Soy Milk substitute

Best substitute

Unsweetened oat milk

Use the same amount as the soy milk you are replacing

Best for coffee, tea and cereal

Different taste

The easiest swap to find and the closest in creaminess and pouring texture, though built quite differently underneath.

Other soy milk substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Pea protein milk
Close match
Use the same amount
Made from yellow pea protein isolate, and the only widely sold plant milk with protein in the same range as soy and dairy.
What changes
Functionally the closest match on the shelf.
Best for
baking that needs structure, custards, puddings and flans, vegan buttermilk with vinegar, browning in pancakes and French toast, coffee, using a barista version
Cleaner and slightly sweeter than soy, with a faint pea or green note that some people pick up in a plain glass and nobody notices once it is cooked. Because the protein is comparable, it browns, sets and clabbers close to the way soy does, which makes it the swap to choose for anything technical. It is thicker in the carton than soy and often has added oil, so a sauce made with it is a little richer. Peas are legumes, as soybeans are, so if you are swapping because of an allergy, check with whoever has it rather than assuming.
3Cashew milk
Close match
Use the same amount
The creamiest and most neutral of the nut milks, and the right choice when soy milk is in a recipe purely for richness.
What changes
Best for
creamy soups and chowders, dairy-free pasta sauces, mashed potatoes, curries added off the heat, smoothies
Rounder and silkier than soy and completely free of the beany note, but it has very little protein, so it will not set a custard, will not brown much and will not clabber with acid. A dairy-free lasagne bechamel made with cashew milk tastes better and holds together less well. Homemade, blending half a cup of raw cashews into a cup and a half of water, is far richer than the boxed version, which is mostly water.
4Almond, carton coconut or rice milk
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount
The thin, low-protein plant milks.
What changes
Fine wherever soy milk is simply a liquid, weak wherever it is doing structural work, and worth naming because they are often what a soy-allergic household already has.
Best for
cereal, smoothies and drinking, cakes and muffins, light sauces, curries and tropical baking, in the case of coconut, soy-free, nut-free and gluten-free households, in the case of rice and coconut
All three have a fraction of soy's protein, so they are the weakest options for anything that must set, thicken or brown. Almond milk is thin and distinctly nutty and tends to flake into visible specks in hot espresso. Carton coconut milk is comparably rich to soy but tastes unmistakably of coconut, which is either right or clearly wrong depending on the dish. Rice milk is the thinnest and sweetest of all, so a bechamel made with it stays thin and tastes oddly sweet unless you add extra flour or a teaspoon of cornstarch per cup. In a cake, any of the three is unremarkable and perfectly acceptable.
5Dairy milk
Different taste
Use the same amount
If soy is being avoided rather than simply unavailable this is no help, but where dairy is acceptable it is the closest functional match of all, because both are protein-rich milks.
What changes
Best for
any baking, custards and puddings, buttermilk substitutes with vinegar or lemon, coffee and tea, savoury sauces
Almost interchangeable. Whole milk is slightly richer in fat than most soy milks and slightly lower in protein, so custards set very similarly and browning is comparable. It is less beany and a touch sweeter. The one difference worth knowing is that dairy milk cannot be turned into tofu, and soy milk can, since the coagulation depends on soy protein specifically.
6Nothing, for tofu and for savoury soy milk soup
Close match
The honest limit.
What changes
A few things depend on soy protein specifically and cannot be made from anything else.
Best for
making tofu at home, doujiang, Chinese savoury soy milk soup, yuba, soy milk skin, vegan buttermilk that must genuinely clabber
Tofu is soy protein coagulated with a salt or acid, so no other milk will curdle into it, and it also needs unsweetened soy milk with no gums or added oils, since additives block the set. Doujiang is a dish whose entire identity is soy milk. For vegan buttermilk, soy curdles cleanly and visibly with a tablespoon of vinegar per cup while oat and almond mostly just thin, and pea protein milk is the only real alternative there.

What is Soy Milk?

Soy Milk is the strained liquid pressed from soaked and ground soybeans, and it is the highest-protein plant milk by a wide margin, which is why it behaves more like dairy milk than any other: it curdles with acid, sets in custards, browns in the oven and steams for coffee.

Cooking tips

Buy unsweetened for any savoury cooking. Cartons labelled original contain several grams of added sugar per cup, and a bechamel, a leek and potato soup or a mashed potato made with sweetened soy milk tastes subtly and confusingly wrong. For drinking and for cereal, sweetened is a matter of taste.
Soy milk is the reliable one for vegan buttermilk: one cup plus one tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar, left to stand five to ten minutes, visibly clabbers into thickened curds the way dairy does. This works because it has enough protein to coagulate. Oat and almond milk given the same treatment go slightly sour and stay thin, which is why vegan baking recipes so often specify soy.
It curdles in hot acidic coffee, and the cause is temperature and acid together rather than the coffee itself. Warm the soy milk gently first, pour the coffee into the milk rather than the milk into the coffee, and use a barista blend if you can, since those are stabilised for exactly this. A very acidic light-roast espresso will curdle almost any soy milk.
The skin that forms when you heat soy milk uncovered is yuba, and it is a delicacy rather than a fault: lift it off with chopsticks and eat it. In a soup or a mug of hot soy milk it is just a nuisance, so keep it covered or stir it as it heats.
Soy milk browns well in pancakes, French toast and baked goods because it has both protein and, in sweetened versions, sugar, which is why it is the plant milk that gives the most convincingly golden results. Almond and rice milk leave pancakes noticeably paler.
If you are making tofu, the soy milk has to be plain whole-bean soy milk with high solids and no additives, no gums, no oils, no sugar. Most supermarket cartons will not set, which is the usual reason home tofu fails. Fresh soy milk you have made yourself from dried beans is the reliable route.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best soy milk substitute for baking?

Pea protein milk, because protein is the thing soy milk is really contributing to a bake and pea milk is the only other plant milk with a comparable amount, so it browns and sets almost identically. Oat milk is the easy fallback and works fine in cakes and muffins, though anything that has to set firmly, such as a baked custard, a flan or a vegan cheesecake, will be looser. If dairy is acceptable, whole milk is a straight one for one swap.

I am allergic to soy, what can I use instead?

Oat milk is the closest in body and the easiest to find, and it also avoids nuts. Rice milk and carton coconut milk both avoid soy, nuts and gluten at once, which is useful in a multi-allergy household, though rice milk is thin and sweet and coconut brings its own flavour. Almond and cashew milk are excellent unless nuts are also an issue. Pea protein milk is functionally the closest to soy, but peas are legumes as soybeans are, so check with whoever has the allergy before relying on it.

Can I use another plant milk to make tofu?

No. Tofu is made by coagulating soy protein with a salt such as nigari or an acid, and no other plant milk has protein that behaves that way, so oat, almond, cashew and rice milk will not set at all. It also has to be plain, additive-free soy milk with high solids, because gums, oils and sweeteners interfere with the set, which is why most supermarket cartons fail even though they are soy.

Does soy milk curdle in coffee?

It can, and it is a chemistry problem rather than a spoilage one: soy protein coagulates when it meets heat and acid together, and espresso is both. The fixes are to warm the milk gently before adding it, to pour the coffee into the milk rather than the reverse, and to use a barista blend, which is stabilised for exactly this. Very acidic light-roast coffee is the hardest case. Oat milk is more forgiving here, which is a large part of why cafes moved to it.

Is soy milk a good substitute for dairy milk nutritionally?

It is the closest of the plant milks on protein, at roughly seven to eight grams a cup against dairy's eight, whereas almond milk has about one. That is why soy is the plant milk usually recommended when protein matters and why it behaves most like dairy in cooking. Other nutrients differ, and most plant milks are fortified to varying degrees, so read the carton rather than assuming any two are equivalent.

Can I just leave the soy milk out, or use water?

In a cake, water plus a teaspoon of neutral oil per cup is a passable emergency substitute, since soy milk is mostly water and the oil replaces some of what you lose. Expect a slightly paler, slightly less tender result. In a savoury braise or soup, stock or water works and the dish is simply less creamy. In anything that has to set, curdle or brown, no: those depend on the protein, and water has none.

Related substitutes

More dairy alternatives substitutes

Soy Milk substitute

Other soy milk substitutes

2Pea protein milk

3Cashew milk

4Almond, carton coconut or rice milk

5Dairy milk

6Nothing, for tofu and for savoury soy milk soup