Have you ever wondered how to make almond milk or almond butter? Follow these simple steps to make this on your own.
We drink almond milk in our house. To me, it’s one of the most neutral tasting non-dairy milks out there. I’m pretty particular as to how it should taste too. I don’t like milk that is very thick or watery. It has to be just right. I had seen recipes to make your own almond milk, but didn’t try it myself thinking it wouldn’t be very cost-effective. Well, a few things changed my mind:
- When you make your own milk, you know exactly what is in it. Have you ever seen the ingredient list to the almond milk you buy in the store? Why does it take 10+ mystery ingredients to make something that should just be almonds and water?
- You can get several uses from just one cup of almonds. Not only do you get almond milk, you can also get almond meal or almond butter from the leftover pulp. Talk about 2 for 1!
- Nothing beats the taste of homemade. Fresh, homemade almond milk tastes just like raw almonds. It tastes nothing like the milk purchased at the store, which makes me wonder why commercial almond milk tastes so different?
- There are many variations you can make: chocolate almond milk or chai spiced almond milk, among others! I like my almond milk plain and unsweetened, but I have included several different recipes below if you’d like to give your milk a little flavor!
Are you convinced yet? Okay, great! Let’s get started!
This is a two part process. The first thing you want to do is soak your almonds overnight up to 24 hours. One of the reasons for soaking your almonds is to remove any enzyme inhibitors, which occur naturally in some raw nuts, so that it is easier to digest. Soaking the almonds also make them softer and easier to blend. In the photo above, you can see the difference between a dry almond and one that has been soaked in water overnight. It has almost doubled in size!
To soak: Place 1 cup of raw almonds into a bowl and fill with enough water to cover the almonds. Put some plastic wrap over the bowl and place into the fridge overnight or until ready to use. After they’re finished soaking, drain the dirty water and rinse almonds thoroughly.
Place clean, soaked almonds into a blender and add 2-3 cups of purified water, depending on how strong you like the almond taste (I do 3 cups of water.) Blend for a few minutes until almonds have been finely broken down.
Pour blended almond milk into a clean towel or Nut Milk Bag
Variations:
These variations are for 3 cups of milk.
Vanilla Almond Milk
After straining milk from the almond pulp, transfer milk back to a clean blender and blend with:
3 tablespoons of maple syrup
1/2-1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract (You can also use the vanilla beans scraped from 1 pod, if you so desire)
Chocolate Almond Milk
After straining milk from the almond pulp, transfer milk back to a clean blender and blend with:
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1.5 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Chai Spiced Almond Milk
After straining milk from the almond pulp, transfer milk back to a clean blender and blend with:
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
Meanwhile, spread almond pulp out onto a baking sheet. Break apart the big chunks so that it can dry evenly. Bake on 200F for 1 to 1.5 hours or until dried thoroughly, stirring every half hour or so. Remove from the oven and let cool thoroughly. Put it in the food processor and pulse a few times. At this point you have almond meal to use for baking. Store it in an airtight container until ready to use.
You can also make almond butter with the almond meal, but you will need to add a few ingredients. Normally, if you grind raw almonds long enough in a food processor by themselves they eventually release their oils and produce almond butter. These almonds have already been stripped of their oils making the almond milk, so you will need to add oil. I chose to add extra virgin coconut oil, but you could add refined coconut oil if you don’t want the coconut flavor.
To make Coconut-Almond Butter: Continue to process almond meal in your food processor along with a pinch of salt. Add 3 tablespoons of coconut oil, 1 tablespoon of honey or maple syrup and process until combined. Scrape down sides, if needed. Add water or coconut milk 1 tablespoon at a time and process until almond mixture reaches desired consistency, about 3-4 tablespoons. I also added 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, which is optional. Store almond butter in a jar or an airtight container in the fridge.
I like my mylk a little thicker, so I add 1/2 t guar gum to a litre of liquid. I googled up how to make the almond butter with the leftovers. I want that roasted almond taste, so I’ll try toasting the almond meal in a fry pan with some vegetable or coconut oil before re-blending for nut butter.
Do you know what % of the nut oil is released into the nut milk, and what % of the oil is retained in the dried nut pulp? I want to make reduced fat nut flours, and am hoping you can help me out here. Thanks for the great post. Keep up the good work.
Hi, I’m sorry but I don’t know the percentage. It seems as if most of the oil is released into the milk though, because the leftover flour after drying has little oil/fat left. I hope that helps!
For the vanilla almond milk, do you use grade b maple syrup? Also curious, If i were to try and substitute the maple syrup with agave nectar would I use the same amount, 3 tablespoons?
Hi Josie, it doesn’t really matter which grade maple syrup you use, it’s just up to your personal preference. Agave nectar can also be substituted and I would suggest using 2-3 tablespoons to start with, adding more if you’d like it sweeter.
I’ve made 2 batches of almond milk and have all the almond meal in a container so I’m not sure the measurements for making your recipe. About how many cups of almond meal would you suggest using to make the almond butter?
Hi Raye! I’m not exactly sure, as I’ve never measured the almond meal, but if it’s two batches worth of almond meal, I’d say maybe double the rest of the ingredients for the butter or half the amount of almond meal for one recipe? You can always add extra coconut oil if needed. Let me know if you give it a try!
The left over pulp after a batch of nut milk has been bothering me for a while. I’m trying to cut out sugar so date ball variations aren’t really an option. Then I found your post and I can’t believe I never considered nut butter before! OMG its so good! I used hazel nut pulp (that I’d actually dried before I thought of nut butter) added a bit of coconut oil and roasted macadamia and brazil nuts. A touch of salt and this stuff is incredible! (I used about 1.5 cup of roasted nuts, and 1 cup dried pulp, no water or sweetening required)
That sounds so good, Irene! Thank you for sharing your delicious variation! So happy you were able to find a good use for your leftover pulp!! Enjoy!
I love your post! Thank you for sharing your love of our great healthy food. xx Delphine
Thank you Delphine!
Hi, Can I make almond butter from pure almond powder which is used for beverage?
Hi! If it’s just ground almonds, it sounds like it might be possible. I’ve never heard of almond powder so I’m not sure. If you give a try, please let me know how it turns out.
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I followed your instructions but for some reason my almond butter looks white and tastes very dry… any thing I might have done wrong?
Hi, I apologize, I didn’t see this comment come through. It shouldn’t have been white, unless you use blanched almonds. I’ve only ever used whole raw almonds when making almond milk, so I’m not sure if that makes a difference. If yours came out dry, it may have been that you just needed to add a little more liquid to bring it all together. I hope that helps!
I think that the leftover almond meal most definitely had to be dried before making almond butter. I just wasted 24 ounces of almond meal because I didn’t dry it first. Mine is white too and I used whole raw almonds. Bummer.
I actually made the same mistake with my 2nd batch of butter (thinking that if I left it wet it be even creamier) so when it wouldn’t emulsify I spread it on a baking tray and dried the whole lot(added Brazil and macadamia nuts) in the oven a little more and viola! It worked. Hope you haven’t thrown yours away.
Thanks for reporting back. I’ll be sure to dry mine too.
Do you have to dry the leftover meal before you make it into coconut almond butter? Or can you use it right after making almond milk?
Hi MJ, great question. Since you usually need to add liquid to the dry meal anyway, I don’t see why it wouldn’t work as long as you strain the pulp really well. Please let me know how it turns out if you give it a try! 🙂
Thanks a million, this article is super cool! I’ve felt really bad with dairy so these tips will help me a lot! I cannot thank you enough!
I’m so glad you found this recipe helpful, Thiene! I too cannot tolerate dairy very well and almond milk is my favorite! Thanks for your kind feedback!
Thank you, Bridget! Decisions, decisions.. Almond pudding does sound delicious. How about chocolate almond pudding?! You’ll have to share that recipe soon 🙂
Thanks Joscelyn for the tip on almond milk! I may use some of my leftover almonds to make almond milk or perhaps almond pudding. Cheers! I loved the writing in this post 🙂