Homemade soy milk is a great alternative to cow’s milk. It’s delicious, so inexpensive, easy to make and only requires 2 ingredients: water and soybeans.
Soy milk is a delicious and healthy alternative to cow’s milk. You can find it at pretty much any supermarket and is so inexpensive, but homemade soy milk is much better than store-bought
It has a strong flavor, though, so it’s not my favorite milk for drinking plain (I prefer oat milk), it is my favorite choice for cooking because it’s higher in fat than other plant-based milk products and has a similar texture to cow’s milk.
Making soy milk at home is really easy. You just need 2 ingredients: water and yellow soybeans, that’s all! However, you need to cook the milk before drinking it, as soy is a legume and can’t be eaten raw.
You can also add other ingredients, like vanilla extract, cocoa or carob powder, some sweetener (dates are amazing) or anything you want.
Soy is pretty controversial, it has supporters and detractors, but soy products have been consumed by centuries in Asia and they’re super healthy people, so don’t be afraid and enjoy your super tasty homemade soy milk.
In addition, soy milk is better for your health, the planet and the animals than cow’s milk, so give it a try!
How to make soy milk – Step by step
- Soak the soybeans in water overnight.
- Drain the soybeans and remove the outer skins. Then blend the soybeans with 3 cups or 750 ml of water until well blended and almost smooth (photo 1).
- Strain the blended mixture using a nut milk bag, a cheesecloth, a napkin or a fine mesh strainer (photo 2).
- Pour the mixture into a pot or a saucepan and add 1 cup or 250 ml of water (photo 3).
- Bring to a boil, stir and skim foam (photo 4).
- Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes (photo 5).
- Let cool the soy milk and enjoy it (photo 6). You can add other ingredients such as vanilla extract or dates. Blend the mixture if necessary.
Pro tips
- Use yellow soybeans, it’s the best kind of soybeans to make soy milk.
- Add more or less water depending on how thick you like your milk
- Feel free to add any sweeter you want or don’t add any sweetener at all. Add it gently until the milk tastes good.
- Some recipes call for a tiny amount of salt, but I prefer my milk salt-free.
- Feel free to add other ingredients like cocoa powder or ground cinnamon.
How long does homemade soy milk last?
It lasts about 3 to 5 days in a sealed container in the fridge. The time may vary depending on the container you’re using.
If the milk smells, tastes and looks good, it should be okay. I usually keep it for 5 days or even longer in the fridge.
Can you freeze soy milk?
When you freeze soy milk it often loses its texture and some of its flavor. However, freezing does not affect its safety or nutritional value, and you can keep it in your freezer for 3-6 months.
As it changes in texture when thawed, it’s better to use it for cooking rather than for drinking it just by itself.
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Did you make this soy milk recipe?
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PrintSoy Milk
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: About 2 cups (500 ml) 1x
- Category: How To, Drink
- Cuisine: Vegan, Chinese
Homemade soy milk is a great alternative to cow’s milk. It’s delicious, so inexpensive, easy to make and only requires 2 ingredients: water and soybeans.
Ingredients
- ½ cup yellow soybeans (80 g)
- 4 cups water (1 l)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract or a piece of vanilla bean (optional)
- 4 dates (optional)
Instructions
- Soak the soybeans in water overnight (ideally 12 hours or longer).
- Drain the soybeans and remove the outer skins. Removing the outer skins is optional, but your milk will have a better texture if you do.
- Blend the soybeans with 3 cups of water (750 ml) until well blended and almost smooth.
- Strain the blended mixture using a nut milk bag, a cheesecloth, a napkin or a fine mesh strainer.
- Pour the mixture into a pot or a saucepan and add 1 cup of water (250 ml). Bring to a boil, stir and skim foam.
- Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes.
- Let cool the soy milk. You can add other ingredients such as vanilla extract or dates. Blend the mixture if necessary.
- Keep leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge for about 3-5 days.
Notes
- Use yellow soybeans, it’s the best kind of soybeans to make soy milk.
- Add more or less water depending on how thick you like your milk
- Feel free to add any sweeter you want or don’t add any sweetener at all. Add it gently until the milk tastes good.
- Some recipes call for a tiny amount of salt, but I prefer my milk salt-free.
- Feel free to add other ingredients like cocoa powder or ground cinnamon.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup (250 ml)
- Calories: 95
- Sugar: 2.1 g
- Sodium: 16 mg
- Fat: 4.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 4.2 g
- Fiber: 2.1 g
- Protein: 9.5 g
Update Notes: This post was originally published in Mayo of 2014, but was republished with new photos, step by step instructions and tips in January of 2020.
According to the Non-GMO project, “Soybean is the number one genetically modified crop in the world, representing half of all worldwide biotech crop acreage with an 82% adoption rate among soy farmers.” One real danger of gmo foods may come from the heavy use of pesticides to grow them. So, if you want to avoid gmo’s, you’ll want to purchase organic soy beans.
I’m amazed that you are still pushing soy anything after it was revealed almost 2 yrs. ago that all the soybeans in the US are now GMO and poisoned with Roundup. No other countries in the world are buying our soybeans now. We can’t even give them away!
Is it ok tht not to remove soy bean skin after soaking ??
I normally don’t remove the skins but I tried a batch with the skins removed and didn’t notice any difference in the milk produced. I still ended up with a milk that was just as thin as with the skins and tasted the same.
Can i make a flour from the beans left after draining the milk?
Thank you
Soy milk (how to dispose of soy smell)
I’m having difficulty finding yellow soybeans, is this essential? Thank you!
No, its not. They can call them yellow or white or whatever… All these soybeans taste similar because they are all from the soybean family. Soy family makes great milk. As long as it is NON-GMO
This was amazing! I was craving comfort food and not a lentil version. This really hit the spot.
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If my milk coagulates in the refrigerator, do you know if anything can be made from these curds?
So what if it becomes solid? Proceed as usual.
What a great recipe. Do you soak the beans at room temperature or in the fridge? Does that matter at all?
Hi there! I just found your blog, I’m looking into what it would take to make our own non-dairy milk like this or almond milk.
Is the recipe scalable? I ask as being part of a two-person household where we both work full time (and love our smoothies) we go through a couple of litres of packaged soy milk a week at the moment. Spending an hour every two days to make our own milk I’m not sure works, although being able to do a batch each weekend might! Thanks!
Hi Nate! This milk only lasts 3-5 days, but nut milks are made in just seconds, for example cashew milk is really delicious and you just need to blend the cashews and the water, that’s all, you don’t even need to drain the milk. Any nut will do 🙂
I followed a similar recipe, and the flavor was really beany in not a good way. Is there anything I can do to reduce the grassy/beany flavor?
Hi Renee! You should try my recipe 🙂 My milk hasn’t that flavor at all…
Prior to soaking, I rinse the raw beans in a strainer until there are no more bubbles. This is to remove any organics on the beans that would cause them to go bad while soaking. Then I soak them for 12 hours at room temperature followed by soaking them in the refrigerator for several more hours. I then give the soaked beans a good rinse. And I think it is important that when cooking the beans, you bring them to a rolling boil to drive off unwanted flavors. This gives me a good thick milk with good flavor.
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Hi John! Thank you so much for your comment 🙂
Renee,
Based on information that I found on other websites, I rinse the raw beans in a strainer until there are no longer any bubbles. This is to remove any bacteria present on the surface of the bean so that I can soak them at room temperature for 12 hours and not have them go bad. I also think it is important to bring beans (either before or after blending) to a rolling boil. I have no experience to say that either of these suggestion will help with your issue.
Best of luck.
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Hi John! Thank you so much for your comment 🙂
Almond milk uses huge amounts of water.
Hi Zhong! Yes, but it’s always a better option than cow’s milk 🙂
True, but I would encourage you to read this report. All plant based alternatives greatly reduce impacts to resources as compared to cow’s milk. Almond is a thirsty crop and as they are grown in an area battling ongoing water issues, there are alternatives (such as soy), that may be a better fit.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46654042
You stated that this recipe took 45 minutes to execute but upon further inspection it takes approximately 12 hours and 45 minutes to fully complete this activity and I feel as a consumer of said recipe that you should update the time accordingly I hope you take my suggestion to heart thank you
Hi Harper! You need 45 to cook it, soaking time is not included, as you don’t have to do anything in those 12 hours 🙂
Do I need to store it for 4 or 5 days? Or I can just drink it after it is ready (after the boiling part).
Hi Hemant! You can drink it after it is ready, 4-5 days is the time you can keep it in the fridge 🙂
Hi! Once you’ve removed the foam during boiling, do you keep scooping off the meniscus layer that forms at medium heat or is the idea to stir often enough that it doesn’t form?
Also, could you pop the dates in before heating then just drain any residual bits once cool instead of another blending?
Thanks so much!
Hi Liv! No, I don’t. I’ve never tried it myself, but I think it’s better to add them latter. Have a nice day!
Super helpful, thanks 😀
You’re welcome 🙂
I blend the reconstituted beans then cook, then strain. My 1st and 3rd batches have come out great.
Hi Guillaume! Thanks a lot for your comment 🙂
My soymilk maker (SoyaJoy G3) grinds and then cooks the soaked beans. The recipe that came with it calls for filtering the milk after cooking. And their recipe calls for using 1/2 cup of beans per 1.3 to 1.6 liters of water. The milk produced is very thin. I have tried using more beans and it doesn’t seem any thicker, just more okara. Some of the comments seem to indicate that the commenters are cooking their beans before straining as well. But your recipe calls for straining and then cooking. I wonder if this is my problem and that I should be straining before I cook and not straining after I cook. Proteins do coagulate during cooking. Perhaps this results in them being removed and thus thinning the milk when filtered after cooking. Perhaps if I strain before and not after, I can get thick soy milk like I fell in love with in China. Thoughts?
Hi John! Both ways are okay. I prefer this one because I find it more convenient and it works great for me 🙂
My first batch came out great. My second batch I doubled it. No one touched it for 4 days in the fridge and now it has the consistency of yogurt. Do you know what went wrong? Is it good for anything else? Thanks.
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I have the same problem as guillaume. I use a Soyajoy and often after a few days, the milk turns very thick. I suspect some kind of microorganism is causing this, but it can happen even if I carefully sanitize everything. Other times, it separates into what looks like curds & whey. I used to make soy milk all the time and it went bad like this only rarely. Now it thickens or separates most every time. Any ideas?
How much are you making. I’ve made several batches with just a 1/2 cup of dry beans and so far, so good. Doesn’t last long enough for anything to happen to it. I think I made too much last time and it was a few days before anyone drank it.
Hi Guillaume! Thanks a lot for your comment 🙂
It must be that the beans are different or the water is different. I use bulk soybeans from the local chinese grocery and filtered Chicago tap water. Perhaps your water has some coagulants in it. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tofu) I suspect that those curds you have seen are the beginnings of tofu. Try a batch using distilled water and see what you get. My soymilk is always thin (like fat free cow’s milk) and stays that way for over a week in the frig. I tried blending and filtering before cooking with no filtering post cooking. I cooked the soymilk in my Soyajoy and did not skim off the foam. I did remove the skin that formed on top of the cooked soy milk while it was cooling. This last time I made 1.6 liters of soymilk and so I used 108 grams of soybeans. I soaked the beans overnight in the frig, rinsed them and then blended them with 400 ml of water. I filtered out the okara. I then put the okara back in the blender with 400 ml of fresh water. Did this twice more until I had ~1.6 l of soymilk. The okara reduced significantly between the first and second blending but subsequently it didn’t reduce much. But the milk didn’t seem any thicker. Not even the first 400 ml was very thick. And cooking did not thicken it either.
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Hi John! Thank you so much for your valuable comment 🙂
I checked it out online and the traditional method is to soak the beans at room temperature overnight or for about 8 hours. It was said that there was little risk in doing this so long as the beans were given a good rinse prior to the soad to remove any surface bacteria. Previously, I had been soaking them in the frig. The room temperature soak along with removing the skins gave me a much better soy milk. It seemed thicker. I think maybe the skins prevent the rest of the beans from being ground as fine. As expected, I ended up with significantly less okara, less than what would be expected from the skins being removed prior to cooking.
Hi David! Try to consume the milk in 3 days or keep it in an airtight container 🙂
Hi Guillaume! I’m so sorry the recipe didn’t work for you. Did you use the same ingredients and follow all the steps? Try to keep it in an airtight container 🙂
hi, in monday i ve made 3l of soymilk( another recipe, but wherever). I made 2 yogurts with previously made yogurt and left the other litre in the fridge… Two days after it turned thick naturally… I have 2 hypothesis… I think any bacteria could have acidify and then the protein had precipitated… or… the water in marseille is really calcareous (calcium and magnesium high) so it is the beginning of tofu making (both minerals are used for that function).
The taste is OK, a bit acid.
But… i don’t if i shall take it or not 🙂
Thanks for the comments !
Why does it have to be heated on the stove?
Hi Jeanine! Because you can’t eat soy uncooked or raw 🙂
Hi, well, I’m stuck at step 2: remove the outer skins. I bought a 25kg bag of organic soya beans, so I’m up for varied recipes. I have a pressure cooker which I use to cook the beans after an overnight soak. I haven’t noticed any outer skins after soaking, only after cooking. any comment?
By the way, I find soya beans to be the most energy-giving of all the beans I’ve tried.
I found too, that the outer skins got separated after a short boiling of the beans. After removing them from the pan (most of them float in the water), I continued cooking the beans for 30min and then blended them.
Hi Oded! Thanks a lot for your comment 🙂
Hi Shirley! Just omit the step if you want, I think it should work 🙂
I get a hard strainer (I have a plastic one) and use my hand to mix and rubs on the edges of the holes – peels them off nicely.
Hi Chris! Thanks a lot for your comment 🙂
I use soymilk that I make this way for tofu and for soy yogurt. It is a little labor intensive, but not difficult. You will need to get something as a coagulant. Also, mesh bags to drain the curds. Yogurt is easier
Hi Jeanne! Thanks for your comment 🙂
This recipe looks great, I was just wondering, could you apply the same concept to chickpeas to make chickpea milk to use for tofu.
Thanks
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy! Thanks a lot 🙂 I’ve never tried it myself, so I don’t know, sorry!
I just made it and I love it! Thank you!
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Hi Dorota! You’re so welcome 😉