It’s hard to find a good store-bought nut milk with very few ingredients that doesn’t cost a fortune. Since I use nut milks regularly in my smoothies, I decided it was time to try and make my own. I chose to make walnut milk simply because I had a leftover stash of walnuts on hand. I typically use almond milk in my smoothies so I was a little nervous to try something different but was pleasantly surprised at how great it turned out! It’s super simple and all you need is a high speed blender and a nut milk bag, I highly recommend Ellies Nut Milk Bag (code fitgreengal for 10% off) or you can try a fine mesh strainer like I did here, you just may not get as much milk out and will have some tiny pieces of walnuts.
The best part is you can add in any sweetener of your choice or omit it altogether. I used maple syrup and pure vanilla extract as my sweetener. The store bought brands tend to have added gums and “natural” sweeteners. Since I like to know exactly what I put in my body, I prefer to use my own ingredients which is why I love making this recipe. That’s not to say I will never buy store bought nut mylks again, I just prefer to make my own when I can.
You will need to prepare ahead of time, the night before or for at least 2 hours, in order to allow for the nuts to soak. I added 2 cups of walnuts to a bowl and soaked them overnight with filtered water. You only need about an inch more of water filled over your walnuts.
Once walnuts are soaked, rinse them thoroughly under cold water (do not use the soaked water for your milk) and add them to your blender with 6 cups of fresh filtered water. For every cup of walnuts you use, you need about 3 cups of water. You can add less water to make it more creamy and more water to make it less creamy.
Blend on high for about 4-5 minutes until creamy and frothy. The froth that comes out of this milk is A-MAZE-ING! I just want to scoop it all up and eat it!
Next step is straining the milk so that you get all the chunks out. For best results, you may want to use a cheese cloth but I just used what I had on hand which was a fine mesh strainer. I had to use a spoon to squeeze down the juices. You can use the leftover walnut grinds as walnut flour.
Once you are done draining the walnut milk, add it back to your blender if you choose to sweeten it. I added 1 tablespoon of pure organic maple syrup, 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract, and a pinch of Himalayan sea salt and blended together. Store in the fridge in a covered glass container for up to the 5 days.
Hope everyone enjoys this super easy recipe! You can make other nut milks similar to walnut milk but I just used what I had on hand.
Recipe:
2 cups of walnuts, soaked
6 cups of filtered water
1 tablespoon of maple syrup (optional as sweetener)
2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract (optional as sweetener)
a pinch of sea salt
Soak walnuts for at least 2 hours or overnight in filtered water, covering walnuts with about an inch of water
Rinse soaked walnuts thoroughly with cold water, discarding leftover water.
Add 2 cups of soaked walnuts and 6 cups of fresh filtered water to a high speed blender and blend for about 4-5 minutes until smooth
Remove from blender and strain with milk bag or fine mesh strainer, squeezing out as much of the milk as possible. If adding sweeteners, add back to blender and blend on high. Store milk in a covered glass container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Enjoy!
