Once you learn how to make almond milk at home, you might never go back.
Plant-based milk has come a long way.
These days, you can buy nondairy milk in a dizzying array of intriguing flavors – ricemilk, soymilk, quinoa milk, banana milk… yes, really, banana milk.
Even non-vegans have embraced this new vegan milk trend, whether it’s for the health benefits, lower calories, or delicious taste they can get by switching to one of the many plant-based choices on the market. Unlike cow’s milk, you can also buy plant-based milk with zero grams of sugar, making it prefect to use in savory recipes such as my Vegan Cheese Sauce.
Giant fast-food chains such as Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts now offer almond milk as an option to their customers, and grocery stores often dedicate at least one entire column of the dairy case to different types and flavors of nondairy milk.
But buying specialty milks can be expensive, and many brands also include ingredients some people would rather avoid, such as carageenan, xanthan gum, and added sugar. Certain varieties of nondairy milk can have up to 20 grams of sugar, in just one cup!
Luckily it is easy to make your own almond milk at home, where you get to control what ingredients go in and how much sugar—if any—to add.
Homemade Almond Milk Flavors:
Chocolate Almond Milk: Add 1 tsp pure vanilla extract and 1-3 tbsp cocoa or cacao powder, depending on how chocolatey you want it. Sweeten as desired.
Vanilla Almond Milk: Add the seeds of 1 vanilla bean. Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds. Blend with the other ingredients. I also like to add a little pure vanilla extract to heighten the vanilla flavor. Sweeten to taste.
Strawberry Almond Milk: Blend in 1 tsp pure vanilla extract and 2 cups strawberries, stems removed. Sweeten as desired.
Other flavor ideas for how to make almond milk include Banana Almond Milk (blend in a banana) or Coffee Almond Milk (add a few tsp instant coffee powder). I’m brainstorming so many ideas right now… What would be your dream almond milk flavor?
**As a fun variation, feel free to swap out the almonds for raw cashews or macadamia nuts in the basic recipe or for any of the flavors above.
If you try making your own homemade almond milk, be sure to rate this recipe in the comments, or tag me on Instagram @ChocolateCoveredKatie so I can see and like your pictures!
How To Make Almond Milk
(Or substitute your favorite nut)
How To Make Almond Milk
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw almonds, or nuts of choice
- 2 to 3 cups water, depending on desired thickness
- pinch salt
- see flavors, listed earlier in the post
Instructions
*Note: If you want to skip the straining step, simply use nuts that do not have skins, such as raw cashews, raw macadamia nuts, or blanched almonds.
Completely cover the nuts with water in a medium bowl. Let soak at room temperature for a full day. Drain completely, rinse, and pat dry. In a food processor, blender, or vitamix, blend the nuts with the 2-3 cups water until smooth. Line a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth or nut bag (or a very thin kitchen towel if it’s all you have). Set it over a medium container, and strain the milk through the strainer, then fold the cloth over top and squeeze out as much liquid as you possibly can. Discard the remaining nutmeat, or add it to smoothies or other recipes. Add a pinch of salt and sweeten if desired. If making one of the custom flavors listed earlier in this post, blend everything together at this time. Refrigerate in a covered container for up to 4 days.
More How To Posts:
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(This is one of my most viral video recipes)
So, Katie… does the majority of fat in the nuts remain with the unused almond meat? I’m sure that by-product would make an excellent binder for baked goods. I’m looking forward to making the almond milk, and figuring out the best use of the leftover ground almond!
You can actually make your own almond flour with it. Just put your oven to the lowest setting (or use a dehydrator). Spread it out on a lined baking sheet and let it cook for 2 or 3 hours or until all the moisture is gone. If you want fine flour, you can then blend it.
You could dry out the ground nuts in the oven and then grind again till fine. Use as almond meal or “almond flour”.
This looks so easy. My family uses milk a lot. But we really want to try a vegan diet. I will definitely
Use this recipe in the future. Thanks Katie.
I never thought of flavouring homemade almond milk! Really looking forward to trying these 🙂
Why do the directions say to pat the soaked and rinsed almonds dry when the next step is to add 2-3 cups of water? I’d like to skip drying them if it really doesn’t make any difference. Thanks!
You want to rinse them and dry them first to remove all the dirt from the soaking water.
This turned out really well. I used 1 C of almonds, soaked them over night, rinsed them but didn’t pat them dry (didn’t see your reply until this morning), and ground them up in my Ninja with 2 C of water, then flavored with a dash of salt and a drip of vanilla. Just right. I’m using the almond meal, which made about 2 C, in CCK’s recipe for mini apple pies, which I make often. All that from 1 C of almonds!
I had no idea how easy almond milk is to make, why have i not been doing this sooner. I could use the almond flour that can be made for my yummy keto chocolate silk pies, they are a hit. I like this recipe because nothing gets wasted.
It seems using your search bar results in a page without the css/stylesheet affecting it. Does anyone else have this same issue? All the design of the website disappears until I click on a recipe link.
Hi, thanks so much for the comment. We’ve been working on this for a few weeks and are hoping to have it fixed very soon! Sorry for the trouble.
Jason (media relations)
We love making almond milk in our house! It’s so yummy and easy!
Paige
I live in Houston, and ran out of almond milk yesterday. I’m not about to leave my house to find more, so I sacrificed my fancy blanched sliced almonds. It turned out really well!
Thank you for listing and explaining the nutritional facts. Props to you girl!
Do you have to use raw almonds? What about prepacked roasted almonds without salt?
That sounds like a delicious variation. Be sure to report back if you experiment!