Oat Milk Without Oil
Why does oat milk contain oil?
Almost all brands of oat milk sold in the UK contain seed oils and these are primarily added to give oat milk a creamy, rich texture.
Seed oils are also added to oat milk to improve the shelf life as it can slow down oxidation.
What type of oils are most common in oat milk?
Rapeseed oil is the most common seed oil added to oat milk as it contains relatively few saturated fats and is a cheap and widely available ingredient.
Sunflower oil is also common in oat milk and similarly low cost and widely available. Other oils which may be used include coconut and soybean oil.
If you want to know which oil has been added to your oat milk, simply check the ingredients on the label.
Are oils in oat milk unhealthy?
While seed oils contain primarily monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, which are considered “healthy fats”, not all seed oils are created equal.
Some seed oils are highly processed, involving high temperatures & use of chemicals. Highly processed seed oils can contain higher levels of unhealthy trans fats and offer less nutritional value than cold pressed variants.
Without knowing the exact seed oil (method of extraction, purity etc) it’s difficult to know the nutritional profile or health impact, which is why many choose to avoid seed oils altogether.
Which oat milks are free of oil?
Almost all of the oat milk brands currently sold in the UK contain added oils, but there are a few alternatives!
Option 1️⃣: No oil whatsoever
We found just two kinds of oat milk sold in the UK with no added oils, the first was Oatly Skinny and the second was Plenish Oat M*lk. The drawback is a less creamy oat milk, which brings us to alternative 2!
Option 2️⃣: No processed oil
Choose an oat milk which doesn’t use heavily processed oils. With this option, you get the creaminess, but without the negative health consequences, and this is where we come in.
Our Overherd oat milk powder uses healthy fats from coconut, which are cold-pressed and undergo no refining using heat or chemicals. This means we preserve all the health benefits from coconut whilst retaining the delicious creaminess.
If you prefer to stick with your carton oat milk, Rude Health also offers an oat milk with cold-pressed rapeseed oil added.
Option 3️⃣: Make your own
You can also consider making your own oat milk at home, which allows you to control the ingredients and make an oat milk that is tailored to your specific needs and preferences, which in this case can mean oil free!
Check out our DIY oat milk recipe for easy homemade seed oil free oat milk.
Which type oat milk contains the most oil?
Oat milk which is marked as “whole” or “barista” typically contains the most oil, whilst “skinny” or “low-fat” varieties contain less oil.
The best way to see how much oil is in your oat milk is to check the nutritional label, those with a higher fat content per 100g will likely contain more oil than a lower fat content per 100g.
This is because oats are naturally low in fat, thus most of the fat in an oat milk can be attributed to added oils.
Of the different types we checked, the barista versions typically contained around 3g of fat per 100ml, whereas skinny versions contained in the region of 1g per 100ml.
Which brand of oat milk contains the most oil?
Below is a list of oat milk brands in the UK with the highest fat contents. As previously mentioned, a high fat content can usually be attributed to higher oil content.
- Oatly Barista Oat Milk - 3g of fat per 100ml
- Oatly Whole Oat Milk - 2.8g of fat per 100ml
- Alpro Barista Oat Milk - 3g of fat per 100ml
- Califia Farms Barista Oat Milk - 2.9g of fat per 100ml
- Mighty Whole Oat Milk - 3.5g of fat per 100ml
- Rude Health Barista Oat Milk - 2.8g of fat per 100ml
- Mighty Barista Oat Milk - 3.2g of fat per 100ml
It's important to note that fat isn't always a bad thing, however, it is important to know where these fats come from and how they are processed.