The perfect milk alternatives for every purpose – from cocktails to custard

The vegan chef Alexis Gauthier is weaning himself off milk: “I drink black coffee, black tea; I don’t eat cereal. When else would you use it?” But at his plant-based restaurant in London, Gauthier Soho, he can’t ignore our craving for the satisfying richness that milk lends to many foods. “Part of my USP is French gastronomy. I get why people expect the classics, without animal fats. We use a variety of mainly nut-based plant milks.”

Clearly, milk is going nowhere, even if the milk we drink is changing. Last year, the research agency Mintel found that almost one-third of Britons drink non-dairy milks. Sales of plant milks at Waitrose rose 18% between 2019 and 2021. Oat milk is the supermarket’s biggest seller, as it is nationally, followed by almond, soya and coconut.

“It’s better to make your own,” advises James Lowe, the chef-owner at Lyle’s in London. Simple recipes abound online. “You can control flavour, strength, texture and sugar content.”

Plant milks also run the gamut from thin to abundantly creamy, from recognisably nutty (almond, coconut) to neutral (soya, potato milk). Picking the right one for each kitchen task can be tricky, so we asked some experts for help. Which plant milks work where? And are there times when only dairy will do?

Historically, non-dairy milks were notorious for splitting in hot drinks, with almond and soya guilty of coagulating unattractively in acidic coffees. Today, stabilisers minimise that problem. Plant-milk producers make “barista” milks that can be steamed, heated and smoothly combined.

For Dave Wolinski, the co-owner of the Manchester coffee shop Idle Hands, oat milk is the most convincing dairy substitute, although he also namechecks Bonsoy (£4.15 a litre, Ocado) as a notably silky soya. The Oatly milk used at Idle Hands is stable, creamy and, despite its cereal edge, comparatively neutral in flavour: “It steams well and we’re about tasting coffee, not milk.”

While some prefer the distinctive flavour of coconut or almond in coffee – those flavours could be considered natural partners – such milks can be more challenging in tea. Judging from a quick taste test at home, oat and soya are fine, while Dug’s barista-version potato milk will suit those who like sweeter tea. Generally, though, plant milks produce a brew that feels “thin”. Without a coffee machine’s steam wand to stretch and foam them, they lack dairy’s creamy fullness.

Juliet Sampson’s vegan cafe in London, Copperhouse Chocolate, uses oat milk as standard. “But I have milks I like with different flavoured chocolates,” she says. “Almond milk goes really well with cinnamon.”

That intuitive matching of traditionally complementary flavours is not a bad rule of thumb when using plant milks. Sampson has not found a potato milk she likes in hot drinks, but “we made nice oat bread with it”. Like oat, potato milk tends to have an earthy backnote that is useful in savoury dishes.

Tinned coconut milk is “one of the best dairy alternatives in the bar, where dairy is used to add thickness,” says Giulia Cuccurullo, the head bartender at Artesian in London. Rice and almond milk are “quite watery”, but coconut milk, whipped for two minutes, will add lusciousness to a milk punch. For a white Russian, she advises mixing 40ml each of vodka and coffee liqueur over ice, adding a “finger-thick” layer of coconut milk.

Béchamel, or white sauce, is one of cooking’s building blocks. Alex Rushmer, a chef at the plant-focused restaurant Vanderlyle in Cambridge, argues that it is best made with oat milk: “Its toasted, bready, savoury nature works. Combined with vegan cheese, it makes a more than passable sauce for macaroni cheese or lasagne.”

To prepare 500ml, melt 65g of Naturli’ vegan block (“by far the best butter alternative”) in a pan over a gentle heat, stir in two tablespoons of flour and cook “until it smells like shortbread”. Slowly whisk in 500ml of oat milk, gradually bringing it to a simmer until thickened. Season and flavour as you wish (mustard, mushrooms, herbs).

“Fats mute flavour,” says Andrew Dargue, the chef-owner at the meat-free cookery school Vanilla Black. Consequently, the fat-rich tinned coconut milk often used in vegan ice-creams can be a bully. Try low‑fat, relatively neutral soya milk: “We once made a quite bland avocado ice-cream, but replacing dairy with soya allowed the avocado to come through.”

“Pancakes are very forgiving,” says Patricia Trijbits, whose pair of London restaurants, Where The Pancakes Are, serve a vegan, wheat-free pancake. These are made with organic rice, buckwheat flour and soya milk, swapping eggs for aquafaba (chickpea water) to achieve a US-style fluffiness.

However, you can make a far more basic vegan pancake. Whisking 300g of self-raising flour with about double the amount of any plant milk (sugar optional) should produce decent crepes for four people. “Almond milk is great in pancakes,” says Bettina Campolucci Bordi, the author of Celebrate: Plant-based Recipes for Every Occasion.

Upping the proportion of flour will make fluffier pancakes, as will adding a teaspoon of baking powder. Alternatively, says Campolucci Bordi: “Blitz the mixture in a blender to aerate it, which gives you fluffy pancakes without using baking powder or bicarb.”

Hemp milk has its fans (“Oats with hemp milk, cinnamon and apple is really comforting, like apple pie,” says Kimberly Lin, the pastry chef at Lilly’s Cafe in London), but oat milk is the porridge go-to. At 26 Grains in London, they soak mixed grains overnight in water, then cook them with oat milk for about seven minutes, over a medium heat, to release the beta-glucans that make porridge oats creamy. “Lots of people put the hob on high and eat once the liquid is warm,” says Alex Hely-Hutchinson, the owner. Be patient.

“Non-dairy milks can add great flavour,” says Ruth Hansom, the chef at The Princess of Shoreditch. “Nutty hazelnut or almond work in cauliflower or celeriac soups.”

Kamil Witek, the chef-owner at Aurora in Edinburgh, does something similar. After caramelising shallot, garlic, celery and leek, he gently poaches cubed jerusalem artichoke in pea milk, or celeriac in almond milk, on a low heat, before blitzing them into clean, light purees and soups. “Pea milk doesn’t cover up artichoke’s subtle flavour like single cream would,” he says.

Akwasi Brenya-Mensa, the owner of the west African caterer and forthcoming London restaurant Tatale, uses soya milk, as it is “the least sweet”, to loosen the already-sweet roasted plantain puree in his eto tarts: “Its higher protein content also works best for allowing the puree to retain its shape.”

Sarah Brion, the pastry chef at the North Berwick hotel Marine, recommends soya milk as a dairy substitute in sponge cakes or scones. “Scientifically, it’s the non-dairy milk with the highest protein, which enhances the effect of raising agents such as baking powder.”

The seven-branch Edinburgh bakery Twelve Triangles uses oat milk in its vegan options. Plant milks behave in a broadly familiar way, says its co-owner, Emily Cuddeford, but their sugars take longer to react with yeast. The dough needs “slightly longer to prove and a bit more yeast than with cow’s milk”, she says.

Plant-based cream alternatives exist, but whipping them into a dairy doppelganger is tricky. One expert refuses to share their secret. Dargue agrees it is difficult: “Some products can’t quite replace dairy. Whipped dairy-free cream doesn’t have the melting quality or flavour.”

Brion favours tinned coconut milk for whipping, but says: “Its strong coconut taste can’t be used in every dish.” To concentrate coconut milk, refrigerate it, so the fat and water separate, then use the fat to create sweetened, flavoured, Chantilly-style creams.

Aurora’s Witek mixes light Cullisse rapeseed oil and a 50:50 mix of oat double cream and oat milk into spuds to create a dairy-free mash that “is the same, if not better”, than its dairy equivalent.

“We’ve found soya milk – its natural sweetness and texture – works best for either pouring or setting custard,” says Vanderlyle’s Rushmer. Use cornflour or – “even better” – Bird’s custard powder to thicken it. (Bird’s powder is not made with animal products, but it is manufactured where they are present. Consequently, it is not labelled as vegan. Some vegans eat it, some don’t.)

To make the custard, scrape vanilla pod seeds into one litre of soya milk and heat gently for 30 minutes. In a second pan, mix two tablespoons each of cornflour and sugar, add a little warm soya milk and stir into a paste. Gradually add the infused milk to the paste, whisking it over a medium heat, until simmering and thickened.

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