Almond Milk

Homemade almond milk milk needs only two ingredients – almonds and water. Making it yourself has piles of benefits, and it takes about two minutes of active time to make at home.

There’s less waste due to not having packaging, plastic or otherwise (reduce before recycle!), no preservatives are needed, and you can choose where your almonds are coming from. Making it takes a bit more time than buying but less plastic is always a good thing.

You will be left with some pulp after making this, but read through this post on what to do with almond pulp for some great tips and recipes for using it. There’s no need to throw out or compost something that can be added to many recipes.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

• Almonds: these should be raw, unsalted almonds. You can use blanched or skin-on, it won’t make a different to the end result.
• Add-ins: to lightly sweeten, blend in a soft date or drizzle of maple syrup after straining the milk. You can also add spices like vanilla or cinnamon, a pinch of salt, or blend in cocoa powder to make chocolate milk.

Step by Step

It’s as easy as soaking and blending – anyone can make their own almond milk. A couple of tips will make the process smoother, though.

1. Soak the almonds: cover raw almonds with water and soak for at least eight hours, or up to 16 hours in a cool place.
2. Blend the milk: add the almond and water to a blender and mix on high speed until milk forms.
3. Strain: pour the milk through a nut bag and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Transfer the milk into a bottle and refrigerator.
4. Keep the pulp: reserve the pulp for baking, adding to smoothies or porridge, and more.

Recipe Notes

You can remove the skins by popping the almonds out with your thumb and forefinger after soaking. The skins should come off really easily. If you don’t feel like removing the skins, just don’t – it doesn’t make much of a difference in the final product.

You can either use cheesecloth to strain the milk mixture, or, if you think you’ll be making a lot of milk at home, pick up a nut milk bag. I used cheesecloth for a long time and it works just as well, but you can wash and reuse a nut milk bag a lot more easily than cheesecloth.

Many websites suggest that you need an expensive high powered blender, like a Vitamix, for making nut and seed milks, but you definitely do not. I’ve never owned a high power blender and have been making almond milk for over a decade. You can even make it with a good immersion blender.

How to Store

Storage: the milk will keep for about a week in a sealed container the refrigerator. If it starts to smell sour, toss it.

Freezing: I don’t recommend freezing the milk, but the soaked almond and the pulp can both be frozen and thawed for use at a later time.

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Expert Tips

• Reduce the cost with seeds: use sunflower or pumpkin seeds in place of half the almonds to make a less expensive milk mix. I don’t recommend mixing with oats as oat milk needs a much shorter blending time.
• Use filtered water: if your tap water has a strong taste, use filtered water to make the almond milk for the best flavour.
• Store in a glass bottle: I have a bottle that I reuse from store-bought milk, and it’s ideal for storage. Seek out one that has a larger opening so that it’s easier to clean properly and sterilise before each use (a dishwasher will work, if you have one).

More Dairy-Free Staple Recipes

Cashew Cream Cheese
Dairy Free Pesto
Coconut Whipped Cream
Honey Lemon Curd

If you make this Almond Milk or any other vegetarian staples on Occasionally Eggs, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email.

This post was originally published in June 2015. It has been updated most recently as of January 2023.