Recently I asked Instagram what I should do with some oat milk I had leftover from making a vegan buttercream frosting for a birthday cake. I’m more than happy about another opportunity to share a picture of my son’s dragon birthday cake. We were both pretty proud.😍
Nobody in our house is vegan, but there were some egg allergies in the crowd and a friend of mine shared this really great vegan cake recipe with me. I kept with the theme for the buttercream. My husband said it was the best icing he had ever had. I’m not sure I agreed with that statement, but it was really really good! Anyway, back to the oat milk.
My Experience With Oat Milk
I literally have none. I had never bought it before making this vegan buttercream. I’m sure I’ve had something out that used oat milk, but I couldn’t tell you what that would be. Here are a few things I learned about it in some quick research.
- Oat milk is dairy-free. At this point, I’m pretty uneducated on dairy-free milk options, but I want to learn more!
- Oats are a gluten-free grain, but not all oat milk is certified gluten-free. This one from Califia Farms is.
- Oat milk has far less protein than dairy milk, but more protein than almond milk. It also has more carbs and calories than almond milk.
- Many find oat milk to be the creamiest and most flavorful plant-based milk option.
- You can make your own oat milk…but who has time for that, really.
- Oat milk is a good nut-free option.
- Consuming plant-based milk can have positive environmental impacts. I should know more about this kind of thing.
Feedback From my Post
These were the responses I got about what I should do with my leftover oat milk.
- Baked oats
- Eggless carrot cake pancakes (those just sounded amazing)
- Smoothie
I decided to try them all, and first up was baked oats.
Baked Oats with Oat Milk
I really wanted to go in a healthy direction here, BUT I am 6 months pregnant and the picture that caught my eye on Google was the bowl of baked oats that looked like a giant warm baked cookie. It claims to be healthy and nutritious anyway so I’m going to go with that. The recipe I tried first was….Baked Oats from Gimme Delicious. This recipe called for “milk of choice” so I used my leftover oat milk (obviously).
This recipe was so fun. It took hardly any time to pull together. I did it all before work on a Monday morning. It is that easy. Just throw everything in a blender and pop your oats in the oven for 30 minutes. If you don’t have small baking ramekins, you can double the recipe and use a regular baking dish. The kitchen smelled like cinnamon as they cooked which is a happy way to start a day. My little one was pumped to come downstairs to breakfast with chocolate chips, and requested I make the same thing for breakfast the next day. This will definitely go on my Recipe Repeats. A few notes…
- Make sure your banana is extra ripe for the best flavor. (I actually used one and a half bananas).
- Check for doneness a before the 30-minute mark. My first batch was overcooked but still delicious. The 2nd time around I pulled them out at the 20 minutes and they continued to cook as they cooled.
- And please don’t forget to oil your bakers like I did....Buy my favorite baking spray here.
The other recipe that caught my eye was, 1 Bowl Baked Oatmeal from Sally’s Baking Addiction. Have we ever had anything from Sally that wasn’t amazing? I’ll put this one on my list of recipes to try. You can find that list on my Pinterest board here. Next up, oat milk pancakes.
Eggless Carrot Cake Pancakes with Oat Milk
One of my very best friends sent me this Carrot Cake Pancake Recipe from Feel Good Foodie. I got really excited about the thought of a carrot cake pancake. Unfortunately, I only had baby carrots on hand. Grating them was not the most fun I’ve had recently, but I pressed onward.
So how did they turn out? I would make these pancakes again, but probably more for a special occasion. Feel Good Foodie recommends them for Easter Brunch which is pretty adorable. They were really good pancakes for a healthy breakfast option. They are made with whole wheat flour and carrots after all. Here are a few notes about the recipe.
- This recipe is eggless!
- I would use regular flour next time I made these. Of course, that change would make these a bit less healthy, but probably a bit more delicious too 🙂
- I would use slightly more flour for a thicker pancake batter and add some honey as well!
- The recipe only made 6 pancakes. You could get more if you measured with 1/4 cup rather than 1/3 cup, but you probably want to double the recipe. I suggest using 1/4 cup of batter per pancake anyway as mine spread and were a little tough to keep together.
- This is a great way to get some extra vegetables into your toddler.
Oat Milk Smoothie
This is the kind of recipe I would be most likely to incorporate into my routine on a more regular basis. Overall it is just a little less clean up which is always important and also the possibilities are endless. Plus, who doesn’t love a fresh fruit smoothie in the morning? If this was my only breakfast, I would probably want to add some protein powder. I actually don’t ever buy it, but maybe I’ll start exploring that next. The recipe I chose was this Oat Milk Smoothie from A Couple Cooks. It is a basic recipe that could be modified using any combination of fruit. I’ve never used a recipe for a smoothie before. I normally just taste and adjust with whatever I decide to throw in that day. If you don’t make smoothies on a regular basis, this is a really good place to start!
What Did I Think of my Leftover Oat Milk Experiments?
The baked oats were definitely my favorite. It is different than anything I usually make, and I just thought the recipe was really fun and simple. Since I did all this experimenting, I will have to come up with a couple of my own recipes using oat milk. Stay tuned for that, and thank you for reading. Let me know if you try out one of these recipes or if you have another delicious way to use oat milk!
