Homemade Soy Milk or How To Make Soy Milk
I’ve never been a fan of cow milk. The smell makes me gag and never in my life have I ever been able to drink a glass of plain cow milk. Even so we do buy organic whole fat milk for our morning coffee, English style tea, and for cooking and baking purposes. Now and then I like to take a break from regular milk and replace it with non-dairy alternatives. Typically I would run to the health food store and buy whatever option they happen to have or one I was craving that week. While the prices tend to be a tad higher than standard milk I always felt it was worth the extra cost.
A few years ago it finally dawned on me that I could easily make my own soy and almond milks at home. Once I started I was not only saving money but also enjoying my versions much more than store bought brands. My homemade versions guarantee no preservatives, no additives, no sugar syrups or artificial sweeteners and colors, and no thickening agents. Yes, I am aware that every brand is different and I do read every package before I buy it. But making my own I know exactly what is going into the milk.
The only drawback about making non-dairy milks is that they are not fortified with vitamins and minerals like some of the commercial brands. But as long as you make sure to consume the daily requirements of vitamins and minerals then there’s no worries. It’s all about a balanced healthy diet and a multi-vitamin doesn’t hurt either. Of course if you have a soy allergy or special dietary needs it is best to stay away from soy milk and consult your doctor first.
Over the few years of making soy milk at home I have picked up some helpful tips.
– use the freshest dried soy beans possible.
– if buying organic is in your budget I highly suggest you do. If it isn’t then choose a brand with no GMO and read the label to double check.
– soaking the beans overnight for a minimum of 10 hours will really help in easier blending and better milking. They should be doubled, or more, in size after soaking. The container should be large enough to allow the beans to expand.
– either a cheese or muslin cloth can be used for straining. I use a muslin cloth and am happy with the results.
– to reduce the beanie taste remove the outer skins after soaking. This adds more work to the process and it can be skipped. It depends how much time I have and I do skip it sometimes.
– prevent a messy spill by keeping heat down and an eye on it
– the boiling causes a layer of “skin” to form on top, skim off and either discard or save for cooking. For more information read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tofu_skin
– thickness can be adjusted by adding or omitting water
– it can be sweetened or flavored if desired
– after milking the ground soybean meal is called okara. It can be saved, dried and used in baking, for fried foods or many other options. Read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okara_(food)
– the soy milk can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week
– to prevent it from curdling in your coffee or tea first pour the milk into the mug then add the coffee or brewed tea to it. I don’t understand the physics behind it but it just works:)
Table of Contents
Homemade Soy Milk or How To Make Soy Milk
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 1 cup or 160 g dry organic soy beans
- 6-8 cups of water 1.5 to 2 liters
- salt to taste
- sugar to taste and optional
- vanilla cinnamon, chocolate or flavoring of choice, optional
Equipment Needed:
- strainer or fine sieve
- muslin or cheese cloth
- large pot
- blender or food processor
Instructions
- Wash and sort the soy beans then place in a large bowl and fill with water. Allow to soak overnight, change the water at least once and if needed add more water if beans soak it up. The next day beans should be doubled or more in size. Check that they are soft and can easily be cut through, if not they need to soak longer. Rinse thoroughly.
- If you would like to remove the outer shells do so now otherwise skip this step. Pour the soaked beans into a large bowl and cover with water. Grab some beans between your palms and start rubbing them together. (refer to the photo collage) This will loosen the shells so continue to do so until they separate. Place the beans back into the water and give a gentle stir with your hands. The shells will float to the top of the water or just above the beans, scoop then out and rinse the soybeans.
- Place a cheese or muslin cloth over the strainer and set on top of a large pot. No we blend the soybeans. I like to do so in batches. Place 1 cup of the soaked soybeans in the blender then add either 2 or 3 cups of water (500 or 750 ml) Cover and blend for about 3-5 minutes until the beans have completely broken down. Pour liquid into the cloth covered strainer. Allow to strain for a minute or two then bring all the ends of the cloth together and twist until all the liquid is squeezed out. Remove the ground soybean/okara and set aside, place cloth back on strainer. Blend the next batch of soaked beans and water, strain and repeat until all of the soybeans have been processed and strained. (There are 3 batches with the amount of beans I soaked.
- Place the pot on the stove over medium low heat and bring to a boil, stir from time to time. Keep an eye on the soy milk because it can bubble and over flow. Once the milk has boiled add the salt, flavoring and sweeteners you may want to add. Turn the heat down to low and allow to cook for another 20 minutes, again keep an eye on it otherwise it will make an ugly mess on the stove. Turn the heat off and allow the milk to completely cool before you use it or store it. Scoop out the "skin" or film that forms on top. Discard it or use it in cooking.
- Once soy milk has come to room temperature it can be stored in the refrigerator. Make sure to remove any skin that may have formed on top. Store in the refrigerator no more than one week.
Notes
The photo above is the leftover soybean meal after milking, this is called Okara. It has many cooking and baking uses so before discarding it do a quick recipe search.
I know this post and recipe are long. But don’t let that discourage you in any way. Most of the text is my over explaining the process.
Once you make soy milk for the first time you’ll see how easy, delicious and inexpensive it is. I love that I can decide if I want it sweet and if I want to experiment with any other flavours. Mostly I leave the soy milk plain so that I can use it in drinks, savory cooking and sweet baking.
I can never wait until it has cooled down. So I make myself a cup of English style tea in my antique tin cup with a swirl of plain homemade soy milk and some grab a few sweet biscuits too. A little bit of heaven! Enjoy the recipe and your homemade soy milk.
P.S.
If you are allergic to soy or just don’t care for the taste then try almond milk. This recipe is for raw almond milk and this one is for slightly cooked. Enjoy!
Nancy Lopez is a food blogger and author of the cookbook Mexican Tamales Made Meatless. Born in Mexico, raised in the US, and currently living in Southern Mexico, she has followed a meatless diet for almost 10 years. It is her passion and mission to share all she has learned about vegan Mexican cooking and vegetarian Mexican recipes. Mexican Made Meatless is a blog dedicated to preserving the authentic flavors of Mexican cuisine just without the meat. It’s a place to celebrate Mexican culture and all it’s delightfully delicious traditional foods. Read more…
Wow! Such a beautiful n honest presentation. Thank you so much you had inspired me to do it myself.
Keep up the good work.
Thank you Jetni, enjoy your soy milk:)
Hi thanks for the soja milk and almond milk recipes, cannot wait to try them,
I am no longer having dairy, just whole foods for me for the rest of my life 🙂
Enjoy both of the recipes, I think they both make a wonderful dairy milk alternative. If you can try to use organic soy beans to avoid the unhealthy kind.
I tried your recipe on the weekend and let me tell you how FANTASTIC the soymilk turned out! No “beany taste” thanks to your tip on stripping the beans before blending. Thank you, Thank you! I will be making my very own from now on!
Hi! Thanks you make it look so simple I about to try it now, I have finished the soakin and removing of the outer skin and about to begin the next step
Owesome! I lyk this soya milk
Why my soymilk cruddle?? It seems turning into tofu??
Hi Biklet,
I’m sorry to hear your soy milk curdled. I have never had that happened in all the years I’ve been making it. Perhaps it could be that you boiled it too long and also the heat might be too hot. I hope you try again and with better results.:)
I LOVE YOUR SOYA MILK PROCEDURE
Thank you!:)
Yes, my soymilk also cruddle and turns into bean curd (tofu). Got no idea whether is it because of the process or because the water is too less(wanted to make it more concentrated) or because I store it inside a thermal container.
I remove the skin and blended the soften soya beans and boiled the blended soya bean first and strain them after it cools down. I think it will produce better soya milk (more concentrated, more vitamin extracted out). This is my personal opinion don’t know whether how true is it.
I reduce the among of water to make the soya milk more concentrated and I store it using those thermal container to keep it warm. Next day wanted to pour some for my PREGNANT WIFE to drink but it become bean curd.
Yes, I’m doing it for my PREGNANT WIFE to drink.
Unfortunately she has no appetite. She only drinks a little bit and i got to store them warm as pregnant woman is not advisable to drink cold water.
Thanks Spicie Foodie for your receipe. I’m going to try your Almond. By the way how long do you soak the almond?
Thank you
Hello:
I made this myself and after letting the soy milk cool overnight…I have found that it tastes a little “soapy” if that makes any sense. When you let the soybeans soak overnight…should they be in the refrigerator or should we just leave them on the counter?
I did omit the removing of the skin…maybe I should remove the skin next time?
Any help you can provide is welcome =D
Hi Alan,
I’m sorry to hear you found the taste “soapy”, I haven’t come across that. Could the container used to store the soy milk have had some dishwashing liquid residue? Did you rinse the beans after soaking them overnight? I let the soybeans soak on on the counter in a covered container.
The skin, I have found, gives the milk a stronger beany taste but not a soapy one. I hope this helps.:) ~Nancy
Spicie:
Thanks for the assist…another word I could choose to describe the taste is “Metallic”. Would that be synonymous with “Beanie” ??
I did not rinse the beans after soaking….also after looking back….I realized I skipped the simmering process and just went from the blender to the filter bag and then to the fridge. Will not simmering the milk change the taste?
Thanks!
Alan
Hi Alan,
Bingo! The simmering step is to “cook” the milk, this takes away that awful taste you experienced. You poor thing! When I was learning to make soy milk I once tasted the milk right after the blending and filtering step — the taste is quite unpleasant.
Do you still have the milk in you refrigerator? Perhaps you could try simmering it and giving it a taste again? Otherwise I fear you’ll have to go through the whole process again. Good luck!:) ~Nancy
I love soy milk alot, i can now do it by myself. Thanks dear
My best soymilk trick! Rubber spatula + reusable coffee filter! Use the spatula to clear the filter from the pulp which will otherwise clog everything up quickly and make the filtering take forever!
Trick #2: Big glass jar with lid. Great for storing soymilk in the refrigerator!
Trick #3: Buy some calcium supplement and add a couple of before blending the beans (dose according to your needs or to make it correspond to regular milk). BUT, I am not a doctor and I don’t know what happens when calcium supplement is heated – so at your own risk!
Trick #4: Today I added 2 tbsp coconut oil – made it much more creamy and fat. Yummy!
I just made soya milk for the first time thanks to you! Just one question, can you advise on the seasoning? i.e. how much salt and vanilla/cinnamon/cacao powder… Thank you!!
Hi Leigh! These amounts are really up to your personal preference — however, as for the salt you shouldn’t add more than a pinch, it’s just to help enhance the flavours. If you are unsure about the flavourings, or how much you’ll like them, I recommend that you test them out in one single serving. Enjoy!
wao…nice one there,i will give it a try tomorrow.
Thanks and enjoy!
It’s great and simple recipe.
I just wandering… For the first time I made soy milk everything went good, I could keep it in refrigerator for week or even longer.
My next batches went bad so quickly, in 1-2 days after.
Where I made mistake? Is it about sterilization?
Does anybody have any idea what’s wrong?
Hi Bart,
How did you notice it went bad, while it is still in the refrigerated container or when you pour it and use it on say coffee or tea? What happens is that since we don’t put any thickeners or binding agents in this homemade soy milk, it can sometimes separate or coagulate and appear to have gone bad. This is particularly the case with coffee or strong tea, it has something to do with the acidity. It sounds strange but if you first pour the soy milk into your cup, then add the coffee or tea it prevents that separation.
It is always important to sterilise the container that you use to store your soy milk (or any other type of milk). Also the quality of the beans is very important. Make sure that the beans you are purchasing are not old and too dried out, also smell them to see that they do not have an unusual scent. Perhaps you could read the packaging to see when they were packaged and an expiration date.
I’m honestly surprised that the milk went bad, since it is a vegetable material it shouldn’t have the problems dairy milk does.
Let’s see if we can figure it out together. Here’s a checklist
• Inspect the dried soybeans or scent and any mildew or abnormalities. If you can purchase organic soy beans. Always throughly pick through and rinse the beans before using.
• Are you cooking the milk properly? First it needs to be brought to the boil, then once it does turn down the heat and simmer another 20 minutes.
• Is your container sterilised and are all the equipment you used thoroughly cleaned?
• After the milk is boiled and simmered, do you allow it to completely cool down before storing in the refrigerator?
Good luck Bart and do let me know what happens on your next batch!
~Nancy
I have just prepared one but when I added raw pineapple juice it became coagulated. This really affected the texture but tasted so nice. I will try vanilla next time. Thanks so much for the tips
Hi Sanni,
Yes, I would expect the pineapple to cause that. The reason is that the juice is acidic and it is what caused the coagulation. I’m glad you still enjoyed the taste, perhaps next time you could make it into a smoothie to help bring back everything together? Thank you! 🙂
Is THe boiling necessary? What does it accomplish?
Hi Kelly,
Yes, it is. You are cooking the beans and if skipped the soy milk will taste horrible and very beany.
Wow! This homemade soy milk recipe is incredible! I’m seriously so inspired right now. I need to add honey instead of sugar to recipe and it would be perfect. Thx for sharing Nancy!
Hi Jill! You can add any sweetener you’d like. Thank you & Enjoy!