How To Make Soya Milk

Why You Will Love This Recipe

• Homemade soya milk is easy to make.
• It's healthy because it is preservative-free and additive-free.
• Fresh soya milk can be used as a drink and make tofu, yogurt, and cheese.
• It is affordable to make! It cost us eighty cents to make 3 liter's (6.3 pints) of soya milk.
• It is a suitable alternative if you don't want or are allergic to cow's milk.
• Give yourself time to make soya milk because the dried beans have to be soaked in water for at least 4 hours or overnight before being used. 
• Fresh soya milk is suitable for vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, and dairy-free diets.
• You don't need fancy equipment like a soy milk maker to make this recipe.

Ingredients

Please note that below is a guide for some of the ingredients we used in the recipe. The printable recipe further down the page has the complete list of ingredients, including quantities and step-by-step instructions.

Soya beans - The only ingredients needed to make this recipe is dried yellow soya beans and water to make unsweetened soya milk.

Sugar (optional) - If you like sweetened soya milk, you can mix in sugar, honey, maple syrup, or another alternative and add these to taste.

Equipment

A food processor or blender - is used to blend and break down the soaked beans and turn them into soya milk.

Sieve and muslin cloth (cheesecloth) - are used to filter out the soya bean pulp from the blended beans for drinkable soya milk. You could also use a nut milk bag.

We use a piece of muslin about 70 cm (27.5 inches) x 86 cm (34 inches) in size and fold it in half to make a double layer. When done, the cloth is washed and dried for use another day.

4 liter (4.22 quart) saucepan - a saucepan this size is needed because this recipe makes about 3 liters (6.3 pints) of milk. If you don't have a saucepan this size, use a smaller saucepan and cook the milk in batches.

Instructions

Soak the beans

Image 1 - Place the beans in a large container, wash and rinse the beans twice and drain well.

After washing the soya beans, fill the container with enough water to cover the beans so that the water level is about 5 - 7 cm (2 - 2.75 inches) above the surface of the beans. 

You need the extra water because the beans will soak up at least twice their size in water.

Cover the container with a clean cloth and soak the beans for 4 hours (or overnight). The beans can be left to soak at room temperature or stored in the fridge in hot weather.

Image 2 - After soaking the beans, place them into a strainer to rinse and drain. Pick through the beans, and remove and discard any beans that look bad.

Blending

Image 3 - Working in batches, place half of the beans or less into a food processor and pour a portion of the water (from the amount listed in the recipe ingredients) into the processor jug.

The water level should be above the beans to ensure easy processing. Blend for 30 - 40 seconds. 

Depending on the size of the food processor you have, you may have to process the beans in two or more batches. 

Image 4 - You don't want to overfill the food processor because the liquid will froth and rise as the soya beans are processed.

Image 5 - After blending, pour the liquid into a clean container and repeat the blending process with the remaining beans. 

After blending all the beans, rinse the jug with water to remove the residual pulp and pour this into the bowl with soya milk.

Filter

Prepare a filtering station. Place a sieve over a bowl or large saucepan, and line the sieve with a double layer of muslin cloth.

Image 6 - Working in batches, strain some of the liquid through the muslin-lined strainer and allow it to drain into the saucepan.

Image 7 -  In between batches, you will need to squeeze the moisture from the pulp by gathering the ends of the muslin cloth and twisting it into a sack, then squeeze out any remaining liquid from the pulp. 

Image 8 - After squeezing, remove the pulp from the muslin cloth, making it ready for the next batch.

Heat the milk

Image 9 - After filtering the soya milk, transfer the milk to a large saucepan, and pour in all the remaining water (you should have used up all the 3 ½ liters / 14 cups of water at this stage).

Place the saucepan with the soya milk over medium/high heat and bring to a boil. Stir the milk from time to time to prevent burning.

Skim and discard foam as it appears on the surface of the milk, and don't walk away from it because it can boil over. 

Stir the milk from time to time to prevent sticking and burning on the bottom of the pot.

As soon as it comes to a boil, turn the heat to low and simmer for about 10 - 15 minutes, off the heat and allow it to cool.

Sweeten (optional)

The soya milk can be left unsweetened or sweetened depending on what you are making with it.

For sweet soya milk, mix in a sweetener of your choice when the milk is warm.

Start by adding small amounts and taste the milk in between additions until you get the correct amount of sweetness.

Soya Bean Pulp

Soya bean pulp (also known as okara) can be used as an ingredient to make many different recipes. It is high in fiber, protein, and other nutrients, making it an excellent addition to your daily diet.

Here are some things you can use okara to make muffins, pancakes, bread, patties, tempeh, and cookies.

Please note that the soya bean pulp from this recipe needs to be cooked before eating. See our post on What To Do With Soy Bean Pulp for How To Cook Raw Okara. You might also like to read our article on What is Okara? for more ideas on how to use it.

Serving Size

A serving size is 250ml (8.5 ounces) cup of soy milk.

Calories Per Serve

There are about 80 - 100 calories in one cup of unsweetened soya milk.

Serving Suggestions

Vanilla soya milk - mix in ½ teaspoon vanilla extract (or to taste) to one cup of soya milk. If using unsweetened soya milk, sweeten to taste with your favorite sweetener. 

Chocolate soya milk - Place a tablespoon of cocoa powder into a cup, add a small amount of soya milk and mix well before filling the cup with more soya milk. Stir well and sweeten to taste.

Smoothies and milkshakes - replace dairy milk with soya milk in milkshakes and smoothies like this watermelon smoothie.

You can make:

• Tofu
• Tofu fa or douhua (tofu custard)
• Use it to make cheese, like soya milk cottage cheese and soya milk ricotta.
• You can use it like dairy milk in any recipe like this banana chia pudding, or this dairy free custard, milkshakes, smoothies, ice cream, and baking.
• You can even use it to make sweetened condensed soy milk.

Storage

Recipes Using Soya Milk

If you liked this recipe for how to make soy milk you might like to see all our recipes using soy milk or these easy recipes:

• Mango tofu smoothie
• Savory vegan muffins
• Blueberry tofu smoothie
• Banana chia pudding