How to Make Rice Milk (2 Ingredients)
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This homemade rice milk is a super simple recipe, it helps you avoid all of the additives typically found in store bought rice milk, and works great for all of your vegan baking, cooking, and more.
This recipe can be made using either brown or white rice, and literally can be made with only 2 ingredients and in just minutes.
Whether you are dealing with a milk allergy or intolerance, or you just want a simple option on hand for a last-minute handy milk substitute, I have an answer for your troubles that you and your wallet will truly enjoy (and the environment will love as well.)
For years now, we've been making our own rice milk and other dairy-free milk alternatives. Our oldest was diagnosed with a life-threatening allergy to dairy before he was even one year old, and my husband is lactose intolerant, so having a milk substitute on hand has been a constant need in our home. While we mostly made homemade coconut milk now to reduce carbs, homemade rice milk was a mainstay for us for a very long time.
Rice is an easily digestible grain, so making rice milk a fantastic choice for someone who is struggling with a digestive sensitivity or upset, plus rice is gluten-free and fairly non-allergenic, so rice milk works well for almost any special diet.
How I Discovered How to Make DIY Rice Milk
This discovery came one day, years ago, while shopping at a health food store, way before dairy-free milk substitutes were in vogue. While looking at the pricey options in the “milk substitute aisle”, I noticed that the only ingredients listed on the boxes were grain, water, and occasionally sweetener and flavoring.
There just had to be a way to make this myself and save a lot of money.
So I went home, got out my blender, and did just that.
Why Make Homemade Rice Milk?
Control Over Ingredients
Here is an ingredient list from a store bought rice milk:
Filtered Water, Organic Whole Grain Brown Rice, Organic Brown Rice Syrup, Organic Expeller Pressed Canola and/or Organic Expeller Pressed High Oleic Safflower Oil, Tricalcium Phosphate, Sea Salt, Organic Vanilla Flavor, Natural Flavor, Carrageenan, Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin D2, Vitamin B12.
Now, it's nice that they are using filtered water and organic rice and rice syrup and oils and flavoring, but I would rather avoid the natural flavors, carrageenan, and the synthetic vitamins. And ideally I'd rather sweeten my dairy-free milk with stevia, if at all.
Protect the Environment
By making your own rice milk, you are avoiding not only the added waste of the cartons, tetra-paks or bottles, but also the gas needed for additional trips to the store.
Save money
Homemade rice milk is incredibly inexpensive to make—just pennies per batch compared to store-bought versions.
Ways to Use Rice Milk
- Drink it straight
- Use in hot drinks like coffee, tea, or this coffee substitute
- For cooking as a non-dairy base for soups, like this Creamy Root Vegetable Soup
- As a base for vegan ice cream (like this Vegan Mint Chocolate Chip, Chocolate Almond Chip Ice Cream, etc.)
- For baking, like in this Grain-free Coffee Cake
Recipe Tips
- Rice Amount: Use more or less rice, depending on what you would like the consistency of the final product to be. Standard rice milk is thinner than full fat cow's milk, but it's of course your choice what consistency desire.
- Water: It's crucial that you use filtered water for this recipe. My post on how to make your tap water safe goes into more details about tap water contamination concerns.
- Time Saving Tip: Prepare extra rice ahead of time and portion it out in 1 cup increments in small food-safe plastic bags and store in the freezer for future rice milk making. For this purpose, I love using Twixit Clips (any kind of clip will work, but these clips are simply amazing. They last a very long time, have a lifetime guarantee and are so much easier to use than those pesky twist-ties! Simply thaw out the rice whenever you need rice milk. Bonus time saver, if you have a Vitamix or other high speed blender, it can handle the rice frozen! Simply pop the frozen rice into the blender with the filtered water and blend.
- Flavored Milk: Add flavorings like chocolate, strawberry, or coconut–the sky's the limit! Think of all the variations you could make.
- Buy a Vitamix: If you've been thinking about a Vitamix and someone in your family has an allergy to dairy, you won't believe how much time and money this machine will save you. And clean up is a breeze! There are other high speed blenders, but the Vitamix is my hands down favorite.
- Quick Beverage Cooling Tip: Make ice cubes out of this Homemade Rice Milk to increase longevity, or to have on hand for putting into hot cereals, hot coffee, hot tea, hot chocolate (or this coffee substitute) to cool them off more quickly than regular rice milk would do.
Homemade Rice Milk
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked rice
- 4 cups water (filtered, if possible)
- pinch salt
- 1 tablespoon sweetener (or to taste; optional)
- vanilla extract (for vanilla-flavored milk; to taste)
Instructions
- Add ingredients to blender. Place the cooked rice, water, salt, and any optional sweetener or vanilla into a blender.
- Blend until smooth. Blend for about 30–60 seconds (high-speed blender) or 1–2 minutes (regular blender), until the mixture looks well combined. For a smoother texture, you can blend longer (up to 2–3 minutes in a high-speed blender).
- Strain (optional). For smoother rice milk, strain through a nut milk bag or cheesecloth.For a faster option, you can skip straining—just shake before using.
- Use or store. Use immediately, or store in the refrigerator for up to 3–4 days. Shake before serving.
Notes
- Texture: Rice milk is naturally thinner than dairy milk. For a creamier result, use less water or blend longer.
- Straining (Optional): For smoother milk, strain through a nut milk bag or cheesecloth. For a faster, more rustic version, you can skip straining—just shake before using.
- Sweetener & Flavor: Add sweetener and vanilla to taste. You can also blend in cinnamon or cocoa powder for variations.
- Make Ahead Tip: Use leftover cooked rice or freeze portions of cooked rice to make this even quicker.
- Storage: Store in the refrigerator for 3–4 days. Shake before using, as separation is natural.
- Freeze in ice cube trays for easy use in smoothies or hot drinks.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It may vary depending on ingredient brands, substitutions, and preparation methods. Optional ingredients are not included. Net carbs are typically calculated by subtracting fiber and sugar alcohols (such as erythritol) from total carbohydrates. This information should not be relied upon for medical or nutritional purposes.
More DIY Pantry Staples
Here are some more pantry staples you can easily make yourself
- Homemade Powdered Sugar
- Homemade Chocolate Chips
- Easiest Homemade Coconut Milk
- Homemade Chili Powder
- Homemade Taco Seasoning
I'm sure you'll appreciate how this Homemade Rice Milk helps stretch your dairy-free and healthy eating budget!
Does anyone know if rice milk spoils? How quickly?
I make rice milk and almond milk in my Vitamixer and both seem to go rancid within 3 days.
Any suggestions?
Sure – they all spoil. I don’t think it should spoil quite so quickly. Maybe 4 days? The packaged stuff I think says about long on the package. Store it on the top shelf to help.
If I may say here, they don’t actually go rancid, But because they are whole foods with no preservatives, and in the case of nuts, actually raw, the enzymes cause the milks to sour as they work to break down the sugar–they’re actually fermenting in your fridge. Soo they’re really not bad, but they just don’t taste great anymore.. but I wouldn’t keep them any longer than a week….. HOWEVER, you can freeze what you don’t use in the first day or so in ice cube trays and keep in a zipper bag in the freezer. Then you always have your ‘milk’ ready for your next smoothies or concoctions. 🙂 Hope this helped..
I wouldn’t personally recommend drinking anything that smells “off”. I haven’t looked into the science of this but please stay well :).
I’m thinking about adding protein to my rice milk. I was wondering if you have tried adding hemp protein or something else (not whey or soy) to the milk. Would I add it in the Vita-Mix and would it keep in the fridge or would I have to just add it as I used it? Any thoughts or ideas about this?
I am not sure – you could probably do either. Just maybe try 2-4 cups of the milk blended and see if it stays mixed in fairly well. Let me know! I make a protein shake for my husband pretty regularly with hemp or other protein powders. I have a great protein shake I used to use years ago…I should share it sometime :-).
If you don’t have a VitaMix, what is a good blender to use for making this?
I would think any blender, but you may want to poke around on Amazon to find one w/ a good rating. One of the best things about the Vitamix is that they are super easy to clean, but you can make do with something else.
I’ve made two batches of this recipe (thanks). The intensity doesn’t seem to be there. It tastes more diluted than the store bought. Any suggestions?
Depends what kind you typically buy and what is in it. Some add fillers, flavorings, extra sweetener. If it’s not thick enough, try more grain or add some of those other things. Your store brand may be from white rice….let me know your thoughts based on my suggestions. Hope that helps!
Adrienne ~ I’ve been looking around in your tremendously wonderful blog, and have seen “millet milk”, “pumpkin seed milk”, etc, but could not find the recipes for these. I am very interested as we are absolutely non-dairy and prepare most things from scratch (hubby’s multiple sclerosis)! Could you send me your milk recipes? I would love to make from the cheaper grains rather than nuts. Thanks so much! Cheeryshirley
Hi again, Shirley! The Rice Milk recipe is on the post when you click through to Money Saving Mom. I’ll go make sure you can get there easily. You can use any other grain as a sub for the rice. For seeds and nuts the measurements will be different – I haven’t posted those yet. I haven’t perfected it by any means but I currently use about 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds with 4 cups water. Try that and see how it goes :-). Then of course add the optional salt and flavoring that you would like.
My rice milk always come out bitter and definitely has a “grain” taste to it. NOTHING like the store-bought variety. Any tips to make it better?
Do you have a Vitamix? I am not sure otherwise, but theirs might be white rice which will be thinner and of a lesser nutritional quality. Bitter is strange though. Have you added some vanilla and a bit of sweetener and salt?
What a great idea! I had never thought of making my own rice milk. It sure looks easy enough. Thanks for inspiring me to provide healthier options for my family. Blessings…
This is really such a breeze, Daisy. Saves tons of money, tons of packaging, and even with a regular blender, cleanup isn’t that bad. With a Vitamix it’s super quick. Thanks for the encouragement!
Hi Adrienne. . . I got around to trying the Quinoa milk. I used the same recipe as your Rice milk. Wow, hardly any tailings at all, and t is very good! I tossed in a tablespoon of sesame seeds before cooking the quinoa. Why? I don’t know! In any respect am enjoying a cup of hot chocolate from it now. I also made your coconut milk. I like your quick and simple recipe. I make 2 qts at a time, and any not to be used in that 4 to 5 day refrigerated life span, I will follow your ice cube tray freezing suggestion. Thank you. . .
Hello Vernon. You are so welcome! I was trying to sort out the coconut milk for awhile b/c there are so many other recipes on the internet, but I just don’t have time for cutting fresh coconut or straining it out. Sometimes I do spoon off the really thick stuff from the top and dry it to make coconut flour, but typically I just stir it in and add more water. Thanks for coming back to share!
Never mind. . . I see I had to go to ‘Money Saving Moms’ to access it.
No problem. That can be confusing sometime. Let me know how you like it!
Adrienne. . . I must be missing something. I read the intro to Rice Milk and the comments, but I cannot find the recipe itself.