What to use instead of whole milk
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
Advertisement
Liquid and fat in a batter or dough
It hydrates the flour, the fat softens the crumb, and the lactose and milk protein brown the crust faster than water ever would.
Water plus butterRan out
1 cup water + 1 tbsp melted butter per 1 cup whole milk
Crust browns noticeably paler because there is no milk sugar, and the crumb is a shade drier by the next day.
Evaporated milk, dilutedRan out
1/2 cup evaporated milk + 1/2 cup water per 1 cup whole milk
Slightly cooked, caramel taste and faster browning, because the sugars have already had heat.
Unsweetened soy milkDairy-free
1:1
The closest plant milk in protein, so it browns and sets much like dairy. A faint beany note in anything plain.
Oat milkNut-free
1:1
More sugar than dairy, so pancakes and crusts colour early and can catch. Thinner body and a slightly slick crumb.
Yogurt thinned with waterRan out
3/4 cup plain yogurt + 1/4 cup water per 1 cup milk
Acidic, so it reacts with baking soda and lifts more. Tangier and a tighter, moister crumb.
What doesn't work: Heavy cream straight, one for one. Three times the fat and far less water, so pancake batter refuses to spread and muffins bake greasy and short.
Body in a cream sauce, chowder or custard base
The water carries flavour while the protein and the small amount of fat give the opaque, coating weight. The protein also thickens as it heats.
Heavy cream cut with waterRan out
1/2 cup cream + 1/2 cup water per 1 cup whole milk
Richer and far more resistant to splitting, so it takes acid and a hard simmer better than milk.
Full-fat canned coconut milkPlant-based
1:1
Thicker and it reduces without breaking. The coconut disappears under curry spice and fights everything in a béchamel.
Unsweetened soy milkDairy-free
1:1
Enough protein to thicken properly. It curdles quickly against wine, lemon or tomato, so add the acid last and off the heat.
Oat milkNut-free
1:1
Thickens more than dairy because of its own starch, and it turns slimy if you reduce it hard.
What doesn't work: Almond milk in a béchamel or a chowder. It is mostly water with under 1 g of protein per cup, so the sauce stays thin and tastes watery however much roux you build under it.
Steaming and foaming for coffee
Milk protein wraps each air bubble and holds it while the lactose sweetens the drink as it heats.
Barista-formula oat milkDairy-free
1:1
Foams tight and glossy and pours latte art. The standard non-barista version separates in hot espresso.
Soy milkDairy-free
1:1
Holds a stiff foam. It flecks and splits against hot acidic coffee, so pull the shot, let it sit 20 seconds and pour slowly.
Half-and-halfRan out
1:1
Richer, and the foam is looser and coarser because the extra fat gets in the way of the protein.
What doesn't work: Plain almond or rice milk. There is not enough protein to hold a bubble wall, so the foam collapses back to liquid inside a minute and usually curdles into flecks on contact with espresso.