Homemade Sweet Vanilla Cashew Milk
Homemade sweet vanilla cashew milk is the most delicious, creamy and smooth milk alternative. It’s the perfect stand in for dairy free diets and works seamlessly in many recipes that call for milk or other nut milks.
Do you have dairy allergies or a dairy intolerance? Then you probably know that store-bought milk alternatives can get pricey…and there’s nothing worse than spending an arm and a leg on something that still contains unfavorable ingredients (like carrageenan). Who wants to do that?
Forget the overpriced, store-bought brand. When you see how easy this recipe is, you’ll never buy nut milk again!
Making cashew milk is simple. In fact, if you’ve made homemade almond or coconut milk before, you’ll be glad to know it’s even easier than that!
A few months ago I was dealing with some unwanted health issues and cut dairy out of my diet. In fact, I went on a completely raw plant-based diet to balance my hormones and restore my gut health. Since the diet was strictly plant-based, my precious raw milk was out (*sniff*), but after some experimentation, I settled on this recipe and found I REALLY enjoyed cashew milk! Especially in my sweet potato cereal recipe (I know, sounds strange, but tastes AMAZING!). In fact, I love it so much that I still make it frequently, even though I’m back to regularly enjoying my raw milk again!
And, because I hate keeping awesome recipes a secret, I’m blogging up the goods to share with ya’ll!
ENJOY!
Homemade Sweet Vanilla Cashew Milk
Ingredients
- 1 cup Cashews raw
- 2-3 Medjool Dates pitted
- 1/4 tsp Raw Vanilla Bean Powder or 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Dash Sea Salt
- 5 cups water
Instructions
- Place all ingredients into a high-powered blender.
- Blend on high for 30 seconds, let sit 30 seconds, then blend for 30 seconds more.
- Store in the refrigerator and use within 3-5 days. (Separation is normal, shake well before using.)
Notes
- Cashews are never technically “raw”, they have to be heat processed to remove the nut from the toxic shell. Try to source organic, un-roasted cashews when possible.
- For a thicker milk, use less water. For a milk with a thinner consistency, add more water.
- If your blender isn’t a high-powered blender and your cashew milk isn’t getting creamy and smooth, try soaking the cashews in water for 4-6 hours.
- If you notice your dates aren’t getting blended completely, soak them for a few minutes in warm water before making your cashew milk, and include the liquid from soaking the dates as part of your water (you don’t want to miss out on any of those minerals from the dates!).
- Nutrition facts are based on the recipe using 5 cups of water. If you change the amount of water, the nutrition facts will be altered.
Nutrition
Why keep this recipe handy?
Here’s a true story from The Hubs!: “So you know THOSE mornings…poor night sleep (See: 4 small children and a black Lab) and no matter how healthy we are there is only one thing that will do…COFFEE! So you stumble to the coffee maker, sleepily dump the old grounds in the…somewhere…and feel relief the moment the hot water starts gurgling. Pour the cup, sweeten and open the fridge to grab the cream…(que the horror movie music…AHHHHHH!) No cream, no milk, nothing that even looks like a dairy product and even the coconut oil is empty. Now, camping a lot is helping me to one day take my coffee black, but this was not that day.
Enter the hero of our story, the Cashew. Kelsey, the other hero (but too frumpy at this hour to look like a hero), knew about “nut” milks. So I open the pantry, knock a few things off shelves, and lo and behold we had some Cashews. Showing way more pre-first cup of coffee initiative than I ever thought possible, we made Cashew Milk. Hero saves the day, total destruction of the known world/day averted.
In typical DIY fashion, not being able to leave well enough alone, we figured out how to improve our recipe, write a blog post and make a video of this new discovery. Apparently it was strong coffee. Moral of the story: Cashew Milk can be a great change of pace to the norm, it’s dairy free, sugar free and a great source of healthy fats…tastes pretty good too!”
Looking for More Raw Recipes?
Cashew Milk Tips:
- Cashews are never technically “raw”, they have to be heat processed to remove the nut from the toxic shell. Try to source organic, unroasted cashews when possible.
- For a thicker milk, use less water. For a milk with a thinner consistency, add more water.
- If your blender isn’t a high-powered blender and your cashew milk isn’t getting creamy and smooth, try soaking the cashews in water for 4-6 hours.
- If you notice your dates aren’t getting blended completely, soak them for a few minutes in warm water before making your cashew milk, and include the liquid from soaking the dates as part of your water (you don’t want to miss out on any of those minerals from the dates!).
How can we find a recipe for your sweet potato ” cereal”?
It’s included in our 14 Day Meal Plan, Donna! And it’s so yummy, I eat it all the time!
You can find out more about the meal plan here: https://everydayfull.com/14-day-meal-plan-ub/
I have never made cashew milk but it looks so easy to make. Yum! So fun to see the video too!
Yes, it’s SUPER easy Emily! What I love about cashew milk is you don’t have to let the cashews soak if you have a high powered blender! It’s fun to mix up the nut milks we make, but cashew is our favorite go-to!
Mmmm this sounds SO delicious!
Thanks for sharing!
Yay, you’re welcome! Thanks Carol!
I’ve only ever made homemade coconut milk – casher is next! Thanks for this super helpful post 🙂
Thanks Nadia! Coconut milk is our other favorite! Both super simple to whip up quickly!
I love homemade nut milk! It’s so easy and tastes sooo good- especially on homemade granola!
Mmm, YUM! Yes, we love homemade granola, too Shelby! This would be perfect for that! I use it most often on my sweet potato “cereal”!
SOOO yummy!! Love that vanilla powder. Delicious.
Thanks Megan! YES! I think the vanilla powder makes this recipe! Those flecks of vanilla are so tasty and make the milk super pretty!