I love almonds, always have. A handful of them before getting out of bed got me through hideous morning all-day sickness with both my pregnancies. I like to add them to smoothies, muesli, porridge, ground in cakes or I simply eat them raw, by the handful. But almond milk is really something else. It tastes of fresh sweet almonds (obviously) but it has the most amazing mouth feel also. The oils from the nuts coat your tongue just as regular cow milk would. Now, I’ve never been a big fan of cow milk, even as a kid I always preferred soy milk myself, but since we have been avoiding (most) dairy there are certain things where the fullness, body and neutral taste of cow milk is missed. Like in smoothies. I can now say double thumbs up to almond milk in smoothies, thick, smooth and not overly sweet like you get from using soy or rice-milk.
homemade almond milk
You can make the almond milk thicker or thinner simply by using less or more water. Using the 3 cups makes perfect “cow milk” consistency.
Makes 3 cups.
1 cup raw almonds
pinch sea salt
3 cups filtered water
a touch of maple syrup or a few soaked dates, optional
Place the almonds in a bowl, cover with plenty of cold water and leave to soak overnight.
The next day drain almonds well, rinse and place into a blender. Add 1 cup of the water and a good pinch of sea salt (and a sweetener if you like), blend on high 1 minute until a reasonably smooth paste forms. Add the remaining water and blend for a further 2-3 minutes until smooth.
If you have a nut milk bag use this, otherwise line a large sieve (set over a bowl) with a piece of muslin or cheesecloth. Pour the contents of the blender into it. (You may need to do this in 2-3 batches depending on how big your cloth is). Bring up the sides gently, trying not to let any pulp escape. Hold all four corners firmly and squeeze as much milk as you can out of the cloth.
Keeps 3 days in the fridge. Leftover almond pulp can be mixed into porridge, sprinkled over muesli or added to bread dough.
46 Responses
I love almond milk, but have also struggled to use all the pulp (ok, so I made 12L one day for selling hot chocolate…). Usually I put it in bread and porridge as you say, and it's nice in some cakes.
Also, $6 a kilo really blows my mind. They're still upward of $20 a kilo here T.T
I freeze the pulp in small amounts and pull it out when I make a loaf of bread
🙂
Hi Zo, yeah I actually felt a bit mean talking about how cheap they are over here when I know they are ridiculously expensive back home!
P.S Thanks for your comment awhile back, it pushed me to make this 🙂
i love that photo of the almonds on the little dish, totally beautiful
I have never made almond milk, but I want to as there is a banana almond milk smoothie I am want to try 🙂 So thanks for the recipe, perfect timing. And yes would be great if almonds were as cheap here 🙂
I have to confess I have never tried almond milk but thinking I should give it a got for my next milk pudding. Love the black and white pics
I can't wait to try this, but with hazelnuts as I am not allowed to eat almonds due to allergies. Thankyou for this post as I have wanted to know how to make a nut milk for a while.
yum! I drink milk but could still be totally happy making this!
Paula~ Thanks heaps 🙂
Mairi~ If it makes you feel any better it would cost me way more to make a banana smoothie over here in Perth than it would back in NZ, even with almond milk! Banana's are still around $16kg! Ekk. That's about $3 per banana!
Alli @peasepudding~ It would be lovely in milk pudding or your cardamom and orange blossom infused hot chocolate!!! Yum 🙂
Elizabeth~ Hazelnuts would be great, as would cashews. Or even sunflower seeds for those who can't tolerate nuts of any sort 🙂
Heavenly ingredients~ You so should 🙂
Pictures are beautiful Emma , oh and I am jealous at the price too. But awesome so you can try stuff out … absolute kitchen goddess ! So good for the kids as well.
I'm jealous… again!
At a Moroccan restaurant once, we were given a glass of almond milk with ice-cubes and a little rosewater in.
It was absolutely delcious 🙂
I drink gallons of almond milk and I've always heard about making it so am excited to give it a go. Thank you for sharing your recipe! I really enjoy your lovely blog. 🙂
Haidee~ Thanks love 🙂
Janet~ almond milk with rosewater sounds amazing! Will have to try that with the next batch 🙂 Thanks!
Hannah~ You are so welcome, glad you like it 🙂
I really like almond milk but almost never buy it because it's expensive. Not that almonds are cheap over here… but I'd feel a bit more justified spending money in making my own! Adding this to my ever-growing "to-make" list 🙂
I have never tried almond milk because it is so expensive here!! I will have to try making it 🙂
Hi I thought I was allergic to Hazels and almonds, but it turn out I am just allergic to the raw skins, they contain a toxic protein, the same as peanut skins. Just as well as I grow lots of hazelnuts in Canterbury.. You need to have two trees and it will take up to five years to get a crop. Canterbury is a bit cold to grow almonds, we have tried, but they grow well in Marlborough and Hawkes Bay type climates. keep almond trees away from apricot trees though, they don't like each other.
You can make rice milk ina similar way, using cooked brown rice, but it is quite high in carbs.
I've never tried almond meal before, but you sure make it look enticing!
I just made almond milk this morning with your recipe. Lovely success! I added a drop of vanilla at the end and it's yummy. I confess I fed the leftover pulp to my hens and it's a fabulous treat for them.
That's sounds like a great way to get rid of the pulp ;-)If only I had me some chickens!
I so want to try this – I've been drinking a lot of oat milk which I love (have you tried it?) but it's sooo expenny.
Yes we buy oak milk every now and then, but mostly stick to rice milk because of the price! I should look into making my own oat milk? 😉
Hi! I'm a relatively new follower. I'm writing in to share a link to a gluten-free blog I check in on from time to time–http://www.lexieskitchen.com/
–she just posted crackers made from almond pulp. I'm sort of itching to give them a whirl. Between the two of you, I'm feeling pretty motivated to whip up a batch of both!
Hey thanks Becky 🙂 I stop by Lexieskitchen from time to time too, I will check out her cracker recipe for sure. I've just made another batch of almond milk, the pulp is still sitting in a bowl on the bench, so perfect timing! Thanks again.
I love making my own almond milk. My fav non-edible use for the ubiquitous pulp is to mix it with honey and use as a body/face scrub. Delicious!
Oh wow! That is a FANTASTIC idea Tiffany! Thank you so much for letting me know 🙂 Sounds perfect.
If you have a garden and use mulches in your garden. All of your food scraps can put underneath the mulch and it will add nutrients back into the soil as everything continues to decay and compost naturally.
Thanks, yes we do mulch and compost (and sneak the odd bit of food scraps in there too). I'm still keen to find a way other than putting in the garden to use up the pulp. There are a good few suggestions that I will try out next time I make a batch. Thanks again.
I haven't attempted the homemade almond milk myself because I've been able to buy it pre-made with coupons in the US for fairly inexpensively. I would love to make homemade yogurt though (I think Cybel has done this…I found you via Cybele Pascal.) Have you attempted homemade yogurt? It seems to be way more labor intensive than I feel like exerting the time on.
Thanks for sharing this recipe…seems super easy!
Hi Michelle, Yes I make my own yoghurt a couple of times a week. It really is super easy and works out a lot cheaper than buying it. Also the pro-biotics in freshly made yoghurt are far superior to those in store-bought.
hi again,
just wondered what sort of blender you have? My little target one did not think much of blending almonds. very disappointing!
I just have a basic sunbeam blender, one of the ones with a glass jug. Nothing fancy. Maybe try adding all of the water at once to give it a bit more of a helping hand? You remembered to soak the nuts overnight first eh?
you can add some almond pulp to your smoothies
thanks Emma, I'm dreaming about a vitamix, but don't think it will be happening this Christmas 😉
Now to getting a nut bag – much harder to find than I thought, but I will persist!
Yes a vitamix would be amazing wouldn't it?! My blender now sells for under $50 here in Aussie and it's not too bad though. I still don't own a nut bag, but I'm going to buy one from Amazon real soon. They are really reasonable on there, even with postage. Health food stores would be your best bet locally.
thank you. Yes, saving the pennies for a vitamix. Might give the milk a go today without the bag!
i just made raw almond milk for the first time ever-i've been wanting to do it for a long time. i live in California and a quart of almond milk is less than $3usd. very inexpensive but filled with anti-coagulators, preservatives, flavors, etc. Even organic has anti-coagulators. so although a pound of almonds is $6usd, the extra money and time to make it is definitely worth it. I added a pinch of raw cacao powder and a tsp of honey to my batch. the vitamix worked like a charm and made it frothy yummm thanks for the recipe!
So glad you made it! Home made is a gazillion times nicer than store-bought. Almond milk is getting cheaper to buy commercially here in Australia ($4 litre). But like you said, it's all the added nasties that make home made the better choice.
I JUST SAW THIS. When I have pulp, stir in cocoa powder and some kind of sweetener (I prefer raw honey). It tastes like brownies.
Hi Emma! Just made the almond milk this morning, and it turned out fantastic. Nut/oat/rice milks are so expensive in Norway, but you can often find cheap bulk almond bins so this is perfect for me (and my wallet) 🙂
I didn't have a cheese cloth so I used a fresh kitchen washing-up cloth (you know those blue/white ones?) and it did the trick – i've used them before to make home-made apple cider hehe.
Thanks again for the recipes, keep them coming.
xx Julie
Ah yes, the good ol' chux cloth! I've been known to use the kids muslin face wipes to make almond milk with 😉 Whatever works aye! haha
I finally got around to making this – YUM so much better than the filth Sanitarium are now selling here (second ingredient? Sugar).
Agreed 🙂 So glad you made it.
Hi! I have been making this recipe for a month now and just realized I am supposed to rinse the almonds. oops. This may be dumb question, but after soaking the almonds why do you need to rinse and use different water? What exactly are you rinsing away? Thanks! 🙂
Soaking the nuts overnight helps to release enzyme inhibitors in the nuts, making them easier to digest. These enzyme inhibitors shed off the nuts and into the water, that's why it's important to drain off the soaking liquid and rinse them well before using fresh water to make the actual nut milk. The same goes for any legumes you are soaking overnight. Always drain off the soaking water and replace with fresh to cook.
ok, good to know! thank you so much! I've been ingesting lots of crud (like 6 batches worth already)
Hello, I just started making my own almond milk, and have done for the last month or so. I live in NZ and I find it so much cheaper than you may have thought. I pay about $2 for 700mls-1L, depending on how thick you like it ($4 or more to buy from the supermarket for 1L) . I don't use organic almonds, although I did research this, that would in deed be more expensive but on one income it wasn't an option for us until I go back to work. I store the pulp in the freezer as this will keep it fresh and I have made so many wonderfully yummy things with it that my kids just love. Lemon/ginger/coconut balls, wholefood caramel slice, boiled almond cake….just to name a few. I basically try any recipe that calls for almond meal and with our family being gluten free it has come in really handy, so I get two products for the price of one. I suspect if I had a thermomix I could get it ground a wee bit finer but with my food processor it seems to work well.