Looking for a simple nut milk recipe? Look no further! This easy nut milk recipe is all you need to make unsweetened, sweetened, and chocolate nut milk versions. And you can use this recipe with almost ANY type of nut you already have in your pantry.
Why this Recipe Works
This recipe does not use any fancy equipment like a nut milk machine or require any specific product like already processed nuts. Instead, it uses a high speed blender and any nut of your choosing.
Making nut milk at home means you can remove preservatives, emulsifiers, and sweeteners. You can add in your own preference of sweetener like dates, agave, or honey, and I show you how.
Keeping shelf-stable nuts in your pantry means you can use this recipe to make fresh nut milk anytime you want without needing to go to the grocery store.
Ingredients, Nut Choices, and Sweeteners
You can use this recipe to make any kind of nut milk. My favorites are pistachio and hazelnut, but this recipe works great with almonds, macadamia nuts, and cashew nuts!
Nuts - unsalted raw nuts work best, but unsalted toasted nuts work, too. Use any combination of pistachio, hazelnut, almond, cashew, and macadamia.
Filtered water - use any water you would drink.
Cocoa powder - I use unsweetened, high quality cocoa powder when making chocolate nut milk. When I add cocoa powder, I also use a sweetener and a pinch of salt.
Sweeteners
This recipe does not require sweeteners. If you are accustomed to store bought nut milk, you will likely want to add a pinch of salt and some sweetener. Here are my favorite options of sweetener for homemade nut milk:
- Dates
- Agave Nectar
- Coconut sugar or other sugar (dissolve in hot water before adding to the blender)
- Honey
- Maple Syrup
- Simple Syrup
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How to Make this Recipe with Any Nut
First, soak the raw nuts in 3 cups of filtered water overnight. The next day, drain and rinse well.
Add the drained nuts, 4 cups of water, and optional sea salt and sweetener to a high speed blender. Blend on high for 4 minutes.
Note: Add less sweetener than you think you need. You can always add more after you taste it.
Place your nut milk bag over a large bowl. Pour the blender mixture into the bag.
Take your time to press all the liquid through the bag until the pulp is dry.
Note: You can purchase a nut milk bag on Amazon. I prefer it to using cheesecloth because it gets all of the pulp out of the nut milk, yielding a much silkier nut milk.
Refrigerate immediately in a sealed container and use within 5 days.
You can use this nut milk in your favorite beverages like matcha lattes, matcha chia pudding, berry chia pudding, and more!
How to Make Chocolate Nut Milk
If making chocolate nut milk, add the strained liquid back to the blender. Add the unsweetened cocoa powder and sweetener. Blend for 1 minute until smooth.
Note: You can leave the sweetener out, but when making the chocolate version I like to add a little sweetener.
Refrigerate immediately in a sealed container and use over the next 5 days.
Homemade Nut Milk FAQs
Nut milk (sometimes called nut mylk) is a milk alternative made by soaking nuts in water, blending them, and then filtering out the nut pieces to create a smooth milky liquid. You only need two ingredients – nuts and water – and a nut milk bag to help you filter. Super simple to make, and delicious!
Nut milk is a fantastic milk alternative for anyone who can't have dairy. It can be subbed in as an ingredient almost anywhere that milk is used such as in coffee and tea, smoothies, or with cereal.
The flavor of nut milk is very mild – it will taste faintly of the nut you've chosen to make it, and the taste is so subtle that you likely won't notice. Aside from the slight nuttiness, nut milk can taste slightly to very sweet depending on the amount of sweetener that's gone into it.
Almond milk is arguably the most common and popular milk, but other types like cashew milk, hazelnut milk, and macadamia nut milk are popular also.
Since this recipe works with all sorts of nuts, if you have an allergy or sensitivity to one type of nut you can opt for another option. Almonds are very popular due to the flavor of the milk produced. Each nut produces a different flavor and consistency, but no nut makes a superior milk, its mostly down to your preference.
You can sweeten nut milk in a variety of ways. My go-to method is to use medjool dates, but you could also use sugar or a sugar substitute, maple syrup, honey, or agave nectar.
Yes, you should refrigerate nut milk as it will stay fresher for much longer in the fridge. I find it stays fresh and tastes the best if refrigerated and consumed within 3-5 days of making it.
Usually, homemade nut milk will be better for you than the store bought alternative because it will not have the added sweeteners and ingredients that may make it less healthy. With a homemade nut milk, you can control the ingredients and the added sugar. The specific calorific value will differ depending on the type of nut you use.
A nut milk bag, aptly named, is a mesh bag specifically for straining nuts from nut milk. It works much better than other straining materials like cheesecloth. They're quite cheap to buy and well worth it! I find they make the best, smooth milk.
If your diet means you can't have dairy, there are so many alternative varieties of nut milks, oat milk (I have a recipe for homemade oat milk here), soy milk, coconut milk, and rice milk. They all taste slightly different so it's a good idea to try a few and see which one you like the best.
More Recipes
If you love this recipe, you'll want to check out all my dairy-free recipes, and here are some I know you'll love:
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Homemade Nut Milk
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw nuts almond, hazelnut, pistachio, or cashew
- 7 cups filtered/purified water
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt (optional)
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (optional) high quality
- 2 dates (optional) pitted
Instructions
- Soak the raw nuts in 3 cups of filtered water overnight.
- The next day, drain and rinse well.
- Add the drained nuts, 4 cups of water, and optional sea salt sweetener to a high speed blender. Blend on high for 4 minutes.
- Place your nut milk bag over a large bowl. Pour the blender mixture into the nut milk bag.
- Take your time to press all the liquid through the nut milk bag until the pulp is dry.
- If making chocolate nut mylk, add the strained liquid back to the blender. Add the cocoa powder and optional sweetener. Blend for 1 minute until smooth.
- Refrigerate immediately in a sealed container and use over the next 5 days.
Notes
Nutrition
This post was originally published in June of 2019 but was republished with new photos, step by step instructions, FAQs, and tips in November of 2021.
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