20 hr. ago • 97%

Whats your favorite non-dairy milk substitute beverage?

coconut milk

Very smooth and satisfying
<=1 g natural sugars so basically carb-free
amazing replacement for milk in cereal and smoothies

59 comments

Oat for most things. Extra creamy.

Almond for a fewthings. Like I prefer almond in a bowl of cereal. Silk has an unsweetened one with extra protein that is my go to.

6
Pea milk. It has a good taste and I like the consistency. Most other milk alternatives are too watery.

4
Oatly is my one and only.

3
Oat milk. I can make it at home and customize it for 1/10th the price.

14
- It's also near the bottom for CO2 emissions as well.
  
  3
  
  neat!
  
  3
- Now this I have to try! Could you talk me through how you do this? Just read a quick article on it: you only blend oats and water, then strain it? Would coffee filters be good for straining?
  
  2
  
  I use a metal strainer.
  
  I had to try out a couple of recipes in order to get one that works well.
  
  My recipe:
  
  Oat Milk:
  
  1 cup oats
  
  6 cups water (chilled)
  
  1 tsp vanilla
  
  Add all to blender and blend on high for 30-40 seconds
  
  Strain with strainer 2x
  
  Add maple syrup for flavoring (and/or honey) 3 tbsp
  
  Keeps for about a week.
  
  Theres some other similar ones like: https://www.loveandlemons.com/oat-milk/ that work out well and may keep for longer (salt).
  
  4
Unsweetened almond milk, unsweetened oat milk is second

You're not going to get carb free, but low sugar.

6
- Oat milk in coffee is delightful. I find almond milk a bit too "non-present" I can't think of a better word
  
  5
Unsweetened almond milk, then oat milk, then coconut. Last resort is soy because I can ALWAYS taste some sort of soy-ness flavor, the same way I can taste a hint of coconut with coconut milk, and that soy taste is just weird.

6
Water

4
oat milk for everything

23
- Yes
  
  3
Mountain Dew

11
- I always felt like it tasted like already flat soda
  
  3
  
  You gotta get it straight from the Mountain cow. It's never quite as good once it's bottled.
  
  5
  
  I always felt it tasted like pine-scented dish soap.
  
  1
Depends on what I am using it for. I quite like oat milk in my coffee drinks. I feel like it is nice to have the oaty flavor paired with the coffee taste.

17
I found almond milk to be a great substitute a couple of years ago when I was dieting. Particularly the 'unsweetened, vanilla' variety from Almond Breeze.

As an added bonus, it also has a much longer shelf life than regular milk.

10
- For information, almond milk is by far the least environmentally sustainable milk substitute. Almond farming is extremely water-intensive.
  
  4
  
  Ah damn, and it looks like almonds are grown mostly in California. Adding insult to injury.
  
  California-grown almonds account for 80 per cent of the world’s commercial almond production.
  
  (From https://davidsuzuki.org/living-green/the-best-plant-based-milks-for-the-planet/)
  
  1
- I can't stand the sugary versions of any of them, unsweetened with/without vanilla is all the flavor needed haha
  
  3
Specifically: Califia Farms Toasted Coconut - Coconut Almondmilk Blend. This is the closest I have found since I started watching my carbs/sugar intake 4 years ago.

4
Oat for lattes, rice for drinking straight, coconut for smoothies, almond for cereal

10
- Nice call out on rice milk straight. I do think it has a nice subtle sweetness to it the others don't.
  
  5
Unsweetened almond milk mainly due to the low calories compared to other non-dairy milks but not as tasty for sure.

4
- It's been a while, but one time I had almond milk in rooibos tea* and it made it taste like cake. Can't remember proportions or how much extra sugar or sweetener I had in it but knowing me, the amount wasn't "none".
  
  * tea-like infusion. Rooibos and tea are not related plants.
  
  3
Oat milk followed by homemade cashew milk. I found coconut milk and almond milk both to be too watery tasting.

Edit: Here is my recipe for nut/seed milk. This works for cashews, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, and pepitas. I haven't tried it with other nuts or seeds.

1/3c nuts or seeds

4c water

Sweetener of choice (I just use 2 Splenda packets but I've also used agave and pitted dates)

1/8tsp salt

1/8tsp xanthan gum (can be ommitted but it helps the texture IMHO)

1/2tsp vanilla (optional)

Blend seeds or nuts with water, salt, and sweetener in a high speed blender. Strain through a nut milk bag. Add xanthan gum and re-blend. Stays good for a week or more.
6
I like soy milk. I don't know why people freak out about it.

5
- something about estrogen load
  
  2
- I liked the smell of it in my shaving cream but yet to formally try it in the mouth hole
  
  2
  
  It's fine? It's not ambrosia, but it's easier on my stomach and a little bit healthier than the moo juice.
  
  3
Coconut milk is the closest to the real deal, it's creamy, you can make a whipped cream or friggin butter with it easily and it's white AF

3
Rice Milk

4
surprised nobody mentioned lactose-free cow milk. lactaid changed my life.

1
- non-dairy
  
  6
Mostly the same as everyone else here, mostly use oat milk or coconut depending on use case, but a while back I was making something that called for pea milk and it cooked up surprisingly well.

4
Rice milk for oatmeal, oat milk for baking, soy milk for drinking straight due to protein

3
- Swap use cases of rice and soy milk and it's me.
  
  1
Soy milk is the only non-dairy alternative I've tried that actually tastes good and also still goes with cereal. I've had a few kinds of nut milk, but I don't like the taste or consistency of 'em. Though that isn't to say they taste awful; I just don't want the extreme taste of almonds or cashews when I am wanting milk. Soy milk actually comes pretty close to just regular milk.

I also would like to say this is only for use as a beverage (or for cereal). Trying to use any of these as a substitute for milk in cooking DOES. NOT. WORK. There's a chemical process going on in most recipes that simply doesn't happen with non-dairy alternatives.

2
- Agree about soy. I've tried and liked rice milk on cereal, but it wasn't as good as a milk substitute in hot drinks. Since I prefer not to buy a bunch of different things for both simplicity and storage reasons, I switched everything to soy.
  
  That doesn't mean that the different brands of soy milk are all the same though. Luckily I've found one that works for me.
  
  1
- I don't know whether anything changed or it's down to brand but I have no issues baking strudels and other pastry with similar dough from soy milk, including doing some simple buns from dry yeast, but obviously that lacked the sourdough taste, which I'd like to try replicate with use of some acids next (e.g. vinegar). Don't really do much else though, so can't confirm for other uses.
  
  We specifically buy Kirkland brand (cheapest alternative) and more recently actually started grabbing the vanilla soy milk from US instead of local. I used to hate sweetened soy milk some 5+years ago, but this is somehow different. And it works great for crepes as well - actually better than regular milk IMO.
  
  1
NOT Not Milk — unless I want a 2-day stomach ache Tastes dece tho

2
Oatly had this strawberry-elderflower sort of drink and then it stopped being made / imported.

It was so fucking good, and I just don't enjoy the other flavours as much.

1
- Oatly adds amylase to convert oat starch into maltose. The result is that the sugar content is about that of Coca-Cola while they still write "unsweetened" or "no added sugar" on their sassy packaging because it's technically true.
  
  It's good for a dash into your coffee, but I wouldn't suggest it as a daily substitute due to the sugar content.
  
  2
  
  Wouldn't the starch break down into an equivalent amount of sugar during digestion?
  
  2
  
  I don't enjoy coffee or the Oatly meant for coffee that much.
  
  The elderberry-strawberry thing actually tasted refreshing. I don't drink any other drinks like that. I've tried, but I've just not enjoyed a single one outside of that, pretty much. They all have that sort of beany aftertaste. It's not bad, but it's not too enjoyable for me.
  
  1
We rotate between Almond and Coconut. Almond for stuff where the milk needs to be more neutral tasting. Coconut if we want a more creamy texture. We used to also like Oat (least wasteful on water during production vs almond), but it's high in carbs so we avoid it now. Also, we actually use 0% fat lactose-free milk as well for coffee because it just tastes better than the alternatives for coffee.

1
- If you can ever find it, try the Vita-Coco original no sugar added 1L carton that has around 5g of carbs, its really incredible super coconut milk that beats all for cereal. Its a little pricier but its amazing stuff.
  
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