As the nights get longer and days get colder, you can find me curled up on the couch with a good book and a cup of homemade herbal oat milk…
With its subtle, sweet taste and nourishing properties, homemade oat milk has quickly become my drink of choice during the cold months of fall and winter.
Why go to the trouble of making oat milk, when you can easily buy it at the grocery store?
Well, here’s the thing: homemade oat milk tastes way better than store bought oat milk, and it’s a whole lot cheaper. Not to mention, it’s incredibly easy to make — to make plain oat milk, all you need is water, rolled oats, a blender, a strainer, and a few minutes of your time.
And, if you want to geek out on herbs (which if you’re on this page I think it’s safe to assume you’re probably an herb nerd like me!), you can customize your oat milk by flavoring it with different blends of herbs.
In the summers I add cooling herbs like linden and lemon balm to my oat milk to help me stay calm and cool throughout the long, sunny days. And during the colder months, I add pungent herbs like ginger, rosemary, and cinnamon to increase circulation and help me stay warm.
In today’s recipe, I’ll show you how to make a warming oat milk with rosemary, ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom. But before we dive into this simple recipe, let’s take a look at some of the benefits of oats and these warming herbs…
Oats (Avena sativa)
Home herbalists have long used oatmeal as a strength-giving cereal. With their subtle flavor and rich mineral content, oats can gently nourish the body as a daily breakfast or as a post-illness protocol. The slimy texture of oatmeal porridge also gives us a hint about its other properties: this sliminess is what herbalists often refer to as “demulcency.” A demulcent herb or food can cool, moisten, and soothe inflamed tissues. Oatmeal particularly shines at soothing inflamed tissues in the digestive tract and topically on the skin. Though I usually drink my oat milk, every now and then I also like to apply plain oat milk topically as a facial cleanser to nourish and soothe my skin.
Rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus)
Rosemary is a warming culinary herb that can increase circulation throughout the body and tonify the cardiovascular system as a whole. It can also gently uplift mood and help ease stagnant digestion, including gas or bloating. I like to nibble on fresh rosemary leaves when I feel the winter blues, and the effects are almost immediate: the first bite of rosemary quickly warms my body, and I can feel my mood start to subtly shift and soften.
This combination of warming and uplifting properties makes rosemary a perfect addition to this herbal oat milk for the colder months.
Ginger (Zingiber officinale)
Honestly, what can’t ginger do? This pungent herb can ease inflammation, support immune function, increase circulation, promote healthy digestion, and address menstrual cramps. And this is just the tip of the iceberg! If you want to get to know one culinary herb, ginger is a great place to start. You can learn more about its immune boosting properties in Rosalee’s recent blog post here.
Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum)
Cinnamon offers a tasty combination of sweetness and spice that can satiate sugar cravings and increase circulation. As a warming aromatic herb, it can also address sluggish digestion. During the colder months when people tend to eat heartier foods, cinnamon is an herbal ally that can support healthy, easeful digestion.
Cardamom (Elettaria cardamomum)
Much like cinnamon, this warming aromatic herb can address sluggish digestion and cramping. And cardamom’s striking flavor adds a harmonizing note to the blend of herbs in this creamy oat milk.
Spiced Oat Milk
Delightfully warming and easy to make, this spiced oat milk recipe is perfect for a cold fall or winter day. Herbal oat milk pairs nicely with a good book, warm socks, and a cozy blanket. Enjoy!
What you’ll need…
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 3.5 cups of water
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary leaves (or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary leaves)
- ½ teaspoon Ceylon cinnamon powder
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder
- A pinch of sea salt
- Honey to taste (optional)
- Add the rosemary, cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger to a large jar. Bring the water to a boil and pour it over the herbs in the jar. Cover the jar with a lid and let steep for 15 minutes.
- Strain out the herbs and let the tea cool on the counter. Once it has cooled to room temperature, put the tea in the fridge to cool down further. Then once it is chilled (that is, roughly the temperature in your fridge), you can proceed to the next step.
- Once the tea has finished cooling, add it and the rolled oats to a blender. Blend for 30 seconds. Check to see if the oats have been thoroughly blended into smaller pieces. If not, blend for another 15–30 seconds.
- Strain the mixture through 2 fine mesh strainers to ensure that your oat milk is not too thick.
- Add a pinch of sea salt to your oat milk, and if desired, honey to taste.
- Refrigerate your oat milk. In the fridge, this oat milk will keep for up to 3 days. Separation will naturally occur in your oat milk, with heavier oat particles sinking to the bottom of the jar. To address this separation, you can simply shake your oat milk before consuming it.
Note: After you’ve finished making your oat milk, I recommend not heating it up. Heating the oat milk will make the milk thicker and slimy. Luckily, the warming herbs in this milk will add a nice kick of heat to the milk so you don’t have to heat it to still experience the warming benefits of this oat milk recipe.
Yield: several servings! You can drink this herbal oat milk by the mugful or add it to your morning coffee, cereal, and more.
Now I’d love to hear from you!
Have you ever made oat milk? And how do you use oat milk? Do you add it to your coffee, baked goods, or something else?
Please share in the comments below.
This looks delicious Tara! I love oat milk and I can’t wait to try it out!
Thank you, Rosalee! :)
Hello, Thank you for sharing the oat milk recipe. I am wondering about the phytic acid that traditionally was pre-soaked and removed? Is this somehow addressed in your recipe? Thank you
Hi Michael, thanks for your question! To modify this recipe to address the phytic acid, you can definitely soak the oats before blending them up with the tea. (If you do this, I recommend adding about a 1/2 cup more of tea to the recipe.) The process of soaking the oats, however, will make the oat milk a more demulcent/slimy texture, which I know many people aren’t a fan of. I personally like the demulcent texture, so I often soak my oats before making the milk. :)
Is there any way around the not being able to heat it up? I love oat milk lattes.
Hi Kim, I love oat milk lattes too. It’s okay to warm this oat milk up very slightly (like stirring some into a hot cup of tea or coffee), but any prolonged intense heat will cause the milk to change texture and become more like porridge. So I would not recommend steaming this oat milk for a latte.
Can you still use the leftover oats –either for porridge or in baking, as a sourced, of fiber? Suggestions? Thanks!
Hi Meg, thanks for your question! You can definitely use the leftover oats. I tend to use them for a breakfast porridge, but I imagine they would be great in baking as well.
Hello,
Your description says, ‘tonify the cardiovascular system as a whole.’ I don’t understand what ‘tonify’ means. I don’t even understand what people mean when they say that something ‘tones’ something else (like this product ‘tones’ the skin). Can you explain exactly what happens in the tonification process of the cardiovascular system? Because I really don’t understand what that means, though I assume it’s a good thing. What changes can I expect to notice in my cardiovascular system as a whole when I have achieved ‘tonification’ of it? My cardiologist has never mentioned this.
Hi Nel, thanks for asking about the word “tonify.” By tonify” I mean gently strengthening and supporting the health of a body system, organs, or specific tissues in the body. So an herbal tonic for the cardiovascular system would gently support the healthy function of this system. If you are interested in using herbs to support your cardiovascular health, I recommend checking in with your cardiologist and also consider working directly with an herbalist before you proceed.
Thank you, it seems delicious and cooked oatmeal is great for my stomach and guts after gastritis.But I wonder if the raw oats in this recipe would be hard to digest for a sensitive stomach?
Hi Den, thanks for your question! :)
Raw oats can indeed be hard to digest for a sensitive stomach. I personally find this oat milk easier to digest than eating whole raw oats, but everyone’s digestive sensitivities are different, so I can’t necessarily say how this oat milk would impact your digestion. I recommend either working directly with a nutritionist or herbalist who can offer feedback more specifically tailored to your body.
Take care when pouring hot water into a glass jar. If the glass is cold and quite thick and the water very hot you are likely to have the bottom fall out of the jar when the thinner sides expand more quickly than the thicker base. This happened to me once and if can be quite messy, not to say dangerous!
Sounds delicious….i make my own almond milk,(no packaging, no aluminium lining..all natural….haven’t tried Oat milk though. Thank you for sharing..Great idea adding spices too!!
Absolutely! I love that you make your own almond milk. :)
Your recipe sounds delicious! I’m looking forward to trying it.
You mentioned in a response you prefer to soak your oats beforehand. Can you go more into detail about this process? Thank you for sharing!
Hi Roxanne, thank you for asking! If I decide to soak my oats before making the milk, here’s how I do it: I place my oats in a bowl and cover them with water and a splash of apple cider vinegar. I add enough water to cover the oats and then another few cups of water. I then let the oats soak over night (for about 12 hours). Then I drain and rinse the oats. Now that I am done soaking/rinsing the oats, I then follow the recipe and blend them up with tea. Sometimes when I soak the oats, I end up needing to adjust the amount of tea I blend them with. So I’ll start by blending the oats with 2.5 cups of tea and add more if needed. Enjoy! :)
Hi
I’ve just invested in a bulk bag of steel cut oats as they’re better for slow carb digestion regarding insulin resistance. If I used them for this would it work out differently? Would I need to specifically purchase rolled oats for milk making?
Thanks
Hi Rosemary, thank you for your question! You can indeed use steel cut oats to make oat milk. Steel cut oats can change the texture of the milk, but soaking/rinsing them before you blend them up with the tea can help. So, if you use steel cut oats, prior to blending the oats you’ll want to soak them for about 30 minutes and rinse them thoroughly to minimize the difference in texture. Enjoy! :)