How to Make Cashew Milk in a Vitamix: 5 Simple Steps

Today we are talking about how to make cashew milk in your Vitamix blender. We’re also going to talk a little bit about cashew milk, what the story is, and why I highly recommend adding it to your diet. Everyone is going crazy today about almond milk, but cashew milk is also gaining in popularity.

In fact, milk is really losing its grip. Who even needs cow milk anyway? I understand why babies need to drink milk from their mothers, but why would a grown human drink the milk from a cow, evolved over millions of years to be drunk by a baby cow? Nut milk is better for you, it makes more sense, and you can easily make it at home without needing to acquire a fully grown female cow.

And while critics will still say you need milk for your bones to grow properly, it’s simply not true. Still, people love the taste of milk. Milk goes great in coffee, cereal, and smoothies. It’s also a key ingredient in a ton of different recipes.

So, to compensate for cow milk, cashew milk is the way to go. You can of course use soy milk, rice milk, or almond milk – but many people claim they have a pretty funky aftertaste. Personally, I find that cashew milk doesn’t have any funky aftertaste at all and that it’s even smoother going down than almond milk.

The biggest difference between making cashew milk and making almond milk is the annoying straining of the pulp. With almond milk, you need to have a special milk bag to strain the actual almond milk from the soaked almonds. But with cashew milk, so long as you have a powerful blender, there is no need to strain anything! Cashew milk is simple, fun, and super easy.

Read More: Best Vitamix blender for cocktails

The Benefits of Cashew Milk

Cashew milk has lots of great health benefits. Cashews themselves are an excellent source of protein, vitamin B, Vitamin E, magnesium, iron, and calcium. Cashews can help to support healthy teeth and bones and are even good for your muscles.

Cashews have a lower fat content per each serving than almonds, peanuts, pecans, and walnuts. They are able to help regulate your blood pressure and cholesterol, boosting the health of your heart. Cashews also have a surprisingly high energy density that can help to fight back against fatigue.

Basically, cashews are super-healthy nuts. That said, cashews also contain over 25 different types of fungi. This sounds a little disgusting, but it’s fine in lower amounts. I don’t suggest eating handfuls of cashews every single day. Cashew milk is great to use in a smoothie, in your desserts, and in sauces – but don’t overindulge. By ingesting all the different strains of fungi inside cashews, mycotoxins can build up in your body.

Raw Cashews

Something to keep in mind when working with cashews is raw vs raw. Even cashews advertised as raw are not actually raw. They have still been roasted and steamed out of their shells. A truly raw cashew is harvested without any heating. These cashews are split open and taken out of their shell by hand, which leaves you a raw cashew nut.

Real raw cashews are super good. They are a bit sweeter than other cashews and contain more nutrients, but they are super expensive. This is why real cashews are hard to find in any supermarket across the country. They are simply too expensive. So even if you want truly raw cashews, you’ll have to go with the standard “raw,” pre-roasted and pre-steamed to get them out of their shells.

Cashew Milk Recipe

This is the standard recipe for cashew milk. The cashew milk yielded by using this recipe is going to be fresh and creamy, super nutritious, and it will only take you about 5 minutes to make. So long as you have a quality blender, preferably a strong Vitamix blender, you won’t need to strain the mixture after blending.

Ingredients:

1 Cup Cashews
4 Cups Water
2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Dash of Salt

Instructions:

The first step to any good cashew milk is to soak your cashews in water for a minimum of four hours. I personally recommend refrigerating your soaked cashews overnight for maximum effect. It’s totally up to you at this point.
After a good bout of soaking, you can drain your cashews into the sink and then rinse them. You want to continue rinsing your cashews until the water running through them is clear.
Now add your cup of soak cashews and two cups of water into your Vitamix blender. Turn the blender to variable 1 and then start blending.
Gradually increase the speed until you reach variable 10. You need to blend the cashews until they’re completely pulverized. Even in a strong Vitamix blender, this could take a full two minutes. If you’re using a normal blender, it could take upwards of three minutes.
Once the cashews are pulverized, add the other two cups of water, your maple syrup, your vanilla extract, and your sea salt. Now blend again for another 30 seconds or so, until your mixture has been completely blended.
If for whatever reason your blender was unable to completely break apart the cashews, you will need to strain whatever is left through a cheesecloth. This is only necessary if your blender couldn’t shred the cashews into milk.
Once finished, you can store your cashew milk in a covered container inside your fridge. It will keep fresh for up to four days.

How to Make Cashew Milk in a Vitamix: Final Thoughts

If you plan on doing any variations to this recipe, it’s important to understand the water ratio that it takes to make a solid batch of cashew milk. For this particular recipe, you need to use a ratio of 4 to 1, water to cashews. This will yield a milk that is roughly equivalent to 2% milk in terms of how creamy it is.