This creamy homemade oat milk is rich, creamy and thick. Plus, you need just 4 ingredients and a blender to make this.

And I know you’re thinking homemade oat milk is always slimy and never creamy. Well I’ve cracked the code to non-slimy creamy oat milk that will change your life. You’ll swear off Oatly oat milk for good!

oat milk pouring into a cup next to a jar of milk and a cup of rolled oats

Ingredients for Creamy Oat Milk

The best thing about making oat milk from home is you need just 4 ingredients:

Rolled oats or quick oats: I actually prefer using gluten-free oats if I can, because it minimizes the risk of the oat milk becoming slimy. Little note: as soon as anything with gluten touches water, gluten strands start to develop, which is great for bread making, but will make your oat milk super slimy. So the less gluten present the better.
Vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
Date syrup or maple syrup
Salt: A little pinch of salt helps amplify the flavors of this milk so much. Little note: make sure to use kosher salt, specifically Diamond Crystal kosher salt. If you’re using Morton kosher salt, reduce the salt by half. Morton is much saltier and denser than Diamond Crystal kosher salt.

Top Tips and Tricks

There are a few KEY things to keep in mind when making oat milk at home. So I’ve put together a list of the top things you need to know to get the best creamy homemade oat milk.

Make sure you’re using ice cold water. Anything to do with heat will create gluten in your oat milk and make the milk slimy.
Do not squeeze the oat milk or push the milk through the strainer. The more you squeeze, the slimier the oat milk will be. Because pressure equals more gluten-development.
Do not soak your oats. This will also make the oat milk slimy, and we don’t want that! As I said above, anytime gluten comes in contact with water, gluten will start developing, so basically you want to minimize the amount of time the oats are in water.
Double strain the oat milk so it’s super smooth and creamy. It’s a little bit of extra work, but it’s totally worth it.
Do not overblend! I cannot stress this enough, but blending for more than 20 seconds will make the oat milk slimy.
After a few hours, you’ll notice the oat milk has separated. Don’t worry, this is totally natural and should happen since you didn’t add any gums or emulsifiers in this non-dairy milk. Simply shake the milk jug a few times to get the oat milk back to its creamy self again!

oat milk in a cup next to a jar of milk and oats

FAQ’s & Notes

How to store the homemade oat milk: Store the oat milk in the fridge for up to 4 days. Any longer than that and the milk will start to smell a little funky and not taste as fresh.
Homemade oat milk vs. store bought: I do think there is a time and a place to buy store-bought oat milk — it’s super convenient and it does save you a bit of time. However, homemade oat milk is so easy to make and so much healthier that you’ll swear off the grocery store stuff for good. Diving into the ingredients in grocery store oat milk, Oatly oat milk has low erucic acid rapeseed oil, dipotassium phosphate, calcium carbonate, tricalcium phosphate, dicalcium phosphate and riboflavin. Which are ingredients that I personally think are not needed in oat milk. Homemade oat milk on the other hand has just; oats, dates, vanilla and salt. Super simple, classic and so much better for you!
How long does homemade oat milk last? About 4-5 days in the fridge. You’ll notice when it starts to go bad as it’ll smell a little funky.
Why is my homemade oat milk chalky? Typically, this is how oat milk tastes on its own. Which is why I recommend adding in the vanilla extract and date syrup to mask the chalky texture.
How do you make homemade oat milk not separate?Homemade oat milk will also separate, because it has no gums or emulsifiers. That said, simply shake the oatmilk a bit to emulsify the milk again! Or you can add 1/8 tsp xantham gum before blending the milk to help keep the milk emulsified.