Creamy Cashew Milk

Homemade cashew milk is rich, creamy, healthy, easy to make, vegan, non-dairy, and requires no straining!

I’m not much of a milk drinker, I stopped drinking cow’s milk a couple of years ago and now rely on vegan milks to add to my coffee.

I like to use milk in my smoothies, breakfasts, dinners, and bakes. Recently I’ve been experimenting with different nut milks in my kitchen and found the perfect cashew milk recipe that I’m sharing with you today. This cashew milk is so easy to make as it does not require straining, it’s also very versatile and can be used in many different dishes. But first, let me tell you more about the benefits of cashews.

Cashew nuts are really good for our health, and I try to incorporate them into my diet as much as possible. They are packed with antioxidants, may prevent heart disease, cancer, and respiratory disease. And our life span may be increased by 2 years by eating nuts regularly, one handful 5 times a week (source).

Cashew milk is very creamy, all of the nuts are blended in with the water and the result is silky smooth milk. This also means that no nuts go to waste in the process, and that’s also less work and less washing up to do as there’s no straining needed!

How to Make Cashew Milk

All you have to do is soak the cashew nuts in filtered water for at least 2 hours using a glass container at room temperature. You can leave the nuts to soak overnight or if you don’t have much time, you can soak the cashew nuts in very hot water for 15 minutes.

Drain the cashews and discard them from soaking water. You cannot use this water to make the milk. Instead, rinse the cashews a couple of times and get rid of the enzyme inhibitors.

Add the cashews to a blender, along with any sweetener, a pinch of salt, and any other additions using. Then blend on high speed until the milk is smooth and creamy (this will take around 60 seconds).

There is no need to strain the milk, but that is up to you.

Store in the fridge for 2-3 days sealed in a bottle or a glass container.

Tips

• After the first day, you will notice that the cashew milk starts to separate and that’s okay. Just give the milk a good shake before consuming it.
• You can sweeten the milk with maple syrup, agave syrup, dates, or a sweetener of choice. Feel free to play with the level of sweetness, you can even go for a savory taste and not add any sweetener. However, cashew milk is naturally sweet and nutty.
• If the milk is too thick or thin, you can always adjust the amount of filtered water added to the milk when blending the nuts with the water.
• I tried making this using a fancy full speed blender, and a regular inexpensive one and both worked great as the nuts are super creamy after they’re soaked.

Cashew Milk Variations

There are different variations of cashew milk, you can either make a savory milk or a sweetened milk, here are a few ideas for you:

• Unsweetened Cashew Milk: Add a pinch of salt.
• Sweetened Cashew Milk: Add pitted dates or maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
• Cinnamon Cashew Milk: Add ground cinnamon and maple syrup.
• Strawberry Cashew Milk: Add fresh strawberries and a sweetener of choice.
• Chocolate Cashew Milk: Add cacao powder and sweetener of choice.
• Peanut Butter Cashew Milk: Add a heap of peanut butter, and pitted dates.

Cashew Milk Uses

You can do much more than just adding a splash of cashew milk in your morning coffee. Cashew milk goes perfectly into your smoothies, morning porridge, soups, bakes, pasta sauces, ice creams, and even in your curries. Feel free to add it to your cooking, it’s creamy and smooth and works perfectly in many recipes.

I add it my homemade vegan cream cheese, so make sure to check this recipe out as well!