Vitamix almond milk is the smoothest and creamiest raw almond milk I’ve ever made! I’m never going to make it any other way!

I have tried to make Vitamix almond milk in the past and I was unhappy with how it turned out. Little did I know that the nut bag I was using made a HUGE difference in the final product! Because I wasn’t happy with my Vitamix, I bought an AlmondCow. I wrote a review here explaining what I think of that product.

But luckily, not all homemade versions of almond milk are bad!

I ended up ordering a new nut milk bag and took another try at the Vitamix method. Irealized it was the absolute best blender for nut milk. This time, I added vanilla and dates and created a vanilla almond milk that was better than any I’d had from the store. I was shocked. It was amazing! This homemade almond milk tastes smooth & creamy. Full of body. Not watery. I was hooked.

I had finally found a homemade almond milk recipe that I loved. Today I’ll be sharing exactly how I make this delicious fresh almond milk. You’ll never go back to store-bought almond milk again!

Why should you make your own raw almond milk?

For years, we drank the unsweetened vanilla almond milk from Costco. It was yummy! One day I was shopping and ran into a coworker while I was pulling the Kirkland vanilla almond milk off the shelf. He proceeded to tell me that their family would never drink store-bought almond milk because of all the junk in it. Um…..what? I had gotten out of the habit of reading ingredients so I flipped the box over and looked:

Ingredients in Costco unsweetened vanilla almond milk:

ORGANIC ALMOND BASE (FILTERED WATER, ORGANIC ALMONDS), ORGANIC VANILLA FLAVOR, SEA SALT, SUNFLOWER LECITHIN, ORGANIC LOCUST BEAN GUM, GELLAN GUM, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, ERGOCALCIFEROL (VITAMIN D2), DL-ALPHA-TOCOPHERYL ACETATE (VITAMIN E), RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), ZINC GLUCONATE, CYANOCOBALAMIN (VITAMIN B12). Information taken from here.

I knew they needed to add ingredients for it to be a shelf stable almond milk and be able to be preserved for so long on the grocery store shelves. But it was kind of humbling to look at the back and realize that I was drinking a “healthy” drink that was full of things I didn’t really want to ingest. I decided that the store-bought nut milk that was shelf stable was convenient, but it wasn’t for me. So the Costco vanilla almond milk went back on the shelf and that’s why we now make our own with this super basic recipe.

Here’s your step-by-step tutorial on how to make our Vitamix almond milk recipe!

This post contains affiliate links, so we may earn a small commission when you make a purchase through links on our site at no additional cost to you.

How to make Vitamix almond milk

This diy almond milk is so good and so easy! Just follow these simple instructions:

1. In a large bowl, soak 1 cup of raw almonds in filtered cold water for at least 6 hours, or overnight.
2. Drain and rinse whole almonds in cold water.
3. Add raw almonds to Vitamix with 4 cups of cold water (I use filtered water), 3 pitted medjool dates, 1 tsp vanilla extract and a pinch of sea salt. (you could also scrape a fresh vanilla bean and use that in place of the vanilla extract). A pinch of salt doesn’t seem like a lot, but it really does bring out the flavor!
4. Start Vitamix on the lowest speed. Then raise it to the highest speed and flip the switch to high for about a minute, or until you see the almonds in tiny particles. If you keep this high-powered blender on the highest speed for too long, it will heat the raw almond milk. However, it has to run long enough in order to give you a creamy milk.
5. Attach the nut milk bag to a pitcher or container with rubber bands to make sure it is secure.
6. Pour almond milk into nut milk bag and let sit for a little time – maybe 10 min to a half hour to allow it to drain.
7. Squeeze the remaining milk out of the raw almonds. (It should make about 3-3 1/2 cups of Vitamix almond milk.)
8. Save leftover almond pulp in the refrigerator or freezer for other uses.
9. Pour almond milk into an airtight glass container and store it in the refrigerator for about 5 days.

Step-by-Step Tutorial

Get ready to taste one of the best homemade nut milks you’ve ever had! Here we go!

You do have to think ahead a little bit when making raw almond milk. Raw almonds are super hard, so you’ll need to soak them for at least 6 hours or overnight in filtered cool water. I always buy raw almonds at Costco. It’s around $12 for 3 pounds. They aren’t organic but they work great.

Soaking:

Once they are done soaking, rinse off the soaking water a few times with a couple cups of fresh water. They will look like this when they are all soaked and plumped up.

Blending:

In your Vitamix 32 ounce container, place 3 PITTED dates. Don’t forget this part! You don’t want pits in your almond milk! Put a pinch of Himalayan sea salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or the scraped interior of a fresh vanilla bean, and 4 cups of water (I use filtered cool water), and the cup raw almonds that you’ve soaked and rinsed well. Allow the Vitamix high-speed blender to run on high on the kitchen counter for 1-2 minutes, until you see very tiny almond particles.

Straining:

While the Vitamix is running, attach the nut milk bag to a container, securing it with at least one rubber band to keep it tightly in place. Pour the raw almond milk into the nut milk bag and let it sit for a little time – about 10-30 minutes, until most of the milk has gone through the bag. Detach bag from container and squeeze remaining milk out of almond pulp.

Leftover pulp:

Put the almond pulp into the refrigerator or freezer for future use. I use this in homemade granola, almond pulp pancakes, and almond pulp cookies. Sometimes I even save it up in the freezer until I have a bunch and dry it out in the oven. I give it another quick spin in the Vitamix container, and make my own almond meal. It’s a great way to use the whole almond and not waste anything.

Storing:

And that’s homemade Vitamix almond milk! I think if you try it that you’ll agree with me that the Vitamix blender is the best way to make diy almond milk! It really is the dreamiest raw almond milk – so rich and creamy! It can keep in the fridge for about 5 days. It’s good to keep it toward the rear of the fridge in order to keep it from experiencing temperature fluctuations as you open and shut the fridge throughout the day. That makes it stay fresh longer.

FAQs

Do I have to use a nut-milk bag to strain it?

The short answer is no! The long answer is that while it’s super easy to do with a nut-milk bag, there are other ways to do it. You could line a fine strainer with either a thin tea towel or a few layers of cheesecloth. Set the fine mesh sieve over a container with a spout (like this batter bowl). You could use a large mixing bowl, but it will be harder to pour into the storage container.

Slowly pour almond milk into the fine strainer lined with cheesecloth or a thin tea towel. You may have to do it in batches. Once all the homemade nut milk has gone through the fine-mesh sieve, gather the edges of the thin tea towel or layers of cheesecloth and squeeze until all the liquid is out of the nut pulp.

Now, just refrigerate the leftover nut pulp and wash the thin tea towel or layers of cheesecloth. Pour the plant-based milk into a mason jar and store tightly sealed in the fridge.

Do I have to add the vanilla extract and dates?

Absolutely not! It is not a big deal to leave the vanilla extract or fresh vanilla bean seeds out. Alternately, you can have additional add-ins like cocoa powder or freeze dried strawberries to give it a great flavor!

In place of dates, you can also substitute maple syrup or agave nectar to give it a little sweetness in a different way. In fact, some people love to use plant milk as a dairy substitute instead of cream in savory dishes when they are cooking and leave the sweetness out all together.

What temperature should my water be?

Honestly, it doesn’t matter that much. You can use cold water or room temperature water. When I was using the Almond Cow, they said to use hot water to make it creamier. So I think it’s just a matter of preference. Either way, you’ll end up with the best almond milk you’ve ever had!

Can I use a food processor or a regular blender to make this?

I am not sure how this would turn out in a basic blender, without the help of a high-speed blender. I haven’t tried it that way. However, I suspect a basic blender won’t grind the raw almonds as finely and that is what I believe makes the Vitamix almond milk the creamiest almond milk. If you read my post about the Almond Cow, you’ll see that I felt like theirs was a bit gritty and that may be because it isn’t such a powerful blender like the Vitamix.

However, if you don’t have a Vitamix blender or another high-powered blender, I’d encourage you to try it and let me know how it goes! If you want to try to make it creamier, instead of using cool water, you could try Almond Cow’s trick of using hot water to make the almond milk and see if that helps.

Can I use almond butter instead of soaking almonds?

While I have seen that you can make almond milk with almond butter, I’ve never done that. Because of that, I wouldn’t even know the ratios of almond butter to use in place of soaked almonds and salt. If you try it using nut butter, I’d love to know!

How do I use Vitamix almond milk?

You can use this creamy milk in anything that you would normally use dairy milk for. If you’re using it in a savory way, you’ll want to leave out the vanilla extract and dates, as mentioned above. We use ours so many ways, but some of our favorite ways to use it are:

*make a smoothie with ice cubes, almond milk, fresh or frozen fruit, a handful of spinach, and a scoop of vanilla protein powder

*make overnight oats with 1/3c. of oats, 2t. chia, a bit of honey, agave nectar, or maple syrup and enough homemade Vitamix almond milk to cover. Mix and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

*my daughter loves to use this in iced coffee, or frothed in a hot latte.

*it tastes great with cold cereal too!

*use the vanilla extract and date free version to make hot soups creamy

*bake with it when it calls for cow’s milk

*use it in any way you would normally use store-bought nut milk

*mix with chia seeds and maple syrup, agave nectar or honey to make a chia pudding

Variations on Vitamix almond milk

Making your own nut milk means you can make so many variations!

*Add cacao powder and a little bit of agave nectar to make chocolate almond milk

*Boost the flavor by adding powdered freeze dried strawberries for strawberry almond milk.

*Put a ripe banana and cinnamon in the Vitamix container for banana almond milk.

The options are endless! Use this easy almond milk recipe as the base and make your own variations!

Can I make other non-dairy milk in my Vitamix container?

Honestly, I’ve rarely tried other plant-based milk in the Vitamix. My son has nut allergies, so we try to stick to just almonds. However, I did try oat milk in the Vitamix and it did not work well at all. I’m sure there’s a trick to it, but I think that because the Vitamix high-speed blender heats up as it blends, it kind of turned the oat milk into a thick, gloopy mess.

I do think it would probably work to make cashew milk or coconut milk or other alternative milks in the Vitamix. The great thing about a high speed blender is that it really pulverizes the coconut or nut so I don’t see why it wouldn’t work the same way as Vitamix Almond Milk!

So that’s it! I hope you’ll try this delicious almond milk. And I hope that after you do, you’ll always want to make your own almond milk and never want to purchase the preservative laden grocery store variety again!

Pin for Later!