Disclosed herein are methods for the recovery of an organic acid, such as a heat stable lactic acid, from a feed stream which contains at least one of an organic acid amide, an organic acid ammonium salt, or an alkylamine-organic acid complex. The feed stream is mixed with at least one azeotroping agent. The azeotroping agent is a hydrocarbon capable of forming at least one azeotrope with the organic acid that is produced by the thermal decomposition of the amide, ammonium salt, or complex in the feed stream. Preferably the azeotrope is a heteroazeotrope. The mixture of the feed stream and the azeotroping agent is heated to produce a vapor stream. The azeotrope is a component of the vapor stream. The vapor stream can be condensed to a liquid stream, and the organic acid is recovered in the liquid stream that is produced. When the azeotrope is a heteroazeotrope, the vapor stream can be condensed into a liquid stream, which can be separated into a first phase and a second phase. The first phase contains the highest concentration of organic acid and the second phase contains azeotroping agent. The organic acid can be further purified and/or concentrated from the separated first phase or from the liquid stream.