How to Make Homemade Nut Milk

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If you’re wondering how to make homemade nut milk, this article is for you! While I love store-bought milks for the convenience factor, it’s so easy, fun and much healthier to make nut milk yourself! Plus, you only need a blender, nuts and water!

How do I make Homemade Nut Milk?

Making nut milk is super simple, just blend up your choice or nuts (seeds and grains also work) with water in a high-speed blender until smooth and creamy. I personally love adding in a pinch of salt and a dash of vanilla for some extra flavor. Additionally, you could also add in date syrup or even dates to add an underlying sweet note to the nut milk.

I mentioned perviously, that homemade but milk is healthier is this is because of 3 factors:

• Most store-bought nut milks contains fillers and gums, such as xantham gum. These gums thicken the milk without the brand having to use extra nuts – meaning it’s less expensive for them. The problem with gums and fillers is they have been linked to kidney stones as well as false signaling of grehlin (your hunger hormone).
• Store-bought nut milk almost always has added cane sugar.
• Additionally, while nut milks are convenient, they usually contain added oils. Most prevalent in oat milk, brands add oils to emulsify the milk and cut costs. Again, because nuts are expensive.

All of these factors take away from the creaminess and flavor of nut milk, making it taste soapy and definitely not something you can imagine yourself sipping on it’s own!

Equipment You’ll Need

To make homemade nut or seed milk you will need:

• A high-speed blender like a Vitamix or you could use a nut milk machine like Nutr Machine
• Something to strain the pulp (the Nutr machine comes with a strainer, which means you don’t have to buy anything extra!)
• Glass mason jars or pitchers for storing the milk

If you don’t have a high-speed blender, you can also opt for a nut milk machine, like Nutr! I love using a nut milk machine, solely for the fact that it’s made to grind nuts. Many high speed blenders don’t really pulverize the nuts or seeds enough, which means that you’re left with a ton of pulp…(insert sad face). However, both options work, but the Nutr machine is definitely a lot cheaper than a Vitamix!

In terms of nuts, I recommend using solely raw nuts, as roasting the nuts tends to leave the nut milk with a strange roasted flavor that doesn’t taste good. Keeping the nuts raw is also beneficial in terms of the nutritional benefits nuts have. When you heat nuts up, they tend to lose some of the nutrition profile during the heating process. Another reason to just use raw seeds or raw nuts.

Soaking Nuts and Seeds

If you’re using a high powered machine like the Nutr or a Vitamix, you won’t need to soak your nuts. However, if you have a regular blender, I would recommend soaking some of the harder nuts and seeds. This just makes the process easier on your blender. You can use my code MWM10 for a discount on the Nutr machine!

Some of the harder nuts and seeds you’d want to soak are:

• Almonds
• Walnuts
• Macadamia Nuts
• Pumpkin seeds
• Brazil nuts
• Sunflower seeds

Cashews are the one nut that any blender should be able to handle easily without soaking. If you’re in a pinch, you can also quickly boil the nuts or seeds on the stove for 5 minutes until they soften up.

If you’re going to soak your nuts, opt for at least 6 hours if not overnight. The water will look a little cloudy and murky which is completely normal. Just be sure to rinse off the dirty water before you blend the nuts.

Nut Milk Ratios

There are a few things to keep in mind when making homemade nut milk. The most important is the ratio of milk to water. Changing this ratio can make your nut milk taste like a thick heavy whipping cream texture, or a store-bought watery consistency.

• 1/4 cup nuts to 3 cups water: This ratio will get you the same amount of macronutrients (calories) that most store-bought nut milks have. However, I find the consistency to be a little bit on the watery side and not the best flavor.
• 1/2 cup nuts to 3 cups water: This consistency is most similar to what you’d find from a store bought nut milk. It will be creamy, but thinner than regular milk. It’s perfect for enjoying just on it’s on.
• 1 cup of nuts to 3 cups of water: This is my preferred ratio of nuts to water as it resembles the same mouthfeel and texture as regular cows milk. Plus, it’s great as a lower-calorie coffee creamer.
• 1 1/2 cups of nuts to 3 cups of water: This produces a thick and creamy texture similar to a coconut cream. This would work really well if you want to replace coconut cream in a curry or sauce. Additionally, it would make an amazing rich creamer to your tea or coffee.

One last note on nut milk ratios is straining! The only nuts and seeds that do not need to be strained are cashews and hemp hearts. I have found that almost every other nut and seed tend to have pulp.

One great thing about the Nutr machine is it already comes with two different measuring spoons which means you can adjust the ratio of nuts to water as you like! Click here to visit the Nutr store and buy your own! It’s so easy PLUS you get 10% using my code MWM10.

Storing your Nut Milk

I recommend storing the nut milk in a glass jar with a tight lid. Since there are no additives or gums, you want to ensure that no bacteria can infiltrate the jar. Additionally, most nut milks and seed milks will keep in the fridge for 4 to 5 days. However, this is only if you soak your nuts for less than 12 hours. This is because once nuts or seeds touch water, the fermentation process begins. So every hour longer the nuts soak, means they are more along the road to becoming fermented. but, again, most nut milk will keep happily in the fridge for 4-5 days.

If you find yourself with a surplus of nut milk at the end of the sell date, you can freeze the nut milk into cubes. This is perfect for pouring your hot coffee over, as it will melt the cubes and instantly add creamer into the coffee. However, my favorite way to use up leftover nut milk cubes is in banana-free soft serve. I’ll link the recipe right here!

Nut Milk Combinations

This is where the fun is in making nut milk at home…you get to create whatever flavor of nut milk you like. While the options are endless, I’ll leave my favorite top three combinations below, as well as some examples of how I would use it.

I used the Nutr machine to make all of these nut milks as well! Lastly, all of these nut milks are half a batch, so feel free to double or triple the amount depending on how much nut milk you want. The ratio is simply 1 part nuts to 3 parts water.

Vanilla Hemp Milk

This vanilla infused hemp milk is one of my favorite milks. It’s packed with nutrients from the hemp seeds, creamy and has super rich flavor and body from the vanilla.

I love to enjoy this in a cold brew coffee or even poured over my morning oatmeal bowl!

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Strawberry Cashew Milk

This strawberry cashew milk takes major inspiration from Japan’s strawberry milk. I love enjoying this milk just on it’s own, although it tastes especially yummy in matcha!

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Cashew Caramel Cream

This cashew caramel cream is the perfect way to make your own homemade tea or coffee creamer. The rich full-body flavor from the cashew and caramel along with the silky texture makes this cream taste so indulgent.

I highly recommend that if you try any of these recipes, you try this cashew caramel cream! It is just so delicious.

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If you make any of these recipes, be sure to leave a rating below and write a comment. Your feedback helps the MWM team and community so much. Additionally, you can tag me on instagram @munchingwithmariyah. I love seeing your photos!

Additionally, if you want to buy your own nut milk machine, I highly recommend the Nutr machine, it’s so easy to use and makes amazing nut milk! I’m VERY picky when it comes to nut milk machines, but this one is AMAZING!