How to make Homemade Cashew Milk

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Cashew Milk is my favorite dairy-free nut milk. Not only it is so creamy and sweet, but super easy to make at home with no straining required. Either you are vegan, lactose intolerant or just looking for a dairy free option, this is the perfect healthy alternative. You can add to your morning coffee, smoothie, or enjoy it with your favorite chocolate chip cookies.

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Benefits of Dairy Free Cashew Milk

As a healthy alternative to regular milk, cashew milk not only tastes creamy, sweet and nutty, but also has lots of health benefits:

1. Nutrient Dense

Cashew Milk contains healthy fats, proteins, fiber and lots of vitamins and minerals.

2. Great for Heart Health

Cashew milk contains potassium and magnesium, which could help improve heart health. It is also rich in polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fatty acids, which could decrease the risk of heart disease.

3. Good for you Eyes

Cashew milk is rich in antioxidants that could lower retinal damage and age-related macular degeneration.

4. Glowing Skin

Cashews are rich in mineral, copper, which is important in creating skin proteins, regulating collagen and elastin.

5. Immune boost

Cashew milk is rich in antioxidants and Zinc, which could decrease inflammation and improve immunity.

Read more about the benefits of Cashew Here.

Benefits of Soaking Cashews Overnight

I always soak cashews overnight before I blend it to make homemade cashew milk. The soaking process not only makes the cashew milk creamier, but also help our bodies digest the vitamins and minerals better.

Nuts and seeds contain phytic acid, which is a type of natural substance in most plant seeds. It strains our bodies ability to digest nuts and seeds properly and decreases the absorption of beneficial minerals.

Soaking cashews overnight could reduce phytic acid, neutralize the enzyme inhibitors, increase the amount of vitamins, such as B vitamins, make the proteins and minerals available for absorption. I talked about the benefits of soaking nuts, seeds and grains more in this post (soaking oats overnight for a healthy easy breakfast).

However, if you are short on time and want to make a last minute healthy nut milk, blending unsoaked raw cashews will do the trick as well. Another super easy trick is to use 1-2 tbsp of cashew butter, and blend it with 2 cups of filtered water.

Why making your own Cashew Milk?

1. Cheaper

2. Cleaner ingredients: Literally only TWO ingredients (if water counts as one), no preservatives

3. Creamier: Since we are making cashew milk fresh at home, they are frothier than the store bought ones that have been sitting on the shelves for days

4. Variety of flavors: You can add any spices, sweeteners to suit your preference.

Spice up Homemade Cashew Milk

Raw cashews have a natural tint of sweetness to it already but there are so many ways you can spice it up!

Here are a few of my favorite flavors:

1. Cinnamon

2. Vanilla Bean

3. Cacao powder + Sea Salt

4. Turmeric Powder

5. CBD Honey

The sky is unlimited when it comes to cashew milk flavors. If you have one that you’ve tried and love it, don’t forget to share with me in the comments down below.

To make Cashew Milk extra Creamy

First of all, soaking the nuts that I talked about. The other secret to make homemade cashew milk extra frothy is to blend it on high in a high-speed blender for a good 2 minutes.

My favorite is Vitamix, not a fancy model but I think any of them does the trick. However, Vitamix is not the cheapest thing in the world, if you already have a Nutri-bullet or Ninja Bullet at home, they work well too!

Here is how you do it:

1. Drain soaked raw cashews and rinse them off a few times.

2. Add filtered water and cashews in your blender.

3. Add a pinch of your favorite spices, cinnamon, vanilla bean, or cacao sea salt are my go to.

4. Blend on high for 2 minutes.

5. Pour into a milk jar. Voila!

You really can’t get any easier than that. NO straining required!

Nut Free Alternatives

Nut Free Alternatives

If you have nuts allergy, I’ve got you covered! I’ve got a few options for nut-free dairy free milk as well.

1. Gluten free rolled oats

2. Unsweetened coconut

3. Hemp seeds

4. Flax seeds

Firstly, Use the same method as cashew milk for these nut-free alternatives. However, you won’t need to soak coconut, hemp or flax seeds. I do recommend soaking your oats as I talked about the benefits in this overnight oats post. Last but not least, you don’t need to strain these “milk” after blending either.

How to store dairy free Cashew Milk

Now pour the frothy and creamy homemade cashew milk in an air-tight milk jar. Take a sip (optional), yum! And store in the fridge for up to 5 days. Since it doesn’t contain any preservatives, our homemade dairy free milk will not last as long as the store bought ones.

How to use this Homemade Cashew milk?

Oooo.. where do I even begin There are So many ways you can enjoy it. I love using it to replace dairy milk in paleo pancakes, vegan smoothie bowl, make Matcha or coffee latte, and drink it straight out of the jar (we are all civilized here k).

Don’t forget to Save This Recipe to your favorite Pinterest board and share it with your friends and family.

Disclosure: some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This does not result in any extra cost for you, but it does mean that I make a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

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