Why and how to make homemade oat milk yogurt that is fermented properly with live cultures and thick and delicious for eating out of a bowl or blended into smoothies. 
I enjoy making homemade yogurt because the probiotic and milk quality so far outstrips yogurt brands available at the store.
This is especially true for dairy-free yogurt made with milk substitutes such as oat milk.
For example, these are the ingredients of the premier brand of oat milk yogurt at the health food store. Would I buy this stuff…ever? Definitely not!
Oat milk (water, whole oat flour), faba bean protein, tapioca flour, coconut oil, agar, nonGMO citric acid, live nondairy yogurt cultures, live nondairy probiotic cultures.
Reasons to Avoid Store-Bought Oat Yogurt
There are 4 reasons why this yogurt isn’t something healthy to eat. I wouldn’t buy it even if I was traveling with no access to a kitchen.
- The oat milk is made with oat flour and water. The flour isn’t sprouted or soaked first, so it is insanely high in gut harming phytates. Oats, in particular, are very high in this type of antinutrient.
- The citric acid is likely tainted with MSG residue despite the fact that it is nonGMO.
- The faba bean protein would also almost certainly be tainted with MSG residue from processing.
- There are 2 grams of fiber in each serving of this yogurt likely from the uncooked oat flour that it contains. Consuming raw, uncooked grain flour is very disruptive to gut function as it is highly indigestible, becoming food for candida and other pathogens to thrive upon.
In short, if you enjoy the mild taste of oat milk and would like to make yogurt with it, you really are going to need to make it yourself! There just isn’t any brand on the market that I’ve been able to find that is worthy of your food dollar.
Fortunately, oat milk yogurt is quite easy to make at home! Here is my simple recipe below with a short video showing how lusciously thick it turns out when it is ready to eat!
Commercial Oat Milk Brands
Note that commercial brands of oat milk are high in phytates and packaged in toxic containers.
If at all possible, make your own either using this recipe for sprouted oat milk or this recipe for making oat milk from soaked groats.
Then, use the recipe below to make fantastic, healthy, digestible oat milk yogurt!
Homemade Oat Milk Yogurt
Why and how to make oat milk yogurt at home fermented with live cultures that is thick and delicious for eating out of a bowl or for smoothies.
Ingredients
- 2 quarts oat milk preferably homemade
- 1 packet nondairy yogurt starter
- 2 Tbl gelatin
Instructions
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Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of gelatin into 2 cups of cold or room temperature oat milk.
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Let sit for a minute or two, then mix well to combine. Blend gelatin/milk mixture with 6 more cups of oat milk for a total of 2 quarts.
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Warm the oat milk/gelatin mixture to a culturing temperature of 108-110 °F/42-43 °C. Use a food thermometer to check the temperature as needed.
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Stir in the nondairy starter culture and ferment for 8 hours or overnight in a yogurt maker or a slow cooker with a yogurt setting (I use this one).
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The yogurt will still be quite runny when fermentation is complete. To thicken it up, chill in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight.
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Eat and enjoy! The deliciously thick, mild tasting nondairy yogurt stays good refrigerated for up to one week.
Recipe Video
Can I use some of the finished yogurt to make a new batch? Thanks
It might work. It works for dairy yogurt … if you try it, let us know!
Aren’t phytates anti-cancer? I read they bind with the nutrients in your food and stop you absorbing them but they also have anti-cancer properties. Also if the gelatine is from a cheap source it is probably pretty bad for you.
Phytates can be helpful on a short term basis for certain medical situations, but not all the time in your food! Yes, the gelatin source is important … I suggested vetted, 3rd party independently tested sources only.
This may be a silly question, but can we just use a couple capsules of a probiotic instead of buying a vegan culture starter? I specifically have Probiotia Histaminx from Seeking Health or Megaspore from Microbiome Labs.
I’ve heard you can do this, but I’ve never had success with it myself.