Being a sustainable consumer is important to me, so I’m always looking for small changes I can make that will reduce my footprint on our planet.

I’ve been working on educating myself on the downsides of the dairy industry, and sadly, there are many. When it comes to environmental impact, the dairy industry is second only to the beef industry, with high greenhouse gas emissions, heavy pesticide and fertilizer use, and unsustainable feed production practices. And I don’t even want to get into the treatment of dairy cows.

Unfortunately, though, I’ve always been a milk drinker. I love my morning cereal, and my beverage of choice with a home-cooked meal is a glass of milk, so I’ve been looking for an acceptable alternative to dairy milk.

Almond milk seems to be the most popular choice, and while I like it a lot, it comes with its own set of negative impacts to the environment (namely, the amount of water it takes to grow so many almonds). Womp womp. So I set off in search of the next best milk alternative to try and settled on oat milk.

The Scoop On Oat Milk

Oat milk is not only dairy free, it’s also gluten free and great for helping lower your cholesterol. It’s high in fiber, has a healthy dose of protein, and if you make it yourself, you can make it low-sugar or sugar free (which I especially like, since I’ve been going strong with my quest to eat less sugar).

I also read that oats require about six times less water than almonds to grow, so that’s a big plus over almond milk.

My local grocery store didn’t have oat milk, but I had a ton of rolled oats for oatmeal in the pantry, so rather than make a special trip to the health food store I decided just to try making it myself.

The first batch I did, I used only oats and water. It was okay, but super duper bland. I did a couple more batches using different variations of recipes I saw online, and finally settled on one with oats, water, maple syrup for a bit of sweetness and vanilla extract for flavor.

Super Simple Oat Milk Recipe

• 1 cup rolled oats (the plain old original Quaker Oats are rolled oats)
• 4 cups water
• 1 tsp pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp salt

Combine all ingredients in blender or food processor and blend until liquefied, about 30 seconds. Strain out the oat remnants using a sieve or milk bag, then refrigerate in a sealed container until ready to use.

The Verdict

You guys, it’s not bad!

It has a light oat flavor and a consistency somewhere between 2% and whole milk. It keeps in the fridge for 3-4 days. It does separate, so you’ll need to shake it up well each time you use it.

I can definitely see switching over to oat milk in my cereal with no problem. It wasn’t much different than almond milk in that regard. I’ll probably start alternating between oat milk and dairy milk for a few weeks until I’m ready to fully cut the cord on dairy milk.

I tried it in my coffee and it was good, although I like a lot of creaminess so I think I’ll stick to non-dairy creamer for now. It would also work great swapped in for dairy milk in recipes, like mashed potatoes, smoothies or scrambled eggs.

I don’t think oat milk is a beverage I’d drink on its own. The consistency, texture and flavor were all fine to me, but the oat-y smell was just a little too weird when I tried to drink it by itself. It’s also surprisingly filling, I guess because you’re getting a lot of the oat remnants, so a full glass of it would be pretty heavy to take down in one sitting.

I saw a lot of talk online about the “sliminess” of oat milk and whether or not to soak the oats before you use them to reduce this. I tried it both ways–soaked first and not soaked–and didn’t see much of a difference. I really didn’t find it to be any more or less “slimy” than almond milk, but if you like a more frothy milk alternative this might not be the best one for you.

Overall, I’m excited to have found a dairy milk substitute that’s easy to make and can replace regular milk in my morning routine. Next time I’m at Trader Joe’s or the health food store I’m going to see if they have any of the commercial oat milks so I can see how they stack up.

Have you tried any milk alternatives? Let me know which one you like best in the comments!

If you liked this post, please subscribe to receive my latest posts directly to your inbox. Spam sucks, so I never email updates more than once per week 🙂

Email Address Submit