Homemade Oat Cream
So there’s an oat cream that’s been widely available in Europe for years now, and recently in North America, but it has palm oil in it (which is a big no). Even organic palm oil – imported from long distances, leads to greater deforestation, and least importantly in this conversation, also bad for you. This is like a cheaper, more environmentally friendly homemade oatly.
The four ingredients in this vegan oat cream, on the other hand, are cheap and widely available in NA and the EU. Oats, a little oil (grape seed, sunflower, even olive), water, and a tiny bit of salt. I tried coconut oil in the first test to see if it’d replicate palm oil but it gets too hard when refrigerated.
It’s a quick and easy recipe, with just a little bit of soaking time, about half an hour. Blend, and you’re done. I don’t even have a real blender – just a stick blender – and you definitely don’t need a high-powered expensive mixer for this.
Why do I need to add oil?
Oats contain virtually no fat. Compare to dairy cream, for example, or even cashew cream, which both contain a lot more natural fat. The oil makes things creamier, it’s emulsified (the molecules are so tiny, it’s like the water and oil combine) and results in an overall better end product.
I use any oil I have on hand here. A very light tasting oil like grape seed, which is what I’ve used in the recipe below, will be virtually imperceptible in the cream. You can also use olive oil if you know you’re making a savoury dish, or sunflower, or even organic canola oil. Don’t use an oil that solidifies at room temperature. You want a pourable cream, not margarine.
How can I use oat cream?
Use it like any other plant based cream, or even like dairy cream. In coffee (I don’t drink coffee, but it should be fine!) or tea, added to sauces and soups, over fresh berries, on top of porridge, or mixed with some vegan pesto for an easy pesto cream sauce.
Try subbing your homemade oat cream for some recipes that call for full fat coconut milk. Not whipped cream, but a creamy soup, or a light curry, or to make a pudding. It has a very subtle flavour and generally blends in to any dish, sweet or savoury.
It’ll keep for at least a week in the jar in the fridge, maybe longer. It doesn’t make a huge batch so you shouldn’t have to worry about the cream spoiling before you can use it. And if you run out of milk, you can thin it out with water to make a quick oat milk!
Let’s connect! If you liked this recipe, make sure to leave a comment below, I love hearing from you! Tag me on instagram @occasionallyeggs and #occasionallyeggs so I can see what you’re making, and stay in touch via email, facebook, and pinterest.
Oat Cream
Ingredients
- 130 grams rolled oats
- 500 ml water
- 2 tablespoons grape seed oil*
- Tiny pinch sea salt
Instructions
- Place the oats in a bowl and cover with hot water for at least 30 minutes, or up to two hours. Longer and you risk the dreaded slime.
- Drain and rinse the soaked oats in a fine sieve. Add to a tall container or blender along with the water, oil, and salt. Blend, using a hand blender or regular, for 3-5 minutes or until very smooth.
- Pour the cream back through the fine mesh sieve and use a spoon to gently scrape until only oat goop remains. You can add the remaining oat mixture to bread, or compost it. It is possible to use a nut milk bag but this can contribute to an undesirable texture.
- Pour the cream into a jar or container and seal. Keep refrigerated for up to one week. It might last longer, but I haven't tried keeping it over a week.
Lindsey says
Nice!!
Sarah Lynn says
Hello!
This evening I made this recipe, using a fine metal (mesh) strainer. Unfortunately the end product still had bits of oat – is there a step I may have completed incorrectly? Tips on how to troubleshoot and improve this not-so-smooth result? (use a milk bag?)
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Sarah! It sounds to me like the strainer might have just been a bit big. You can certainly use a nut milk bag, it’ll make a very smooth cream – I’ve heard that it can change the texture a bit from friends using various types, but I’d go ahead and try through a bag!
Chiara Usher says
Can I use steel cut oats?
Alexandra Daum says
No, steel cut doesn’t work for this recipe.
Amber McMains says
I just made this and it didn’t turn out as creamy as yours. I followed directions to the T! What could I have done wrong it could do differently next time? Less water?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
I’d either do a bit less water or a bit more oats! Unfortunately oats can be a bit different from type to type, sort of like chickpea flour. I’d try doing 1/4-1/2 cup less water and see how you like it : )
Anni says
Thanks for the recipe! I tried this and it looks good so far as I am now straining it to a jar. It looks a bit slim, should it look like that?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
It should be a bit like coffee cream, not super thick like whipping cream. If you’re finding it to be too thin, though, you can add another 1/4 cup or so of oats (different types of oats can have slightly different results). I hope that helps!
Sara says
I made it tonight with quick cooking oats, soaked for 45 minutes, added oil and a pinch of salt, and blended in my vitamix for 3 minutes. I strained it but there was nothing to strain…between using the quick cook oats and the vitamix they completely dissolved, and The oat cream is thick and tastes slimy 😭 Will have to try again with regular rolled oats and not the quick cooking oats.
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Sara! We already chatted, but I want to reply for other readers – I don’t really recommend using a vitamix, especially not for 3 minutes, as it’ll blend too much. That paired with quick cook oats makes a mixture that breaks down far too much, as it definitely needs to be strained! I haven’t tested this but I think dry oats may be better if using a high powered blender.
Rylee says
Glad to read your answer because I own a vitamix. LOL . I decided to read the comments before making the oat cream.
Sushma Grace says
Hi! Can we soak the oats in cold water overnight and proceed according to recipe directions from there or does it have to be hot water for 30mins – 2hrs. Please reply. Thanks!
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
You can, but the cream will be a bit slimy. I recommend the method as stated in the recipe card for this reason.
Erin says
I just made this, soaking for 30 mins, blend in a Blendtec and strained (it strained slowly) through a wire mesh. It’s creamy, not slimy and a bit chalky. Gonna make some chia pudding with it. Just tried some in my coffee and it’s surprisingly good! Maybe because it’s still frothy for being blended and strained.
Dusan says
Hello Alexandra,
i have just discovered this blog today, while i was searching how to make an oat cream.
I’ve looked around the blog and I’m definitely gonna put some more recipes into practice!
I love how everything is so neat designed and the texts are sweet and concise.
Just wanted to give a shout out to you and what you do!
Oh and – oat cream worked out really good!
Kind regards,
Dusan
Helen says
Hoping this is not a daft question but this is the second oat cream recipe I’ve found – I tried making the first one yesterday but it has unfortunately come out slimy – so my question is, do I use the water that the oats are soaked in (so after soaking, do I drain the oats and reserve the liquid for use in the next stage) or is it fresh water that gets added to the cream?
Thank you.
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Helen! You do not use the soaking water, make sure to drain it off and rinse the oats really well before blending with fresh water. I hope you like it!
Heather says
Thank you for clarifying this! I was wondering the same thing Helen was wondering. 🙂
Rylee says
I wondered the same thing as well!
tania says
can I use avocado oil?
this is gonna be used iin a chocolate mousse from the boshboys
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Yes, avocado oil will be fine.
Michelle says
Can i whipped this cream?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Sorry Michelle, this can’t be whipped.
Mike says
Can I cook this oat cream on the stovetop?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
You can – it does thicken slightly which some people find unappealing but I often use it for cooking in things like stews.
Ebi says
Unfortunately this really didn’t turn out for me, slimy… I would like some clarification on some of the recipe notes if possible. How hot is the hot water suppose to be when soaking the oats? Hot from the tap? 70 C? 80 C? Just under boiling? I did ~70 C and soaked for 30 mins. How much am I suppose to rinse the oats for? I was tossing the oats while rinsing and it lost ~half its volume so I stopped. Using this plus just a cup of water and the oil made it seem quite runny. I processed it with a non high-powered blender for ~3 mins. I have two metal strainers that are quite fine but after running through the strainer twice, there was still small bits of oat (but a lot of oat gloop was captured in the strainers). How fine should a ‘fine strainer’ be? Could you post a picture of what you used?
Thanks in advance, I just really want mine to turn out like yours – it looks so creamy and delicious!
Alexandra says
Hi Ebi – did you watch the recipe video? That should provide some clarity on some of your questions. I use hot water from the tap and rinse for some time – you want to get anything that might be coating the oats off, so rinse very well. Did you use rolled oats? There definitely shouldn’t be bits of oat coming through the strainers. I just have a pretty normal sieve, the one you can see in the video or in my oat milk post (which also has pictures showing what the gloop should look like). I’ll update this post soon with step-by-step photos but for now the video should help, and please let me know if I can troubleshoot further.
Caitlyn says
Very good recipe! Thank you so much for sharing this! It is so creamy, so good for cooking, even better than dairy cream
I soaked mine only for 15 minutes, they seemed slimy so I quickly rinsed them. I added the water in smaller portions, and first I thought it doesn’t need two cups, but it turned out super fine.
Thank you again! This makes shifting to a more plant-based diet easier!
Jasmin says
Hi, my names jasmin and I was looking forward to trying this recipe but I don’t have any raw oats. Can I make this cream using oat milk?
Alexandra says
Hi Jasmin! I’m afraid not, the recipe won’t work without all of the ingredients. You definitely need oats : )
Bev Morrison says
Hi, can this oat cream be added to oat milk to make icecream which will be creamy not icey.
Alexandra says
Hi Bev, I haven’t tried this and can’t advise. I think it’d make nice ice cream if you use egg yolks and just use the cream to replace dairy cream, though.
Nicolia says
This was delicious! So easy to make!
Mary E. Flynn says
It’s great that you take a stand against palm oil. But when you suggested Canola oil as a possibility in its place, I was very disturbed. Please research this oil. It’s one of the worst, even in its organic form. Rapeseed does not yield its oil easily, so must go through 168 discrete processes between field and bottle, including exposure to hexane and bleach. I will not buy a product even if canola oil is listed in last place. It’s that bad.
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Mary – the process you mention is one used for many types of oils. I’m not sure where you’re located, but in Europe it’s very easy to get organic cold-pressed rapeseed oil, which doesn’t utilise the methods you describe. I don’t use canola oil at home, but I don’t believe that people should be excluded from making recipes like this one because they may not be able to afford more expensive oil types. Hope that helps!
Myndela says
I kept the oat slurry a little creamy, heated it, added cinnamon and fruit and it’s like cream of wheat! Yummers!
Alexandra Daum says
That is a fantastic idea, I’ll definitely try it!
Ryan says
Does this *really* make 500ml of cream??
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Ryan, not sure what you think would happen to the 500ml of water called for to result in a smaller end amount of cream. Yes, it does indeed make 500ml.
Georgia says
Can you tell me how much cream and water to use to make oat mill from this?
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Georgia, I recommend following this oat milk recipe.
Lisa says
Can this be made oil-free?
Alexandra Daum says
Sorry, no.
Daniel says
Great recipe! Thank you for sharing!
Gabriella says
Have you ever used the oat cream to make frosting for a cake? Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. Thank you.
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Gabriella, I haven’t tried that, and I don’t think it would work very well. It doesn’t whip up at all like coconut cream does, and I don’t imagine it would make a good frosting.
Virginia Smith says
Hiya. I tried this to make a creamy sauce to bake vegan meatballs in. I think I got confused with the gloop part. I used the NutriBullet because that was the tallest jar I had and used the cream under the sieve. It seems to be bubbling like a sourdough starter which makes me excited. Anyway I have a lot left to make some little oat pancakes for brekky tomorrow and who knows beyond that! I’ll keep you posted 😍 thanks a bunch for the recipe 😘
Linda Aulenti says
This looks fantastic. I’d like to ferment the final product. Anyone who has tried this, please share. Adding some date paste or coconut sugar is required to give the probiotic starter something to feed on. Not sure how the oil would affect the fermenting process. Love the glass vessel.
Rachel says
Great looking recipe! Where’d you get the bottle/jar thing in the video?
Alexandra Daum says
Thanks Rachel! It’s from Weck, they still sell it.
Cara says
This is very unclear
When you say “Drain and rinse the soaked oats in a fine sieve. Add to a tall container or blender along with the water, oil, and salt. “
Are we adding the water we just soaked the oats in or fresh water ?
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Cara, the water from draining and rinsing has gone down the drain. You should use the water amount listed in the recipe card for blending.
Courtney says
I made this today from gluten free oats and followed the recipe to a T. It turned out perfect! Creamy, and delicious. I followed a commenter’s tip and made a “cream of wheat” style porridge from the oat slurry with some extra water and cinnamon on the stove for about 5min, then topped with my fresh oat cream and brown sugar. It was so nice. Thanks for this great recipe, very easy to follow and loved the video so I could make sure the consistency of mine was similar. 🧡
Diane Sesko says
I’m making this today, it looks delicious!