Oatly Vs Chobani: Which Brand Makes The Best Oat Milk?

There are seemingly endless dairy-free or plant-based milk options out there, so long gone are the days of being limited to whole milk or 2% in your daily latte. Over the years, various dairy-free milks have had their turn in the spotlight, with notable mentions being soy, almond, or coconut milk. One of the more recently revered dairy-free milks is oat milk, an especially appealing option for those who both can't consume dairy and are allergic to nuts. Oat milk, in its simplest form, contains just two ingredients, oats and water, though many recipes may call for adding maple syrup or some sort of sweetener. It's pretty easy to make oat milk at home, but it's even easier to pick up a carton from the grocery store. 

As oat milk has grown in popularity, various brands have hopped on the bandwagon, and two recognizable names in the game are Oatly and Chobani. Each brand not only sells oat milk but also has entire lines of oat products with varying levels of creaminess, flavors, or sweeteners. As a big oat milk fan and someone who has even made it at home, I put Oatly and Chobani to the test to see which one makes the better oat milk. To do so, I sampled two types of oat drinks from each brand, with flavor being the most important factor in my decision. That said, I also considered the price of the four drinks, the variety of oat milks each brand has, and the nutritional breakdown of each.

Though Oatly may seem like a newer oat milk brand in the United States, the company originally got its start in Sweden many decades ago. So while the company is still headquartered in Malmo, Sweden, it has a U.S. operation that's fully functional, hence why Oatly has cropped up in American grocery stores and cafes for many years now. 

Oatly has a whole line of products that expands far beyond just oat milk, though the sheer variety of options is nothing to overlook. In this article, I sample Oatly's original oat milk and its full-fat version, but there are many other kinds out there. Other oat beverages in Oatly's lineup include barista edition, original unsweetened, super basic, low-fat, and even chocolate. The brand also has oat creamers, cream cheeses, and ice creams.

The nutritional breakdown of each Oatly oat milk is going to vary. For context, however, per a 1-cup serving size, the original has 120 calories, 5 grams of fat, 16 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 7 grams of added sugar, and 3 grams of protein. Ingredients include water and oats, along with less than 2% of additions like rapeseed oil, dipotassium phosphate, calcium carbonate, sea salt, riboflavin, and certain vitamins. The full-fat version has a very similar ingredient breakdown, with nutritional stats of 160 calories, 9 grams of fat, 15 grams of carbs, 2 grams of fiber, 7 grams of added sugar, and 3 grams of protein per 1-cup serving.

Chobani, like Oatly, is a brand that has taken full advantage of oat milk's rising popularity. Though most people likely recognize Chobani as a Greek yogurt company, the brand has expanded its product repertoire since its 2005 inception. Yogurt remains a staple product for Chobani, but starting in 2019, the brand began selling its lineup of oat milk and related products.

Unlike Oatly, Chobani's oat range is notably not super extensive. For this article, I sampled Chobani's original oat milk and its extra creamy version, but other than those, Chobani only has two other types: zero sugar unsweetened and vanilla. Chobani does offer plenty of other products, like yogurt and coffee creamers, but those are dairy-based products and are separate from the brand's oat-based items.

Chobani oat milk is ultimately very similar in nutritional breakdown to Oatly's. Per a 1-cup serving of Chobani original oat milk, there are 110 calories, 5 grams of fat, 13 grams of carbs, less than 1 gram of fiber, 7 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein. The extra creamy version has identical nutritional stats, except it has 140 calories and 8 grams of fat per serving. Ingredients for both oat drinks include oats and water, and less than 2% of additions like rapeseed oil, sea salt, certain vitamins, calcium carbonate, gellan gum, and dipotassium phosphate. 

Since oat milk (and dairy-free milks in general) is becoming more and more popular, the availability of both Oatly and Chobani oat drinks is pretty widespread. I found the four beverages at my nearest Whole Foods, and I also saw Oatly's chocolate and barista edition options on the shelves. You're best off using each brand's product finder to pinpoint where you can find the respective milks. Oatly's Oatfinder points you in the direction of stores that sell cartons of the milk and cafes that use Oatly's oat milk in coffee drinks. Chobani's Where To Buy page offers a similarly handy function, pointing you to stores like Target or Walgreens, which stock Chobani products.

As for the price of each oat milk, that's going to vary a bit depending on where you shop, where you live, and whether or not your particular store has any deals or sales going on. At Whole Foods, I purchased the Oatly cartons (each 64 ounces) for $6.19 each, whereas the Chobani cartons (each 52 ounces) were $4.69. The Oatly ones seemed more expensive at first glance, but ultimately, the price per ounce comes out to about the same for both products, with Oatly's being about $.10 per ounce and Chobani's being $.09.

I kicked off my taste test with Chobani's original oat milk. At first sip, I was a little let down by the lack of oat flavor. However, as I kept on sipping, the oat flavor became more apparent but was a little bit subdued. Mostly, the milk tasted very creamy, which is something I liked, though it did have a bit of an aftertaste. I couldn't quite place what exactly the aftertaste was, but it was slightly acidic. I don't think that the aftertaste took away from the flavor of the milk itself, which was overall mostly just very creamy and subtly oat-forward.

Overall, I thought Chobani's original oat milk tasted pretty good. I do think that the oat flavor could have been a little more apparent, and perhaps the milk could have benefited from a touch of extra sweetness (there are 7 grams of sugar in each serving, for what it's worth, so it's not sugar-free milk). I could see this milk being a good go-to for those who don't necessarily drink milk just for the heck of it but like to add it to things like smoothies or bowls of cereal.

Considering how similar Oatly's original oat milk is to Chobani's, both in terms of ingredients and nutritional breakdown, I questioned how different the two milks could taste. And, as it turns out, not super different. I found Oatly's original oat milk to have a nice, smooth flavor to it — one that didn't strike me as being overtly oaty at first sip, but as I continued to drink, I definitely picked up more and more on those notes of oat. Any aftertaste I vaguely tasted in Chobani's oat milk wasn't present in Oatly's version, so I appreciated that this glass of oat milk was smooth, creamy sipping from start to finish.

Though Oatly's original oat milk ultimately tasted very similar to Chobani's, I found myself preferring Oatly's a little bit more. Oatly's version tasted more full-bodied and fleshed out, with a certain richness and nice balance of flavor that wasn't quite as apparent in Chobani's version. As such, I enjoyed this milk. Like Chobani's original oat milk, I could see Oatly's version being a good option for those to use in their day-to-day lives, like with cereal or in a cup of coffee.

I didn't expect much flavor discrepancy between Chobani's original oat milk and its extra creamy oat milk but rather was looking for that extra, distinctive creaminess. And I think that Chobani delivered on that front, with the extra creamy oat milk really living up to its namesake. This was one rich glass of milk, with an apparent creaminess from the moment the milk hit your tongue. 

Ultimately, I appreciated how creamy this oat milk was, but once again, I was looking for a little more of that distinct oat flavor to shine through. Whatever aftertaste I was picking up on in the original version was not so apparent in this one, which is another perk because the sheer creaminess was the only thing truly at play. I found the creaminess to be a bit overbearing, so this milk would be less ideal for things like bowls of cereal and more optimal as a mix-in for homemade lattes or in cups of coffee.

Rounding out the taste test is Oatly's full-fat oat milk, a comparable version to Chobani's extra creamy option. Like the Chobani one, I was immediately struck by the sheer creaminess of Oatly's full-fat beverage, though it did feel slightly more nuanced than the competition. I liked that I could still pick up on the oat flavor of the milk itself, and the creaminess, while very apparent, didn't feel quite so in-your-face or overbearing.

Ultimately, I enjoyed the flavor and creaminess of Oatly's full-fat oat drink, and if I were to choose between this or Chobani's extra creamy beverage, I'd go with the Oatly version. My preference ultimately comes down to my desire for a balance of creaminess; if you want your oat milk as creamy as it can get, then Chobani is the better choice. But I found Oatly's milk to be nicely balanced and full of creamy flavor, but one that didn't necessarily compromise the integrity of the oat base itself. 

After comparing both Chobani and Oatly oat milk products in terms of price, availability, and taste, I've concluded that Oatly is the better brand. Ultimately, though, Oatly's win over Chobani is by a narrow margin, and both milks are so comparable that you really can't go wrong with either one. Chobani is the cheaper option by a hair, so if you are pinching pennies wherever possible, then Chobani is a perfectly fine option. Oatly isn't much more expensive, however, and the quality is ever so slightly better to make it worth it, in my opinion.

Another factor working in favor of Oatly is the fact that the brand has a much bigger lineup of oat products than Chobani does. If you're only after plain, original oat milk, then you can readily find that from either brand. But if you want specialty oat milk, like the barista edition, oat milk creamer, or even oat milk cream cheese, then Oatly has Chobani beat. Also, based on Oatly's Oatfinder, many coffee shops and cafes use Oatly products in their drinks, so it's safe to say that Oatly does cover a bigger scope, both in grocery store availability and cafe availability.

I enjoyed both Chobani and Oatly oat drinks, but Oatly's milks were slightly more balanced and oat-forward in flavor. Despite a slight price discrepancy, I still think Oatly is the better brand of the two, if only by a smidge.