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I mentioned earlier this week that my husband Jack and I are in the midst of the Whole30 program – a month-long “nutritional reset” that is the start of some healthier eating goals we have for the coming year! The plan includes giving up certain types of foods for the 30 days, then reintroducing them one-by-one afterwards, so you can determine how your body reacts (good and bad) to each food.
Of all of the foods we’ve given up – sugar, grains, gluten, etc. – the one that I was most worried about giving up before we started was dairy, and more specifically the milk I added to my morning coffee! Well, I’m happy to report that I found a delicious substitute – homemade Cashew Milk!
Sure, you can buy cashew milk at the supermarket – but it’s surprisingly easy to make, less expensive, and I personally think this homemade cashew milk tastes a lot better! (If you are on Whole30, the homemade version also doesn’t contain some of the thickeners and other ingredients they would like you to avoid on the program.) Cashew milk has a mild, neutral flavor and for me, it was a great substitute for cow’s milk.
To make cashew milk it is literally as easy as:
Soaking your raw cashews overnight in water…
Draining the cashews the following morning and rinsing…
Placing the soaked nuts in a blender along with some fresh water and pureeing! (We tell you the specific details below in our recipe, but the general rule of thumb is 1 part cashews to 4 parts water. You could cut back on the water if you’d like creamier cashew milk.)
Once pureed, strain the cashew milk through some cheesecloth to remove any sediment from the nuts.
Chill and enjoy!
This technique also works with other nuts such as almonds. And – one last thing to note – because there are no thickeners or additives in this homemade cashew milk, you will notice some separating as the milk sits in your refrigerator or your coffee mug. This is normal – just give your cashew milk a quick shake to remix it.
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Cashew Milk
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cashews (you can buy them in bulk here)
- Water for soaking the cashews overnight
- 4 additional cups water (divided)
Instructions
- Place the cashews in a bowl and add enough water to cover the tops of the cashews. Cover and let soak overnight refrigerated.
- The next morning, drain the cashews and rinse the nuts until the water runs clear.
- Place the rinsed nuts in a blender along with 2 cups of water. Starting on a low speed, start to puree the cashews, turning up the speed to high until the cashews and milk are completely blended. (This process can take several minutes depending on the strength of your blender.)
- Add the remaining 2 cups of water and blend well.
- Place a fine mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth over a bowl. Pour the blended cashew milk through the strainer, pressing with a rubber spatula as necessary to get the milk to fully strain.
- Pour the cashew milk into a covered bottle or container and chill. Store cashew milk in the refrigerator for several days.
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You mention “4 additional cups water, divided” in the ingredient list, but I only see what to do with two of them in the directions. Did I miss something? (In other news, the stuffed eggplant was delicious!)
Eek – You’re right Casey! Looks like one of the lines of instructions was left off or somehow got deleted. I will fix right now – you’ll add the remaining 2 cups of water and blend, then strain. Thank you for letting us know about our mistake!
This is interesting and funny at the same time, as my brother in law and I were looking at almonds today to try and make almond milk, but he was like “forget it”. I guess we figured it was too involved.
This is so simple, but I wanted to know how is the taste? Is it comparable to 1% milk, does it have a nuttiness to it?
Hi Janene – With the proportions of water to nuts in this recipe – yes – similar to 1%. Cashews have a very mild/neutral flavor but when this is made with almonds you can definitely taste that distinctive almond flavor. Hope that helps!