Homemade Almond Milk

Last updated on February 11th, 2021

The crispy baked tofu was your first warning.

Now the full depth of my hippie DIY craziness reveals itself with the latest project of the Good. Food. Stories. test kitchen: homemade almond milk.

In an ongoing quest to offset all the bacon, cheese, and beer that goes down my gullet in the name of research, I’ve attempted to step up my healthier efforts at breakfast.

But after scaring the bejeezus out of myself by reading too many conflicting reports on how much soy we should be ingesting, I’ve kicked soy milk to the curb in favor of almond milk.

So why not make it at home?

The first ingredients on any box of almond milk are water, almonds, and evaporated cane juice (aka sugar) before devolving into a somewhat uneasy list of preservatives and stabilizers.

I’m sure the beer is going to get me long before the tricalcium phosphate does, but I should at least make the effort. How hard could it be, anyway?

Famous last words.

It’s true, all you need to make homemade almond milk are raw almonds and water. Oh, and a powerful blender like a Vitamix. (Seriously, don’t try this with your grandmother’s Osterizer.)

And then all you need to do is soak, blend, and strain. Doesn’t sound too bad.

Well, about that straining bit. There are a few tutorials out there that recommend using a fine-mesh strainer to separate the liquid and solids.

Don’t do that.

The time spent waiting for your nascent almond milk to trickle through the strainer is far better spent doing other things.

Instead, buy a set of flour sack towels—they’re washer/dryer friendly and can be used for lots of other fun culinary projects, like making your own kombucha or ricotta, covering bread dough as it rises, or as a lovely textural background for your food shots.

(OK, maybe that last one was on the edge of culinary usage.)

Yes, you could also use cheesecloth, but it bugs me how it’s not really reusable; the weave loosens with each use and subsequent rinse, so eventually bits and bobs will start to sneak their way through.

And once you’re done straining your almond milk, you’ll have a towel full of almond meal. Whatever are you going to do with it?

Well, you can spread the almond meal loosely on a greased baking sheet and bake it at 300 degrees F for about an hour or until it’s dry and crumbly, then transfer it to an airtight container and use it in your granola, smoothies, or breakfast cereals, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Or you can compost it, but that seems like a bit of a waste.

So for about 20 minutes of work plus passive time waiting for almonds to soak and strain, you’ll get 2 quarts homemade almond milk.

Is the taste worth the work?

Even when sampling the organic versions of both vanilla and unsweetened almond milk, my throat catches a metallic aftertaste that leads me to camouflage the flavor by mixing it with oatmeal and maple syrup.

The homemade version, on the other hand… holy moly.

Densely creamy and rich on the tongue, this doesn’t taste like something you’re choking down just to reap the health benefits.

This is something you could use in place of half and half. This is good.

But I’ll be honest: the time commitment to making a batch of homemade almond milk gives me—yes, even me, the girl who makes her own Cheez-Its—pause.

There’s going to be a Sunday morning when I want oatmeal and my carafe of homemade heaven is empty, so I’ll continue to keep a backup box of the storebought stuff in the pantry.

Homemade Almond Milk

Yield: 2 quarts

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Additional Time: 8 hours

Total Time: 8 hours 20 minutes

Homemade almond milk takes time, but those who try it will be rewarded by creamy, rich flavor that surpasses packaged almond milk.

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Ingredients

• 1 pound raw almonds
• water

Instructions

1. Add the almonds to a large bowl or pot and fill with enough water to cover by 2 inches. Let soak overnight.
2. Drain the almonds and transfer to a powerful blender. Add 4 cups water.
3. Blend, using the tamper as necessary to nudge the almonds down.
4. Place a flour sack towel inside a large mixing bowl and pour the almond sludge in.
5. Lift and wring/squeeze gently and patiently until the last drops of milk make it into the bowl.
6. Congratulations, you now have 1 quart of almond milk concentrate!
7. Add an equal amount (or more) of cold filtered water to make 2-3 quarts almond milk, depending on how creamy you'd like the final product to be.
8. The leftover almond meal can be transferred to a parchment-lined baking sheet and dried in a 300-degree oven.
9. Use it for an oatmeal topping, crumble into granola, or as a smoothie add-in.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 16 Serving Size: .5 cup
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 164Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 1mgCarbohydrates: 6gFiber: 4gSugar: 1gProtein: 6g

The nutritional information above is computer-generated and only an estimate.

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