fbpx

This post may contain affiliate links. Click here to read my affiliate policy.

I promise you, once you watch the video for how to make this homemade almond milk, you will be kicking yourself for not doing this at home earlier.

PRO TIP: If you just want the dang recipe already, here’s the recipe video just below. And the actual recipe is at the bottom of the post. :) Also, if you don’t have a high-powered blender such as a Vitamix or a Blentec, then this recipe won’t work well. Time for you to invest in your health future! :D

Homemade Almond Milk Recipe Video

Why I Started Making My Own Almond Milk

When you think of someone making their own almond milk, do you think of like June Cleaver in heels and pearls making a roast with mashed potatoes, like….omg she even makes her own ALMOND MILK?

Like, it’s not enough that she drinks almond milk instead of regular milk, but she also has it SO together that she makes it herself?!?!? How is that even possible?!?!

Ok, so trust me on this when I tell you I make my own almond milk because:

  1. I’m actually super lazy and can’t be bothered to go to the store.
  2. It’s absolutely the easiest thing in the world, takes 5 minutes and did I mention it’s the perfect recipe for lazy people?
  3. It’s the same price or cheaper than store-bought
  4. It doesn’t have a bunch of extra ingredients
  5. You can re-use the almond pulp for other things, so it’s even more economical

That’s why I make it. Because when you learn how easy it is, you’ll really feel silly. Because you could have been being lazy this whole time! It’s faster to make your own than to even write it on a shopping list.

Ok, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but you get where I’m going with this… :P

homemade-almond-milk-recipe-7758

So What’s In It?

Alright, here’s the best part. It’s literally 2 ingredients. Well, 1 ingredient if you don’t count the water!!!

There are a lot of homemade almond milk recipes out there that call for several ingredients, and like I get it. It’s a flavor thing. Sure.

But for me, I’m all about convenience and stuff being quick, so I don’t even bother with other ingredients. 9 times out of 10 I make almond milk for something that is already sweet…(banana nice cream, anyone?)…so I don’t bother with flavoring it further.

And if you’re gonna use it for like smoothies or oatmeal or cereal, the things you’re pouring it over will already have great flavor…so to me, there’s no use in flavoring it further.

Unless you wanna use it for just drinking straight, then yeah, probably best to add some extra flavor. But for my usual purposes, this does the trick, since I’m usually just going for having a creamy liquid, rather than something that holds up on its end of the flavor bargain all alone.

So that being said, there are a lot of recipes out there for almond milks like that, but if you want the easiest recipe in the world, which will become your go-to when you run out of almond milk (read: all the time), then this recipe is your new best friend.

homemade-almond-milk-recipe-7759

But don’t I have to soak the nuts first/add dates or sweeteners/do everything perfectly every time?

Nope. :)

Listen, I’m not gonna say that many of the steps you see in other recipes won’t yield superior results. I’m sure they do.

All I’m saying is that I’m too lazy to ever have even tried those methods, so I wouldn’t expect you to either. If you have time to soak the nuts in water for 12 hours beforehand, then totally do that! It will yield creamier results and be more economical on the nuts. Pun intended.

But if you’re like me and only make nut milk when DANGIT, I ran out of almond milk again, then just go for convenience and make it without worrying about the Rules of Fanciness. ;)

What is a Nut Milk Bag?

Okay so, to make your almond milk, you are gonna need something special that’s called a “nut milk bag”. It’s a bag specially made for this purpose, and I promise you, you really do want to invest.

Alright alright. Go ahead, make your jokes about nut milk bags. Get them out of the way.

I’ll tell ya my fav joke…it’s…

No no no, sorry. It’s too dirty. Let’s carry on. :P

So a nut milk bag is a necessary item for making homemade almond milk. It’s used for straining the almond pulp from the liquid.

You can try making your own bag with cheesecloth, but I promise you won’t be happy you did. It’s super messy (not that I know from experience or anything) and just a generally not-fun process. You really want to get a nut milk bag, and the good news is they’re only like 9 bucks on Amazon.

I just ordered 2 new ones yesterday because I’d been using mine for 2 years and it needed to be replaced. They’re washable and totally re-usable, so they’re also super economical.

So as I said, you don’t HAVE TO strain the milk…I mean, you can just blend your almonds with water and use it like that, but it’s actually super gritty and almond pulp-y and in my opinion, it’s pretty unpleasant.

They don’t call ’em smoothies for nothin’, amirite?!?!

And no amount of blending or blender fanciness will get the almonds and water to be completely smooth, so you really do want to strain it.

QUICK TIP: A lovely YouTube subscriber of mine called TheChefLady4JC offered this wonderful tip about milk strainers:

“I like to use a mesh paint strainer bag that I bought from Lowe’s at like two bags for five bucks. It works the same way as a nut milk bag.”

Super helpful, thank you so much!!

How to Store Your Homemade Almond Milk

So any glass container with a lid will do just fine. I mean, even a mason jar would be perfectly fine.

I found a great container at Target that has a plastic lid. I have 2 of them and just love them. I couldn’t find a link to the ones I have specifically, but if I were buying new ones now I’d probably get these. They seem larger than the ones I have and they have BPA-free lids:

glass bottles for homemade almond milk

How to Care for Your Nut Milk Bag

As I demonstrate in the recipe video below, it’s super simple to care for your bag, so you can get tons and tons of uses out of it. Mine lasted 2 years!

Once you’re done straining, remove any pulp you want to keep for later uses and then rinse the bag out. Then just use a little squirt of dish soap on it, lather it up, and rinse it well.

Then squeeze out excess water and leave it out to dry. You can wash it in the washing machine every so often as well, if it needs a good deep clean.

Where To Get Cheap Almonds

So clearly almonds are one of those products that will vary in price a lot over time. I have actually gone and done the math and found that the cheapest almonds I could find (Sam’s Club) made it so I could make my own almond milk at home for the same price (or a tiny bit less) than what I’d pay in the store.

And that’s great in itself.

But what’s even better is that you can re-use the leftover almond pulp for other recipes. That’s what really stretches the money on that purchase.

So not only are you getting your own homemade almond milk without a bunch of added ingredients (and sodium, too! store-bought almond milk is generally a very high-sodium food!), but you can use the pulp for many other things, and really get economical.

What To Do With Leftover Almond Pulp

There are about a million uses for leftover almond pulp once you’ve made your almond milk. Here are a few great recipes from some of my favorite almond pulp geniuses:

I know these recipes aren’t Nutritarian, but I know a lot of my readers aren’t either. So there are some ideas for you…there’s tons of uses!

Let’s get to that recipe, finally… :P

The Easiest Homemade Almond Milk in the World (5 minutes, 2 Ingredients!)
 
Prep time
Total time
 
If you don't have a high-speed or high-powered blender, this won't come out right.
Author:
Serves: 3-4 cups
Ingredients
  • 3-4 cups water, depending on desired consistency
  • 1 cup raw, unsalted almonds
Instructions
  1. In a high-speed blender, combine the water and almonds. Gradually increase the speed of the blender until you are using the high setting and the almonds are broken down to the finest pulp possible. In my Vitamix, I usually let it run on high for about 20-30 seconds.

 

Do you make your own nut milks at home?