If you’ve always been curious as to how to make homemade almond milk, but have felt too nervous to try, take heart, it’s much easier than you think! In fact, once you get the hang of it, you can accomplish this feat in less than 10 minutes of active time. Pretty fair investment considering HOW. MUCH. BETTER. it is than store-bought almond milk.
Around here, all we can get is UHT boxed almond milk, for which we pay dearly. Not only does it taste cooked, but every brand has some type of thickening gum in it. No thanks! I’ll happily invest 10 minutes once every 4 or so days to have fresh, creamy, dreamy almond milk that is free of additives and thickeners.
All you need to make homemade almond milk is:
Raw almonds (roasted, salted almonds just won’t work here)
Optional: some type of sweetener like pure maple syrup or 1-2 pitted dates
Optional: a teaspoon of vanilla
So… what’s the process?
STEP 1: SOAK YOUR ALMONDS
Soak them in plenty of water for at least 4 hours or overnight. Yes, you do need to think about this in advance… Sorry about that! There’s no way around it! But this step makes them nice & plump and ready for blending. Rinse and drain them after soaking.
STEP 2: COLLECT YOUR EQUIPMENT
You need a medium-sized strainer and a bowl or measuring cup to catch the milk in. I just use my 4-cup Pyrex glass measure that I soaked the almonds in. If you want to get fancy, you can strain the milk through a cheesecloth or a really thin kitchen towel to get out more of the tiny bits of pulp.
STEP 3:
Add all your ingredients to the blender.
STEP 4:
Blend away! The Vitamix will blitz the almonds into milk in about 30-45 seconds, but a regular blender will take longer, up to one minute.
STEP 5:
Strain it. Please don’t forget to put your bowl or cup underneath! I did that once… ONCE. (As Tommy would say, “What a fail…”)
STEP 6:
Squeeze it! This is the fun part. Remove the strainer, twist up your cheesecloth, and squeeze the rest of the milk out. It might make you wonder if this is what it’s like to milk a cow… it’s NOT. I’ve milked a cow and I can safely say that the two are nothing alike. It will make you wonder, though…
STEP 7:
There is no step 7! You’re done!! Easy, right? Now you have your milk and your pulp. When I first started making almond milk, I had no idea what to do with the pulp. Now I’m full of ideas… the most popular use for it in my family is the chocolate orange almond meal muffins.
Your almond milk will keep for 4-5 days in the refrigerator. It will separate a bit as it sits- just stir it before using. I find that 3 1/2 cups doesn’t last more than 3-4 days in my house…
Enjoy!
How to Make Homemade Almond Milk
Notes
Note the prep time includes soaking the almonds.
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw almonds, soaked 4 hours or overnight, drained, rinsed & drained again
- 3 1/2 cups filtered water
- 1 T. pure maple syrup or 1-2 pitted dates (optional)
- 1 t. vanilla extract (optional)
- a few grains of sea salt
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a blender.
- Blend at high speed until liquid is white and milky.
- Strain through a strainer (preferably lined with a cheesecloth or thin kitchen towel)
- Squeeze remaining milk through the cheesecloth with your hands.
- Save the pulp for future use.
- Refrigerate almond milk and use within 4-5 days.