5 Different Types of Non-Dairy Milk Reviewed

There's been lots of development in the world of non-dairy milk in the last couple years. We used to just have soy milk then rice milk showed up on the scene followed by almond milk. Lately coconut milk and hemp milk have arrived on market shelves. I've been using soy milk religiously ever since I switched from dairy milk back in ye olden days and loved it so much I never really felt the need to move away from it. Non-dairy milk is such an important staple in vegan baking that recently I felt it would be beneficial to the world of vegan baking to sit down and take a really close look at what I consider to be the five most popular non-dairy milk types. I wanted to see how they measure up against each other from a vegan baking perspective. How do they taste? How creamy are they? Do they curdle when exposed to apple cider vinegar? Will my recommended non-dairy milk for vegan baking, soy milk, retain it's vegan baking crown or will another non-dairy milk prevail?

The Role of Non-Dairy Milk in Vegan Baking

In vegan baking there are two schools of thought. One is to take measures to make foods that are somewhat less detrimental to one's health by using less sugar, fat and utilizing alternative ingredients that add nutrients. This school of thought is common when baking for restricted diets. The other school of thought is to make foods where taste and texture are of the utmost importance. In this school of thought, making healthy baked goods is considered a contradiction in terms. No matter what vegan baking school of thought you adhere to, or if you adhere slightly to both, choosing your non-dairy milk wisely will greatly effect the outcome of your baked goods. I personally follow the school of thought that puts flavor and texture above all else and go to great lengths in order to create flavors and textures for food items that need to measure up to their non-vegan counterparts. We're competing against butter and eggs which are miracles of baking science. We need all the help we can get.

Curdling Soy Milk to Add Flavor Depth

One way that I enhance flavors and create flavor depth in vegan baking is to slightly curdle soy milk before it's added to the recipe by whisking it in a small bowl with a bit of apple cider vinegar. This can be done with lemon juice as well but I prefer apple cider vinegar because it adds dairy-like flavors on it's own. The acids it contains curdles the proteins in the soy milk which allows a multitude of complex flavor compounds to be produced. Before curdling, the proteins in the soy milk are coiled up like little balls of yarn. The acids allow these proteins to unfold and cause the mixture to thicken as the flavor compounds are generated. This thickened curdled mixture can further improve vegan baking performance by increasing leavening power and enhancing the crumb quality of cakes and muffins.

As part of this review I performed a curdle test to measure flavor production. I tasted the non-dairy milk after curdling to assess the degree to which these flavors were produced. This test was performed by placing ½ cup non-dairy milk in a bowl, whisking 1 teaspoon unfiltered apple cider vinegar into it, letting it sit for 15 minutes then tasting the results.

I picked the particular non-dairy milks in this review because I felt they are widely available brands in the continental United States that were good representations of their non-dairy milk type. I selected unsweetened versions of all non-dairy milks except the Rice Dream because they don't make an unsweetened version of it. I picked unsweetened versions whenever possible because I didn't want the sugar to mask the true flavors in the non-dairy milk. I use unsweetened soy milk in my vegan baking recipes for this same reason; I like to have complete control over how much sugar I'm adding to a recipe.

Please keep in mind that the ratings and opinions in this review are from my taste perception alone and may not be the same as what your palate tastes. I encourage you to buy different types of non-dairy milk and come to your own conclusions while using this review as an aid.

Blue Diamond Natural Almond Breeze Almond Milk Unsweetened

The Taste Test

I found this moderately creamy non-dairy milk to taste slightly sour with a nutty, salty finish. I remember how much I love the chocolate version of this almond milk but I didn't find the same to be true of this version. The sour, nutty, salty flavor was a little off-putting. Curdling barely created more flavor. I would turn to this non-dairy milk for vegan baking if my preferred alternatives weren't available.

The Ratings (0 to 5 with 5 being the best)

Overall Flavor: 3
Creaminess: 3
Ability to curdle with apple cider vinegar: 2
Overall: 3

Ingredients

Purified water, almonds, tapioca starch, calcium carbonate, sea salt, potassium citrate, carrageenan, soy lecithin, natural flavor, vitamin A palminate, vitamin D2 and D-alpha-tocopherol (natural vitamin E).

Nutrition Highlights

Serving size: 1 cup (240mL)
Fat: 3g
Protein:1g

Living Harvest Tempt Hempmilk Unsweetened

The Taste Test

Hemp milk is one of the newest non-dairy milks on the scene. I found this moderately creamy beverage to have a pleasant slight maltiness that was consistent throughout the flavor journey. I found it the most similar to regular dairy milk at room temperature and the best tasting out of the bunch. It did have a barely discernible bitter finish that reared it's ugly head when I added it to coffee, making the coffee almost undrinkable for me. After curdling it produced a moderate level of complex flavors; more than almond milk but not as much as soy milk. I would use this non-dairy milk for vegan baking if soy milk wasn't available.

The Ratings (0 to 5 with 5 being the best)

Overall Flavor: 5
Creaminess: 3
Ability to curdle with apple cider vinegar: 2
Overall: 4

Ingredients

Hemp nut base (filtered water, hemp nut (shelled hemp seed)), natural flavors, tricalcium phosphate, carrageenan, sea salt, vitamin A palminate, vitamin D2, riboflavin, vitamin B12.

Nutrition Highlights

Serving size: 1 cup (240mL)
Fat: 6g
Protein:2g

West Soy Organic Soy Milk Unsweetened

The Taste Test

This is the non-dairy milk that I've been using for years and the one that most of the recipes I've designed have used. Hain Celestial Foods (the owner of West Soy as of this writing) is one of the last, big honest companies selling organic, nationally distributed soy milk which is also one of the reasons I patronise this brand. I've found the flavor of West Soy to be very good compared to most of the other soy milks out there. When pinned against the rest of the competition in this roundup, I found it to come out on top in regards to smoothness and creaminess. It had a light initial sweetness that evolved towards a slightly tart, beany aftertaste that was pleasant. It performed best on the curdle test, creating a complex yogurt-like flavor, reminiscent of sour dairy cream; perfect for adding extra flavor depth to everything from ice creams to leavened breads to cookies.

The Ratings (0 to 5 with 5 being the best)

Overall Flavor: 4
Creaminess: 5
Ability to curdle with apple cider vinegar: 5
Overall: 5

Ingredients

Filtered water, whole organic soybeans.

Nutrition Highlights

Serving size: 1 cup (240mL)
Fat: 4.5g
Protein: 9g

So Delicious Coconut Milk Unsweetened

The Taste Test

The first time I saw this on the shelf at the local health food store I did a double take. It's great to finally have so many options for non-dairy milks. I found this non-dairy milk to be surprisingly low in creaminess. Coming from coconuts I was sure it would be more creamy than soy milk, almond milk and hemp milk but found it to be slightly watery. Another thing that surprised me about this unsweetened beverage was how much it generally lacked flavor and actually had a slightly bitter finish on my palate. I'm sure the sweetened version must benefit from the sugar really waking up the coconut flavor. I would have a little trouble guzzling a glass of this stuff in this unsweetened state. It didn't curdle at all during the curdle test which was probably a result of the low protein level. I would use this non-dairy milk for vegan baking if no other alternatives were available.

The Ratings (0 to 5 with 5 being the best)

Overall Flavor: 2
Creaminess: 2
Ability to curdle with apple cider vinegar: 1
Overall: 2

Ingredients

Organic coconut milk (organic coconut cream, water, guar gum), calcium phosphate, magnesium phosphate, carrageenan, vitamin A palminate, vitamin D2, L-selenomethionine (selenium), zinc oxide, folic acid, vitamin B12.

Nutrition Highlights

Serving size: 1 cup (240mL)
Fat: 5g
Protein: 1g

Rice Dream Rice Drink Original Classic

The Taste Test

Rice Milk has been around for awhile and it's been years since I revisited it. I was excited to taste it again since my palette is much more well tuned than it was the last time I worked with it. Surprisingly, I found it to be watery, thin and lacking in substance and creaminess. I was unable to find it in its unsweetened form because Rice Dream doesn't make it. This is probably because without the sugar this drink would taste a little too much like water. It had a overly sweet, sugary flavor which only slightly reminded me of milk. You could actually see the oil droplets suspended in it because they weren't completely emulsified. It didn't curdle at all in the curdle test probably due to the lack of protein. I would use this for vegan baking if no other alternatives were available.

The Ratings (0 to 5 with 5 being the best)

Overall Flavor: 1
Creaminess: 1
Ability to curdle with apple cider vinegar: 1
Overall: 1

Ingredients

Filtered water, organic brown rice (partially milled), expeller pressed high oleic safflower oil and/or sunflower oil and/or canola oil, sea salt.

Nutrition Highlights

Serving size: 1 cup (240mL)
Fat: 2.5g
Protein: 1g

Non-Dairy Milk Review Wrap Up

I learned a great deal about how different non-dairy milk types stack up against each other in vegan baking applications in these tests. You could argue that I didn't bake anything as part of these tests so this review only goes so far in judging their performance. This is correct but after years of baking I've learned that the flavor of prepared food is the sum of its total parts. This means that in order to make great baked items, every ingredient you add must be of the best flavor and highest quality. This is why I stay away from things like tofu and beans when designing recipes. If you want it to compete with the non vegan competition you must ensure that every ingredient used produces good flavor.

I found it interesting how the curdling quality was directly proportional to the amount of protein in the non-dairy milk. I'll now think twice before calling for non-dairy milk instead of soy milk in many of my recipes where I rely on the flavor compounds created by the curdling of apple cider vinegar and soy milk.

I'm going to stick with soy milk for my vegan baking adventures but keep hemp milk as a close second alternative (as long as it's not added to my coffee). The next time I'm in a pinch and soy or hemp milk can't be found I'll turn to almond milk as a third alternative and if I can't find this I'll go on the lookout for coconut milk, followed by rice milk. I'm aware that over use of soy in food products may be a health concern to many readers as of this writing due to some health studies that have been published. In vegan baking we're using so little of it that if you're concerned about it you really shouldn't be eating baked items in the first place because the sugar and glycemic index issues are a much more serious health issue. Remember that most things in moderation are ok. If you're still concerned or allergic to soy then it's great that we now have hemp milk as a soy-free alternative. Its wonderful to finally be in an age where we have so many alternatives to dairy milk to choose from.