How To Make Almond Milk

We love dairy in our home, but sometimes we need something a little less calorically dense or we simply need a way to use up the almonds sitting in the pantry. Nut milks can very quickly become ridiculously expensive, but making your own is so simple, time efficient, and best of all soooo cheap. Here I’ll show you how to make your own homemade almond milk (or any nut “milk”) in your kitchen.

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What you need to make homemade almond milk

Ingredients

First off you’ll need whole, unroasted almonds. We get ours from Costco, where a bag of over three pounds is worth between $10-15. Aside from the almonds the only other thing you really need is water.

Optionally, you can add dates or maple syrup for a bit of sweetness, and/or a pinch of salt. We love Redmond’s Real Salt for the minerals and flavor.

Equipment

You’ll need a blender of some sort. I’ve done this with a traditional blender and immersion blender with great results.

Then you’ll need a nut bag or cheesecloth for straining the blended nuts out of the “milk”.

How many almonds do you need?

1 cup of almonds = 1 quart of milk

1/4 cup of almonds = 1 cup of milk

Whatever amount you decide to make, ensure that it’s something you’ll use within the week. We aren’t working with preservatives here so the fridge life of our milk is relatively short.

The Process

Step 1: Blanch the almonds

Put your almonds in a heat proof bowl. Here I’m using a pyrex measuring cup, but you can also use a stainless steel bowl, or a pot.

Bring water to a boil and pour the freshly boiled water over the almonds until they are completely covered. Let it sit for 30 minutes to an hour or until the water has cooled enough for you to comfortable handle the almonds.

Step 2: Peel the almonds

This part is so much fun and my kids love it. When you squeeze the skin on the almonds the nuts will pop out and some may shoot across your kitchen if you aren’t careful. Some almonds may love their skins a little too much to let go so easily. In those cases nick the skins and peel it off.

Continue until all almonds are nude.

Don’t throw away the water and almons peels! Add it to your garden or compost pile 🙂

Step 3: Blend the almonds

Add your blanched almonds to your blender and add as much water as needed.

1/4 cup almonds = 1 cup water

1 cup almonds = 1 quart water

If your blender is small or you’re using an immersion blender you can add half the water needed during the blending and add the remaining water after the “milk” has been strained.

Blend on high for a minute or two.

Step 4: Strain the milk and chill

Place the nut bag or cheesecloth over a wide mouth jar or better yet a bowl. Pour the milk into the nut bag until almost full. Give the bag a good couple of squeezes to release the milk. Repeat if there is still more milk in the blender needing straining.

Once all the milk is strained, add to jars and refrigerate. After sitting for a while the milk will separate. Give it a good shake before you use it in recipes or for drinking.

How to Sweeten homemade almond milk

Add a date to each cup of almond milk you make. You can blend it in when you’re blending the nuts or you can add it after. Blend it after if you want to turn the ground almonds into flour. You can also add a bit of maple syrup to the milk after blending and straining.

What to do with the leftovers?

After you’ve strained the milk out of the nut bag you are left with finely ground almonds that look a lot like what you find in those expensive bags of almond flour.

So, to make the most out of your ingredients take the ground up almonds and place them on a baking sheet. Turn your oven onto its lowest setting and place the tray in the oven. Give the almonds a bit of a stir every hour or so until the are dry. If needed sift out any large chunks and run those through a blender again until fine.

And there you have it! Making your own homemade almond milk is super simple and wonderfully cheap 🙂

Enjoy!