Homemade Oat Milk, Overnight and One Minute in the Blender

One cup of oats, five cups of water, a night in the fridge and a minute in the blender. Strain it through a cloth, and it keeps 2 to 4 days. I use it in smoothies. Vanilla or cinnamon go in the evening, so they steep overnight.

• 1 cup whole rolled oats
• 5 cups water
• Optional: a pinch of salt, a teaspoon of honey, a teaspoon of almond or coconut oil
• Optional: a piece of vanilla bean or ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

Makes about 1 liter.

1. Put the oats in a jar or bowl, cover with the water and leave overnight in the fridge. If you want vanilla or cinnamon, add it now.
2. In the morning, pour everything into a blender and blend until smooth, about a minute. Add the salt, honey or oil if you are using them.
3. Strain through a cloth or a fine sieve lined with cloth. Do not press the pulp, or the milk turns starchy.
4. Pour into a bottle and keep in the fridge for 2 to 4 days. Shake before pouring; it settles.

Soaking softens the oats, so the blender breaks them into a fine suspension of starch and fiber in the water. Vanilla or cinnamon left in that water overnight give up their aroma to it, so the milk tastes of them evenly. Straining by gravity matters: pressing the pulp through the cloth pushes out extra starch, and the milk turns slimy. A pinch of salt covers the flat, papery note of plain oats and makes the milk taste a little sweeter; a teaspoon of almond or coconut oil adds the fat that oats lack, so the milk coats the tongue the way dairy does. Cold, it is clean and slightly sweet. Heated past about 130°F the oat starch thickens, and it turns porridge-like, so I use it cold, in smoothies and over granola.

You pressed the pulp, or blended too long. Blend a minute, strain by gravity.

Yes, but they break down faster and give a thicker, starchier milk; whole rolled oats are cleaner.

Gently, for a latte; do not boil, or the starch gels.

Put it into muffins, pancakes or oatmeal; it keeps 2 days in the fridge.

2 to 4 days in a closed bottle in the fridge. If it smells sour, it is done.

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