How to make homemade rice milk

I think you'll be surprised to see how quickly you can make a homemade rice milk that's delicious, sweet and with the perfect creaminess to enjoy with every sip. This rice milk recipe is made with raw rice, without prior cooking, and it turns out really tasty! We are also talking about a 100% natural, 100% plant-based milk with no added sugars. Want more reasons to make it at home in a few minutes?

Rice milk is one of the most popular plant milks available. Since it's made from a gluten-free cereal, it's ideal for people with celiac disease and, unlike other common plant milks like almond or cashew, rice milk is great for those allergic to tree nuts.

It also contains no lactose, and it's ideal for anyone who wants to care for their digestive system with this slowly and gently digestible grain.

To follow the recipe and make rice milk, as well as any other plant milk, I strongly recommend using the Vegan Milker, the ideal tool to create a perfect emulsion for milks, and to be able to squeeze out all the liquid and strain on the spot. Easy, very effective and clean; I think if you don't yet know the so-called "sieve of the 21st century" you'll love discovering how simple and effective it is.

Qualities of rice milk

• Rice milk is a plant milk
• It's lactose-free milk, so it's suitable for those who are lactose intolerant
• Gluten-free milk, suitable for celiacs
• Suitable for those with nut allergies
• Ideal for people with sensitive stomachs
• It is a low-fat milk
• With high nutritional values, rich in minerals such as potassium, phosphorus and magnesium.
• It is free of sugars* (this recipe is made without added sugars; other recipes or commercial milks could contain them)

What type of rice to use to make rice milk

To make the recipe you can use any type of rice, from basmati to round, long, red... In fact, I encourage you to try the recipe with a different rice variety each time — it's a good way to discover subtle differences in flavor and see which you like best. You can even use brown rice.

Should the rice be pre-soaked?

This question is interesting, because in fact it's a very personal matter. Surely, once again, it will be a personal choice.

The most recommended is to have the rice soaked for about 4 hours prior to making the milk, to hydrate it and soften it, both for blending and for extracting its flavor. If using brown rice, it's important to soak it for at least 8 hours.

With these recommendations made, if using round, basmati, long (non-brown) rices..., you can also make the milk without pre-soaking it; we know many people do it that way and the result is great, although it's not recommended if you want to clean the rice well and hydrate it.

Rice milk recipe

Ingredients (for the basic recipe of 1L of rice milk):

• 100 g of rice (of your favorite variety, whether round, long, brown...), raw
• A bit of lemon peel (about a dessert spoon, without the white part of the peel)
• A pinch of salt
• A pinch of ground cinnamon
• 500 ml of mineral water, hot (about 90 ºC) + 500 ml of lukewarm water

1) Preparation with the Vegan Milker (see video below):

1. Ideally, soak the rice 4 hours before preparing the milk (8 hours if using brown rice). You can use the same jar with lid of the Vegan Milker.
2. Place the raw rice in a strainer or in the Vegan Milker mesh, and rinse it under tap water to finish cleaning it. Drain, discarding all the water released — we only intend to clean it.
3. In the Vegan Milker container put 500 ml of hot water (very hot, almost boiling).
4. Insert the Vegan Milker mesh with the rice into the glass with water, and also add the little piece of lemon peel and the pinch of salt. Insert the blender and blend continuously. You can use the turbo function if available.
5. When you see it well blended (the rice no longer snaps and the mixture is liquid), add the rest of the water (the other 500 ml at room temperature) and blend for a couple more minutes; you'll help the milk finish emulsifying and become smooth and creamy.
6. Remove the press, and lift the mesh cup, taking it out of the liquid but holding it above the Vegan Milker container with the milk you've obtained. With the help of the pestle, strain all the liquid (insert the pestle and lift it several times inside the mesh to squeeze out the ground rice well).
7. You now have your rice milk ready! Consume immediately, or cover it, let it cool to room temperature and store it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Vegan Milker, by Chufamix

Step by step to make rice milk (answers all questions!):

2) Preparation of rice milk without the Vegan Milker, using a cotton mesh:

1. After soaking, wash the rice with the help of a strainer, and transfer it to a bowl.
2. Add the hot water, the lemon peel, the salt and the cinnamon and blend with an electric mixer until you obtain a smooth, creamy texture (you'll see the rice no longer snaps and the mixture has changed consistency).
3. Add the rest of the water and continue blending for a couple of minutes.
4. Now you must strain the milk obtained. To do this, place a clean cotton cloth for filtering over a tall jar or bowl, secured at the top with an elastic band or string (so that the cloth acts as a "lid" for the container).
5. Pour the milk into the container through the cloth. Go slowly so as not to saturate the cloth and give it time to filter the milk. Finish straining all the liquid and carefully remove the cloth.
6. You now have your rice milk ready. Enjoy immediately or transfer to a bottle and keep closed in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Recipe variations

Rice milk can be bland, so it's very important to flavor it: that's why lemon, salt and cinnamon are so important in the base recipe above!

But you can make variations to that recipe, either to give it a more intense aroma or to explore and discover a different rice milk. For that, try other ingredients.

Some options to vary the original recipe are:

• Use lime instead of lemon.
• Add more lemon.
• Add ginger, either powdered or fresh.
• Sprinkle cinnamon when serving.
• Try a pinch of turmeric.
• Add a pinch of nutmeg
• Follow the same base recipe above, but try a different type of rice.

Once you get used to making plant milks at home, there's really no going back. Each milk has its own character, both in how it's made and how it's enjoyed, and it's wonderful to discover, share and savor.

If you're curious about other plant milks, you can download the book Your Plant Milks. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

I strongly invite you to try making this rice milk at home. And I also encourage you to try the Vegan Milker — since it arrived at my home I've used it a lot (not just for milks but also for making sauces), and making plant milk has become extremely easy (and clean! no more cleaning the cloth mesh!).

About the Vegan Milker by Chufamix - You have to discover it!

If you didn't know the Vegan Milker, I think you should pause for a moment to pay attention to what we have to tell you: it's a utensil that's revolutionizing the way plant milks are made at home, because it makes it suuuper easy and clean, and helps you create an absolutely wonderful emulsion for milks (and sauces, and horchata, and coffees....!).

For that reason, I invite you to see the Vegan Milkers here, and discover what we're talking about in this very visual and explanatory video:

Vegan Milker® by Chufamix from Claudia&Julia on Vimeo.