GOT (homemade) Almond Milk?
It’s not that complicated as it seems, but does it taste good?
This might just be the most random post I’ll ever share here, but I doubt it. You definitely read that title correctly. So, let’s jump right in because I know you’re probably curious about how this came to mind.
The Big Idea
A couple of months ago, I saw that a specific brand of almond milk was on recall. In our house, we usually drink lactose-free milk. We used to buy almond milk from the store, but eventually, we switched back to dairy. My fiancé, Kurtis, has this philosophy: “If you can buy it in the store, you can make it at home.”
I was scrolling on Pinterest—shout out to Pinterest for inspiring my chaos—and I stumbled upon a video of someone making almond milk at home. Of course, I sent the video to Kurtis with the biggest puppy eyes and asked, “Can we please try this?”
Shout out to my man because, no matter how random my ideas are, he’s always down. He gave me his usual “Sure,” and the next thing I know, he’s buying raw almonds after work, we are putting on our lab coats and safety glasses and got to work… I’m joking about the lab coats and safety glasses, but we might as well have because we were ready. Honestly, you would have NEVER guessed how easy it actually was to make, but question is does it taste good? We asked ChatGPT for help and here is, yet another recipe from AI to the rescue.
The Process
First, we had to soak the almonds, which is apparently called blanching. We left them in water for about 8 hours. Fun fact: You can peel the skin off after soaking, but we decided to leave the almonds as they were.
We made three different batches of almond milk with different sweeteners, and each batch produced about 2 cups. So, if you are curious to know how our little experiment went down keep reading…
Batch 1: Vanilla Extract Sweetener
We added just ¼ teaspoon of vanilla extract to the milk. And whew, let me tell you—vanilla extract is STRONG. We weren’t huge fans of this version. It wasn’t terrible, though; adding it to our (cheap) coffee helped balance things out. But overall? Not a winner.
Batch 2: Maple Syrup Sweetener
For this batch, we added 1 tablespoon of maple syrup. After blending it and chilling it in the fridge (because no one wants warm milk, no shade if you do), Kurtis volunteered to be the guinea pig. His first reaction?
“This is why companies add so much sugar to it.”
His face was priceless, and I wish you could have seen it. Clearly, 1 tablespoon wasn’t enough, so we added more syrup. Final verdict? It was better but still not great.
My first reaction was the almond milk and the maple syrup separated. This is why companies add something to our drinks to prevent separation. where as doing it naturally….everything separated.
Batch 3: Honey Sweetener
For the last batch, we tried 1 tablespoon of honey. Let’s just say: honey and almond milk does not mix, and if it does, our measurements were way off. This mix just wasn’t working for us. Kurtis didn’t even try to add more honey to it. He just put down the spoon and shook his head and said “that ain’t it” lol. I love that man lol.
The next morning, we thought, “Okay, maybe we were being a little dramatic. Let’s give it another shot.” So, we poured the honey-almond milk over some cereal. The first bite was… fine. But then I took another spoonful with more milk than cereal, and let me tell you, my gag reflex kicked in immediately. Just thinking about it now makes my stomach flip. This batch was a big NO—even in coffee.
And you know how some instructions say, “Shake well before use”? Yeah, now I get it. The honey and milk separated, leaving these unidentifiable chunks floating in my coffee. The smell? Absolutely vomitrocious. Kurtis, being the brave soul that he is, tried it first and warned me, but I thought he was exaggerating. I should’ve listened because if he—a man who eats just about anything—had to force down his coffee, it was serious. Lesson learned the hard way..
What’s Next?
If we decide to try this again, we might just go with plain sugar for the heck of it. Have you ever made almond milk at home? Or tried a DIY recipe like this? Let me know—I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions!
For now, we’re passing on all three sweeteners. They just weren’t it, y’all. Shout out to Kurtis for being a trooper and saving my taste buds from being traumatized. While we’re temporarily shelving our DIY almond milk experiment, I’m happy to report that everything’s fine at least my taste buds are.
What to do with the Almond Pulp?
The leftover almond pulp turned into the most AMAZING almond flour. We used it to make almond flour-fried chicken, baked chicken, and even baked tofu—and they were all a success. As for the almond milk itself… well, let’s just say it’s not our favorite. But chile, we’re not tossing it out—that would be wasteful, and with inflation these days, we are not about that life. So, Kurtis will be finishing the milk lol. As for the almond flour? That’s definitely making a reappearance in our kitchen.
Overall, if there’s a level below beginner in cooking, hey girl! I’ve officially found it—and I’m perfectly okay with that.