Make Your Own Oat Milk

In case you're new here, I eat a LOT of oatmeal. And I'm not shy with the liquids when I make it either. Most people like a little milk with their oatmeal; I like a little oatmeal with my milk. Hot or cold, quick or old-fashioned, I thoroughly drown the poor stuff. I tend to make it with less liquid so it's really thick, then I cover it with milk, just like regular cereal, and break the bigger chunks up. It really is odd.

Then, one day while I was making my sixth batch of almond milk in 5 days, I started wondering what else I could make milk out of. Then it hit me - I could make oat milk. It would be like oatmeal on top of my oatmeal! What more could an addict like me want??

This is Part 3 of the Make Your Own Milk mini-series. We have already covered Almond Milk and Soy Milk. Check back soon for Rice Milk and Coconut Milk.

Oat Milk
Makes 3 cups

What I use:

• 1 c. steel cut oats
• 3 c. water, plus more for soaking
• 1 Tbsp. sweetener (sugar / honey / agave syrup / maple syrup)
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

How I do it:

1. Place the oats in a small bowl and cover with water. Leave alone to soak for one hour.

2. Drain and rinse the oats with cold water.

3. Place the oats in the blender and add the 3 c. water.

4. Blend on highest speed for 2 minutes.

5. Using a fine sieve or strainer, slowly pour the milk into a bowl or 4-cup measuring cup. Save the strained solids - set aside in a bowl.*

6. Using the same sieve, strain the milk back into the blender.

7. Using the same sieve, strain the milk back into the bowl or measuring cup.

8. If you have an even finer sieve, now is the time to bust that out. Use it to strain the milk one last time back into the blender.

9. Add the sweetener of your choice and the vanilla to the blender with the milk and blend for 20 seconds.

10. Pour into a glass jar (I like canning jars), put the lid on, and keep the milk in the fridge for up to 5 days. If it smells funky, toss it.

Make sure you give it a good shake each time you want to use it.

* You can do lots of things with the strained solids. You can use it to make porridge, or eat it like you would have made regular oatmeal. I like to dry it out in the oven on parchment paper at the lowest temp for a few hours. Then I toss the dried bits into my food processor and grind them to a fine powder. Ta-da! Oat flour.