Dairy Alternative: Homemade Rice Milk

Creamy, homemade rice milk costs pennies to make, needs just 2 ingredients, and is ready in 2 minutes. Naturally dairy-free, lactose-free, allergen-free, and great for nearly all diets!

If you buy rice milk on a regular basis but you’ve never considered making it yourself, here’s your gentle nudge: You need two ingredients and two minutes. It costs mere pennies, and it tastes WAY better than any rice milk you can buy from the store!

Easy Rice Milk Recipe

My recipe is incredibly easy, with the hardest part having to start with cooked rice.

That’s easy to overcome though, especially when you can make Instant Pot White Rice in under 10 minutes. Or better yet, use leftover rice you have stashed away in your fridge or freezer!

Tip: If you don’t have leftover rice, go ahead and make extras when you make it for this easy recipe. Freeze it one cup portions, and then you’ll be ready to go for your next batch!

Rice Milk Benefits

The greatest benefits come from the fact that it’s naturally dairy-free, lactose-free, allergen-free, and great for nearly every diet. It’s a great plant milk for those who cannot have nut milk or soy milk either.

The only catch is when you BUY rice milk. Most brands (like Rice Dream and Better Than Milk) contain unhealthy fats, artificial sweeteners, and preservatives that can interfere with the digestive system.

You’ll get all the benefits when you make it yourself. Keep reading for my easy recipe!

Homemade Rice Milk Recipe Ingredients

You need just two ingredients:

• Rice. Any kind of cooked rice will work. White rice, brown rice, jasmine rice, basmati rice, short grain rice, long grain rice… if you like the way the rice tastes when you make it plain, then it’s suitable for this recipe.
• Water. Filtered water is preferred.

You do need a blender in order to make this recipe. I’ve tried making this in a food processor and it just doesn’t come out as creamy.

How to Make Rice Milk

Step 1: Measure the rice and water into the blender. This recipe starts with 1 cup of cooked rice and 4 cups of water and makes one quart.

Step 2: Blend the ingredients. If you have a high-powered blender, you may only need to run the blender through one round of blending. If you have a regular blender, you may need to blend the milk two or more times. The more times you blend, the smoother and creamier it will be.

Step 3: Strain the milk. Pour the blended milk through a fine mesh strainer to remove the pulp. Another option is to strain the mixture with cheesecloth or a nut milk bag. Keep reading for ways to reuse rice pulp and prevent food waste. The liquid you’re left with is your non-dairy milk!

Tip: When you blend for longer, the rice nearly disappears entirely. This eliminates the need to filter the milk through the sieve.

Store your finished rice milk in a glass jar in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. I like to store in a mason jar and use a pour spout lid like these.

Homemade Rice Drink Flavor Variations

While the basic recipe calls for just cooked rice and water, you can easily change the flavors with just a few tweaks:

• For a thicker drink, you can use more rice or you can also use less water
• Add Ground Cinnamon
• Add Extracts: Almond Extract, Coconut Extract, or Vanilla Extract (or vanilla powder)
• Use Leftover Coconut Rice
• Use coconut milk in place of some of the water
• Horchata Flavor: Cinnamon + Vanilla + Almond Extract
• Add cocoa powder or cacao powder for “chocolate milk”
• Use maple syrup to sweeten and make maple milk
• Add fresh berries for “berry milk”
• Use hot water instead of cold water (this makes creamier milk)

My homemade rice drink recipe is unsweetened, but you can add one whole date (pitted) or 1 teaspoon of coconut sugar if you’d like.

How to Use Leftover Rice Pulp

Reducing food waste is vital to working within a grocery budget, so use rice pulp to make rice pudding, rice porridge, or even to my favorite Minestrone Soup. If you don’t have enough pulp left over, you can always freeze it until you have enough for another recipe.

Rice Milk FAQs

OTHER PLANT-BASED MILK OPTIONS:

• Almond Milk
• Coconut Milk
• Hemp Milk
• Peanut Milk
• Cashew Milk

Watch How to Make Homemade Rice Milk