Tips for Cooking with Soy Milk

Soy milk seems to be an intimidating prospect for some, when it is almost virtually interchangeable with dairy milk. Cooking with soy milk can be better for your body and is an excellent way for those with dairy allergies or a lactose intolerance to eat the same foods as others.

Here are 8 tips for cooking with soy milk.

Use the Same Amount When Cooking With Soy Milk

Replace dairy milk with the same amount of soy milk. They interchange easily and you do not have to add any more or less to use soy milk. If the recipe calls for one cup of dairy milk, just add one cup of soy milk instead.

Use by Date When Cooking With Soy Milk

This is one of the best parts of using soy milk, it's shelf life, or fridge life as the case may be! Soy milk unopened will last up to a month in the fridge and even lasts longer than regular milk when opened. Of course, organic milk in a cardboard container is better than in plastic jugs, but soy milk still lasts longer. I buy mine in bulk each month and keep it in the back of my refrigerator.

Brand can Matter When Cooking With Soy Milk

You may be surprised when you begin using soy milk, just how much the taste can change when you change brands. The brand that I think tastes the best is not the brand my mother uses. You may have to try several until you find a brand that tastes the best in the meals that you cook and that your family enjoys.

Flavor can Matter When Cooking With Soy Milk

For some it may not matter but the flavor of soy milk may make a huge difference. Each brand may even have various flavors and you may like one flavor from one brand and another flavor from another brand. There is even a chocolate flavor that would probably be great when baking items like chocolate cakes. You may even find that you like to cook with one flavor but drink another flavor or that your family won't choke down vanilla but they'll drink the original straight.

Use Vanilla Flavor For Desserts: Cooking With Soy Milk

Vanilla flavored soy milk is sweeter than the original flavor making it the best option for whipping up desserts or sweets that call for milk. It isn't overwhelming though so you don't need to cut back on any of the other sweeteners in the recipe.

Use the Original Flavor When Cooking With Soy Milk

You may find that the original flavor of soy milk is best when using recipes that are not desserts. I tend to use vanilla soy milk for everything but my mother uses original for all of her cooking as she says that the vanilla is too sweet for items like mashed potatoes or soups.

Be Prepared for a Non-Dairy Color When Cooking With Soy Milk

Soy milk is not the pure white of dairy milk. It is actually a kind of yellow off white. Once you get used to it you don't even notice but in some recipes where you are expecting the pure white of dairy, like in a gravy, the gravy will not exactly be the color you are used to.

Texture Isn't the Same : Cooking With Soy Milk

With all the ways that soy milk is like regular, texture is the biggest way it is not. Boiling causes soy milk to somewhat curdle so the texture becomes very different than what you would see with dairy milk. I do not find this to be a problem in any recipe, including soups that I boil, except in gravies. White gravies, like sausage gravy, are much thicker but the taste is still good! The first time it seemed very odd to me, especially as I am just as much a texture as a taste person, but it no longer bothers me as the taste is completely worth the ability to have biscuits and gravy with my family.

Experiment with cooking with soy milk to see what works for you and your family. It may take a few tries to find what is best but it is worth it!