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Almond milk is a healthy and inexpensive alternative to conventional dairy that you can easily make at home! Statistics show that many people are choosing dairy-free milks and other products due to allergies, concerns about sourcing, or just taste preference.
Why Make Almond Milk?
Like virtually every other food or drink, almond milk is both less expensive and healthier when you make it yourself. While there are decent store bought brands available now, many brands contain additives like carrageenan to remain shelf stable and a keep a consistent texture.
Almond milk is a low glycemic alternative to rice milk, and doesn’t cause problems with hormone levels like soy milk does. It can be used in place of regular milk in recipes and baking. It is easy to make and has a light taste.
We used almond milk when we were working on reversing our son’s dairy intolerance and I still often use it (or homemade coconut milk) in recipes, coffee, or to drink simply because it is so inexpensive and easy to make.
If you are dairy free, making your own almond milk is a great way to save money and avoid additives. As a bonus, you can use the leftover almond pulp to make almond flour for use in recipes! If you are nut free as well, coconut milk is another good alternative.
If you go through a lot of almond milk in your home, I have found that it is much faster to use the Nutr Machine. While it can be pricey (use code WELLNESSMAMA10 for a discount), it can pay for itself very quickly if you use it often enough!
How to Store Homemade Almond Milk
This recipe lasts approximately 4 days in the refrigerator. Our family easily consumes this much almond milk in a few days, but if you won’t use this, it is best to reduce the recipe and make less to use as you need it.
Homemade Almond Milk Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw almonds
- 4 cups filtered water (plus more for soaking)
- 1 pinch sea salt
- ½ tsp vanilla extract (or ½ vanilla bean, scraped, optional)
- sweetener (such as 2 dates, 2 TBSP maple syrup, or a few drops of stevia, optional)
Instructions
- If desired, soak almonds for at least 12 hours in pure water with 1/2 tsp sea salt. This is an important step as it breaks down the phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors and cultures beneficial enzymes in the almonds. The longer the almonds soak, the creamier the finished milk will be. (Side note: soaking nuts should be done before eating them as well. Soak nuts in salt water for 12 hours, rinse them, and dry in oven on lowest heat. See tutorial here.)
- Drain the soaking water and rinse the almonds well. Do not keep this water to re-use as it contains phytic acid and is best to discard it.
- In blender or Vitamix combine almonds and pure water along with vanilla, sweeteners, or any other optional ingredients. See the notes below for some flavor suggestions.
- Blend 2-3 minutes until smooth and creamy. Mixture will expand some, so make sure your blender is not full before starting it.
- Strain mixture into a large bowl through a sprout bag, cheesecloth, or thin kitchen towel.
- Pour into glass jar or pitcher and store in refrigerator for up to four days.
Notes
Nutrition
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Do you eat almonds? Ever used almond or coconut milk in place of regular milk? Tell me below!
I tried this but it wasn’t at all creamy. I added cocoa, stevia, and vanilla. The flavor was fine but it tasted more like water. I’m drying out the almond for flour. How long does it keep for?
Change your ratio, add more almonds less water. It should keep for ~3 days once opened, 7 days if unopened.
I wondered about the taste. I’m trying to figure out if it’s cheaper to make my own almond milk or just buy it. When I googled Almond Milk recipes (including this one) all of the water/almond ratios were way different, ranging from 6 to 12 cups of water per pound of almonds. Since 3 cups roughly equals 1 lb of almonds, this recipe calls for the equivalent of 12 cups of water per lb. of almonds. It’s a little hard to figure in the added benefit of being able to make almond flour with the pulp.
The problem is store bought almond milk only has a few almonds in it. It’s mostly water. It’s a crime to even call it almond milk. Plus most have sugar and carrageenan, which are not good either. I don’t think there is a store bought one that is any good.
This is true. When I called Silk they refused to convey how their almonds are pasteurized.
The almonds it self is pasteurized with PPO plus additives carrageenan to prolong shelf life. Hence, cancer found in kids and adults from store bought milk.
Or 1 cup of almonds per 4 cups water, so 1/5 of it is pure almonds.
Becky, that explains why this version has 12.5g of fat per cup compared to the brand that I buy’s 2.5g per cup.
If you have read recent article on Almond Milk like on Dr Mercola’s Web Page you will see that a few Almond Milk Companies use barely 2% almonds in the milk they sell, less almonds less fat… your paying for water in a box.
I agree!!! I am in the UK and when I recently purchased an organic almond milk by Rude Health I realised,after reading the ingredients list,it contained just 1% almonds!!! The rest was rice and water!! I was also not impressed to see sunflower oil in it too! I don’t know how they are even allowed to call it almond milk!
Trudy
The nutritional information can usually tell you a lot about what you’re buying. 😉
can you over-soak the almonds?
Yes but it takes over 24 hours…
Hemp milk, hazelnut milk and cashew milk are other possibilities. Hemp milk doesn’t taste great to me plain, but if I add some coconut oil or coconut milk it helps balance out the strong flavor. Straining it helps too.
If you start soaking the almonds and find you don’t have time with 24 hours to do something with them, rinse them, add fresh water and pop them in the fridge. They’ll still soak without becoming moldy. You can still make milk with slightly sprouted almonds. Just be sure to use within another day or two.
If needed after soaking almonds, remove skins and pop in freezer. They will not mold and will be available to make milk with. Another benefit of frozen almonds is it helps with temperature of milk when using high speed blenders.
Thanks for all your fantastic tips/info etc! They’re very enlightening!Do you know how to make Almond butter? I can’t seem to source any locally.
Do you just use less water?
Kim,
You do not need any water to make almond butter (except for pre-soaking). Just throw them in a food processor and let it go for about 10 minutes. At first it looks like it’ll just be dry, chopped up nuts but it transforms into a beautiful butter in no time. Sometimes I add a little coconut oil for extra flavor. I do this with walnuts as well. Yummy. (I do find it’s helpful to let the nuts dry before trying this.)
Roast almonds first and then put in food processor while still warm. They’ll turn into almond butter really fast,
just put almonds in a high speed blender (I use a vitamin) with a little olive oil and blend away!
If you’re soaking more than 1 cup of almonds, do you add more water/salt per cup of almonds?
My daughter has a sensitivity to almonds. I’m having a hard time finding a good substitute other than oat milk. Any suggestions?
Can she do coconut?
yes, but I wanted something with a decent amount of protein. it seems the nut milks (other than almond, which is what we’ve been using for years and now can’t) and other grain milks (she’s also gluten sensitive) don’t have much or any protein. soy is out. just looking for options i may have overlooked. thanks!
I made a flax seed and hemp seed milk and it was really good.
Flax seed presents a more serious phytoestrogen problem than soybeans.
Is it better to take off the skin? I’ve read before that the skin has a property that makes it harder to absorb the nutrients. Any thoughts?
Hemp milk.
I think you can use Katie’s recipe with almost any kind of nut or seed! Like the above commenters, I’ve heard that hemp is great. I usually do a mixture of unsweetened, shredded coconut PLUS either sesame seeds, raw cashews, raw macadamia nuts, or raw Brazil nuts. The taste is slightly different every time (but always good)!
Mix your nuts and seeds! How about a walnut hemp seed sunflower seed milk coconut milk? 🙂 I’m being silly, but seriously just mix it up.
you can add some Quinoa into her diet. It’s taste is mild and has about as much protein as rice. You can add some into her salads, her oatmeal etc. I like using it as a side dish, made with sauted onion and chicken broth (can add in some chick peas). Beans and rice is a nice protein addition. Just make sure to use a nice mix so that she gets a complete protein. It’s not usually necessary to get protein from drinks.
Goat milk is pretty good. Has a bit of a different flavor than cows milk, but it’s still pretty good!
How long do should I soak the dates for?
A few hours should work.
Thanks for the response. One more question. Can the almond flour be substituted for flour on a regular basis in your grain free diet?
Yes, but be careful of the ratios. almond flour soaks up a LOT more liquid than regular flour.
Yup. If its like coconut flour, you’ll want to use 1/4 to 1/3 of the normal, unbleached flour called for in the recipe.
Do you have any nutrition info on this? According to my packaged almonds, this recipe would have about 10g of fat per cup, which seems a little high(somewhere between whole milk and light cream).
Personally, I don’t worry about fat content. All fat is not created equal and fat from almonds is good for you. Of course, if you are concerned or on a restricted diet, just add more water and blend it in. If I were you, I would make the milk according to the recipe, strain out the almond pulp, and THEN add additional (filtered or boiled!) water–just to make sure the consistency is right.
I just want to add that fat does not make you fat. Carbs do. Atkins is right. The TNT Diet explains it well and Paleo is another word to Google to get more information. The governments food pyramid is not a healthy way to eat. I use almond milk because cow milk has too much sugar/ carbs.
Thanks for this recipe, BTW!
I use it for pizza crust, breading for chicken and fish, and supplementing regular flour!
If you drain the water you soaked the almonds in, do you reuse it or do you get new? If getting new, do you use 4 cups again or a different amount? Thanks!
I drain, rinse and then use the same amount.
Where do you buy your almonds?
I guy them from our local co-op when I can, but if not, there are several places online, like Wilderness Family Naturals and even Amazon that carry soaked, organic almonds, which have lower phytic acid.
Thank you for this recipe. I am going to try it tomorrow. Do you know if there is any calcium content in this milk? Thanks for your site it is really helping me transition my family to a more whole foods/Paleo style of eating!
I just googled “calcium in a cup of almonds” and got 243 mg.
is that fresh or store bought? store bought they often add calcium supplement to the milk.
Just looked up for almonds as that would be your best marker… 1 cup of almonds has 378 mg calcium, so you would have to decide how much water you used to make your almond milk to determine how much calcium per cup of almond milk. 🙂 also some will always remain behind with the pulp. but if you eat that,too,then none is lost. 🙂
Katie,
Hard to believe your a mom.
You are as cute as a button and the information you give out! Amazing I am going to do this now that you gave this dreadful into on ingredient! I will make my own w/my Vitamix, thanks to you.
Every wk I was purchasing both COCONUT and ALMOND milk-no more. Thanks doll I will read every bit of info you email me.
Hard to believe shes a mom? What else would she be? lol
I believe that was meant as a compliment. A rather nice one at that. Esp the cute as a button part.
Cant wait to try, im already addicted to making my own coconut milk.
Thank god she’s a mom! I wish there were more mothers like her! haha This Katie chic is such an inspiration! 🙂
Katie, LOVE that you describe the process of making almond flour from from the strained out bits………you did not say anything about the brown skins……..whether or not they need to be removed or become part of the “flour”. I really have appreciated your information…Thank You.
You can used blanched almonds so there is no skin, it also takes away the slightly bitter taste that you get with the skin.
I can’t seem to figure out how to start my own comment… How much does this recipe make? Like a gallon,quart, a liter?
32oz
The recipe calls for 4 cups of water. Each cup is 8 fluid ounces, so that’s 32 oz of water, so it will make a bit over 32 oz of almond milk, accounting for the volume of the almonds. 32 oz is a quart, and very close to a liter. A gallon is 128 oz (4 quarts), so that’s far away. It pays to know your units!
Unfortunately I don’t know my units very well, do you have any suggestions as to where on the web I could go to get a print out of unit conversions?
How about just Googling it?
Hello Miss Katie! It is August 2015 & I finally made almond milk! Thanks for your recipe! I used 2 cups of almonds & couldn’t believe how much almond was left in my strainer…it just wasn’t making much milk…so I decide to save the almond bits, add water again & blend & see what happens. I did this about 3 times, added less water with each batch as no not have watery milk…it worked great & I have about 2 liters of milk! Very little almond left! I added pure vanilla & stevia! HELPFUL TIP: you can just pour milk over a normal bowl strainer & just put a bowl underneath the strainer to catch the milk! 2 year old daughter loved it!!! Love & health from Iowa! Margo ?
Hello Miss Katie! It is August 2015 & I finally made almond milk! Thanks for your recipe! I used 2 cups of almonds & couldn’t believe how much almond was left in my strainer…it just wasn’t making much milk…so I decide to save the almond bits, add water again & blend & see what happens. I did this about 3 times, added less water with each batch as no not have watery milk…it worked great & I have about 2 liters of milk! Very little almond left! I added pure vanilla & stevia! HELPFUL TIP: You can just pour milk over a normal bowl strainer with paper towel on bottom & just put a bowl underneath the strainer to catch the milk! 2 year old daughter loved it!!! Love & health from Iowa! Margo ?
I use a nutraBullet 900 to make the almond drink and the results is so refined that there is no need to strain the mixture. Also I soak the almonds in hot water for 5 minutes and then remove the the brown skin and as a result I get a really white creamy mixture. Am I losing anything in removing the skin after soaking the almonds in hot water for 5 minutes, it comes off quite easily ?
A+ Thank you! This is a very fast way to remove the skins, with less processing time.