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    Home » Recipes » how-tos-food-diy

    Updated: Jun 28, 2022 by Gus · This post contains affiliate links.

    Making Soy Milk: 6 Easy Steps

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    soy milk recipe
    VWFNFOFGF

    Homemade soy milk is excellent high-protein plant milk. Organic soy milk became our milk of choice for our morning coffee with hot milk, no more to say. Making soy milk is easy, cheap, and ensures you have a non-GMO product.

    Making Soy Milk
    Jump to Recipe

    We like that this recipe is super adjustable. You can make it creamier, sweeter or flavor infused.

    You can also make it plain if you need it and use it as a base to make another soy food. to make a vegan bechamel sauce and vegan mashed sweet potatoes.

    In combination with olive oil, it makes a delicious vegan ricotta cheese, and it is the best milk to make vegan buttermilk, ideal for vegan baking, given its high-protein content.

    It is way cheaper than store-bought and super easy to make. It requires 2 ingredients, 30 minutes, a filter of any kind, and a blender.

    This dairy-free milk is perfect for your Superfood Green Detox Smoothie, also on this site, to complement your weekly breakfast meal plan.

    Jump to:
    • 🧐 Why should you do your own
    • 🧾 Ingredients
    • 🔪 Instructions
    • ❓ FAQ
    • 📚 Recipes using Soy Milk
    • 🥛 More alternative milks
    • 📋 Recipe
    • 🌡️ Food safety
    • 💬 Reviews and Comments

    🧐 Why should you do your own

    Health

    If you look into the ingredients list of most commercial Soy Milk, it's full of strange ingredients such as guar gum, and lecithin, and the list gets longer.

    Soy has many detractors. It is no secret that most of the soy products we consume regularly are full of GMOs.

    Using your own Soymilk Recipe with organic, non-GMO soybeans gives you the peace of mind that you need to take care of yourself and your loved ones.  

    Many soy kinds of milk do not use organic dried soybeans.

    This is also the highest protein plant-based milk, with great health benefits, and it is also good for those that suffer from lactose intolerance.

    Soy protein is one of the highest quality proteins from the vegetable world, as it is easily absorbed by our bodies and doesn't have saturated fats and casein present in whole milk, which various studies suggest, is a proliferation-promoting factor in prostate cancer cells.

    Also, soy milk has fewer calories than dairy products and regular whole milk, thus promoting weight loss.

    Soybeans
    soybeans

    Convenience vs cow's milk

    It is effortless to make; it only takes us 30 minutes.

    You can make only the quantity you need.

    It's fully adjustable on flavor, thickness, and sweetness.

    Making Soy Milk

    Economy

    As a former Engineer, I needed to do my math. And I am living in Northern Italy, where things are pretty expensive. I found that making our Organic Soy milk is 25% cheaper.

    That's not a lot, but we use a lot of milk, and the number quickly adds up, and we are in complete control of what is in there. This is the cheapest organic soy milk!

    The Environment

    All those Tetra Paks and plastics are gone!

    150 Tetra Paks saved per year: 3 per week!

    making Soy Milk

    🧾 Ingredients

    • Dried soybeans
    • Filtered water

    Optional: sweetener, flavorings such as vanilla extract.

    Hint: keep your milk unsweetened if you are planning to make vegan buttermilk with it and make a vegan apple cake. See our post, explaining the details and the best combinations to make the best vegan buttermilk, easily made with this soy milk, homemade almond milk, or even oat milk.

    🔪 Instructions

    Soaking soybeans

    The first thing you need to make soy milk is to put your non-GMO soybeans to soak in water overnight in water.

    soaking soybeans

    Optional: Some people remove the outer skin; I have done it countless times and can't notice any critical difference in texture. If you choose to do it, plan for additional 20 minutes.

    soy beans peals

    You then need to drain the soaking water and the soybeans into a blender or food processor for 1 to 2 minutes along with water.

    Blend

    soy beans in blender
    r

    One of the advantages of making your own plant-based milks is that you are in control of not having any added sugars on them.

    If you like, you can optionally add a pinch of salt and your preferred sweetener or flavoring flavor enhancers.

    adding dates to soybeans in blender

    If you chose to use pitted dates as your sweetener, now is the time to throw them in. You can also use homemade date paste.

    Suggested sweeteners: dates, raisins, agave syrup, or maple syrup.

    Strain

    pouring soymilk into cheesecloth

    Then you just need to strain the blended mixture through a nut milk bag or fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth.

    straining soy milk

    Squeezing out as much liquid as possible.

    Cook

    soy milk in saucepan

    Pour the mixture into a larger pot and add 2 cups of filtered water and stir. Bring to a boil on medium-high heat, and immediately bring it down to low heat.

    skimming soymilk

    Skim and reserve

    Make sure you are stirring occasionally during the cooking process and skim foam.

    skimming soy milk
    skimming soymilk

    Let it cool. If there is any need to skim it again.

    Making Soy Milk
    High-protein organic Soy milk jar

    Do so before storing it in a sealed container in the fridge for about 3-4 days.

    Add-in ideas: cocoa powder, vanilla extract, coffee, strawberry, or hazelnuts.

    ❓ FAQ

    Soaking your beans

    • Soak the soybeans at room temperature or in the fridge.
    • If you need to make the soy milk the same day, pour boiling water into the soybeans to accelerate the process and leave them soaking for one to two hours.

    How to make thick soy milk

    In my opinion, what makes soy milk good, is that it has a delicious thickness that is hard to find in other milk alternatives like rice milk or light coconut milk, although oat milk is a good contender!

    We find the perfect thickness for our taste is 1 cup of soybeans / 6 water cups + 2 cups when boiling.

    Suggested thick soymilk options:

    • 1 cup of beans / 5 + 2 cups of water, if you don't mind sacrificing the final volume.
    • 1 ¼ cups beans / 6 + 3 cups of water, if you want the same volume.

    If you want thinner milk or more soy milk, reduce the number of soybeans to ¾ cup or increase water by one cup.

    How to make soy milk taste better?

    If you don't love the taste of plain soy milk, most likely, and just like us, you have been drinking flavored soy milk.

    The most common flavorings, sometimes not even well disclosed, are vanilla extract and sweeteners.

    The solution? Do just that: add organic vanilla extract and your favorite sweetener; you will find it tastes just as good and better.

    Remember, you can also add other flavorings like cinnamon and cocoa powder. Get creative!

    See how to make vegan chocolate milk?

    How long does soy milk last?

    How long does homemade soy milk last depends on whether you sterilize your equipment and how fresh are the ingredients you used.

    In general, we have found it lasts about 3-4 days.

    We often use soy milk for our morning smoothies, overnight oats, and coffee, so one batch only makes it to the third day.

    If you are like us, you don't need to sterilize your ingredients as it reaches the 3rd day without any problem.

    If you find that it goes off before expected, easily sterilize your bottles either:

    1. Pouring boiling water inside, ensuring the jars are not cold so that they won't break.
    2. Then, put them in the dishwasher.
    almond milk in ice cube tray
    almond milk in an ice cube tray

    If you have unexpectedly left home or didn't use your milk soon enough and want to prevent it from going off, you can freeze it in ice cube trays and save them to add to your morning smoothies.

    Can you Cook with It?

    Yes! You can. Just use it as you would use whole cow's milk; it is entirely interchangeable.

    Just make sure that you make plain soy milk. Don't add any of the suggested sweeteners or flavorings.

    Does soy milk give you gas?

    Some people experience bloating or flatulence when they drink soy milk. This is because the body lacks the enzymes to digest soy.

    Soy should be soaked in water for at least 6 hours before it's consumed to break down sugars that are difficult to digest, thus reducing gas and bloating in sensitive individuals.

    soy milk glass in a table with organic soybeans

    📚 Recipes using Soy Milk

    You can use it the same way you would dairy milk, but without the saturated fat and vegetable protein!

    This is our plant milk of choice to make low-protein dishes like our 4-ingredient potato soup, to raise its protein content.

    Read on: High Protein Vegan Meals »

    Consume soy milk in your coffee, in smoothies, in your morning granola or breakfast fruit bowl, bechamel sauce, baking, and even making vegan ricotta cheese.

    Below are some recipes where you could use your soy milk:

    • Vegan mashed potatoes
    • Vegan Bechamel Sauce
    • Post-Work Out Smoothie
    • Easy Strawberry Banana Smoothie
    • Vegan Cauliflower Wings
    • Creamy Vegan Sauce for Everything

    🥛 More alternative milks

    Make sure you also check these easy-to-make milk alternatives Options: 5-minutes Almond Milk, homemade oat milk, cashew milk, and vegan buttermilk for cooking and baking.

    We will soon show you how to make coconut milk at home!

    All great dairy alternatives for lactose-intolerant people, those following a vegan diet, or who just don't want to deal with all the hormones or saturated fat present in cow's milk.

    Interested in vegan protein sources? Read on high protein vegan meals and our vegan quinoa poke bowl without tofu.

    ⭐ If you try this recipe, let us know! 💬 Leave a comment, rate it, and don't forget to tag us @ourplantbasedworld on Instagram. Cheers!

    📋 Recipe

    Soy milk

    Making Organic Soy Milk in 6 Easy Steps

    Gus
    Homemade soy milk is excellent high-protein plant milk. It’s delicious, inexpensive, easy to make, and requires as little as one ingredient: soybeans + water.
    5 from 20 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    Prep Time 10 minutes mins
    Cook Time 20 minutes mins
    Total Time 30 minutes mins
    Course Basics & Preparations, Beverage, Snack
    Cuisine Healthy
    Servings 6 cups
    Calories 138 kcal

    Equipment

    cheese cloth.
    (affiliate link)
    Cheese Cloth (affiliate link)
    My favorite blender: BlendTec Brand..
    (affiliate link)
    Blender (affiliate link)
    Tovolo Stainless Steel Deep Mixing Kitchen Metal Bowls for Baking & Marinating, Dishwasher-Safe
    (affiliate link)
    Bowl (affiliate link)
    two bottles.
    (affiliate link)
    Bottle (affiliate link)
    cuisine art large casserole with a lid.
    (affiliate link)
    Large saucepan (affiliate link)

    Ingredients
     
     

    • 1 cup soybeans dried, organic, nong-GMO
    • 8 cups filtered water

    Optional:

    • ½ teaspoon sea salt avoid if following a WFPB diet
    • ½ vanilla bean, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 6 Medjool dates pitted
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Directions
     

    • Soak the soybeans in water overnight for a minimum of 2 hours.
    • Drain the soybeans (some people remove the outer skin, I have done it countless times and can’t notice any noticeable difference in texture. If you choose to do it, plan for additional 20 minutes).
    • Blend the beans with 6 cups of water until well blended and any other additives you may have chosen (dates or vanilla).
    • Strain the mixture using a cheesecloth or nut milk bag, or a fine-mesh strainer.
    • Pour the mixture into a saucepan and add 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, and immediately bring it down to low heat.
    • Stir occasionally and skim foam (watch it close as it may go up, just as boiling cow’s milk would). It is essential to cook on low heat for about 15-20 minutes.
    • Let it cool down. If there is any need to skim it again, do so before storing it in a sealed container in the fridge for about 3-4 days.

    Video

    Notes

    • You can adjust the water quantity depending on how thick you want your soy milk.
      Use yellow soybeans.
    • Boil on low heat; otherwise, you may notice some brown threads, which are nothing more than the remaining milk sticking to the bottom of your saucepan.
    • You can use other sweeteners like agave syrup or maple syrup. Just add these liquid sweeteners after boiling your Soy Milk (or they can even be added directly in the bottle and shake. Another option is to blend the cooked milk again with the liquid sweeteners or add any sweetener at all).
    • Add it little by little until the milk reaches your desired taste. The sea salt is optional; it simply helps to bring all the flavors together. Feel free to add other ingredients you might like, such as cinnamon or cocoa powder, at any point.

    Nutrition Facts

    Serving: 6cupsCalories: 138kcalCarbohydrates: 9gProtein: 11gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 16mgPotassium: 557mgFiber: 3gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 7IUVitamin C: 2mgCalcium: 95mgIron: 5mg
    Did you make this recipe?Tag @ourplantbasedworld on Instagram and Hashtag it #ourplantbasedworld so we can see what's cooking!!
    Nutrition Facts
    Making Organic Soy Milk in 6 Easy Steps
    Serving Size
     
    6 cups
    Amount per Serving
    Calories
    138
    % Daily Value*
    Fat
     
    6
    g
    9
    %
    Saturated Fat
     
    1
    g
    6
    %
    Sodium
     
    16
    mg
    1
    %
    Potassium
     
    557
    mg
    16
    %
    Carbohydrates
     
    9
    g
    3
    %
    Fiber
     
    3
    g
    13
    %
    Sugar
     
    2
    g
    2
    %
    Protein
     
    11
    g
    22
    %
    Vitamin A
     
    7
    IU
    0
    %
    Vitamin C
     
    2
    mg
    2
    %
    Calcium
     
    95
    mg
    10
    %
    Iron
     
    5
    mg
    28
    %
    * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
     
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    🌡️ Food safety

    • Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
    • Do not use the same utensils on cooked food that previously touched raw meat
    • Wash hands after touching raw meat
    • Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
    • Never leave cooking food unattended
    • Use oils with high smoking points to avoid harmful compounds
    • Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove

    See more guidelines at USDA.gov.

    The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist's advice. See our full Nutritional Disclosure here.

    Please note that some of the links here are affiliate links, and I will earn a commission if you purchase through those links. I recommend all of the products listed because they are companies I have found helpful and trustworthy.

    More Helpful How-Tos and Food DIY

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      How to Make Hazelnut Milk at Home with a Juicer or Blender
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      Leek Substitutes: Alternatives to Replace in Cooking
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    248 shares
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

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      Recipe Rating




    1. Chelse says

      April 19, 2023 at 9:46 am

      5 stars
      Super excited to try this out! What is a serving size? I don’t see it on your nutrition data. Thank you 🙏

      Reply
      • Gus says

        April 19, 2023 at 11:37 am

        Thanks for your message Chelsea; the serving size is next to Cuisine on the Recipe Information. The serving size is one cup, and the recipe yields 6 servings. Let us know how it goes! 🙂

        Reply
    2. Helen says

      February 28, 2022 at 11:41 am

      5 stars
      I have never tried to make my own soy milk but you make it look super easy! I will have to give it a try.

      Reply
    3. Kris says

      February 28, 2022 at 4:52 am

      5 stars
      This was so fun to make! Thank you! 🙂

      Reply
      • Gus says

        February 28, 2022 at 7:12 pm

        You are welcome, Kris!

        Reply
    4. Anjali says

      February 28, 2022 at 12:48 am

      5 stars
      This guide was so helpful!! I had no idea it was so easy to make soy milk at home!

      Reply
      • Gus says

        March 04, 2022 at 9:10 am

        I am glad you found the soy milk how-to guide helpful, Anjali! Thanks for your review!

        Reply
    5. Sara says

      February 28, 2022 at 12:19 am

      5 stars
      Love soy milk with my morning coffee as well! This recipe is simple and easy to follow and I loved the addition of vanilla and dates to sweeten it a little.

      Reply
      • Gus says

        February 28, 2022 at 7:13 pm

        Same here! We always have our morning coffee with soy milk! It makes a very creamy froth!

        Reply
      • Sanjana says

        June 28, 2022 at 11:39 am

        5 stars
        I am doing the recipe at the moment and I think it will turn out great! I just have a question: it says you should ferment soy for 6 hours if you are sensitive. How do I do that exactly?

        Thank you so much for answering this! I only foumd recipes for Natto when I Tried to Google it

        Reply
        • Gus says

          June 28, 2022 at 6:07 pm

          Hi Sanjana, I am very sorry about the confusion. I just edited the text. I meant, soaked not fermented. Soy should be soaked in water, for at least 6 hours... let us know how your soy milk turned out!

    6. Colleen says

      February 27, 2022 at 11:33 pm

      5 stars
      We go through a lot of plant based milk as well, and yes it's expensive. And I always feel guilty every time we toss another tetra pack in the recycling. So this recipe is perfect. Thank you!

      Reply
      • Gus says

        March 04, 2022 at 9:11 am

        That's great Colleen, yes that's the same reason why we started making our own homemade soy milk! Our little grain of sand for the planet!

        Reply
    7. Amanda Wren-Grimwood says

      January 21, 2022 at 1:04 pm

      5 stars
      I didn't know this was possible at home. Looks simple to do and all from scratch, so much healthier too.

      Reply
      • Gus says

        January 22, 2022 at 10:47 am

        yep! Easy! I started looking into it, as I was concerned about the quality of store-bough soy milk, only to find out that it was very easy to make at home!

        Reply
    8. Maria San Juan says

      January 21, 2022 at 12:15 pm

      5 stars
      Wow! This is how easy it is?! I did not expect that!

      Reply
    9. Louise says

      January 21, 2022 at 11:26 am

      5 stars
      You made the process so easy to follow! I'll never have to buy in soy milk again!

      Reply
      • Gus says

        January 22, 2022 at 10:48 am

        Thank you Luoise, I am glad you found it helpful!

        Reply
        • Sonia says

          July 19, 2023 at 7:24 am

          . hola ... yo lo hize salio muy bien me encanta ami a mi hijo .solo q hago cn la harina de la soya q quedo colada???? gravias x responder.

        • Gus says

          July 19, 2023 at 7:53 am

          Hola Sonia, que bueno que te gustó y hayas quedado contenta con el resultado. La pulpa restante para hacer recetas como bolitas de chocolate o agregarlas en otras recetas como hamburguesas vegetales. Acá te dejo un post que tenemos sobre qué hacer con la pulpa de tus leches vegetales.
          Saludos!

    10. Anjali says

      January 21, 2022 at 9:20 am

      5 stars
      Thank you so much for this helpful guide! I had no idea it was so easy to make your own soy milk at home - can't wait to try it soon!

      Reply
    11. Petro says

      August 28, 2021 at 5:46 pm

      5 stars
      This is so interesting, I didn't know you can make soy milk at home! I can't wait to give it a try! Thanks for sharing your idea!

      Reply
    12. Beth says

      August 28, 2021 at 5:42 pm

      5 stars
      What a great idea and such a fun recipe and to make with my daughter! So much better than store bought and we can’t wait to make this again!

      Reply
    13. Cathleen says

      August 28, 2021 at 5:40 pm

      5 stars
      Why have I never thought of making it at home before?? This is genius!! Bookmarking this to make later, thank you so much for the recipe 🙂

      Reply
    14. Alison says

      August 28, 2021 at 4:39 pm

      5 stars
      I also prefer soy milk in my coffee. It's so nice and creamy and froths up nicely too! This is such a great alternative to store bought, and so much healthier without all those added ingredients!

      Reply
    15. Biana says

      August 28, 2021 at 3:40 pm

      5 stars
      What a great idea! I didn't realize you can make soy milk yourself.

      Reply
      • Gus says

        August 28, 2021 at 4:04 pm

        yeah! Is easy and super customizable! We love it!

        Reply
    16. Gio says

      May 07, 2021 at 6:33 pm

      Never realized how easy it was to make your own soy milk. I started making it now and I really like it. I added vanilla and maple syrup. Thanks. I am loving the blog. I am going to try out the Oats Milk too.

      Reply

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