How to make homemade nut milk and coconut milk- it’s actually easy! It’s convenient to buy dairy free milk from the grocery store, but it can be fun, healthy and more delicious to make your own nut milk and coconut milk at home.

All you need are fresh, good quality nuts (or coconut if you’re making coconut milk) and water.  It takes just a few minutes to blend everything together and you’ll end up with a smooth, creamy, extra rich milk.  With the homemade version, you’ll know exactly which ingredients are in your milk.  So if you have sensitivities to any of the ingredients that are often found in store-bought milks, such as carageenan or flavourings, you can avoid them.

You may wonder, do you need a nut milk bag to make your own milk?  You can always skip this step if you don’t have one.  There will be some extra nut pulp that sinks to the bottom of your glass, but it’s completely fine to eat!

Macadamia Nut Milk

Our favorite nut milk to make at home is macadamia nut milk because it’s ultra creamy.  A great thing about macadamia nuts is that they’re soft and don’t need to soak for a long time before blending.  They only need to soak in water for around 2 hours before they’re ready to blend.

Here’s the simple recipe:

1 cup macadamia nuts
4 cups filtered water

Directions:

1. Soak the macadamia nuts in a bowl of water for 2 hours.  If your home is hot, you can put the bowl of soaking nuts in the fridge to keep them extra fresh.
2. Once the nuts have soaked, strain them out of the water (discard the water).
3. Place the soaked nuts and 4 cups of water in a high speed blender and blend for 1 minute, or until you have a smooth and creamy milk.
4. Carefully pour the mixture through a nut milk bag and squeeze the bag to get out as much liquid as possible. You can do this directly over a jar, if it’s wide enough to catch the liquid.  Or, you can do this over a large mixing bowl and then pour the strained milk into a storage jar afterward.
5. Store in the fridge in a clean glass jar.  We recommend using within 4 days.

Almond Milk

Almond milk is still a popular type of nut milk, although there are a lot more options at the stores these days than there was a few years ago.  There is some concern about how much water almonds require to farm and research about how they aren’t the most sustainable nut for farmers to grow.

Here’s the simple recipe:

1 cup almonds
4 cups filtered water

Directions:

1. Soak the almonds in a bowl of water overnight, or for 7-8 hours during the day.  If your home is hot, you can put the bowl of soaking nuts in the fridge to keep them extra fresh.
2. Once the nuts have soaked, strain them out of the water (discard the water).
3. Place the soaked nuts and 4 cups of water in a high speed blender and blend for 1 minute, or until you have a smooth and creamy milk.
4. Carefully pour the mixture through a nut milk bag and squeeze the bag to get out as much liquid as possible. You can do this directly over a jar, if it’s wide enough to catch the liquid.  Or, you can do this over a large mixing bowl and then pour the strained milk into a storage jar afterward.
5. Store in the fridge in a clean glass jar.  We recommend using within 4 days.

Coconut Milk

We use coconut milk often as an alternative to nut milk (it’s especially good in smoothies) as well as in recipes such as curries and stir fries.  If it’s possible for you to find fair trade certified coconut products, that’s the best way to ensure that your purchase actually supports farmers working in tropical climates with fair pair as well as use environmentally sustainable farming practices.

Here’s the simple recipe:

1 cup dried coconut flakes, unsweetened
3 cups filtered water

Directions:

1. Place the coconut flakes and 3 cups of water in a high speed blender.  Let this sit for 10 minutes so the coconut flakes can soften.
2. Then blend for 1 minute, or until you have a smooth and creamy milk.
3. Store in the fridge in a clean glass jar.  We recommend using within 4 days.

Coconut milk will naturally seperate when it’s cold, so don’t be alarmed if you see that happen in the fridge.  The white fatty part will seperate to the top and liquid will be below.  Just give the jar a good shake to mix it back together before using.  We love using homemade coconut milk in recipes, such as our Strawberry, Coconut and Cherry Popsicles.

We hope you feel ready to go with how to make homemade nut milk and coconut milk at home.  If you try it out, we’d love to see a photo of what you make!  You can tag us on Instagram or Facebook if you post there, @livingkitchenco