Making Non-Dairy Milk at Home

Have you ever read the ingredients in a container of store-bought nut or oat milk? They are full of gums and guars and stabilizers, things that can cause digestion issues for a lot of people and are generally unnecessary to put into your body. I had such a hard time finding a non-dairy milk I felt good drinking (and one that was affordable) I decided to start making my own. The good news is making non-dairy milk yourself is super easy!

You can alter the ratio of nuts/oats to water to make it as creamy or watery as you want. My go-to ratio (and enough milk to last me a week) is 7 cups of water and 1 ½-2 cups of cashews (but you can use any nut or oats in the same quantity). More water will of course make it more watery, and more nuts/oats will make it creamier. You also decrease both so you don’t end up with as much milk at the end.

A good blender helps make the best milk, and buying an affordable nut milk straining bag off Amazon is essential. That being said, I have done this with a fancy Vitamix, a Ninja, and a 25$ blender from Target. The Vitamix obviously gave me the smoothest milk, but they all worked totally fine. The nut milk straining bag, however, is very important to getting all the pulp out (without getting super frustrated in the process).  I have tried this process with a fine mesh strainer and cheese cloth, but nothing comes close to how easy a straining bag makes this step.

Depending on the nuts/oats being used (and your personal preference) soaking the nuts or oats in warm water and a splash of apple cider vinegar can help them blend easier, but I don’t always do this step. Next you blend the water and nuts/oats together, pour the liquid into the straining bag over a big bowl and just squeeze the liquid out while all the leftover pulp stays in the bag. You can throw the pulp away (or find another use for it?), rinse and dry the bag, and store the milk in an airtight container in the fridge.

I will warn you, regardless of the amount of milk you make, it will only last about a week in the refrigerator because there aren’t any shelf stabilizers in it, so keep that in mind when deciding how much to make at one time. This recipe is super flexible and you can absolutely add flavors or sweeteners like maple syrup and dates. And that’s it!