Who’da’ guessed it?
Four or so years ago we were drinking dairy milk practically every single day.
Nowadays we’re soaking, cooking, then blending peas to make our very own pea milk.
Yes, homemade pea milk.
How times have changed.
And yes, our version doesn’t split in tea!
Result.
Pea milk is the buzz of the town right now.
It’s one of the most nutritious plant-based milk options out there and it contains far fewer calories than regular cows milk.
Not to mention it’s more environmentally-friendly – using less water and fertilisers – compared to almond, dairy and soy milks.
The pea in question is yellow split peas.
We also throw in a few extra for flavour, such as dates and vanilla extract.
Here are a few things you need to know:
- Why vegetable oil? The oil essentially emulsifies the milk, preventing it from separating. This is why you’ll often see lots of plant-based milk brands use oil in their milks, such as rapeseed (canola) oil.
- The pea milk should last for around 4-5 days in the fridge if you keep it inside a air-tight container. If you sterilise the bottle beforehand, you might be able to keep it for even longer.
- We tested using a nut bag and sieve. The nut bag is far better at keeping out the sediment, so your left with a smoother milk. You’ll find them online or in vegan and health food stores.
Enjoy!
Roxy & Ben
Homemade Pea Milk 🥛 BTW did you know we have a new cookbook? You can pre-order your copy of One Pot Vegan now 👉 sovegan.co/onepv
Posted by So Vegan on Tuesday, 19 May 2020
Homemade Pea Milk
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Ingredients
1 cup dry yellow split peas - 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 2 Medjool dates
Instructions
- Add the yellow split peas to a bowl and cover with 3 cups (750ml) of water. Cover with a plate and leave to soak for 8 hours or overnight.
- Drain and rinse the yellow split peas, then add them to a pot along with 3 cups (750ml) of water. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer with the lid on for 45mins – 1 hour or until the yellow split peas are soft.
- Drain the yellow split peas and add them to a blender along with 3.5 cups (875ml) of filtered water, the oil, vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt. Next remove the stones from the dates and add them to the blender. Blend for 30-60 seconds or until smooth.
- Sit a nut milk bag or a muslin cloth over a large bowl and pour the pea milk into the bag. Squeeze the bag so the pea milk comes out and the pulp remains inside (you can add the pulp to cakes!). Transfer the liquid to a bottle with a air-tight lid and place in the fridge. The pea milk will last for up to 4 days refrigerated.
31 comments
hey! I was so excited to try this recipe but my milk turned out so yellow, not white as pictured on this webpage. do you possibly know why?
Hey Michelle! Ah that’s strange. We’re guessing there might still be lots of sediment in the milk, which is giving the milk a yellow colour. What did you use squeeze the milk out of the pulp? We use a nut bag which is really effectively at stopping any sediment escaping.
I made this and followed the amount of water to use. It came out thin. I used a cheese cloth. No dates. Not sure why?
Yours looks so yummy
Hey Amy. Did you blend the cooked peas until the mixture is completely smooth? That will thicken the milk before you push it through a nut milk bag to remove the pulp.
Hi! I haven’t made this yet but I’m excited to try it. In ripple pea milk there is high protein and fat. Is there the same amount of fat in this milk? Where does it come from?
I made this today with organic yellow peas. I used canola/olive oil mix because I didn’t have sunflower oil. I can still taste the peas in it. So I added a little bit more vanilla and next time I’ll add 1 more date. Anyway it tastes fine in my coffee. I can still notice a slight pea taste but my husband tasted my coffee and said it tastes like coffee! I didn’t want to throw out all the mush. It’s very mild tasting, and looks like hummus. So, I added salt, garlic, lemon juice, cumin and a little bit of light olive oil and it’s so yummy! You can’t tastes the peas at all. You would never know it wasn’t hummus from chickpeas.
I tried your recipe. It’s good. But I think I added lesser water. It has a little more pea taste than I expected. I will try again with more water this time. I didnt add dates as I wanted it in an unsweetened version!
Thank you! The sweetness in the dates will help mask the taste of the peas, which otherwise can be a little bitter. You could also try thinning out the milk with more water like you say. Good luck!
Referring to yellow split peas as lentils in the recipe is confusing. They aren’t the same thing.
Hi Miriam. Yes in hindsight we agree. We’ve amended the wording. Thanks.
Does this milk contain protein?
Yes, yellow split peas are high in protein. 🙂
Yes, yellow split peas are high in protein 🙂
Any ideas what to do with the left over pulp, rather than wasting it, I made oat milk and used the left over in a smoothie
Maybe soup
We add it to savoury cakes like scones or loaf cakes 🙂
Please can you share your cake recipe for using the leftover pulp , thank you
I made this according to your directions. It was really thick in the blender. But I poured it into the bag and Most of it came out of the bag. So instead of it being thin like milk it was thick like P soup. Can you tell me what I did wrong? Thank you
Hey Debbie. Oh strange, it shouldn’t be thick in the blender. Maybe you needed to add more water?
Hi! I really want to try this recipe but there is any oil-free alternatve, excluding also the dates? I was looking for a sugar an oil-free pea milk. Thanks!
Hey Patricia! You can leave the oil out. It essentially helps to prevent the milk splitting in tea and coffee, but as long as you shake the milk you can still use it in cereal and things like that without the oil. The dates add a sweetness, but this again is optional. Hope that helps!
can I use MCT oil instead?
We haven’t tested this sorry
This is beautiful plant based milk!! I was wondering if avocado oil or olive oil can be used in place of the sunflower oil.
Hey Heidi. Yes possibly but sunflower oil has a very neutral flavour so tends to work best 🙂
This worked great for me first try. I sampled a few recipes and this won the taste test in my home. I used regular sugar instead of dates and used canola oil (what I had on hand) and dried whole yellow peas gifted to me by a farmer (I needed to find something to do with 50lbs of it). Turned out great and I didn’t even find that it separated in the fridge. I use a ninja professional and a couple of layers of cheesecloth. The leftover paste was used to make pea hummus with success.
That’s great to hear! Thanks Rae 🙂
Can I use a slow juicer in place of a blender?
We don’t think so sorry
Hey Ben (Assuming you’ll be the one replying due to your amazing attentiveness to others)
Very excited to try this recipe.
I intend to turn the milk into a Vegan Mozza so my first question is whether or not you have experience with this?
Simpler question (Hopefully) – What are the Nutrient facts per 100ml/grams to this recipe – I understand you may not know it exact and do not wish to quote but I am only interested in a rough estimation at the very least.
Thanks and happy new year!
Do you know if your pea milk will steam/foam?