Homemade soy milk is so easy to make at home, and much cheaper than store bought.
As much as I love cheese, butter, yoghurt and cream I really, really cannot abide dairy milk. It is odd as I used to drink gallons of it, both as a child and in my early teens. I was a late adopter of coffee – I first drank it in my last two years at school, laced with sugar and preferably with cream. I did not touch tea until I went to university and discovered delicate Japanese and Chinese green and white teas, a light brew served without milk.
The lack of a fridge at university, coupled with the general disgustingness of powered coffee creamers, meant that I soon switched to drinking my coffee black too. I now find the smell of milky tea and coffee really quite unsettling, to the extent that in one job in a cramped office I had to ask a colleague to move their milky mug of coffee to the other side of their desk, rather than about 12″ away from me.
Although I still drink my tea and coffee black, the discovery of plant milks means that I now eat the occasional bowl of cereal, frequently eat porridge, make the occasional hot chocolate and provides a base liquid for my daily green smoothie.
Homemade soy milk is far cheaper than store bought, and means no additives, no cartons going to landfill and no nasty additives.  Soy milk is relatively easy to make at home, but it is a faff and generates lots of washing up.  You can buy a specialist soy milk machine, but it is super easy to make in an everyday soup maker, which both blends and heats.
You do need to be prepared for this recipe and use pre soaked soy beans, I’d recommend soaking a big batch and then draining, rinsing and freezing them ready for the soup machine.
Homemade soy milk can taste quite beany, so try to remove some of the skins, the quickest and easiest way to do this is to dump the soaked beans into a bowl of warm water and rub them between both hands, give the water a swirl and the skins float to the top and can be easily skimmed off.  I use my milk in smoothies so am not that worried about the beany flavour, but if you want to disguise it some more you can add some vanilla, maple syrup or drop a date into the mixture as you are making the milk.
When making this for the first time keep a very careful eye on the machine, simmering soy milk is very frothy and if you put too much liquid in the machine it will boil over very quickly. Hindsight is a wonderful thing so I’d advise standing the soup machine on a tray until you are confident in the quantities that your machine can handle! Trust me, there is no use crying over spilled milk, but a tray does make the clean up easier. The soup maker does have a sensor which will stop other liquids boiling over, but when milk starts to froth it goes very quickly .  The recipe works perfectly for Judge Cookware Soupmaker + which has a 20 minute smooth programme and a 800w heater.
- 2/3 cup | 110g soy beans soaked in water overnight 50g dried weight
- 750 ml | 3 cups water
- Dash of maple syrup optional, vanilla extract, or stoned date for sweetness
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Rinse the beans and place in a bowl of water, rub between your hands to remove the skins, Swirl the water and skim the skins off and discard.
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Drain the beans.
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Place the drained beans into the soup maker with the water and flavouring if using, and set to a smooth soup programme.
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Once the programme has ended line a sieve with a muslin cloth and strain the milk into a heat proof jug.
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Add a some water to thin to taste.
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Store in the fridge and use within 4 days.
Soak a batch of beans freeze for later use.
Give the pulp a good squeeze and add a spoon to the mixture when next baking.
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My top tip for cleaning the soupmaker is to fill it with hot water, a spash of dishwashing liquid and set it to whizz for 30 seconds. Give it a quick rinse and you are good to go.  If it gets tainted and smelly add some white wine vinegar, tsp bicarbonate of soda, hot water and whizz again.
Judge Soupmaker +
- Delicious home made soup in 20 minutes, recipe book included
- Hot and cold drinks – hot chocolate, milk shakes, smoothies
- Pulses with stainless steel blades, reheats soups and sauces
- Cooks eggs with 4 hole egg cooker attachment
- Locking lid with removable fill cap
- Jug capacity 1.7L, Soup capacity 1.2L
- Motor 300W, Heater 800W
- Judge 2 year domestic electrical guarantee
We received a Judge Soupmaker + as a review sample for the purposes of making soy milk. Available from a variety of retailers for around £70.
Marcus
What a brilliant idea! Lovely to have a source of fresh, additive free soy milk.
Helen
It is a super (souper?) easy way to make soy milk.
Melanie Peterson
As a vegetarian, I love this idea for making my own soy milk. Another reason to consider purchasing a soup maker.
Jenn
I’m with you..can’t stand the smell of coffee with milk anymore. So funny because I also used to drink milk at every meal and then some…until about 8 years ago. Now it’s all plant based milk for me! This sounds super easy to make. When you say Soupmaker…do you mean like a Vitamix on the soup setting?
Helen
It is a dedicated soupmaker – designed for soup at a fraction of the cost of a power blender.
Amy
Soy beans are amongst the most prevalent crops grown in my area, so they are readily available and cheap. This is great info to have! Thanks.
Helen
I love homemade plantmilks Amy, and this one is super frugal!
Brianne @ Natural Girl Modern World
Thanks for sharing – super interesting to learn how to make homemade soy milk! And I love your photo!
Helen
It really is the easiest thing to make!
Platter Talk
Thanks for this delicious and informative post. I would love to try making my own soy milk!
Helen
Go for it Dan, it really is so very very easy.
Agata
I like a homemade soy milk but to keep cost low we bought Soyabella which is perfect for it.
Helen
I have a soymilk maker too, but love that the soup maker does exactly the same job, and will make the soup too. I expect you probably could make soup in the soy milk machine too.
Tea
Can you cook dried beans and pulses in the soup? Obviously soya beans are cooked in it, but what if you wanted to keep the soya beans whole? Thanks
Helen
Something like red lentils yes, but beans would need soaking and pre cooking.
samay
Thanks Helen for giving information about soya milk making.
But homemade soya milk is giving bean teast , so how can I change this yeast.
Helen
Homemade soy milk will always be fairly beany in flavour. I’m fairly used to it. Removing the skins helps and you can always lob a (destoned) date or two in.