Milk substitutes

Milk substitutes — 7 options, ranked, with the exact amount

Also called whole milk, dairy milk, cow's milk, 2% milk, skim milk, fresh milk

Use thisBest of 7 options

Use Soy milk (unsweetened)

Same amount as the milk

In most recipes milk is mainly the liquid, plus a little fat, sugar and protein that helps things brown. Unsweetened soy or oat milk stands in cup for cup and is the most reliable swap for baking, cooking and coffee. If you have no plant milk either, 1 cup of water plus 1 tablespoon of melted butter gets a baked recipe over the line.

Verdict —: Works
The tweak —: Shake the carton; soy milk settles.
Best for —: when the recipe depends on protein browning or setting
Pantry —: Likely in your cupboard

Checked 22 Jul 2026 · no sponsored swaps

But first: what’s the milk doing?

Pick your case

What is the milk doing in this recipe — being the liquid, or being the flavour?

Almost anything thin and unsweetened works, because it is mostly the water that matters. Soy milk is the closest match because it has comparable protein, which means it browns similarly. Oat milk is next. Even water plus a tablespoon of butter per cup works.
Notes on soy milk (unsweetened), oat milk (unsweetened) or water + butter · Full guide: Baking or Pancakes
Same amount
Here you need something that will not split in the acid and the heat. Barista or full-fat oat milk is the most reliable, soy is good, and almond milk curdles readily. Half-and-half thinned with water is the answer if you have dairy but no milk.
Notes on oat milk (unsweetened), soy milk (unsweetened) or half and half + water · Full guide: Coffee
Same amount
Use unsweetened, and taste for sweetness before you commit — sweetened plant milk in a cheese sauce is the single most common failure here. Warm the plant milk before adding it to a roux, and add any acid at the end off the heat.
Notes on soy milk (unsweetened), evaporated milk + water or water + butter · Full guide: Mac and cheese or Mashed potatoes
Same amount
Choose a swap you are happy to taste. Soy has the most similar body and protein for a custard; oat is the sweetest and creamiest for a shake; coconut turns any of these into a coconut dessert. There is no neutral option that tastes of milk.

Start from what the milk is doing. In most baking it is simply the thin liquid, so any unsweetened plant milk works and even water plus a tablespoon of butter per cup works. Where a recipe needs protein — a custard that sets, a crust that browns — use unsweetened soy, which is the only plant milk with protein in dairy's range. Where it goes into scalding coffee, use barista oat. And whatever you buy, buy unsweetened: sweetened vanilla plant milk in a savoury sauce is the mistake nobody can fix afterwards.

Job by job3 jobs

In nearly every recipe milk is the thin liquid that hydrates the flour, and only secondarily a source of fat. It also brings milk sugar and protein, which is why a milk-brushed scone browns and a water-brushed one stays pale, and roughly 3.25% fat in whole milk, which is what makes a sauce or a mash taste rounded rather than watery.

Fat & richnesssecondary

Whole milk's 3.25% fat coats the tongue just enough to keep a sauce or mashed potato from tasting thin, which is why skim milk versions of both taste watery.

Moisture & hydrationprimary

It is about 88% water, so it is what wets the flour and turns to steam in the oven; any swap has to arrive as a thin pourable liquid or the batter comes out stiff.

Browning & colorsecondary

Milk sugar and protein brown together in the oven, so a milk-enriched dough or a milk wash gives a deeper gold crust than water does.

Every option, one card

Ranked · per 1 cup milk

Milk substitutes compared
#	Substitute	Instead of 1 cup milk	Verdict
1	Soy milk (unsweetened)when the recipe depends on protein browning or setting	1 cup unsweetened plain soy milkWorks	Works
2	Oat milk (unsweetened)hot coffee and lattes, where it resists splitting	1 cup, or barista oat milk for coffeeWorks	Works
3	Water + butterbaking when there is no milk and no plant milk in the house	1 cup + 1 tablespoon melted butterTweak it	Tweak it
4	Evaporated milk + waterwhen the fridge is empty but the cupboard is not	½ cup + ½ cup waterWorks	Works
5	Half and half + waterwhen half and half or cream is the only dairy in the fridge	1/3 cup + 2/3 cup waterTweak it	Tweak it
6	Almond milk (unsweetened)cereal, smoothies and iced drinks	1 cupYou'll taste it	You'll taste it
7	Coconut milk (full-fat, canned)curries, chowders and tropical desserts	½ cup + ½ cup waterYou'll taste it	You'll taste it
Not a swap	Sweetened plant milk	not a swap — buy the unsweetened carton instead; there is no adjustment that removes sugar from a savoury sauceNot for this	Not for this

What changesWhat changes, option by option7 options

Soy milk (unsweetened)

faintly beany and slightly savoury

The closest plant milk on paper and in practice, because it is the only one with protein in the same range as dairy — roughly 7-8 g per cup against milk's 8 g.

Covers: Fat & richness; Moisture & hydration; Browning & color

What these mean

Amount: 1 cup unsweetened plain soy milk for 1 cup milk
Then: shake the carton; soy milk settles
Best for: when the recipe depends on protein browning or setting, custards, baked goods and yeast dough, savoury sauces
Taste: faintly beany and slightly savoury; noticeable in a plain glass, invisible in a bake
Texture: very close to whole milk in body
Look: browns almost the same as dairy in the oven, which no other plant milk manages; in acidic coffee it can flock into small pale specks
Prep: Shake the carton; soy milk settles.
Pantry: Likely in your cupboard
Suits: vegan, dairy-free
Contains: soy

Buy unsweetened and plain. Vanilla or sweetened soy milk carries added sugar that will over-brown a crust and taste wrong in a cheese sauce.
It curdles in a very acidic recipe, which is usually an advantage — soy milk plus 1 tablespoon of lemon juice makes a genuinely good buttermilk substitute.
In coffee, add the coffee to the milk rather than the other way round, or warm the milk first, to reduce splitting.

Its protein is what makes it behave like dairy: it browns, it sets in a custard and it curdles with acid on purpose. Contains soy.

Oat milk (unsweetened)

mildly oaty and slightly sweet — the least intrusive of the plant milks

The creamiest-tasting plant milk and the one that behaves best in hot coffee, though it browns less than dairy.

Covers: Fat & richness; Moisture & hydration
Misses: Browning & color — not covered

What these mean

Amount: 1 cup unsweetened oat milk, or barista oat milk for coffee for 1 cup milk
Then: shake the carton before measuring
Best for: hot coffee and lattes, where it resists splitting, smoothies, cereal and creamy soups, when you want the mildest possible flavour
Texture: creamier than dairy milk, close to a very light half and half
Look: bakes come out paler than with dairy or soy because there is less protein to brown; in coffee it looks and behaves like milk
Prep: Shake the carton before measuring.
Pantry: Likely in your cupboard
Suits: vegan, dairy-free, nut-free
Contains: oats

For coffee, buy the barista version specifically — it has added fat and stabilisers so it does not split in the heat.
Use unsweetened in savoury cooking. Oat milk is naturally a little sweet even before anyone adds sugar, because making it breaks oat starch down into sugars.
Do not blend or over-agitate it while hot; oat starch can turn slimy if it is worked hard.

If a recipe is unforgiving about colour, use soy. For everything else, oat is the easiest to like.

It is the weakest option where a crust needs to colour, so brush pastry with egg or dairy rather than oat milk.

Water + butter

flatter and less rounded, with none of milk's faint sweetness

The emergency version that works better than it sounds, because milk is 88% water and the butter puts back roughly the fat you lost.

Covers: Fat & richness; Moisture & hydration
Misses: Browning & color — not covered

What these mean

Amount: 1 cup water + 1 tablespoon melted butter for 1 cup milk
Then: melt the butter, let it cool for a minute, then whisk it into the water; whisk again before pouring because it will not stay mixed
Best for: baking when there is no milk and no plant milk in the house, gravies, roux-based sauces and mashed potatoes, pancakes and muffins
Texture: very close in a batter; slightly less tender in enriched doughs
Look: crusts and pancakes come out noticeably paler and less golden, because there is no milk sugar or protein to brown
Prep: Melt the butter, let it cool for a minute, then whisk it into the water; whisk again before pouring because it will not stay mixed.
Pantry: Likely in your cupboard
Contains: dairy

Add about 1 tablespoon of butter per cup. That is roughly 11 g of fat, against the 8 g in a cup of whole milk — near enough, and slightly generous.
Use unsalted where you can, or cut the recipe's salt by about 1/16 teaspoon per tablespoon of salted butter.
Expect a paler bake. If colour matters, brush the top with beaten egg.
In a yeast dough, this loses the softening effect of milk protein, so the crumb will be a little chewier and more bread-like.

The reason this works at all is that milk is mostly water. It is also why nobody should expect it to work in a custard, where the protein is doing structural work.

For cooked and baked recipes only. It is not a drink and it is no good in coffee or cereal.

Evaporated milk + water

close, with a faint caramelised note like the milk in strong tea

This is what evaporated milk is for. Diluting it back roughly reverses the canning process and gives you milk again.

Covers: Fat & richness; Moisture & hydration; Browning & color

What these mean

Amount: ½ cup evaporated milk + ½ cup water for 1 cup milk
Then: stir together; that is all
Best for: when the fridge is empty but the cupboard is not, any cooked or baked recipe, coffee and tea
Texture: indistinguishable from whole milk
Look: no visible difference in a bake or a sauce
Prep: Stir together; that is all.
Pantry: Likely in your cupboard
Contains: dairy

Use the unsweetened 12 fl oz can, not sweetened condensed milk from the similar-looking 14 oz can.
It is slightly richer than whole milk after dilution, around 3-4% fat, which nobody notices.
It carries a faint cooked flavour. In a strongly flavoured dish it disappears; in a plain glass of milk it does not.

An unopened can keeps for a year or more, which makes this the most dependable milk substitute to keep on hand.

Half and half + water

the same as whole milk, marginally rounder

Half and half is 10-12% fat, so about a third of a cup diluted to a full cup lands right around whole milk's 3.25%.

Covers: Fat & richness; Moisture & hydration; Browning & color

What these mean

Amount: 1/3 cup half and half + 2/3 cup water for 1 cup milk
Then: stir together
Best for: when half and half or cream is the only dairy in the fridge, coffee and tea, sauces and baking
Texture: indistinguishable
Look: no visible difference
Prep: Stir together.
Pantry: Likely in your cupboard
Contains: dairy

Do not use equal parts half and half and water, which comes out at about 5-6% fat — richer than whole milk, and heavy in a large quantity.
For heavy cream instead of half and half, use 3 tablespoons of cream topped up to 1 cup with water.
If the recipe is delicate, taste it: this route can make a sauce slightly heavier than intended.

The arithmetic is the same one on our half and half page, run backwards: you are stepping down the fat ladder from 10-12% to 3.25% by adding water.

In a recipe using several cups of milk, work the ratio out rather than guessing, or you will drift into cream territory.

Almond milk (unsweetened)

thin and faintly nutty; the dish tastes leaner rather than wrong

Thin and low in both fat and protein — around 1 g of protein per cup against milk's 8 g — so it hydrates well and does little else.

Covers: Moisture & hydration
Misses: Fat & richness — not covered; Browning & color — not covered

What these mean

Amount: 1 cup unsweetened almond milk for 1 cup milk
Then: shake it well; almond milk separates more than the others
Best for: cereal, smoothies and iced drinks, baking where the recipe already has plenty of fat, when it is the plant milk you happen to have
Texture: watery next to dairy, so sauces and mashed potatoes come out looser
Look: bakes are distinctly pale, and in hot coffee it flocks into visible curd-like specks that float on top
Prep: Shake it well; almond milk separates more than the others.
Pantry: Likely in your cupboard
Suits: vegan, dairy-free
Contains: tree nuts

Add 1 tablespoon of melted butter or neutral oil per cup in a rich cake or a sauce, to make up for the near-absence of fat.
Do not pour it cold into hot coffee — it splits readily. Warm it first, or accept the specks.
Buy unsweetened for savoury dishes; the sweetened version is noticeably sugary.

Contains tree nuts. Oat and soy are both better swaps in cooking; almond earns its place in cereal and smoothies.

Not for custard, panna cotta, or anything that sets on milk protein, and not for coffee if you mind the look of it.

Coconut milk (full-fat, canned)

clearly coconut; treat it as a flavour decision

Rich enough that it should be diluted, and flavoured enough that it changes what the dish is.

Covers: Fat & richness; Moisture & hydration
Misses: Browning & color — not covered

What these mean

Amount: ½ cup full-fat canned coconut milk + ½ cup water for 1 cup milk
Then: stir the can smooth first, since the thick and thin layers separate
Best for: curries, chowders and tropical desserts, when richness matters more than neutrality, dairy-free cooking where coconut suits the dish
Texture: rich and slightly waxy when cold, silky when warm
Look: bakes stay pale and custards set a shade whiter and firmer as they chill
Prep: Stir the can smooth first, since the thick and thin layers separate.
Pantry: Likely in your cupboard
Suits: vegan, dairy-free, nut-free
Contains: coconut

Dilute it. Canned coconut milk is around 17-22% fat, roughly five times whole milk, so using it undiluted in a recipe that wants a cup of milk makes a heavy, greasy result.
In savoury dishes, balance it with salt and a squeeze of lime rather than sugar.
The carton coconut drink is a different product — much thinner — and can be used straight, though it brings less body.

There is no neutral coconut milk. The flavour lives in the solids, not just the fat, so light versions taste of coconut too — they are simply weaker.

Wrong wherever the dish is not meant to taste of coconut.

Sweetened plant milk

sweet, and unmistakably wrong in gravy, mashed potatoes or a cheese sauce

Listed because sweetened vanilla plant milk is the most-bought kind and the most common reason a homemade cheese sauce tastes strange.

Covers: Moisture & hydration
Misses: Fat & richness — not covered; Browning & color — not covered

What these mean

Amount: Buy the unsweetened carton instead; there is no adjustment that removes sugar from a savoury sauceper 1 cup milk
Best for: cereal and drinking, where the sweetness is the point
Texture: unchanged; this is purely a flavour and browning problem
Look: pastry and gratins brown much faster and can be dark on top while still raw underneath
Pantry: Likely in your cupboard
Suits: vegan, dairy-free

In a sweet recipe you can compensate: cut the recipe's sugar by about 1 ½ tablespoons per cup of sweetened plant milk, and drop the oven by 25°F because the extra sugar browns faster.
In a savoury dish there is no correction. A pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon mask it slightly; that is all.
Check the carton — vanilla and 'original' are usually both sweetened. 'Unsweetened' is stated explicitly.

Keeping one carton of unsweetened plant milk for cooking and a sweetened one for cereal solves this permanently.

Savoury cooking: no. Sweet baking: only with the sugar reduction above.

Don’t swap it here

4 cases

Any savoury dish — cheese sauce, gravy, mashed potatoes, chowder — using sweetened or vanilla plant milk.Use unsweetened. Read the carton rather than trusting the word 'original', which is usually sweetened.
Custard, panna cotta, flan or ice cream base made with almond or rice milk.Use unsweetened soy milk, which has comparable protein, or full-fat coconut milk if you are happy with coconut flavour.
SafetyInfant feeding.Ask your paediatrician or health visitor. Do not take feeding advice from a recipe site, including this one.
Diluted milk used where a recipe specifically wants cream or evaporated milk — ganache, whipped cream, pumpkin pie.See our heavy cream and evaporated milk pages, which have the correct rebuilds with butter and with reduction.

Safety

2 notes

Infant
Nothing on this page is advice about feeding infants. Cow's milk and plant milks are not substitutes for breast milk or infant formula, and plant milks in particular are not nutritionally adequate for babies. Ask a paediatrician or health professional, not a recipe page.
Source — US FDA, Infant Formula guidance (opens in a new tab)
Allergen
Soy milk contains soy. Almond, cashew and other nut milks contain tree nuts. Oat milk contains oats and is not always certified gluten-free — check the carton if that matters. Water plus butter, evaporated milk and half and half are all dairy.

If it went wrong

4 fixes

The cheese sauce or gravy tastes faintly sweet and slightly perfumed.The plant milk was sweetened or vanilla-flavoured.Add a pinch of salt, a squeeze of lemon and something sharp — mustard, a little grated parmesan — which masks it partially. It will not disappear. Make a note to buy unsweetened, and taste plant milk straight from the carton before it goes into anything savoury.
Pale specks floating on the surface of a hot drink.Cold, low-fat milk hit hot acidic coffee and the proteins clumped. Almond and standard soy milk do this most.Warm the milk first, or pour the coffee onto the milk rather than the milk into the coffee. Barista oat milk is formulated not to do this at all.
The cake or scones came out pale and did not brown.The swap had little protein or sugar — almond milk, or water and butter — so there was nothing to brown.Brush the tops with beaten egg or a little dairy milk and give them 3-4 more minutes. Next time use unsweetened soy milk, which browns almost like dairy.
The custard or panna cotta never thickened.The plant milk had almost no protein for the eggs or the setting agent to work with.For a stovetop custard, whisk 1 teaspoon of cornstarch per cup into a little cold milk, stir it in and cook gently until it coats the spoon. For a set dessert, start again with soy milk.

Measure it

7 measures

1 cup whole milk240 ml = 8 fl oz = about 244 gIt carries about 8 g of fat and about 8 g of protein.
Milk fat by typeskim ~0.1% - 1% - 2% - whole 3.25%Whole milk is only 3.25% fat, which surprises people. The reason it tastes rich is that it is smoothly emulsified, not that there is much fat in it.
Milk is mostly waterabout 88% waterThis is why 1 cup of water plus 1 tbsp of butter is a workable swap in baking.
Protein per cup, compareddairy milk ~8 g - soy ~7-8 g - oat ~2-3 g - almond ~1 gProtein is what browns a crust and helps a custard set, which is why soy is the plant milk that behaves most like dairy.
Dilute evaporated milk½ cup evaporated milk + ½ cup water = 1 cup milk
Dilute half and half or cream1/3 cup half and half, or 3 tbsp heavy cream, topped up to 1 cup with water
Make soured milk for baking1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar + milk to the 1-cup line, rest 5-10 minWorks with soy milk too, whose protein curdles like dairy. See our buttermilk page.

Questions

6 questions

Which plant milk works best as a milk substitute?

It depends on the job, but unsweetened soy milk wins on versatility: it has about 7-8 g of protein per cup against dairy's 8 g, so it browns in the oven, sets in a custard and behaves like dairy in a sauce. Unsweetened oat milk is the mildest tasting and the best in hot coffee, especially the barista version. Almond milk is thin and low in protein — fine in cereal and smoothies, weak in cooking. Always buy unsweetened for anything savoury.

Can I use water instead of milk?

In baking and cooking, yes, with one correction: add 1 tablespoon of melted butter or neutral oil per cup of water, since whole milk carries about 8 g of fat per cup. Milk is about 88% water, so you are closer than you might think. What you lose is browning — milk sugar and protein are what give a golden crust — so brush the top with beaten egg if colour matters. Do not use it in a custard, where the milk protein is doing structural work.

Will plant milk work in baking?

Yes, in most recipes it swaps cup for cup, because the milk is mainly there as liquid. Use unsweetened, or the extra sugar will over-brown the crust. Soy milk gives the closest result, including the colour. Oat milk works well but bakes paler. Almond and rice milk are thin and low in protein, so they are fine in a rich batter and poor in anything that has to set.

What is the difference between whole milk, 2% and skim in a recipe?

Only fat: whole is 3.25%, 2% is 2%, 1% is 1% and skim is about 0.1%. Since milk is around 88% water either way, the liquid volume behaves identically, so all of them work in a batter. Where you notice it is anywhere the fat is doing the tasting: a skim-milk cheese sauce or mashed potato tastes thin. If you only have skim, add 1 teaspoon of butter per cup and you are effectively at whole milk.

Can I substitute milk for cream, or cream for milk?

Cream for milk, yes, diluted: 3 tablespoons of heavy cream topped up to a cup with water, or 1/3 cup half and half topped up to a cup. Milk for cream is much harder, because cream is 36-40% fat against milk's 3.25%. You can add butter for cooked recipes — ¾ cup milk plus ¼ cup melted butter per cup of cream — but nothing you do to milk will let it whip. Our heavy cream page has the detail.

Why does my plant milk curdle in coffee?

Coffee is hot and acidic, and when cold plant-milk protein hits it the protein clumps into the specks you see floating. Warm the milk first, or pour the coffee onto the milk instead of the reverse. Barista oat and barista soy milks have added fat and stabilisers specifically to prevent it. Almond milk is the worst offender because it has very little fat to protect the protein.

Tips for substituting milk

8 tips

Buy unsweetened for cooking. Sweetened or vanilla plant milk in gravy or a cheese sauce cannot be corrected afterwards.
Unsweetened soy milk is the plant milk that behaves most like dairy, because its protein is in the same range — about 7-8 g per cup against milk's 8 g.
Barista or full-fat oat milk is the one to use in hot coffee; almond milk splits into visible specks.
No milk and no plant milk at all: 1 cup water plus 1 tablespoon melted butter works in any baked or cooked recipe.
Diluting what you have is often the best answer — ½ cup evaporated milk plus ½ cup water, or 1/3 cup half and half plus 2/3 cup water, both give you a cup of milk.
Expect paler results with low-protein swaps. Brush the top with beaten egg if the colour matters.
Warm plant milk before adding it to a hot roux or hot coffee; cold protein hitting heat and acid is what makes it curdle.
For buttermilk, sour soy milk with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice per cup — soy curdles and thickens the way dairy does.

Sources — USDA FoodData Central (opens in a new tab), US FDA, Infant Formula guidance (opens in a new tab)

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