Dairy free cream comes in really handy in the plant-based kitchen. I’ve already shared a recipe for cashew cream. But what if you can’t eat nuts? This easy oat cream is a great alternative.
Oats really are the go-to sustainable product for dairy free milks in the Northern hemisphere. The climate is perfect for growing them. And you can get a lot of oats per hectare – an average of 5.5 tonnes if you ever wondered. That’s a lot of porridge! As far as I can see, soya bean harvest per hectare is an average of 2.7 tonnes (not grown in the UK too) so oat yield is not only bigger but also found closer to home. Not that I’m anti-soya. Far from it as it provides all sorts of wonderful nutrients. And it’s worth remembering that on 7% of all soya grown worldwide is actually eaten by humans. But that’s a whole other discussion!
Dairy free milks and cream made with oats has been a huge success story, with companies like Oatley becoming widely available. Oat ‘milk’ is even being delivered by the milkman.
Buying these products can add up price wise, however. Plus there’s all the packaging to think about too. And what if you want to make a recipe and there’s no oat cream in the fridge? This simple recipe will solve all your oat cream dilemmas 😉
There are a few important points to note:
- always use whole rolled oats, not smaller porridge ones
- soaking in hot water is important, but so is time. Between 30-60 minutes only. Any less and they’ll take longer to process. More and you’ll get oat gloop!
- be careful with how much water you use in the first blend. You can always add more, but can’t take it away!
Once blended, I prefer to pass the mix through a sieve to get rid of any excess fibre and gloop. A little will get through but that helps make it creamy. Too much and it’s just very runny porridge 😉 The left over fibre makes a wonderful facial scrub.
I do add a tiny pinch of salt to the cream. I find it tastes too bland without it. A tablespoon of unflavoured oil can be added to make it even creamier, however I always omit it so it’s oil free and as natural as possible.
Once made, keep the cream in the fridge until you want to use it. There will be a little separation, so give it a good mix with a spoon or small balloon whisk before using.
This oat cream can be used for both sweet and savoury purposes. You can of course add flavours to it like fresh herbs, spices or maple syrup, or stir it into a soup, stew or dessert. I’ve even used it for ice cream 🙂
I hope you find this simple oat cream recipe useful. Do let me know how you use it.
Oat cream
Ingredients
- 50 grams whole rolled oats
- 250 mls hot water
- 200 mls fresh cold water plus 50 mls extra
- pinch salt
- 1 tbsp flavour free oil optional
Instructions
- Place the oats into a bowl and cover with the boiling water. Leave to soak for 30-60 minutes
- Pop the soaked oats into a fine sieve and rinse for a moment until running water. This removes excess oat 'gloop'.
- Place the soaked oats into the jug of a high speed blender. Add 200 mls fresh water, oil if using and the salt. Blend for 30 seconds until the oats are broken down fully. If you have a less powerful blender or food processor, this stage may take up to 3 minutes.
- Place the sieve over the bowl again and pour in the oat mix. Let it drain for a few minutes until all the fluid has passed through.
- If the cream is too thick, add a little extra water but not too much.
- Pour into a lidded container and keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Sounds great. What sort of flavour free oil? Thank you. Philippa x
Organic rapeseed oil or grapeseed oil are probably the best options, but if you only have a little sunflower oil to hand it will be fine. Enjoy!