Homemade Brown Rice Milk
Homemade brown rice milk is easy to make with cooked brown rice and water. Flavor to your preference.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Servings 2 cups
Ingredients
unsweetened rice milk:
- 1/2 cup cooked brown rice
- 2 cups filtered water
- Pinch of Celtic sea salt
sweetened milk (unsweetened milk, plus below):
- 1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
- 3 to 6 pitted dates (or 2 to 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup or other sweetener)
- 1 tablespoon sunflower lecithin (optional)
chocolate milk (sweetened milk, plus below):
- 2 tablespoons cacao powder, plus more to taste
cinnamon milk (sweetened milk, plus below):
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more to taste
strawberry milk (sweetened milk, plus below):
- 3 cups fresh strawberries, plus more to taste
Instructions
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Throw the cooked brown rice, water, and salt in your blender, with any additions (if using), and blast on high for about 60 seconds, until smooth and creamy. Use whole milk to maximize nutrition. Or strain for a smoother, more commercial-style milk for use in recipes.
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To strain, place a nut milk bag or knee-high piece of sheer nylon hosiery over the opening of a glass bowl, jar or jug. Pour the milk into the bag, twisting the bag closed, and gently squeezing it to pass the liquid through.
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Rinse your blender container, and pour the strained milk back in. Add the sweetener and any flavorings, and blast again, until smooth and creamy.
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Store the milk in a sealed container in the fridge. Activated brown milk (made with soaked rice) will keep for 2 to 3 days in a very cold fridge. Unsoaked rice milk will keep for about 5 days.
Recipe Notes
Learn more about making homemade milks
Photo by Trent Lanz; styling by Alicia Buszczak
Comments 44
I’ve been considering making this, but I have some questions first.
I’ve gotten really into cashew milk, it’s so fantastically rich and creamy, but I may do the candida diet again, and cashews are on the list of no-nos.
Are there different kinds of brown rice? Is there one that has a better taste? Would short grain or long grain be better for this?
Thanks Tess. Your site has been a never ending resource!
Hey Dawn.
I use a variety of different whole grain rices to make rice milk. Just make sure you soak the rice (see my how to section) to remove the enzyme inhibitors. Roasting the rice in a pan and soaking also works wonders for digestion AND great flavour.
However, if you are going back on an anti-candida diet, rice is also on the NO list.
Almond milk will be your best bet while you are doing that. Soak the almonds and then blend. Almonds are the most alkaline-rich nut and are great for anti-candida diets.
Hmm, the anti-candida diet is so limiting, but I always feel so much better after being on it! OK, NO rice, back to almond milk.
As always, thank you, thank you, thank you! 🙂
By the way, I use my Vitamix at least once a day. My boyfriend can’t believe how good the soups I make are. Can’t wait for yummy fall soups.
You are SO welcome!
Yes. NO rice. Hop into the almond milk made with soaked almonds.
Isn’t Vitamix just a LIFESAVER.
I use mine at least 3 times a day and just could not live without it.
Yes! LOVE LOVE LOVE soup season….and I will have some beauties to share!!!
Dawn, are you following the Body Ecology Diet? I tried every single anti-candida diet on the planet! This was the ONLY one that really worked for me.
Check it out if you haven’t already 🙂
Thanks, Tess!! I’ll go get a copy now.
( I love amazon 🙂 )
Please do. I swear it will change your life.
You won’t be able to put it down!
Weekend reading…… ENJOY!
It is fantastic. Now every time we have company, my boyfriend shows off the vitamix like he’s giving a tour, explaining all of wonderful things I make with it. It’s hysterical.
I’m not familiar with the Body Ecology Diet. I’ll have to look into it.
When I did the diet last year, I followed the do’s and don’ts I found here
http://www.thecandidadiet.com
LOl! That is SO cute!
Body Ecology is the BEST anti-candida diet on the planet.
The Candida Diet is a good website.
But BE is much better.
Then inclusion of coconut water kefir, cultured vegetables, and food combining is the key, and what sets BE ahead of those other diets.
Trust me, get a copy of that book.
It will change your life!
so i did this one last night, and it went OK. i think you are dead on the money about the blender…vitamix seems to be the key in smoothness. i watched some video reviews on it.
but for all intensive purposes i gave the ninja a chance, it went over alright. not so keen on the taste by itself of this, but i think its a cheap enough resource for my protien shakes..i think ill keep it around awhile. and the rice pulp made for some yummy hot cereal in the morning for Jojo (my daughter). anyways, just an update as promised! ” )
Yes….you need a Vitamix to get a smoother consistency. But you never get a really smooth consistency with rice milk unless you strain it.
YES! The pulp is FANTASTIC for breakfast!
Hi,
I have tried making a few variations of vegan milk in the past but I found they always do poorly in hot drinks as they tend to separate 🙁 Any suggestion on how to prevent this or what is the best homemade milk to use for such option ?
p.s: I also tend to stay away from soy and fatty nuts as I don’t seem to digest them well at all 🙁 Commercial rice has been the best option until now but I would like to find a homemade solution if possible;-)
Yes, this is a problem with homemade milks. I must admit that I very rarely heat them and drink them raw. I will say, you will get the best results if you bring the milk to room temp, stir it, and then heat or add to a heated drink. You get slightly better results if you add some lecithin to the milk. I use non gmo sunflower seed lecithin. It is in the recipe. I hope this helps.
I have good results heating nut milks in the vitamix, I make golden milk, and hot chocolate milk this way, it’s frothy like a latte. Yum
Awesome. Thanks for sharing your experience.
I cook rice by soaking it for 24 hours with a teaspoon of sea salt or Himlayan crystal salt and then rinsing thoroughly. I then either use my rice cooker (if I am busy) with a 1:1 ratio of rice to filtered alkaline water. If you don’t soak the rice it is a 2:1 ratio of water to rice. You can also cook it on the stove top or in a pressure cooker.
Can you please provide the nutritional content for the drink? I’m making this for my toddler and was specifically needing to know how much calcium plus other nutrients are in the milk. Thx!
Hey Helena
Cronometer or Nutrition Data are fabulous third-party software programs that you can plug any of my recipes to get nutritional profiles.
Hi, I have a question. I live in Indonesia and I have no way of getting a vitamix blender. Is it possible to make this rice milk in a soy milk machine? It comes with a grinder and filter. I make my own soy milk and tofu all the time.
Thanks
I have never used a soy milk machine. But, I don’t see why you couldn’t. If you’ve tried it, please let me know how you went. Thanks!
Hi. I’ve just tried this in a similar blender to vitamix and it’s rather watery. Would it have made much difference to blend longer? I did blend for a while and wasn’t much left over pulp, about a tablespoon, not even that. Or would it be thicker if I added more rice? Quite new to making alternative milks and usually make almond. Thanks x
Rice milk is very thin and nowhere near as creamy as almond milk. You could absolutely use more rice. Highly concentrated rice milk is better strained. I hope this helps.
Hi thanks for the recipe. I have a nutri bullet. Would that work?
Yes, absolutely. You can make this milk in any blender. The texture will vary a little.
Can I make a whipped cream out of the rice milk?
I haven’t much success making whipped cream out of rice milk. It’s just too watery. I find coconut milk makes the best vegan whipped cream because of the high fat content.
Can i use white rice?
Yes, you can absolutely use white rice. I just prefer to use brown for a bit of added nutrition. But, white rice milk is delicious.
Awesome! Enjoy!
I have never soaked the rice before cooking it. That is a great idea. I use our vitamix and always strain the milk through a nutmilk back if I am going to use the milk for drinking. When made for baking, I never strain the milk.
Great. Thanks for sharing!
Do you recommend saving the filtered blended rice to use? I’ve saved almonds and coconut before, but this doesn’t seem like it would work since the rice is cooked.
You could dehydrate the rice and use it in burgers. But, I typically find it too mushy.
Would grinding the rice to a flour before cooking could make a difference to the texture.?
You can absolutely grind rice to flour for better texture. You may still want to strain for consistency.
This is the first time I’ve been able to make rice milk and enjoy it! I used wild rice & added two dates in the blender. I’ve made rice milk before, but it was always terrible! I believe soaking really made the big difference. I’m so happy to have found a recipe I enjoy, and now I can stop buying it at the store!
Oh, I am so pleased this recipe has been useful for you. Thankyou for taking the time to leave a lovely comment and share your experience.
The recipe has got me confused (which, admittedly, is not hard to do). Do you start with 1/2 cup uncooked rice, soak it, cook it, and then use all of the cooked rice to make the milk? Or are you using 1/2 cup of cooked rice to make the milk? Also, your recipe direction states to soak for 12 hours, but in the comments, you say you soak for 24 hours. I’ve enjoyed making the cashew milk several times, but I just discovered that my 9-month old son is allergic to cashews, so we are moving those out of our diet for the time being. Thank you for a beautiful blog and your recipes!!!
David, I’m so sorry for any confusion. It’s not you. The recipe was poorly written, and indeed, confusing. I’ve amended the recipe for you. It is 1/2 cup cooked brown rice. You can soak rice for 12 to 24 hours, depending on your preference. I like to soak it for the full 24 hours to almost semi-ferment it for better digestibility. I’m glad you’re enjoying the recipes. I’m sorry I’m just responding to your comment now. A bunch of comments got lost in the upgrade, and I’m just getting caught up now.
This looks amazing! But I can I use white rice instead cause I can’t get brown rice.
Yes, you can absolutely use white rice to make milk.
Just made brown rice and then while still hot I made the brown rice milk in my Vitamix with it, but I found the taste disappointing. It tastes just like water and rice. I didn’t have vanilla or cinnamon so tried maple syrup in one batch; then stevia; and then stevia and coco powder. Haven’t found something I like yet. Would really appreciate any more suggestions.
Lynda, I’m sorry you found the base recipe disappointing. I would try adding some flavor enhancers, particularly if you’re going to be using this as a beverage. I find vanilla, maple syrup, cinnamon, and salt really boots this up. I hope this helps. Let me know how you go, and if it’s still not grabbing you, I’ll try some other stuff in my own kitchen.
Hi, I have been making the cashew milk and loving it in my morning coffee (I heat it to just above room temp before adding it to the hot coffee). But I am looking for a lower fat plant based milk. This rice milk recipe looks good, but I was wondering have you ever mixed the two, made half cashew half rice milk? If you have, how did it taste?