Homemade Almond Milk + flavor variations
I’ve never been a huge fan of drinking milk plain. Even when I was younger, if it wasn’t colored and flavored with the Cocoa Puffs I was eating, I wasn’t a huge fan. I’ve remained that way with milk, until I met almond variety.
To me, it tastes so much lighter and milder than the regular stuff. Even so, it still seems to play second fiddle to whatever cereal I’m eating, or whatever coffee I’m drinking.
When I went to school at 105degrees (now Matthew Kenney OKC- they also just opened up a school and restaurant in Santa Monica called M.A.D.E), learning how to make homemade almond milk changed my life. It was CRAZY easy. A couple ingredients into the Vitamix (1 C soaked raw almonds, 3 C water, 1/2 t lecithin- optional, acts as an emulsifier and you can choose sunflower or soy, 1 t vanilla, pinch sea salt)
whirl it up,
strain,
(I use a fine mesh sieve, but a nut milk bag or cheesecloth in a strainer work well, too)
and done.
The hardest part was waiting for the almonds to soak beforehand.
(Soaked for at least an hour, or in the fridge overnight)
So that’s all fine and dandy, but I found the problem with homemade almond milk is that I don’t drink it fast enough.
I only really use milk with cereal or coffee, and the homemade version will usually go bad in a couple of days. That is.. until I made these types:
Chocolate
Add 1/3 C raw cacao or cocoa powder to the almond milk, plus Stevia or honey to sweeten, blend and strain again. For a Mexican-style chocolate, try adding 1/2 t cinnamon and a generous pinch of cayenne.
Berry Cherry
Add 1/2 C of frozen berry-cherry blend (or any berry blend you like), plus Stevia or honey to sweeten, blend.
If your serving it for a party or company, I’d strain it again. Since this party consisted of me, myself and I, it was just left as is… a smoothie 🙂
Pumpkin Spice
Add 1/2 C pumpkin puree to the almond milk, along with 1/2 t pumpkin pie spice + Stevia or honey to sweeten. Don’t have any? No worries, add 1/2 t cinnamon, 1/4 t nutmeg and a good pinch of cloves. Blend and enjoy.
A little bird told me this is amazing as a cocktail with vanilla vodka.
Now I can’t make it fast enough… and the cereal is optional 🙂
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If you’re wondering what the heck to do with the leftover pulp, just spread it out onto Teflexx sheets and dehydrate. After it’s dried, a quick blitz in the food processor and you have raw almond flour, which is fantastic in pancakes, cookies or macaroons. If you don’t have a dehydrator, you could dehydrate it on a cookie sheet on the oven’s lowest setting with the door slightly ajar.
Enjoy! <3
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AWESOME! I can’t wait to try it!
Nice. I have been making almond milk almost every other day for the past several weeks. Love it. I find it works best when I soak them at least a good 5 hours. Will have to try some different flavors. I just like mine in chai.
Great idea! I’m also not a fan of “plain” milk… but I love using almond milk in smoothies 🙂
NEver knew it was so easy to make your own almond milk!
Wow this is great! I buy almond milk every week and never even considered making it for myself…the pumpkin one sounds amazing!
Yum. These look amazing. I am totally obsessed with almond milk.
So cool! I want to try doing this sometime!!
I just came across this today and thought I should share– another use for the leftover pulp! http://g0lubka.blogspot.ca/2012/06/wild-blueberry-daisy-cake-and-cookbook.html
This blog has tooonns of gorgeous food!
That is too neat, I never thought of making Almond Milk, the pumpkin looks amazing!
I am the same way with milk, I HAD to drink skim milk every night even though to this day I don’t like it.
Plain Almond Milk though, I’m a fan!
Awesome!!! I’ve just started using almond flour in a lot of my baking, and I’ve loved almond milk for awhile. I cant wait to buy a new bag of slmonds! Thanks for the how-tos! And those flavors! Yum. Will be great options to send with my kids’ lunches.
I love making nut milk (and nut butter!) and I remember your 105 days like they were both yesterday….and another lifetime ago!
This is a great post! I am so excited about this. It’s also nice because you can control the quantity – I live alone and the cartons of store-bought stuff often go bad before I can use them.
Here’s a little single serving microwave whole wheat vegan cookie to go with them – I was super excited to figure out this recipe today!
http://yalechapter.blogspot.com/2012/10/microwave-mug-cookie.html
An almond milk question: Did you find this to be cost effective considering the cost of the almonds? I guess if you reuse the pulp you cut out the cost of almond flour (which is expensive), but I’m wondering if you’d find this a viable daily option given how expensive nuts are. 🙂
I figured it out a year ago, and using raw, non-organic almonds it was a little cheaper than buying it by the half gallon. I didn’t incorporate the savings from almond flour, so that would make it even cheaper. I also compared the cost of homemade almond milk to hemp milk and hemp is (surprisingly) cheaper. And hemp milk doesn’t require straining, which makes the prep faster and fewer dishes to wash.
thanks for the info!!
Very informative article. I have never even THOUGHT about making my own almond milk, and wouldn’t even think it to be so easy! But now i know 😛 Thanks for the recipes too, ill definitely have to try some out.
Wow! Genius! Almond milk is so expensive over here!
pumpkin spice!!! 😮
egg nog flavour for Christmas would be amazing!! i might have to do that.
And i love being able to use the pulp too! no waste.
This is so helpful!! Now that me and my husband are both on almond milk, this will save so much money! Thanks for the tip lady!
Great post! I’ve been meaning to make almond milk w/ my vitamix… the pumpkin spice sounds amazing! 🙂
Oh wow. Would you believe that I just made almond milk on Sunday (I’ve been making it for years and love it!) and was just wondering tonight how to use it up before it spoils…and then (no joke) came up with the exact pumpkin spice concoction you posted? I warmed mine up and used a milk frother to make it foamy. We’re totally on the same wavelength tonight!!! Creepy 🙂
My hubby and I were just talking about making almond milk today. I think this just proves what we need to do soon!!
Ahhh this is awesome! Thanks for the recipes! It usually takes me like two weeks to go through a container of almond milk, but I have a feeling these variations would be gone sooner than that:).
Awesome, thank you!! I am so going to try this this weekend!
Thanks for sharing the recipe! I have all the ingredients out here and will definitely give it a try.
My husband and I are huge milk drinkers, and we miss it so much. It’s one of the hardest parts about living so far from a grocery store! A half gallon of skim milk costs $9.56 at our store, and they don’t even carry lactose free milk. We beg people coming out to bring milk with them for us! 🙂
I am an almond milk lover as well! I have always wanted to make homemade almond milk! You make it look so easy and I love the variations you shared! I might be making it this week! Thank you for sharing!
Do you throw away the water you soak them in, or is the water you soak them in the same 3 cups that you blend them in?
i toss that water and use fresh.
What a cool idea! I would love to try all the variations!
Perfect timing, I just found out Im highly allergic to cow’s milk. All my favorite things have milk or butter in them…. Ugh!
Love your blog and it just got a little more helpful! =)
Thanks!
Charli
You’re amazing! I never thought to use that little strainer for nut milk, I’ve made it only once before and used a cheese cloth….messy insanity. You are wise!
yeah, cheese cloth can get a little messy!
I am currently deployed right now and cannot wait to get home and try this. I love almond milk and my husband actually ships it to me! Thanks for the recipes 🙂
I’m not sure when you’ll be home, but I’d love to send you a care package. Would u email me your apo address?? Fitnessista at gmail
Xoxo
I really need to start making my own almond milk (and almond butter while I’m at it)!
Hi! Just wanted to tell you about a really quick and easy recipe I found for making almond milk. It used 2 tbsp of almond butter and 4 cups of water, and in the blender it went. So easy! The blogger also used other butters like peanut, coconut, sunflower and so on. Just wanted to let you know 🙂
thank you! i’ve done that before but it didn’t taste the same to me
This is so great, definitely one to try 🙂
thanks for this!here almond milk is really really expensive, like 8 dollars per liter! And guess what – my guests (we have apartment to rent) are from US and had larabars with them! And I was -‘sorry, is this larabar?I’ve been reading about them on this blog,and wanted to try them’. So she gave me one, it’s apple pie(we don’t have larabars in Croatia), and since she’s also in healthy foods we talked and I told her about your blog. 🙂
I love the idea to make different flavours! I think a chocolate mint one would taste awesome for Christmas. 😀 If only I had a Vitamix…
I’m going on amazon and ordering a fine mesh sieve, right.now!
Haha, thanks for sharing! I die over dark chocolate almond milk – I got away with drinking TONS while prego, now I’ve had to scale it back lol
This is awesome! Will definitely try out. If only Starbucks would get almond milk…
You are a genius! How creative is all of this! Now I just need to get a vitamix 😉
That’s so simple! Love the flavor varieties too 🙂 How much almond milk did you get out of the portions you used?
about 4 1/2 C
WOW-so awesome! I love how you didn’t waste the pulp either! Pretty great-gonna try this! Your variations look way too good to pass up!
I’ve been making my own almond milk for a while now. Have you heard about that additive carrageenan that can cause digestive distress? It took me a while to notice that store bought almond milk was giving me tummy problems. I looked into it and learned about carrageenan and it’s negative effects. Then when I started making it myself they went away. I love the convenience of store bought but thankfully we can DIY!
Thanks for sharing this! I’ve heard it’s easy but never tried it! Definitely going to have to now 🙂 Love your little milk carafe with chalk! Where did you get it?
thank you! it was a gift from pier 1
Thanks for all the almond milk variations! I love how simple it is to make cashew cream – but I have never branched out to making my own almond milk before. 🙂
I had no idea making homemade almond milk was so easy! I love all the flavor variations – definitely need to give this a try! 🙂
I’ve seen people make almond milk.. seems easy, but I’m with you I don’t drink it too often so I’m sure mine would go bad before I knew it lol
nom nom nom. want to try!
I love making almond milk at home. In the warmer months I blend just enough for me and then add frozen coffee cubes to it. I don’t strain it, its really filling and refreshing:)
Love your blog! Have been reading for a while and just never commented.
Holy cow the pumpkin spice is DELISH. I’ve never made almond milk before. I didn’t realize it was so easy!!
Love this!! Two questions:
Do you know if the nutritional profile is the same as store-bought unsweetened or is this the same as drinking the equivalent of a cup of almonds (quite a difference!)?
Do you think you can freeze it?
Thanks!!
p.s. Happy Birthday to the pilot! 🙂
Hi Gina,
If it is okay, I would like to use one of your photos on my blog, but I want to go about it in the right way. I respect your work and I would accredit the photo with a link back to your blog. I’m new to blogging so please let me know if this is the right way to go about this or not. Any tips are greatly appreciated. If you would rather chat over email my address is sweinstein19@gmail.com. Thanks!
Sam
sure, just link back!