Homemade Peanut Milk is the perfect non-dairy milk to enjoy with breakfast or in your favorite recipes. It’s super budget-friendly, delicious, healthy and quick & easy to make!
I never intended to be a pioneer in non-dairy milks, but I may have struck gold with peanut milk.
As I’ve done with the previous dairy alternative posts (like coconut milk), I started my research with Amazon to get a baseline of what the cost of commercial peanut milk is. You know what turned up?
Not much.
So I’m settling with the idea that I’m not THE peanut milk pioneer, but rather A peanut milk pioneer. And I’m perfectly happy with that! But before the recipe, let’s talk about soaking and roasting peanuts.
Phytic Acid
- Phytic Acid. EEK! There’s an ongoing debate whether or not nuts should be raw or pasteurized (which includes forms of cooking too, like boiled and roasted). I’m on the raw train and believe nuts should be soaked and dehydrated whenever possible. Technically peanuts are a legume, not a nut, but that doesn’t get us off the crispy nut hook.
- (Nuts, grains and legumes contain phytic acid and this prevents the body from absorbing many of the healthy nutrients that nuts have. Read more about phytic acid and soaking and sprouting nuts HERE.)
- Now, I know that it may not be possible to soak and dehydrate nuts 100% of the time. I’m cool with that. We all do what we can, when we can, and not dwell on we can’t, right? Right. Moving on…
- Mark another tic though on the ‘con’ side for raw nuts thanks to aflatoxins. Supposedly they’re dangerous like salmonella and are present in raw nuts. Roasting nuts doesn’t help the cause either because the process can create acrylamides, a chemical that has carcinogenic affects in animals and could possibly behave the same way in humans.
- So if you’re not getting nutrients thanks to phytic acid, you’ll get diarrhea, a fever or stomach cramps. You may even get cancer. Yes!
- (insert sarcasm here)
Let’s move on to the good news, shall we?
The Good News
- Acrylamides aside, roasting reduces 50% of the aflatoxins and hand-picking discolored nuts additionally reduces the likelihood of contaminated nuts making their way to our pantries.
- The issue of consuming rancid oil thanks to the high heat used in the roasting process isn’t much of an issue at all. It found that eating nuts in general (whether raw or roasted) improved the body’s ability to handle oxidative stress (stress caused by bad, rancid oils) and to protect itself against the damage caused by free radicals (which are found in rancid oils, among other things).
- And let’s not forget that roasted nuts taste good! Nuts in general are full of protein and a whole schlew of vitamins and minerals that our bodies crave!
This tiny bit of research is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to nuts, and I’m certainly not covering the entire spectrum today. My only intent was to teach you how to make peanut milk!
However, I wanted to throw these bits of info out there because it’s important to always keep our guard up, even when we think we’re “safe” against harmful chemicals and dangerous processing methods. Know that there’s a debate to be had about raw vs. roasted nuts and diligently do you own research before you take sides.
Until then, buy whatever nuts you enjoy eating – roasted, salted, in the shell, boiled, etc. – and let’s make some peanut milk because if you can get a good deal on peanuts, peanut milk is CHEAP!
Ingredients for Peanut Milk
- peanuts
- filtered water
How to Make Homemade Peanut Milk Step-by-Step
Step 1. Measure peanuts into a container and cover with filtered water. Allow to soak overnight. This softens the nut and makes it easier to blend, leaving less particles of nut in the finished milk (plus you get some of the benefits of soaking nuts too!).
Step 2. Drain nuts and place in a blender. Add 4 cups of filtered water and blend until smooth, approximately 1 minute. Store in the refrigerator and enjoy cold.
Peanut Milk Recipe Notes
Straining the resulting peanut milk is completely optional. I tried it with this fine mesh sieve in my first batch, just to see what would happen, and there really wasn’t much left. The soaking really got those nuts nice and soft, so I’d probably skip the straining altogether.
If you do decide to strain, keep the ground up peanut paste and use in homemade granola bars, smoothies or add it to oatmeal for a boost of protein. It is a paste though, not a meal like what you get with homemade almond milk, so keep that in mind. Many people discard the peanut paste, but we’re all about stretching those pennies ’round here, so I’m sure you can find something to do with it.
Like any non-dairy milk, the taste of peanut milk is acquired. It tastes very peanutty! Previous peanut milk pioneers have experimented with adding various flavor combinations, including cardamom and cloves, cinnamon and vanilla, or even using real vanilla beans! (These beans are the most affordable I’ve come across so far.) Some have also included sweeteners (and some add more than a little), but you guys know that adding sugar is a no-no, so just skip over those lines in recipes and pay attention to the spices instead.
Another option is to roast your peanuts first, before making the milk. This and the spices mentioned above will change the flavor of the milk, so feel free to have fun and experiment!
Here are some other non-dairy milks that you may find interesting:
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Homemade Peanut Milk is the perfect non-dairy milk to enjoy with breakfast or in your favorite recipes. It’s super budget-friendly, delicious, healthy and quick & easy to make!
- Yield: 1 quart 1x
Instructions
- Measure peanuts into a container and cover with filtered water. Allow to soak overnight. This softens the nut and makes it easier to blend, leaving less particles of nut in the finished milk (plus you get some of the benefits of soaking nuts too!).
- Drain nuts and place in a blender. Add 4 cups of filtered water and blend until smooth, approximately 1 minute. Store in the refrigerator and enjoy cold.
Notes
For two cups: 1/2 cup peanuts, 2 cups water
For one cup: 1/4 cup peanuts, 1 cup water
Since Rice milk is sweet, has anyone tried a mix of rice and peanut for having a better taste? Did it work? Which ratio?
Hi Rodrigo,
We haven’t tried the method of adding rice milk for sweetness. If you try it, please share with us on how it turned out. Thanks for sharing!
Couldn’t you use the peanut past on toast like peanut butter?
I am going to try roasted peanut milk with added vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg & wild flower honey.
Sounds delicious Billie! Let us know how it goes. 🙂
My above comment was in response to Nancy Gibbs. Lots of great ideas! Thank you!
How about boiling it before soaking the peanuts?
soaking overnight then blending and boiling the paste with water and strain, tried it twice but the milk split can someonegive me the exact recipe as to how it is done, boiling is a must as our water needs boiling for consumption. tks
Is anyone familiar with “PB&Me Organic Powered Peanut Butter”, which is low in fat and high in protein? I recently began using it to make a peanutty smoothie on mornings, but not knowing how this product is made, I wonder about the phytic acid content. While it doesn’t give me diarrhea, I do get more bowel movements than normal when I take it.
I avoid whole peanuts and making my own peanut milk, because of the high fat content of peanuts. My body just doesn’t like this high-fat nut. I was excited about finding the organic powdered peanut with the fat removed, but now I realise how little I know about how this powder if actually made. When the powder is reconstituted with water it tastes just like peanut butter to me, but I don’t want to get into using it regularly if it’s high in phytic acid.
Is there a way to test for phytic acid in food?
Did you try steaming this for coffee??
I have not!
What about DRY ROASTED or FREEZE DRIED peanuts? Will they also have acrylamides? I eat a lot of freeze dried peanuts so I’m thinking about using them to make milk. The taste? Would freeze drying throw the taste off?
Hi Peter – I imagine dry roasted would be fine, but I’ve never tried freeze dried peanuts before. If you do, would you let us know how it goes?
I always soak the peanuts overnight, clean them in the morning. I take their skin out as much as I can but it will be an endless task to take the skin of a pound of soaked peanuts so I don’t bother. I freeze them and whenever I want a glass of milk take 1/4 of cup for a glass of water, don’t defrost but put them straight on the blender. I tell you, it is no nice, refresing and easy!!!
I used raw nuts in the bird aisle at North 40, the bag didn’t say “not for human consumption.” So, I made raw peanut milk from them. It tastes just like the smell, like raw peanuts. I added a dash of salt and some cinnamon. I can’t seem to find a lot of research saying if raw peanut milk is good/bad for human consumption.
If consuming raw peanuts is fine, no need to think raw peanut milk wouldn’t be!
How many days can I store peanut milk in freezer
Hello Rupali,
We haven’t tried it, BUT you could always try putting the peanut milk in ice cube trays in the freezer, to see how it works out.
I first tried homemade almond milk as an alternative to dairy, but tried peanut because it is cheaper. I find the milk to be so refreshing, I cannot go back to dairy. Peanut milk can last up to 7 days as opposed to almond which cannot go more than 2-3 days.
I have added orange zest and nutmeg to the milk…awesome!
What should be an informative two minute read is so jammed up with those crumbs that should be helping you to feed the family that it’s taken me over ten minutes to navigate. No one wants to feel bullied by commercials. Just a quick heads up. Thanks for the recipe.
Can this be made with peanut flour? Thank you.
I haven’t made this with peanut flour so I can’t say for sure!
Maybe you can buy Peanut Meal; : ;
Should I soak roasted peanuts before I make the peanut milk? Is the taste of the peanut milk better with roasted peanuts than with raw? I love almond milk (I decided not to make it because of PPO), cashew milk is only ok, but I did not like the taste of raw peanut milk; maybe it would have been different with spices.
If you didn’t like raw peanut milk, then I’d try roasted. Soak after they’re roasted to make them easier to blend.
How long does this last/store up to in the refrigerator?
It should last 3-7 days Katelin. 🙂
I tried out this recipe but was sadly disappointed with the outcome. Having visited China in the past, I fell in love with the bottled peanut milk & walnut milk they sold. Ever since, I have been searching for ways to replicate those delicious beverages (especially since I have struggled with a dairy intolerance for years). To make this recipe, I soaked the peanuts in water for 15 hours and then rinsed and removed every skin before blending them with water. I blended for at least a solid minute in my Ninja blender. Afterward, I ended up with distinct layers: peanut sediment on the bottom, a tan shade of water, a thin layer of floating peanut sediment, and then some froth on top. It was difficult to drink with the tiny particles of peanut in the water. Taste was to be expected but very watery–not milky at all. I am curious if boiling the peanuts after soaking them would increase the softness of the peanuts so that they would blend into a milk. If anyone has suggestions, I would love to hear! 🙂
Boiling will help to soften, but I haven’t tried that myself in the milk. Roasting the nuts will also effect the taste too. Unfortunately, most store-bought milks have additives to make them creamy and emulsify, so the homemade version will always be slightly different.
I would filter t Peanut Milk through cheesecloth: such as done Soy milk making: Anna~
PS A ninja blender would not be the right blender; you need a regular stand up Blender.
Awesome post! Thanks so much! Going to try it out .
Good day in south africa…the just came from chewing a handful of raw soaked pnuts….I.must say takes alot of chewing but the process just let’s one enjoy the nutt taste….sorry to say but a small spit on my hand stunned me….having came across alternatives readings….I thought the possibility of pnut milk….I’m now thinking the education of pnut milk would do great help more especially living in.a rural village that is surrounded by pnut growers…The obvious would be to research as much as possible about the product do some experiments and possibly having the product scientifically tested at labs….I need your guidance in this stance…so far you have inspired much needed curiosity…thank you
Dear Reader: I wish you Good fortune in establishing a Peanut Milk making facility for you family friends; Anna~
What part of South Africa are you in? I suggest learning more about George Washington Carver. He was an African American scientist who discovered many uses for the peanut.
Why is adding sugar to nut milks a no-no?
There’s no purpose. As a society, we eat too much sugar as it is. It doesn’t offer any nutrition, so it’s best just to skip it. 🙂
I agree! I recently made some almond milk and most of the recipes said to add some dates.
LOL – I hear you on the memory! Pecan milk sounds kinda tasty… very “holiday-ish”! 🙂