Make your own homemade oat milk… not slimy!

How about some homemade oat milk?

Since the virus-that-shall-not-be-named has confined us to our homes, the plant-based "milk" aisle at my grocery store has been empty almost all the time. Like many people, I’ve been cooking a lot lately, and that’s the kind of staple ingredient I don’t want to run out of for my vegan family. Raise your (clean) hand if you’re in the same boat, haha!

Of course, it is possible to make plant-based milks at home, but let's be real: cashews, almonds, and the like cost a pretty penny. For many of us, that doesn't fit in the budget anymore, if it ever did.

Among the more affordable and accessible options, there is homemade oat milk, which is incidentally a delicious alternative (in coooooffee!) and generally local, since oats are a cereal we grow in abundance in Canada. If you follow this blog, you surely already have some in your cupboard to use in everything, just like we do!

The oat milk challenge: avoiding the slimy texture

The problem is that, for me, homemade oat milk never produced results comparable to what you find in stores. After many attempts (with or without soaking) and an ever-increasing number of successive filtrations, I still ended up with a slimy, thick liquid that was not very pleasant to drink.

Honestly, I was about to give up the fight, but a dear friend, during a recent "Skypéro" (Zoom happy hour), gave me hope: "No, no, it's possible to make successful non-slimy oat milk, I’ve seen some good tips on YouTube!"

Driven by nothing but my courage in the face of a potential shortage, I searched the internet, combined the advice, tried it... and succeeded on the first try! I was flabbergasted. So, here is the winning recipe I’ve adopted, and a summary of the tips that worked really well.

Water and soaking

1. Discarding the soaking water and then blending the rolled oats with fresh water helps eliminate a good portion of starch, the slimy factor in the equation (but your skin will love it!). By the way, the soaking doesn't need to be long: 30 minutes is enough.
2. Ice water also makes a big difference. By blending the soaked oats in a new portion of very cold water, you prevent them from releasing more starch, which doubles the protection against sliminess. That is also why it is not recommended to blend for more than 30 seconds in a Vitamix, for example. High-power blender motors can heat the liquid, and we really don't want to "cook" our oats in there—think oatmeal; it's a no! Haha!

Proportions

Keep the 1:4 ratio (one part oats to 4 parts cold water) if you change the quantities in the recipe. I tried the 1:3 ratio suggested by some sources, and the result is thicker and denser, which is not the desired outcome.

Filtration

This oat milk is fluid enough that you barely need to squeeze the bag when straining, but you might still need to do it a little bit toward the end. Apply light pressure and take your time to prevent the oat powder from passing through the bag along with the liquid and making the filtered milk denser than necessary.

A small word of warning: cooking

Be careful with heating: you can add this milk to your cookie, muffin, and cake recipes, but it is not a good base to heat on the stove or with a frother for a latte or golden milk, let's say. There will be particles, even very fine ones, of oats remaining in the milk, and they will thicken the liquid as they heat up, turning it into a kind of really unappetizing glue.

A variation with rice

You can also use this recipe template to make rice milk, another affordable and accessible version. Cook one cup of rice (no need to soak it), let it cool, and follow steps 2 to 5 of the recipe exactly.

And there you go! Happy preparing! <3

Cat