What Is Rice milk and How Can I Use It?
Here's everything worth knowing about rice milk and how to pick it, what it is, how to store it, and what to use instead, plus 11 recipes to cook tonight.
Key Points
- The thinnest and sweetest plant milk, naturally sweet from the rice with no nutty taste.
- Free of soy, nuts, and dairy, so it is the go-to when allergies rule out other milks.
- Almost no protein or fat, so it stays watery and cannot thicken a sauce on its own.
- Great cold over cereal, in porridge, and in smoothies; bakes well as a one-for-one dairy swap.
- Starch settles fast, so shake before pouring; refrigerate opened cartons and use within a week or so.
What is rice milk?
Rice milk is the thinnest and sweetest of the common plant milks, made by blending cooked or partly fermented rice with water and straining the liquid. The natural sugars from the rice give it a light, faintly sweet taste with no beany or nutty edge.
It is the gentle one. Because it is free of soy, nuts, and dairy, rice milk is the plant milk people reach for when allergies rule out the others. That allergen-friendly profile is its real selling point.
The trade-off is body. Rice milk is mostly water and carbohydrate with almost no protein or fat, so it is the weakest performer of the bunch in anything that needs to set or thicken.
Cooking With Rice Milk
Rice milk drinks and pours beautifully. It is lovely cold over cereal or stirred into hot porridge, and it blends into a fruit smoothie where its sweetness means you can skip added sugar.
In baking it stands in one for one for dairy milk and brings a little extra sweetness, which suits quick breads and muffins well. It works nicely in this basic whole grain cornbread.
The catch comes in sauces and custards. With no protein to build structure, rice milk stays loose and watery on the stove, so it needs help. A sauce like this Thai-style spicy eggplant and mushroom sauce leans on other ingredients for body.
Pairing and Common Mistakes
Rice milk's clean sweetness pairs with cinnamon, vanilla, maple, fruit, and warm grains. It carries spice gently and never fights the other flavors in the bowl.
The first mistake is letting it separate. Rice milk settles fast and the starch sinks, so it can look thin and watery at the bottom of the glass. Shake or stir it every time before you pour.
The second mistake is expecting it to thicken a sauce on its own. It will not.
When you build a white sauce or a creamy soup with rice milk, thicken it with a roux or a cornstarch slurry. Puddings work the same way, getting their set from tapioca rather than the milk in this pumpkin tapioca pudding.
Substitutes
Any plant milk swaps in cup for cup. Soy milk is the upgrade when you actually need thickening power, since its protein does the work rice milk cannot. Oat milk gives you more body and a similar gentle sweetness.
Almond milk is the closest match in thinness, though it brings a nutty note rice milk lacks and tastes less sweet. Dairy milk replaces rice milk one for one and adds the protein and fat for richer results, if allergies are not a concern.
Buying and Storing Rice Milk
Rice milk comes sweetened or unsweetened, plus flavored versions like vanilla. For cooking and savory dishes, choose unsweetened so you control the sugar; for cereal and drinking, the sweetened cartons are pleasant as is.
Look for shelf-stable cartons in the dry-goods aisle and chilled ones in the dairy case. Unopened boxes keep for months in the pantry, while opened cartons go in the fridge and are best within seven to ten days.
Because the starch settles, always shake before pouring. If opened rice milk smells sour or has thickened oddly, it has turned and should go.
Quick facts
- In Chinese
- 米浆
- British (UK) term
- Rice milk
- en français
- Le lait de riz
- en español
- leche de arroz
Recipes using rice milk
There are 11 recipes that contain this ingredient.
Spinach-Mushroom Crepes
Savory filling loaded with flavorful mushrooms, onion and spinach stuffed inside crepes and covered with a creamy sauce.
Basic Whole Grain Cornbread
Vegan whole grain cornbread made with cornmeal, whole wheat, oat, and millet flours sweetened with apple juice concentrate. Dairy-free and egg-free with serious whole-grain backbone.
Coconut & Linseed Rice Flour Pancakes
Coconut and linseed rice flour pancakes that are both gluten-free and dairy-free, with shredded coconut and flax meal folded into a rice flour batter. Light, wholesome pancakes for special diets.
Giglio's Fruit Salad [T]
Fruit salad with plums, peaches, bananas, and grapes dressed in hot pepper-infused champagne and rice milk. A dairy-free salad with unexpected heat and elegance.
Shiitake Mushroom, Sweet Potato & Hazelnut Sauce
Shiitake Mushroom, Sweet Potato & Hazelnut Sauce recipe
Lesleigh's Whole Grain Batter Bread
Whole grain batter bread with whole wheat flour, oatmeal, Wheateena cereal, maple syrup, and rice or soy milk. A no-knead vegan yeast bread that rises in the pan.
Maple-Oat Breakfast Buns
Dairy-free maple oat breakfast buns made with a bread machine, filled with toasted oats, raisins, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Soft yeasted rolls with no butter or eggs.
Carob Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Chewy oatmeal cookies loaded with carob chips and walnuts, made with whole wheat flour, egg replacer, and rice milk. A hearty, egg-free cookie that's crunchy on the edges and soft in the middle.
Curry Artichoke Dip
Dairy-free curry artichoke dip made with silken tofu and rice milk. Warm, creamy, and spiced with cumin, coriander, turmeric, and cayenne.
Thai-Style, Spicy Eggplant-Mushroom Sauce
Eggplant, mushrooms, asparagus, and red bell pepper simmered in a spicy Thai chili paste and rice milk sauce with fresh basil. A hearty vegan stew for rice or grilled polenta.
Pumpkin Tapioca Pudding
Dairy-free pumpkin tapioca pudding made with rice milk, tapioca flour, and canned pumpkin. Vegan, gluten-free, and ready in under 20 minutes. Optional licorice root adds a unique twist.
