Rice milk has become a very popular alternative to animal milk, as it is slightly sweet but does not have such a strong taste as almond milk. You can make rice milk yourself easily and cheaply. Unfortunately, oil or sugar is added to many products from the supermarket. We show you with this how you never have to buy it again with this easy recipe — and avoid a lot of garbage as well!
Are you bored of oat milk, soy milk and almond milk or you don’t like them? Then try rice milk! It is not only mild and naturally sweet in taste, it is also the most digestible of all milk alternatives.
Rice milk recipe
Ingredients (for 1 litre)
- 200g cooked rice
- 1 litre filtered water
- 4 to 8 Medjool dates
- a pinch of salt
- 1 tsp vanilla or cinnamon
Preparation
You can use any type of rice, such as a high quality one like Orzo recipes and products | RiceSelect®. White rice varieties are particularly good, because the milk tastes the most neutral. But also the pure vegetable milk from brown rice is very delicious due to its somewhat nutty taste. Also read how to cook brown rice on the stove, rice cooker or instant pot.
Put all the ingredients together in a blender and mix well for a few minutes. Now just sift through a very fine sieve or a nut milk bag, fill in a clean bottle and put in the fridge. The slightly sweet milk thus lasts between three and five days.
Tip: The cleaner you work, the longer the milk stays cooled. If it stands longer, a part settles on the bottom of the bottle. This is quite normal, just shake it through well and it is well mixed again.
If you don’t have a fine-mesh sieve or a nut milk bag at hand, you can also use a fine stocking skirt or fine tights to sift through. It works just as well. In hindsight, you can simply put them in the laundry and use them again to avoid unnecessary garbage.
By the way, rice milk is sold in the supermarket as a “rice drink”, because vegetable milk is not strictly “milk”. This also applies to oat milk and other vegan “milk products”. These products are also available with chocolate flavour, but unfortunately with a lot of sugar and oil. However, you can easily mix high-quality cocoa powder during the production process or prepare a fresh cocoa at any time with the homemade milk.
Secret tip: Milk base (vegan)
After you can make rice milk recipe yourself, you can also use it for a rice vegan dish, as it fits perfectly in taste. You need this recipe and the following ingredients.
- 150g round grain rice
- 750ml of rice milk
- some coconut sugar
- Vanilla or cinnamon
- a pinch of salt
Simply cook the 150g round grain rice with 750ml rice milk as well as vanilla, cinnamon, some coconut blossom sugar and a pinch of salt. Now just add a few fresh or pureed fruits and you’ll have a sweet, warm meal. Of course, you can also serve the rice cold as dessert. Or try using it in our easy recipe to make protein pancakes.
Top milk alternative or harmful trend?
It is not only hip, it also tastes good and is easy to digest. But how healthy is it?
The cereal drink is particularly suitable for allergy sufferers and people with lactose intolerance or an allergy to milk protein. However, due to the manufacturing process, it also loses many of the healthy nutrients – and is therefore not suitable as a milk substitute for everyone.
This is how it is made
The scientifically correct term is rice ‘drink’, as the term “milk” can only be used for milk from animals. For the production of the milk, whole grain rice is boiled, mashed and then mixed with water and usually filtered. In the next production step, the starch in the rice is fermented and converted into sugar – this process is called “mashing”. The fermentation creates a naturally sweet taste . Then vegetable oil is added to the liquid – some manufacturers also add salt, sugar, stabilizers or vegetable thickeners. After emulsifying, the rice drink is ready.
Nutritional value and taste: what’s in rice milk?
In addition to complex carbohydrates, rice contains a lot of fiber, minerals such as magnesium, iron and potassium, and vitamins. Due to the filtering during production, however, not many healthy ingredients are retained – that’s why vitamins and minerals are often added to rice drinks.
- 100 ml rice drink has approx. 47 kilocalories – of which almost 10 grams are carbohydrates, just under 1 gram fat and less than 1 gram protein. This means that rice milk has roughly the same number of calories as low-fat cow’s milk, but in contrast, it has more carbohydrates and less protein !
- Due to the high carbohydrate content , rice milk is a quick source of energy after exercise, but otherwise offers hardly any nutritional benefits compared to other milk alternatives.
- Due to the few nutrients contained in rice drinks, health experts expressly warn against replacing cow’s milk with rice milk in children’s nutrition.
- The drink is unsuitable as a source of protein and can not replace animal milk.
- On the other hand, for many people it is better tolerated than cow’s milk, as it is free of lactose and milk protein. In addition, rice milk is gluten-free, soy-free and vegan.
- Visually, however, rice drinks are reminiscent of cow’s milk – unlike soy or oat milk, it is white and does not have a “yellow tinge”. Their consistency is a bit thin and no comparison to creamy almond milk . In terms of taste, it is very subtle with a sweet note. However, this also makes rice drink a real all-rounder in the kitchen – it is just not suitable for frothing because of its low protein content.
Rice milk: purchase, price, organic quality
The selection of rice drinks is now huge: You can choose between sweetened and unsweetened versions, vanilla or mixtures of rice and other plant-based milk alternatives such as rice and amaranth milk. However, the grain drink is not yet available in the discounter. However, supermarkets and organic markets as well as health food stores and drugstores sell it. The price starts at just under $1.50 for a liter and can go up to $3 or more.
An important criterion when buying: organic quality! In addition, sugar should not have been added to the rice drink.
Genevieve Dumas is a design, fashion, food and style writer who has worked on major magazines and mastheads in the United States and Europe.
