The Blender Trick For Making Nut Milk In Seconds Without Soaking

If you've ever made your own nut milk then you know what a pain it can be. You have to remove the shells, soak the nuts, blend them with water, and then strain them — yikes! It's a time consuming process, that's for sure. But whether it's almond, cashew, or some other kind of plant-based milk, buying it isn't much better. The cost alone is liable to have you paying through the nose. So it's probably not very surprising that some people might be looking for an alternative to alternative milk. Luckily, there is a fun and quick option. All you'll need is a blender, some nut butter, water, and possibly some sweetener.

This trick is so easy that you'll actually spend more time cleaning up than you will making the nut milk. Just drop a scoop of nut butter directly into the blender, add some water, and sweetener if you want (skip it if you'd rather keep the sugar or calorie count down). Then give it a quick whirl. Thirty seconds should do the trick, but you can give it another pulse or two if it's not fully blended at that point. Voilà, you've got your own quick and easy homemade nut milk.

The possibilities here are really up to what kind of nut butters you can find and are willing to try. Almond butter is probably the most popular and easiest to source. That is, unless you are interested in trying peanut milk! Which could actually be pretty tasty, especially with a little cocoa powder added in. Cashew butter is also relatively easy to find, and milk made from macadamia nut butter would be a creamy dream for sure. Walnut butter is another option, if you don't mind the nut's bitterness or the higher sugar content that will be necessary to counteract it. And of course, don't forget tahini. The seed butter can be turned into milk just as easily as its nutty counterparts.

You can always make your own nut butters too — which leaves the possibilities wide open. While it would still be more work than ready-made nut butters, it's still less labor intensive than the original nut milk process. And less wasteful too, since you're not discarding the pieces of nut that are strained out. In the same vein, you could also easily make oat milk out of cooked oatmeal and water.

Whether or not plant-based milk made with this blender trick is healthy ultimately depends on the inputs. Using natural nut butters will obviously result in healthier milk than heavily processed versions will. And whether or not sweetener is used — as well as the type and how much — will also affect the milk's overall healthiness. If you've got to use a lot of sugar to make the nut milk palatable then it will defeat the purpose of switching from cow's milk, of course.

Making your own milk does give you complete control over what kinds of sweeteners are used. So you might choose honey or real maple syrup over regular sugar. There's also agave nectar and coconut sugar. The freedom to use artificial sweeteners or non-caloric natural sweeteners (such as monk fruit or stevia) could make this trick a boon for diabetics too, according to University Hospitals. And that's not to mention all the ways that flavor can be added without sugar, such as vanilla and cinnamon. Whether it's plain almond milk or a super-sweet pumpkin spice oat milk, your blender is the key to a whole gamut of possible alternative milks.