk using a milk frother. To avoid the milk splitting in your hot coffee, please heat the milk before combining it with your coffee. 

💡 Simple Swaps for This Oat Milk Recipe

Not gluten-free

If you're not gluten-free and wish to make regular oat milk, you can easily swap out the gluten-free oats in this recipe for old-fashioned rolled oats and proceed as normal.

Sweetener

In this recipe, I've used fresh Medjool dates to sweeten my oat milk, but if you don't have any dates to hand, there are some simple replacements. Alternatively, you can use either maple syrup or agave nectar. If you're not vegan, honey is also an option - and if you're not fussed about refined sugar, add a teaspoon of your favourite sugar to the blender.

I want my oat milk to be sweeter

Feel free to adjust the level of sweetness to your own preference and add more or fewer dates or sweeteners of your choice.

Flavoured Oat Milk

This recipe is a great base for sweet flavoured dairy-free milk. Add more vanilla flavouring for a stronger vanilla taste. Add a teaspoon of cocoa or cacao powder for chocolate oat milk. Or add a handful of fresh or frozen strawberries for strawberry milk - the options are endless. Time to get creative!

Unsweetened oat milk

If you're looking to go plain, or want to use your homemade oat milk in a savoury recipe, then simply leave out the dates, cinnamon and vanilla and proceed as normal.

Creamier and smoother

For additional richness in the flavour and a silkier texture for your oat milk, you can add a teaspoon of coconut oil to the blender. If you don't mind a coconut flavour, then you can use virgin coconut oil. If you want to keep the flavour more neutral, go for refined coconut oil.

No salt

If you prefer going without salt, that's totally fine. Simply leave it out of the ingredients, no need to replace it in that case.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Recipes for Oat Milk

If you've made a batch of fresh homemade oat milk, then firstly congratulations! There are a number of ways for you to use it - I recommend trying my Starbucks-Style Matcha Latte or the Iced Matcha Latte! Both are so delicious!

If you're more into coffee, then mix your homemade oat milk into an Iced Vanilla Latte and try my Oat Milk Eggnog (Oatnog!) during the festive season!

For a sweet treat I recommend my Vegan Buttermilk Donuts and for your favorite weekend breakfast, definitely go with the super fluffy Vegan Buttermilk Pancakes!

And if you're excited about making your own cereal from scratch, definitely check out my recipe for homemade Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

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