Quickest Cashew Milk (10 mins in 3 ways!)

The quickest and creamiest dairy-free nut milk you can make from scratch. We show you how to save time on soaking, blending, and straining to enjoy your homemade cashew milk as quickly as possible, even in 10 minutes! Here is everything you need to know about how to make cashew milk at home even if you don’t have a Vitamix.

There are so many different store-bought plant-based milk alternatives that are available like oat milk, various kinds of nut milk (like almond milk, hazelnut, peanut, etc.), soy milk, rice milk, and so on. Buying them can be costly especially if you use them a lot as we do. We use dairy-free milk for making oatmeal or millet porridge for breakfast. We also use it to make pancakes, waffles, crepes, and donuts. We used them in cooking savory meals as well. So we decided to make our own. Have you?

Ingredients

Actually, you only need cashews and water. I mean you can make it fancier by adding flavoring, sweeteners, or other texture-enhancing things, but at the end of the day, homemade cashew milk is ONLY two ingredients: cashew nuts and water.

If you are looking for a milk alternative that is the closest in taste and texture to dairy milk, cashew milk might not be the one. You can’t really make the nut taste completely disappear whatever ratio you choose. Even if you add vanilla extract, it will not be a type of milk that would fool anyone to be dairy.

What is the ideal cashew to water ratio?

Can I just say that it depends on your preference? 🙂 But it really is. It depends on how nutty flavor, and how creamy texture you want. We have been making cashew milk for a long time now. It is our go-to nut milk for drinking, cooking, and baking. After much testing, we found that the ideal ratio for cashew vs water should be between ½-1 cup of cashews and 4 cups of fresh water.

• The FRUGAL approach would be to use ½ cup of cashews and 4 cups of fresh water. You get thin, smooth, creamy cashew milk with a mild nut taste. This is the minimum amount of cashews you need. We use this ratio all the time. Our girls even prefer this version as they like it thinner and less nutty for drinking.
• The CLASSIC approach is 1 cup of cashew and 4 cups of fresh water. This version gives you a distinct – I dare to say – classic cashew taste, while the milk remains smooth and creamy. I love the creaminess and the nutty flavor in this version, it is perfect for my morning coffee.

With less than ½ cup of cashews and you don’t really end up with milk but with flavored water.

With more than 1 + ½ cup of cashews, you will get extremely dense milk that is closer to cashew cream. We don’t really recommend going above it.

Variations

Can you add flavoring?

It is easy to add flavoring later, so we never add any while making cashew milk. Especially since I know that I might need some for cooking and baking. Imagine if you have already added vanilla but you would like to use the milk to make vegan mashed potatoes or vegan bechamel. We love to add the following flavors before drinking a cup though:

• vanilla extract
• cocoa powder
• coffee
• caramel
• chai spice mix

Our go-to version is vanilla cashew milk. It is also the favorite of our daughters, especially with added hot chocolate powder. It is irresistible!

Do you need any sweetener?

We prefer not to add any sweetener when we make cashew milk. It is always easier to add sweetener later without stressing whether the dessert you bake will be too sweet or not.

Furthermore, I need unsweetened milk to make savory recipes. Have you ever wondered why your pasta sauces or creamy soups taste so sweet with store-bought brands? That is why. Even if it says unsweetened on the packaging it will feel sweeter than this homemade version for sure.

We prefer to use a teaspoon of the following sweeteners for drinks though:

• dates or date paste
• maple or agave syrup
• cane sugar or coconut sugar

We like to use maple syrup, but it is really up to your taste. If you choose to add dates and have a Vitamix blender, you can add them to the blender pitted without soaking.

Do you need any other ingredients?

If you take a closer look at any kind of store-bought milk product, you will typically see some type of oil or lecithin and some type of thickening agents like gellan gum or guar gum to get the consistency closer to dairy.

Well, we decided to make homemade cashew milk partly because we’d like to control what ingredients we consume, and partly because we would like to minimalize plastic waste. So we feel it really doesn’t need anything else. Cashew milk is perfect as it is.

Do you need to soak cashews?

Yes and no. There are 2 advantages of soaking:

1. To break down the phytic acid and enhance nutrient absorption for better digestion.
2. To blend them easier if you don’t have a high-power blender like Vitamix* or Blendtec.

Here is everything you need to know about soaking:

• What is the quickest method to soak cashews? -> Boil water in a kettle. Take a heat-resistant bowl. Add cashews and pour the piping hot water on them until all nuts are covered. This way the cashews will be soft in 5 minutes!
• Don’t have a kettle? -> Boil water in a pot on your stove-top and “cook” cashews for 5 minutes!
• Can you soak overnight? -> Of course, you can. The good old overnight soaking method works just fine. If you have time, I mean.
• Can you skip soaking? -> Yes!!!! If you have a high-power blender you can skip soaking altogether. If you have a regular blender, use 2 Tbsp of cashew butter and 4 cups of fresh water. It will give you perfect homemade cashew milk without soaking and straining. More about this later.

How to make cashew milk?

With a Vitamix

I have a Vitamix* which makes my life so much easier. If you want to save time and end up with the creamiest, smoothest cashew milk ever without straining then you might want to look around for a refurbished or discounted Vitamix or Blendtec blender.

So how do you make cashew milk with a high-power blender?

1. Soak cashews for 5 minutes in piping hot water (although Vitamix can blend them smoothly without soaking as well!!!),
2. Drain and add them to the blender with 2 cups of fresh water
3. Blend them for 2 minutes.
4. Add the remaining 2 cups, blend them for a couple of seconds and your homemade cashew milk is ready.

You can add it to your coffee right away. No straining or waiting! It is amazing, smooth, and silky. No bits and pieces. The best part is that the milk is ready in less than 10 minutes!

With a regular blender

Here is the classic way to make cashew milk with a regular blender

1. Soak cashews for 5 minutes in piping hot water.
2. Drain and add them to a blender with 1 cup of fresh water since most blenders work better if you start with lower water to nut ratio. Blend them as smoothly as you can.
3. Add the remaining 3 cups, and blend them for a couple of seconds.
4. Finally, strain it. See the step-by-step guide separately.

Using nut butter

Here is an alternative way to make cashew milk in less than 5 minutes with a regular blender.

• Use nut butter -> Did you know that you can make nut milk from nut butter? 2 tablespoons of nut butter and 4 cups of fresh water will give you perfect nut milk. So if you can buy cashew butter then you can make an endless amount of cashew milk with a regular blender as well. No straining and no soaking! Awesome right?
• Do you have a food processor? -> If you have a food processor then you can make your own cashew butter from cashews. No soaking is required. Actually, it is explicitly forbidden to soak them otherwise you will fail. We show how to make homemade peanut butter from scratch and peanut milk in one go within 5 minutes which is applicable to all types of nuts!

With a slow juicer

Who would have thought right that you can make homemade cashew milk with a slow juicer? The cold press slow juicer, not the fast centrifugal one. I have a very similar one to this Aeitto Slow Masticating Juicer*, which has a 2-cup container. Here is how to do it:

1. Soak cashews in boiling water for 5 minutes then drain them.
2. Close the anti-drip plug on the slow juicer!!! It is the most important step. It will not work if you leave it open.
3. Turn it on and add ½ cup of soaked cashews and ½ cup of fresh water. Wait for a minute until the juicer is trying to squeeze as much as possible out of your cashews.
4. Add another ½ cup of each. Wait again.
5. Now stop the machine and open the anti-drip plug. Let the cashew milk flow to the juice cup.
6. Scrape the cashew pulp collected by the pulp cup. Close the plug again and add the pulp back to the juicer with another ½ cup of fresh water. Turn it on and wait for the milk to be collected in the container.
7. Now stop the machine again and open the anti-drip plug. Let the cashew milk flow to the juice cup.
8. And in the end, you will have to end up with creamy, smooth nut milk and a bit of pulp. You probably don’t even need to strain it if you have a quality juicer as the pulp is separated from milk effectively.

When and how to strain cashew milk?

• NO NEED TO STRAIN – If you have a high-power blender, you will enjoy homemade cashew milk without straining.
• NEED TO STRAIN – If you have a regular blender and did not use any of my “Blending tips” from before, you need to strain your milk. Otherwise, it feels like drinking milk with sand. You get the best smooth cashew milk quality if you strain.

Well, we bought the cheapest ever nylon nut milk bag from Ali Express (similar to this one on Amazon*). I know… not very zero waste of me. But it works perfectly.

Within two seconds you can squeeze out the milk. You can see how it works in our video attached to the recipe card or in the step-by-step photos below. You can use other alternatives like cheesecloth*, a fine mesh strainer*, or a pitcher with a nut milk strainer*.

So how to do it?

1. Take a large bowl and place the empty and open nut milk bag.
2. Pour the milk from the blender right into the bag.
3. Close the nut milk bag and raise it slightly so it doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl.
4. Now, starting at the top. Squeeze your hand as close as you can and slide it down to the bottom. Always from top to bottom.
5. You need to do it only a handful of times and it is ready.
6. You can transfer your milk to any container you prefer. We have a lovely glass milk jar from IKEA (similar to this one*) that fits perfectly in the fridge door.

You can use cashew pulp to make cookies, muffins, banana bread, and so on. I prefer to add it to my oatmeal. It will be absolutely delicious and rich with it.

Is cashew milk good for you?

Here is one more reason to make your own cashew milk:

• With one cup of homemade cashew milk, you get to have an estimate of 3-9 grams of protein. Compared to that of commercial brands, where the protein content of one serving is 0-1 g.

According to Cronometer cashews are high in protein (1 cup of raw cashews has more than 23g). It is also rich in so many other things like copper, iron, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, and zinc. So is homemade cashew healthy? For me, yes-yes.

They are high in fat, but the good kind of fat (Omega-6 :)) and low in fiber. If you are interested in their nutritional benefits in detail, read Healthline’s extensive article on them.

FAQ and substitutions

Recipes using cashew milk

You can browse through our vegan gluten-free breakfast recipes where we use dairy-free milk for pancakes, waffles, crepes, donuts, and more, or check out:

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