How to Make Almond Milk in a Slow Juicer or Blender

In an ongoing quest to offset all the 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.

After all, the only two ingredients you need to make homemade almond milk are raw almonds and water. How hard could it be, anyway?

Well… that depends.

I used to use my Vitamix blender to make homemade almond milk, which was super easy but also super frustrating.

The easy part was blending the almonds, but the frustrating part was straining the pulp from the milk. It wasn’t difficult, per se, but kind of messy and I always had a lot of almond meal left over to deal with.

Then I discovered that you can make homemade almond milk—actually any kind of nut milk—with a slow juicer.

Slow juicers, AKA masticating juicers or cold press juicers, are masters at extracting liquid from ingredients.

Instead of using a blade to chop and shred at high speeds, this type of juicer uses an auger to grind and crush whatever you’re feeding into it, pressing the liquid through a filter to strain out pulp and bits.

They can be pricey, but I love my slow juicer for its efficiency. I recommend both the Hurom H101 Easy Clean and Kuvings EVO820 Whole Slow Juicer models.

And now that I know how to make homemade nut milk in a juicer? Game over. The process is so easy—I barely need to life a finger.

The almond meal that’s pressed out is so dry, it’s like every drop of nutty goodness went into the milk.

Densely creamy and rich on the tongue, it 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.

Watch the video to learn how to make almond milk in a slow juicer as well as with a blender, and read more below.

How to Make Homemade Nut Milk in a Slow Juicer

The process of making nut milk in a slow juicer is almost too easy to describe.

Soak almonds in water for 4-6 hours, then drain.

Turn on your juicer and start adding handfuls of almonds through the feeding tube, dribbling in fresh water between handfuls.

You’ll see the almond milk start to churn in the bowl and the almond meal slowly snake its way out of the pulp chute. (I know, kind of weirdly gross terminology, but that’s what it is.)

When all the almonds have been crushed, open the cap on the juice chute and watch your gorgeous almond milk spill out into the cup.

Yay! You can strain that milk once through a fine mesh strainer to catch the minuscule amount of pulp that made it through, or just leave as is.

It’s really that simple, and there’s not that much mess at the end. (Though that all depends on how much you hate cleaning your slow juicer.)

How to Make Almond Milk in a Blender

If you only have a blender, you can still make homemade almond milk, or cashew milk, or hazelnut milk, or whatever. You’re just going to have to strain it yourself.

Soak your nuts for 4-6 hours, then add to your high-powered blender (not one of those cheapo models) with 1 1/2 to 2 cups water.

You’ll need more water for this method to give the almonds enough liquid to be strained. So the texture of the finished product will be slightly different here.

Blend until the almonds are completely smoothed into a puree, then strain. But not through cheesecloth—it’s not the easiest way!

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, or covering dough as it rises.

Place the flour sack towel in a big mesh strainer, then place that over a bowl. Pour in the almond puree and let it drip through.

This will take some time. and you’ll have to squeeze the towel to really get the full amount of almond milk extracted from the almond meal.

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, the internet can help you with a lot of recipes.

But one of the easiest is to spread the almond meal loosely on a parchment-lined 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 it’s up to you as to which method you want to try.

But trust me, if you can make homemade Cheez-Its, you can make homemade almond milk.

Use this method for other nut milks as well!

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on March 14, 2011 and completely updated with new information, photos, and video on May 22, 2021.