Rolled oats are also sometimes called old-fashioned oats or whole oats. Use organic rolled oats for the healthiest option. You can use any type of blender you have available, though high-powered blenders are the best because they chop the oats up evenly more quickly. Don’t use a food processor because you will probably have to blend the oats longer to get an even consistency, which makes them slimy.
The colder the water, the better. If you have ice water, such as in a fridge with a water dispenser, use that instead of cold tap water. Don’t let the oats soak in the water. Finish adding the rest of the ingredients and blend the oat milk as quickly as possible. Soaking oats is another reason oat milk goes slimy.
You can use either regular table salt or kosher salt for this.
You could use honey instead of maple syrup to sweeten your oat milk. Whether or not you add sweetener shouldn’t affect whether the oat milk turns out slimy.
Pay close attention during this step and stop the blender within 20-30 seconds once the oats are broken up and mixed with the water. If you blend the oats too long, the heat and friction from the blender can make them slimy.
You can purchase a nut milk bag online for under $10 USD. As an alternative to a nut milk bag, you can place some cheese cloth over a fine mesh strainer and pour the milk through that. Don’t use a strainer or a piece of cheese cloth on its own because the weave is not tight enough and too many oat particles will get through. If you don’t have a big enough measuring cup, you can use a large glass jar or any other convenient container that can hold all the milk.
If you need both hands to maneuver your blender, you could also fold the edges of the nut milk bag over the rim of the measuring cup to keep it open or get a helper to hold it open for you.
Squeezing the mixture too hard is another reason oat milk can end up being slimy. Try to strain as much of the milk out as possible with the least effort. The less you squeeze on the mixture, the creamier your oat milk will be.
For example, mason jars are perfect for storing oat milk. You can tell when oat milk goes bad because it starts to smell funny.
It’s normal for your oat milk to separate in the fridge. Shaking it up will mix everything back together.
