Back when my husband and I tried the raw food diet for a month we wound up making a lot of food from scratch that we might have normally purchased at a store. One of those things was almond milk. At first making this sort of thing was truly intimidating, but once done we realized how easy it could be. Prep time is minutes, although twiddling your thumbs takes hours.
I was reminded of our foray into non-dairy milk making when I was on VeganYumYum a few weeks ago. She made her own soy milk, which, if you have ever done it, is both labor-intensive and time-consuming. She wasn’t exactly happy with the end results, either.
Inspired by her post, I decided to start making milk again, and am I glad I did. This batch turned out wonderfully. It was creamy, mostly smooth (mostly!), and didn’t even last a full week because we just couldn’t help ourselves.
Raw Homemade Almond Milk
- 1 cup raw almonds
- 7 – 8 cups water
- Agave nectar or another sweetener (optional)
Put your almonds into a good-sized bowl and fill the bowl up with water until they are covered well.
Cover with a towel and let sit in a cool place for about 24 – 48 hours (honestly, you could probably get away with less time, but I haven’t tried it). Rinse the almonds once a day, and if you are soaking for more than one day cover the almonds with water again.
Once they are finished soaking they will have become plump.
The difference is pretty amazing.
Pour off the water from the almonds and rinse well. Place the rinsed almonds into a blender (we use a VitaMix, but any blender should work fine), add the 7 – 8 cups of water, and blend for a few minutes or until well blended. At this stage you can add a sweetener if you want, but I left it out myself. Since the milk can potentially be used in a variety of ways it seems that you may want to leave the sweetener out.
When it is done blending it will look something like this…
…and it will have a lot of froth on top.
Strain the almond milk through a bag strainer (probably best), or through a fine sieve into your original bowl or another large container. We used to have a bag strainer, but found it hard to clean, so I used our small sieve.
If I am going to be making this on a regular basis I need to get a good sized sieve.
As you are straining it you will be getting a lot of almond meal. It is up to you if you want to conserve this or throw it out. You can do a variety of things with it – i.e. dehydrate it, turn it into a flour, mix it into some bread, etc.
After you have finished straining it, strain it again into your final pitcher or container. This will ensure that it is as smooth as possible. You can strain even further, but it is up to you.
The final result – about a half gallon of good and easy almond milk. Store in the refrigerator and try to use within a week. You will need to stir the almond milk every time you bring it out of the refrigerator to use since it does settle.
In thinking about making your own milk there are a couple of things to consider. Firstly, it amazes me how many ingredients are in commercial vegan milks. There’s usually a lot of sugar, not many ingredients I even recognize, and some are just plain unnecessary.
Secondly, the actual price of the product in the store compared to the price of making it at home is definitely less (of course this depends on how much you pay for almonds). If you pay $3.99 for 64 ounces of Silk Soymilk, then it is about $0.49/cup. If you pay $1.59 for rice milk, then it is about $0.40/cup. If you pay $5.79/pound for almonds, and of that use one cup of almonds to make eight cups of almond milk, then your price will come to about $0.27/cup or $1.09 for 4 cups (32 ounces) or $2.17 for eight cups (64 ounces).
Bottom line, it’s worth it.
If you are allergic to tree nuts you can make other milks in similar ways, like sunflower seed milk. I made that this past weekend and it wasn’t quite as good as the almond milk, but it still turned out fine. Difference was the soaking time (about four hours).
Overall, this is a very easy, cost effective, and delicious way to get homemade vegan milk.
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Samantha on 
{ 62 comments… read them below or add one }
I can’t wait to use up my store bought stuff and make my own. Thank you for posting! I’m thinking the almond past might go well in a homemade hummus….I grind sprouts into my hummus this might be what I need to thicken it back up a little. My 4 year old is anti -veg so I have to hide as much as I can.
I started making Almond Milk a few weeks ago after finding the recipe on http://www.drbenkim. The ratio I use is 1 C almonds (soaked and skinned) to 4 C water. I have candida so for right now I omit the dates and add liquid NuNaturals Stevia. I pour boiling water on my almonds, soak, rinse, more hot water, soak & rinse. Reason why I use hot water is ever after 24 hrs of soaking the skins rarely come off the nuts. Soaking nuts makes the nut so much sweeter, and easily digestible.
I’ve strained it, but find it tedious only having a small mesh strainer. Though I did make dessert with the pulp by adding agave syrup and cinnamon and topping with fresh strawberries and blueberries. A big hit with my husband! I’m vegan and he’s a hunter!
Thanks so much for sharing this. I finally made some on my own and it turned out great! I posted it on my blog as well: http://delightfultastebuds.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/blasting-weekend/ Feel free to drop by when you get a chance.
it was great to read and see the step by step process I have learned alot reading here I am going to try this thanks so much!!!
This looks really good. However, almonds are already high in fat, is there any nutritional facts per serving?
can you make ice cream with this? i know how to make ice cream with regular milk, but my husband and i went raw two months ago..
Frances, I have not made ice cream with almond milk, but I think it might be possible. I’ve made ice cream with coconut milk and I know you can make that raw (although I personally have not). My suggestion would try a much smaller batch with raw almond milk and see how it turns out – let us know if you do try it!
I am planning on making it homemade this week. I was wondering if i can CAN it – reg boiling Canning Process? Please let me Know. I like to cook by bulk and thought it would be a great idea to various organic almond milk for cooking/ baking/ everyday in my pantry.
Sylvia, I have not canned almond milk, so I am not sure how this would work (and I just did a search online for canning nut milk and I am not coming up with very much). What I would do if I were you is to test out canning one jar and see how it holds up. Unfortunately I just don’t have a lot of experience with canning, so I am not of much help to you!
Has anyone else here canned their own homemade almond milk?
Hey! I was wondering if you had any information about ‘calories’ (approximate) in homemade almond milk compared to store bought?
Also, to make almond flour, do you just dry the stuff you strained out or do you have to do something more?
Oops, haha I thought I read through the comments but it looks like someone already answered my first question! I wonder how this would taste unstrained? I will try it soon!
Hi,
Love your step by step photos! I am in love with almond milk. Have been making it weekly for the last few months (although I use less water in my recipe). I like to skin my almonds before blending (takes a little extra time), and I’ve tried using the almond grinds in a few recipes. I’ve found that they don’t work well using 100% almond grinds (tried making pancakes), but adding up to 25% grinds in recipes that use almond flour (try elanaspantry.com) has worked so far in some baked good recipes. Just wanted to add my two cents :)
I’m going to try drying out the grinds, and seeing if I can make them into a finer flour to replace almond flour completely.
Hello,
I am glad i came across this as i eat raw almonds and buy the almond milk 60 calories but now I’m going to try this. I have the Breville BJE510XL juicer and just love it. I just now daily and buy mostly organic. I don’t even out anymore and don’t buy anything frozen as it all has too much sodium. After doing the p90x, which limits your sodium to 800 per day, it was hard to eat anything besides fruits/vegetables. I even now make my own strawberry-banana yogurt with plain yogurt blended in my ninja. Make my own ice-cream with plain yogurt, a little OJ from organic orange, 1 cup frozen strawberries, 1/2 banana and a little organic Agave nectar. It comes out so good and better than ice-cream bought in the stores.
Was wondering does almond milk spoil when left out like milk? Does it have to be refrigerated? I know when I purchase it in the box it’s on the shelf…thanks in advance..
Yes – you should definitely refrigerate homemade almond milk. The stuff you buy at the store has packaging and a lot of other ingredients that allow it to sit on the shelf. If you leave the homemade kind out to sit, the warmer air will allow the almond milk to have a shorter lifespan, and a refrigerator just slows down the spoiling process.
Use your processed ALMOND PASTE to make the world’s yummiest DIP. I just make it haphazardly with whatever I’ve got but here’s a rough recipe:
3c almond paste (leftovers from Almond Milk process)
3 cloves garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
Olive Oil to good consistency
Spices of your choice (Penzey’s Greek Seasoning ROCKS)
Salt/Pepper
Handful fresh parsley
Process in Blender until smooth- enjoy!
I have just started making my own milks, and was wondering if I soak several batches of almonds at a time, do you think it would be OK to freeze the soaked almonds until use? Also thinking about doing the same for soaked soybeans. Any ideas? Thanks!
I have a friend who soaks her almonds. The water turns black, and she changes it a time or two during the soaking time, until the water is clear. Does anyone know why the water turns black? Thanks for the simple milk recipe. I don’t do soy, and Almond Breeze is the only milk available.
I have never had the soak water turn black. I have had it turn cloudy, but not as dark as black. Does she drain the soak water and replace it with clean water once a day? She should probably do that if she isn’t already.
Very nice overview – much better than the videos out there.
Easy to skip right to the section I wanted and I learned a few things
THANK YOU!
This is the recipe that I make for my husband who is dairy and wheat intolerant – it uses up the pulp perfectly.
4 mandarins – washed well
6 eggs beaten
1/2 cup maple syrup or honey (maple works best)
2 cups ground almonds (I use 2 cups of pulp)
3 tsp baking powder
Place mandarins in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 hours. Preheat oven to 190/375/5
Drain, cool and then chop the mandarins ensuring you remove all pips. Process the mandarins until smooth.
Beat together the eggs and maple syrup until thick.
Combine all ingredients together in one bowl and mix well.
Oil a 20cm/8″ springform or baking tin and line with greaseproof.
Our in batter and bake for approx 40 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean and the cake is browned. Small mandarins always work better for me and extra cooking is required if the mandarins are juicy.
I know it is well after this thread was started but hope that this recipe finds you and that it is good.
I too am looking for ways to use the left over almond pulp… as I expect to have a lot of it. I made it for my family (5) and they really like it. Now they want me to make MORE…
Since we have a couple gallons of Almonds in our food storage, and my father wants to cycle them… looks like its almond milk for the win!
I could bypass the soaking but I’ve learned that it really is a desired step. Seeds/nuts have enzyme inhibitors, these are what allows seeds/nuts to stay alive even without water/soil for so long and still be viable for planting. When you soak them, the seed/nut thinks it’s time to start growing and the enzymes are unlocked, boosting the nutritional value and absorbtion rates dramatically! So I’ve learned.
One receipe I found to use Almond pulp with that works pretty good is with eggs. I prefer free range, organic fed, growth hormone/antibiotic free eggs but that’s just me. Tends to vary but basically what I do, is I put the eggs, with some almond milk, and almond pulp, some sweetner like agave/stevia, some olive oil and mix it well. Scrambled it is very nice and has the benefits of lovely fiber to your eggs as well as significantly extending just how far those eggs go… Putting some nice salsa on top afterwards worked too.
Still… theres only so many times I can use that. Need to find other ways to use the bulk, tried doing pancakes but that didn’t work (maybe wrong ratio but it was how I found the scrambled eggs). Anyone have a cookie/pie/pastry usage for it? As a replacement to flour but using it straight from the seeve rather then dehydrating it first?
Hi Daniel – that’s fantastic that your whole family is interested in using almond milk!
A lot of the people you’ll find here probably don’t use eggs, but I’m sure that the people that do will appreciate the suggestion. :) When my husband makes bread he adds the pulp in as is (not dehydrated), but he doesn’t use it as a replacement to the flour, only as a supplement. I have dehydrated it and blended it into a flour in a coffee grinder, then stored it in the freezer. Unless you’re making almond milk frequently, it will take a while to build up the amount of flour you have.
Someone else here suggested using it when cleansing your face (or body) as it can be a good exfoliant.
It also seems that you could put this into crackers, cookies or cereal bars – the experiments are endless!
Hey Samantha,
Can you tell me how you dehydrate your pulp? I’d be doing it in the oven, but I don’t know how long, or how much I can do at once, etc…
Thanks!
I use a dehydrator, so I have never dehydrated in an oven. Here are some basic step by step instructions I just found by doing a search – http://www.ehow.com/how_4964887_dehydrate-food-oven.html These instructions say to prop your oven door open, but I don’t know if you should be concerned doing this if you have a gas oven. I’d do some additional research about this if you do use gas. Sorry I can’t be of more help! If you think you might dehydrate quite a bit, then you should probably consider investing in a dehydrator. Or if you want to get really creative, you can build your own solar dehydrator (which I’ve never done, but I am most certainly intrigued by the idea). I own an Excalibur dehydrator which I have found to be really effective for drying almond pulp.
Hi–thank you for posting this! I hope you don’t mind that I linked to it. I am experimenting with my own Almond Milk and my preference is to add four large dates to the almonds when they’re soaking and grind them in, too, for sweetness. I didn’t strain mine (I use a Vitamix) but I might try that and add the meal to baked goods… :-)
This was great! I actually soaked the almonds overnight, then peeled the skins off, because I heard that helps remove some of the processing residue. Anyhow, it turned out delicious, definitely took my chai latte to another level:)
I followed your instructions (using a little less water) and it came out nicely, so thank you for the post. However, do you happen to know why we need to throw out the soak water? I suspected I was throwing out a bunch of the nutrients that had soaked out of the almonds. Is it a safety or a taste issue?
You know, to be honest I am not entirely sure why this is necessary. I based my recipe off of another one I used a few years ago and the instructions specifically said to dump the soak water and rinse the almonds well. It could be that not everything that is in the soak water is beneficial, so it is probably safer get rid of the soak water. If you are still hesitant to throw it out then maybe you can use it to water your plants and see how they like it.
Nuts contain enzyme inhibitors making them harder to digest so when you soak them it releases the enzyme inhibitors making them much easier to digest. The soaking water for the almonds contains all these enzyme inhibitors so it’s not something that should be consumed. Hope this helps!
http://asktheherbalist.info/index.php/Q-A/Soaking-Almonds.html
If you’re not purchasing truly raw almonds from a farmer you may be using raw almonds treated with propylene oxide. Yuck. Get rid of the soak water. Better yet, do a Google search and buy your raw almonds directly from a California farmer. Costs a little more, but so worth it.
All almonds bought from America have to be pasteurized due to some salmonella outbreak a few years ago. Truly raw nuts are available on line do a google search. There really is a difference.
Can anyone confirm this rumor? If they are indeed boiled (pasteurized) we are eating dead food with no nutritional value. It’s getting overly difficult to find truly healthy food in this country.
I looked this up myself. It seems its true. You are eating and milking a dead product thats either been steamed or treated with PPO a toxic fuel used in motorcycles at one point. Thank our government for screwing up another pure food form.
Soymilk “is both labor-intensive and time-consuming”? Not in MY kitchen — you just need a quality soymilk maker! From start to finish it takes about thirty minutes, including cleanup.
Love this post! I made some recently and am looking for ideas for the leftover meal! Any great, easy ideas? Or links to ideas? I guess I Should dehydrate it first? I’ve been storing it in the fridge about a week now waiting for an idea!
Thanks!
Diane
If i didn’t use it in breakfast cereal, i would keep it in the freezer for when i would need it for a muffin recipe.
OMG. I just tried your recipe using 8 cups of water per 1 almond and it’s so delicious. I’ve been trying to find the proper per portions for the longest time. Thanks!
Oh and for the lady that wanted to know about the calories. I haven’t figured out how much the pulp calories are but for the recipe per 8 oz if you didn’t strain is only 90 calories 7 fat 1 fiber. Some think to just halve that and others say to simply subtract the fiber, but I am thinking probably half and half.
You can also get awesome prices on almonds from Aldi- I got 6 oz raw for $1.65.
Thanks again,
Deborah
Can you freeze almond milk?
I have never done that because I usually use up a batch in about a week’s time. I just did a quick search on the internet, and it does look like you can freeze it. I honestly don’t know if it alters the taste or consistency, however, if you freeze it.
I buy my almonds (either raw but not organic, or organic but pasteurized ) at my local Farmer’s Market. I was talking with the vendor about the almond milk not having a very long shelf (refrigerator) life and he suggested freezing it. He said they do it all the time, so that’s what I am going to do next time I make the milk. I was using 1 cup almonds to 4 cups water, but am going to try using the 7-8 cups water.
BTW, I usually put the pulp in my garden. My plants seem to love it. AND, did you know that you can compost your kitchen scraps in the VM? Even banana peels and melon rinds!
Hi, Im not vegan nor vegitarian. Sorry I like my meats :( but I also have psoriasis and there are certain foods people say to stay away from and milk is one of those things so I think I might try this out. Does it taste like almond flavored milk?
Also someone said they dont have a dehydrator, you can easily dehydrate things in your oven!
Thanks for the recipe, it does sound kind of yummy :)
This doesn’t taste like regular milk, however it does have a creamy taste/consistency and does taste like almonds. I will say that the more water you add to it, the less creamy it will taste. So if you wanted to try making this with less (4 cups instead of 6) it might be something you would like more.
I have the Vitamix and I don’t soak the almonds or strain off the pulp–love that fiber. This would not work with a regular blender. Three cups of water and one cup of almonds is the ratio I use. Blend for two minutes on high. This is straight from the Vitamix recipe. It is great in smoothies and has enough natural sweetness to use as a substitute for both the cream and sugar in my morning coffee (can’t give that up). Start with smaller portions at first, there’s lots of fiber in that pulp, and work up to larger servings. The uses are limitless. Good luck
I have a regular blender and I don’t need to soak the almonds. I just use 1 cup of raw almonds and 2-3 cups of water and use the mince/puree setting until smooth then I whir on the whip setting for about 30 seconds to 1 minute just to fluff. In a few moments I have delicious almond milk. I add a little agave nectar to my daughters since she likes it a bit sweet.
do i soak the almonds in the frig? I have always been told to keep almonds in the frig to keep their nutrients.
Thanks
You can, but I tend to soak mine on the counter with either plastic wrap or a lid covering it. If you haven’t made almond milk out of the almonds after a couple of days of soaking then I would advise putting it in the fridge. Now that we’re getting into warmer weather, you may be better off soaking them the entire time in the fridge, though.
Just found your blog now, as I’m looking for almond milk recipes. And I’m in love! I will probably spend hours browsing your recipes this weekend. Thanks for the recipe, and the great blog!
I had no idea it was so easy. We buy almonds very frequently so I am going to have to try this out.
Great recipe, lovely blog! Can’t wait to try this myself.
This is so wonderful, I’m doing an exclusion diet and other almond milks all have added ingredients that are not allowed. This recipe is a total life saver :)
So glad you can use the recipe. I made another batch this weekend and I’m still enjoying it! :)
Since going 100% raw, I turned my back completely on any kind of milk–even nut milks. This sounds so easy to make, I just might try it. I don’t really know what I’ll use it for since I don’t eat cereal and it wouldn’t combine well with fruit. Maybe just drink it?? We’ll see…
Sounds like you came up with a winner to replace soy milk! That’s a plus!
Actually, this goes great with fruit. Especially if you make smoothies. All the smoothie recipes that call for cow’s milk or yogurt, I just substitute almond’s milk, altering how much depending upon which fruit I’m using and how thick I want the smoothie to be.
This looks fantastic. I used to do this at home before using dates as a natural sweetener and it turned out really well. It has been years since I’ve done this and you’ve inspired me to start up again. You are right, the commercial stuff is so full of unnecessary stuff. Thanks. :c)
I made the Raw Almond Milk, and in person it is as beautiful as it is in the picture… It will take me a little bit of time to get use to the taste… but, I am up for the challenge… two thumbs up for home-made Raw Almond Milk!
Can you offer up some suggestions of exactly what to do with the almond pulp? I don’t own a dehydrator so anything using that would be out (for now) so i was hoping you may have some other ideas – Thanks!!
I have a question…do you happen to know about how much fat and calories would be in this recipe? I know that almonds can be caloric but if you get rid of the almond meal, I’m wondering how much of the fat/calories are left. Just a question I’m curious about.
Thanks!
I really don’t know – and I just did a search on the internet to see if anyone else had this sort of thing listed. Commercial unsweetened almond milk, like Almond Breeze, has 40 calories for 8 fl. oz., however it does contain other ingredients that probably increase the caloric value. I’m reaching out on a limb here but it would seem that a simpler homemade version like the one I’ve posted would be closer to 20 or 30 calories, but this is a total guess.
Thank you for posting – I love the pictures! I would have to say (after years of being a raw foodist using a food processor) Vitamix is definitely the best kitchen tool for this. I was hesitant to buy one because of the price, but it is so worth it. Plus I got free shipping & handling ($25 off) using coupon code 06-003851 on the Vitamix website. It has replaced several kitchen appliances and is so incredibly easy to use (and clean)!
This looks great! Thanks for posting! :)
Thanks mcz – I’d be curious to know the source of this info. Do you mind linking to it here? I’m in agreement with you that it’s better to eat foods that haven’t been treated if at all possible.