Easiest Homemade Almond Milk Recipe
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This Homemade Almond Milk Recipe is going to rock your world–because it’s literally the easiest recipe out there. No fuss and no mess–just easy almond milk. You’ll see what I mean!
Making processed food substitutes can help you save a ton of money on your whole foods budget. And it doesn’t have to take a bunch of time either.
I’m all about easy.
I make my own Homemade Chocolate Chips, Cream of Rice Cereal, Pumpkin Spice Creamer, and Homemade Ketchup.
All of those taste great, and are very simple to make.
But today I’m sharing with you the Easiest Almond Milk Recipe Ever. Seriously.
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The Need for Easy Recipes
My “cooking philosophy” has evolved over the years. Health-wise, but also “simplicity-wise.”
Maybe you can relate.
I used to, pour-over cookbooks (especially the dessert section – cough-cough), dreaming about all of the amazing things that I could make. Then I’d try a fancy recipe like Stuffed Chicken Breasts or Candy Cane Shaped Cookies Dipped in Chocolate.
Well, it’s not that this busy momma doesn’t still like to play in the kitchen, but times have changed.
My life is busier than ever while we homeschool and I work on getting my family to be as healthy as possible.
So now, I’m more looking for recipes and tips that will get good yummy food on my table with as little effort and time as possible. (Cause I already am stressed out to the max way too busy :-).)
So….today’s recipe is an example of one way I’ve managed to save a ton of time in the kitchen, while still making something good.
Why Is Almond Milk Popular?
- Dairy allergies are on the increase.
- Lactose intolerance is on the increase.
- People living a vegan lifestyle want alternatives to dairy for cooking, baking and drinking.
Why Make Your Own Homemade Almond Milk?
- The obvious – save money.
- Save time and money by not running out the store because you’ve run out of milk (or a dairy-free alternative). (See the price of gas going up – oh, my heart be still. Every trip you can save is money in the bank!)
- Life a more sustainable lifestyle – less packaging and less waste. Even if they ever figure out a way to recycle those aseptic cartons, you can bet that it will be a super labor intensive.
Ever since my oldest was diagnosed with a life-threatening allergy to dairy (at 3 months of age), I’ve had to find ways to make allergy-free substitutes for drinking and for baking. But this method makes it super easy.
To be fair, this method won’t match the super-creamy store-bought, aseptic packed almond milk you are used to. But it gets the job done lickety split. And it’s pretty good.
Just yesterday both of my sons asked for some. They said it’s not quite as good as my Homemade Coconut Milk, but good nonetheless.
How Much Can You Save?
Just so you can feel super good about yourself and your new frugal tip to help with your budget, here are the real numbers: Of course, this all depends upon where you buy it and your cost for almonds.
Almond Milk bought in bulk, buying 4 32 oz containers at Amazon, costs $2.43 for 4 cups.
Homemade Almond Milk (using a price of $4 per pound for almonds) costs $1.27 for 4 cups (plus your water cost, of course.) Savings: 48% That’s not as amazing of a savings amount compared to my Homemade Coconut Milk, or Homemade Rice Milk, but saving almost 50% is nothing to sneeze at.
So there you have it – motivated to save time and money (and be environmentally conscious at the same time)? I hope so!
And just so you know, all this doesn’t mean that I’ve given up on that caramel recipe yet either :-).
How to Store
Store this homemade almond milk in the fridge. It should keep for up to 3 or 4 days.
You could alternatively freeze it in cubes to use in your beverages or for making frozen treats in a high speed blender.
What to Do With Leftover Pulp
If you do choose to strain your almond milk, why waste all of that solid almond pulp goodess?
Good thing is–you don’t have to!
You can dehydrate it in a dehydrator or an oven on low. Then pulse in food processor (or blender) to make into a finer powder.
The resulting almond meal can be tossed on cereals, put in smoothies or shakes, or used in most any recipe that calls for almond flour.
Recipes for Leftover Almond Pulp Turned to Almond Meal
Here are some great recipes to use your leftover pulp/meal in.
- Edible Cookie Dough – called “dangerously addictive” by a taste tester
- Healthy Green Bean Casserole – so much better than typical recipes
- Sugar-free Twix Bars – your childhood favorite made healthier
- Grain-free Meatballs – no bread or breadcrumbs needed!
- Eggnog Cookies – so tasty, they’re absolutely not just for the Holidays
More “Quick and Easy” Pantry Staples
If you like saving money and easy recipes, you will love these other options.
– Powdered Sugar – works with any type of sweetener
– Powdered Egg Replacer – works in almost any recipe
– Homemade Vegetable Broth – doubles as an amazing all-purpose seasoning
– Homemade Coconut Butter – great for so many recipes and saves tons of money
Recipe Notes
1. Appearance: This recipe uses whole almonds. If you want your almond milk to be more uniform in appearance, you can use blanched almonds. Otherwise, you will have specks of the almond skins in the resulting milk.
2. Stir and Serve: If you don’t strain the milk (the way I typically don’t), you can either stir the solids into the mix as you wish or use the solids for another purpose.
3. Soak First: Some people make almond milk from soaked almonds, but I don’t do that. I know it might sound counter-intuitive to dry the almonds before making milk, but I soak and dry a lot of nuts at a time. Then I store them and keep them on hand for snacking, making almond butter, or making this almond milk, or almond meal…you get the picture. This way I always have soaked nuts at the ready for making milk instead of having to time my soaking and milk making together.
4. If you are doing a food plan like Trim Healthy Mama, a more acceptable proportion is 1/2 cup almonds per 4 cups of water. You can thicken the resultant milk with glucomannan if desired. This recipe is an “S” for THM.
5. Notes on Stevia / other sweeteners. Stevia is very very sweet. You can read here for more information on how to use it. You can omit the sweetener or use another one as desired.
6. Other Milks: You can use this method for making other nut-based milk as well – I personally haven’t made these (mainly since my son is allergic to all nuts except almond and macadamia – and those macadamias are super pricey!) but you could definitely try:
- walnut milk
- pecan milk
- hazelnut milk
- cashew milk
7. Sweetener Options: You can substitute any other healthy sweetener for stevia. If using stevia, see How to Use Stevia.
8. Flavoring Options: For flavorings, chocolate or carob, as well as cinnamon, are great options, but the sky’s the limit!
Easiest Homemade Almond Milk Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a blender.
- Blend ’til smooth. In my Vitamix, I blend for approximately 2-3 minutes. This machine it totally worth it!
- Strain milk through a nut milk bag or cheesecloth, if desired. I don’t bother – I’m just too busy :-)!
- Pour and enjoy.
Notes
- Appearance: This recipe uses whole almonds. If you want your almond milk to be more uniform in appearance, you can use blanched almonds. Otherwise, you will have specks of the almond skins in the resulting milk.
- Stir and Serve: If you don’t strain the milk (the way I typically don’t), you can either stir the solids into the mix as you wish or use the solids for another purpose.
- Soak First: Some people make almond milk from soaked almonds, but I don’t do that. I know it might sound counter-intuitive to dry the almonds before making milk, but I soak and dry a lot of nuts at a time. Then I store them and keep them on hand for snacking, making almond butter, or making this almond milk, or almond meal…you get the picture. This way I always have soaked nuts at the ready for making milk instead of having to time my soaking and milk making together.
- If you are doing a food plan like Trim Healthy Mama, a more acceptable proportion is 1/2 cup almonds per 4 cups of water. You can thicken the resultant milk with glucomannan if desired. This recipe is an “S” for THM.
- Sweeteners. Stevia is very very sweet but you can omit the sweetener or use another one as desired.
- Other Milks: You can use this method for making walnut, pecan, hazelnut, or cashew milk.
- Sweetener Options: You can substitute any other healthy sweetener for stevia. If using stevia, see How to Use Stevia.
- Flavoring Options: For flavorings, chocolate or carob, as well as cinnamon, are great options, but the sky’s the limit!
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
What’s your favorite way to use almond milk?
Do the almonds need to be dehydrated? I thought when you soak them you activate the enzymes. And when you dehydrate them they preserve the enzymes. Cant you just soak them and then blend them?
Yes, you could do that but they will have too much moisture in them. You’ll have more of the makings for a dairy free cheesecake like in my Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes.
Karen…the info that came with my Excalibur said it costs 3 cents per hour to run so you can figure that into your cost. Not too pricey.
You posted the savings Adrienne, did you figure in the cost of dehydrating those almonds in the Excalibur for several hours? That machine does not run for free in my house. : (
No, sorry. If not, you would have to buy the almonds soaked and dried and that is nearly impossible :).
Hi! I’m just curious… For almond milk, if I soak the almonds, is it necessary to dehydrate them first before blending them in water? What effect would it have if I didn’t dehydrate? Thanks!! (Also, how long does almond milk usually last in the fridge?)
No, it’s not. I do just because I dehydrate all of my nuts and seeds. I have read it keeps about 3 days and other places–about 4. Of course, it will keep for a shorter time in the door of the fridge.
Thank you! I hate to dehydrate if I don’t need to because it’s 12 hours in my gas oven on low with the door cracked open! Thanks a lot! =]
Hi!I am just enjoyng this homemade almond milk,delicious:)Thank you so much for all the recepies.Do you think it’s better if use organic almonds?For how long can I keep it in the fridge?
Thank you!
Yea! I think organic is almost always better, but I don’t buy organic almonds. Since they have a really thick shell I spend my organic $$s elsewhere. Like on veggies and meats and fats. :). I typically don’t have it around that long, but I’ve seen sites saying to use it w/in 3 days. I think it depends on the temp of your fridge, of course! You can always freeze extra in cubes and use it in tea and coffee, etc.
How is this compared to cows milk when used for cooking/baking?
You can sub 1:1, but it will have a slightly different taste / texture. I don’t think that much though. Rice milk seems to alter things more.
Great post! You are right making your own dairy free milks is super frugal and even better, you don’t get unnecessary additives, preservatives, carrageenan and other unwanted things.
I wish I could get almonds for $4 a pound. Everything has to be gluten-free, including processing plants so I guess that unfortunately drives the price higher.
I agree, coconut milk is my fave too!!!
We do a bulk almond buy each fall I am not sure but I might have extras if you want but they are 5.16 per pound and up. Did you check Just Almonds on my sidebar? I am not sure if they are GF or not. But they are great!
I think Just Almonds (in my sidebar…10% off w/ CODE WNM) is GF. But call and see!
Using a Vitamix I find that it’s not necessary to strain the almond milk. I blogged about about it.
and most recently I made a comparison to commercially-bought almond milk.
Why don’t you just use almond butter? So much easier than having to strain all that almond bulk out of the milk. 3 cups water, 2 tbsp almond butter, in your vitamix for 4 minutes on high, then you can strain it if you want, but it’s not necessary and it takes way less time if you do choose to strain it. also, i bet if you used a blanched almond butter it would be perfectly smooth even without straining. i make my own almond butter, because all you have to do is put almonds in a food processor, and 20-30 minutes later you have wonderfully smooth almond butter. my particular food processor has a blade that tends to lift and fly off (for everything), so i like to stay and push it down every once in a while while i’m cooking dinner, but if you don’t have that problem you could absolutely leave it and come back when it’s done.
I was actually thinking about this just last night b/c whenever I make seed or nut butter I just add water to my Vitamix and then blend a bunch of water w/ the remains of the butter to make almond milk – cleans out the blender and gets us more to eat. I have almond / nut / seed butter on my blog already :-).
So funny you left this comment the morning after I was thinking the same thing :).
Thank you for taking the time to post your almond milk recipe. I am using it my first effort at making a quinoa pudding for my lactose-intolerant family. Just wanted to note that one “pores” over a book or whatever, not “pours.”
Hi,
Very excited.to.try this.recipe! I looked into the Green Polka Dot Box and all the almond milks they sell contain carrageenan, which is a nasty ingredient which wreaks havoc on the digestive system and is linked to colon cancer
https://blog.healthkismet.com/carrageenan-cancer-health-inflammation
The only commercial almond milk I buy is Silk. They do not use that ingredient. I am eager to try this recipe because it.will be much cheaper;). Thank you.
You are welcome!!!
I love homemade almond milk! Try using dates instead of a sweetener. They add a great flavor. 🙂
I love dates, but if you have candida they are a big no no. :(.
Hi, glad to have discovered your site! I’ve been loving making my own almond milk for a couple months now but my latest batch looked different. When it settles in the fridge, there appears to be a thick layer of foam on top, then a beige layer in middle, then a thin white layer on bottom. Reminds me of 1-2-3 jello but previous batches only had 2 layers? Does this sound normal? I did use dates this time around where I usually only use almonds, water and vanilla.
I would think it’s the dates and how they are settling. Of course, I can’t see it, but I would think that is what it is.
We make almond milk by soaking the almonds for 24hrs then rinsing & blending with water & dates for sweetness but don’t dehydrate first, am I missing an important step or is this okay?
I think you are fine. The soaking is the key from what I understand.
Wow, fabulous, thanks!
Have you found an interesting use for the almond pulp? I’m thinking in cookies or a bread, but perhaps someone else is even more creative.
I have heard about crackers, hummus, power bites, smoothies, etc. Freeze and experiment I guess!
Adrienne, your receipe sound good, but right now I’m not making mine so how r the shipping charges of greenpolka dot….as prices r cheap….also do u have any promo code for shopping at their site, if yes it will be helpfull.
thanks
Shipping is free at $99. There is no promotion, but you can get a 1 month membership for free right now.
Snap, I just made some Almond Milk, a family recipe sweetened with dates. I saw your variation on Diet Dessert and Dog blog, so had to come by. I just drink it how its made, also freezing it as lollies.
Hi, we love almond milk and I make it the same way you do, your right it’s so easy and tastes amazing!! I like to put it into coffee 🙂 It tastes better than creamer you buy from the story, and without all the yucky stuff.
I love it in my coffee substitute too!
I’m curious, how does the homemade stuff stack up nutritionally to the commercially fortified almond milk. While I don’t like buying commercial anything there is a strong argument for the vitamin D, calcium & protein that it provides.
I would much rather supplement in other ways than pay the extra for the almond milk in the store and have the packaging waste – There shouldn’t be any extras unless they are added. I’m not sure what brand you are looking at, but the protein profile should be the same. Hope that helps!