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Home » Plant-Based Recipes » Cashew milk - creamy and delicious!

Cashew milk - creamy and delicious!

Published: Nov 19, 2019 · Modified: Feb 17, 2021 by Lauren Glucina • Naturopath, Nutritionist

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The creamiest cashew milk you’ll ever try! Dairy-free and truly delicious, thanks to my special ingredient. I'll even show you how to flavour your milks for extra punch.

Three cute bottles of different flavoured cashew milk

Cashew milk – or any other nut milk, really, is a super delicious, dairy free alternative to milk, for those of us with difficulty digesting lactose (oh, you know, only 65% of the world’s population!).

Make a batch up fresh once or twice a week, and you’ll be able to enjoy recipes like this Chocolate Grain-Free Granola, or this Matcha Mint and Aloe Smoothie.

Making homemade cashew milk is the simplest process – soak your nuts/seeds of choice in water in advance to soften them, drain and rinse well, blend with shredded coconut, water, vanilla and a dash of sweetener, then strain to remove the pulp for the creamiest finish.

Now. My big secret. Ever wondered how to make your nut milks actually taste good? Like, really good?! It’s the added coconut!

I’ve found it adds a hint of natural sweetness and creaminess that nuts or seeds otherwise can’t quite reach on their own. Plus – it actually helps make the recipe more cost-effective. Win-win.

Jump to:
  • 🥛Step by step 
  • 🍓Sweet tooth? Here’s how to flavour your milk
  • 🌿FAQ's
  • 🐮Cashew milk? Kind milk!
  • 📖Recipe
Creamy Cashew Milk Three Ways

🥛Step by step 

Step 1. Select your nuts or seeds – cashews, almonds, hazelnuts, sunflower + sesame seeds are all options. Soak in ample water for up to 8 hours, to soften them for easy blending and a smooth end result.

Pouring water of cashews in a jug to soak

Step 2. After soaking, drain and rinse your cashews in a colander. Transfer to a blender, and add shredded coconut and water, blend until creamy.

Draining soaked cashews and blending them with water and coconut

Step 3. Pour your homemade cashew milk into a sieve placed over a bowl, lined with a nut milk bag, or fine mesh cloth. Use your hands to press out all the liquid from the pulp. Either discard the pulp or set is aside to repurpose in another recipe (raw cookies for examples), and pour the nut milk back into the blender.

Straining the fresh, homemade cashew milk through a nut milk bag

Step 4. Flavour by adding sea salt, vanilla paste or extract, and honey or sweetener of choice. Blend again.

Blending the nut milk with sea salt, vanilla and honey to sweeten

Done!

Yay! You now have a creamy, sweet vanilla cashew milk ready to enjoy.

Hot tip from moi: If you’d love to skip the soaking of the nuts to save on time, then you might prefer this Hemp & Macadamia Nut Milk instead.

🍓Sweet tooth? Here’s how to flavour your milk

For a chocolate flavoured nut milk, add raw cacao powder, a couple of soft Medjool dates, and a dash of cinnamon.

Or for a berry flavour, add fresh strawberries or blueberries to your liking, blend.

Cacao and dates being added back into the blender to make chocolate cashew milk

🌿FAQ's

What nuts and seeds can I use?

Aside from cashews – you can use almonds, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds all interchangeably. Macadamia nuts and hemp seeds are another option – though they truly don’t need soaking. They’re both soft enough in texture to blend into a perfectly creamy milk as is.

Do I have to strain my cashew milk?

Ideally yes, as this way there will be less separation after time.

How long can keep homemade nut milks for?

You can get up to four days out of a batch, stored in a glass jar in the fridge.

What do I do with the leftover pulp?

I’m all for zero-waste, so save the pulp and re-use in other recipes. I like to spread it out over a mesh tray and dehydrate at 118˚F until dry, then store in an airtight container in the fridge. You can use the pulp as a substitute for almond meal in your baking.

Do homemade nut milks contain protein and calcium like dairy milk?

Nut milks are a fabulous alternative to dairy from a food intolerance (and ethical) perspective, but they are not equal in terms of protein or calcium content. I can’t give you an accurate estimate of the protein and calcium content of this recipe – as it’s near impossible to work out considering the amount of pulp left over. I’m assuming it is negligible. You’ll see that store-bought plant-based milks are most often fortified with calcium.

More on plant-based protein here
More on plant-based calcium here

Can I freeze cashew milk?

Absolutely! Try pouring it into an ice cube tray. The frozen nut milk cubes are fantastic added to smoothies.

Lauren and her Nan enjoying little bottles of homemade cashew milk

🐮Cashew milk? Kind milk!

I like to call this recipe Kind Milk, because it doesn’t involve the exploitation of cows and their calves.

If you are vegan feel free to substitute the honey for something like pure maple syrup or dates. After attending a natural bee-keeping course, I don’t mind to consume a small amount with reverence as long as it is ethically and sustainably harvested, and the bees have plenty of their own food left over for winter – i.e., no sugar water.

Enjoy, my plant-savvy friends!

Lauren. X

Sweet little cow's face

Enjoyed this recipe? Leave a comment below, better yet - share a snap with me on instagram @ascensionkitchen. If you're after personalised health and nutrition advice, contact my clinic, I'd be happy to work with you.

📖Recipe

Creamy Cashew Milk

Naturopath Lauren Glucina
AKA, Kind Milk! A creamy, delicious, dairy free plant milk. Makes 1 litre / 1 quart.
5 from 4 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
10 mins
Total Time 10 mins
Course Drinks
Cuisine Dairy-free, Plant-based, Raw
Servings 1 litre/quart
Calories 50 kcal

Equipment

  • Blender
  • Nut milk bag or fine mesh cloth
  • Bowl

Ingredients
  

  • 1 cup cashews
  • 1 cup shredded coconut
  • 4 cups water
  • pinch fine sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
  • 1 teaspoon honey

To flavour (chocolate):

  • 2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 Medjool dates

To flavour (berry):

  • handful fresh berries

Instructions
 

  • Soak cashews in ample water for up to 8 hours, to soften them for easy blending and a smooth end result.
  • Drain and rinse cashews, pop in the blender with coconut and water, blitz.
  • Pour the cashew milk into a sieve placed over a bowl, lined with a nut milk bag.
  • Gently squeeze until all the liquid is pressed out and you’re left with the dry pulp (discard).
  • Pour the freshly strained milk back into the blend, add sea salt, vanilla and honey, and blitz again ready to drink.

To make a chocolate flavoured milk:

  • Add cacao, cinnamon and dates, blend well.

To make a berry flavoured milk:

  • Add fresh berries, blend.
  • Serve chilled.

Notes

  • Aside from cashews – you can use almonds, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds all interchangeably.
  • Straining your cashew milk is ideal, as this way there will be less separation after time.
  • Store in a glass jar, refrigerated for up to four days.
  • You can save the pulp from the nuts and coconut, dehydrate until 100% dry, and store in a glass container. Use the pulp in place of almond meal in your baking.
  • You can freeze this recipe - in fact, frozen cubes are handy for smoothies.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cupCalories: 50kcal
Keyword Cashew Milk
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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About the Author

I’m Lauren, practising Naturopath, Medical Herbalist, Nutritionist, and essential oils educator in Auckland, New Zealand. I’m incredibly passionate about food as medicine, and helping connect people with the healing power of Nature.

BNatMed, AdDip NutMed, BCS, Certified FitGenes Practitioner.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Shanna Trenholm

    October 01, 2019 at 3:52 am

    What a sweet video--I love it! And yum--adding coconut is one of my favorite things to do. A question, do you pop the little jackets off the soaked almonds? I do, but it is a pain, because of the phytic acids. Thoughts?

    Reply
  2. Heather Cohen

    October 01, 2019 at 3:52 am

    Ascension Kitchen Well it looks yummy either way! I'm curious about the fat content, too. All of the nut milks in the store seem to have a very high fat content but I am unsure what KIND of fat it is. Also, how does one keep the cost down for these because almonds are just atrocious for price where I live and don't even get me started on anything more exotic (I LOVE Brazil nuts but I don't want to sell my firstborn, lol!).....

    Reply
  3. Ascension Kitchen

    October 01, 2019 at 3:52 am

    Hi Heather, yes I am talking about the mass production of dairy here. You don't have to sweeten or flavour nut milk at all, it is quite tasty just as it is 🙂

    Reply
  4. Heather Cohen

    October 01, 2019 at 3:52 am

    This looks great! I would venture to say that your description of where milk comes from is the mass produced version. There are many gentle farms where the cows are allowed to nurse their young and share their milk. I grew up on raw milk this way. But I like what you are doing and I am anxious to try this. The only thing that disturbs me is that all of the "milk" must be flavoured/sweetened in some way it seems. Is this to make it more palatable?

    Reply
  5. Amber Stiles

    October 01, 2019 at 3:52 am

    Can you buy vanilla paste?

    Reply
  6. Ascension Kitchen

    October 01, 2019 at 3:52 am

    Lisa Brune so glad you enjoyed it 🙂 x

    Reply
  7. Lisa Brune

    October 01, 2019 at 3:52 am

    I made it, and it was gorgeous! The kids devoured it and I'm ready to go for another batch this afternoon. The nuts are soaking in the fridge right now 🙂 Thanks again x

    Reply
  8. Lisa Brune

    October 01, 2019 at 3:52 am

    I love that you call it Kind Milk! The video is great (how cute is your nana?!) and I love your addition of coconut, I've never tried that, but we only have one glass of almond milk left in the fridge so I will be making more tonight, and I will be making your recipe. Thanks so much xx

    Reply

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ABOUT

I'm Lauren Glucina, a New Zealand based Naturopath, Medical Herbalist and Nutritionist. My main goal is to empower you to connect with the healing power of Nature. I've been sharing plant-based recipes, natural remedies and health articles here since 2012.

If you're here, you're not here by mistake. You're ready to put your physical, emotional and spiritual health first. Welcome!

BNatMed, AdDip NutMed, BCS.

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