Homemade Lavender Vanilla Almond Milk (How-To + Recipe)

Let me introduce you to one of my new favorite things to do: making nut milk!!!

Guys I had been sooo intimidated to try making my own nut milks at home, even though I have friends who do it and they’ve told me how simple it is! Idk what was up with me, but I will tell you, it is SO simple, quick, and honestly just makes me feel better knowing that I made it myself. Have you ever looked at the ingredients list of most non-dairy milks?! Tons of additives. It makes sense though because fresh almond milk only lasts for about 3 days before going bad, so you can only imagine what they need to put in the milks at the store to make them last as long as they do!

To make the actual milk, you only need two ingredients (almonds + water), but I wanted to flavor mine with a touch of natural sweetness, vanilla and lavender. Also, you’ll want to be sure you leave yourself enough time to soak the almonds for 8-12 hours because that is the key! In terms of equipment, this requires a blender, nut milk bag and something to pour the milk into. I use a nut milk bag from Ellie’s Best and it has freakin’ changed my life?

In terms of money, I think making your own milk at home can be super economical if you 1) get your almonds or whatever base you’re using from bulk bins or when they’re on sale and 2) make sure you don’t make so much that you waste it. I’m pretty sure one cup of almonds cost me about $3 (not on sale because I wanted to make it asap for this post!), but then I made enough milk for 3 days (for smoothies + coffee), plus the cup of almond meal that came out of it. You can do so many things with almond meal, and that’s something you definitely don’t get when you just buy the milk in store.

So yeah! It’s better for you since there’s less crap in there, you can customize it to be whatever flavor you’d like, it can be super cost-effective if you get your almonds in bulk/on sale, and there’s less waste overall since you’re not buying cartons on cartons. So many perks you guys! If you’d like, you can try Ellie’s Best nut milk bags (or any of their other items) and take 10% off your entire cart with the code ‘dancingfordonuts’ – they even send you a few of their own recipes to get you started!

What you’ll need:

1 nut-milk bag or cheesecloth – I’ve been using Ellie’s Best nut milk bags and I’m in LOVE.

A blender – I have a NutriBullet, but any should work fine!

A pitcher (or even vase if you’re desperate) to strain the milk into

An airtight container for storing the milk (like a mason jar or bottle)

Lavender Vanilla Almond Milk

1 cup raw almonds

3 1/2 cups filtered water

2 pitted dates (optional, but recommended!)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp culinary lavender (feel free to add more, but a little goes a long way!)

1. Soak the nuts in water in a large bowl for 8-12 hours (but no longer than 12 ’cause they can actually go bad!).

2. Drain the almonds then add them to your blender with the filtered water, dates, vanilla extract and lavender. You may need to do two batches depending on your blender size! Pulse/blend for 1 minute on high.

3. Take an Ellie’s Best nut milk bag and put it 3/4 of the way inside a pitcher, making sure that the top is secure. I tie the string, but you can also use a rubber band.

4. Pour your nut milk blend into the bag over the pitcher. You’ll see that most of it will drain straight through, but there’s still a ton left in the bag surprisingly! Using your hands, hold the bag over the pitcher and squeeeeeze!!! It takes me about 3 extra minutes and some muscle power to really get the rest of the liquid out of the bag.

5. Transfer the nut milk to an airtight container (unless it’s already in one!) and empty the almond meal from the nut milk bag into another airtight container, if you’d like. You can use this in smoothies, oatmeal, and a ton of other recipes! Note: Your fresh almond milk will only stay fresh for up to 3 days because it doesn’t have preservatives like store-bought brands! Be sure to drink it before then 🙂

So there ya have it! If you have any questions at all, please feel free to ask me – I might make a quick little video of this too, since maybe it’s easier to understand the directions that way? Let me know what you think, and if you make some almond milk of your own! And if you need a new nut milk bag, be sure you use the code ‘dancingfordonuts‘ so you can get 10% off at Ellie’s Best!!

xo Jordan