How To Make Your Own Nut Milk In Under 5 Minutes (No Soaking Necessary)

While the nut milk options on the market are getting better, it can still be hard to avoid additives like guar gum and carrageenan in packaged versions. These shelf-stabilizers can wreak havoc on even the healthiest of guts—while they're fine for occasional consumption, if you're using nut milk in your smoothies, baked goods, healthy hot chocolates and more, it can be a lot to stomach (see what we did there?). The best options are made from two ingredients: a seed or nut and water (OK, and maybe a little sea salt thrown in), but these can be expensive and difficult to find.

So what's a dairy-avoiding person to do? You can go the traditional route and soak almonds for 12 to 24 hours before draining, rinsing, peeling the skin off and blending, but if, like me, you're not quite that good of a planner (let's call it charmingly spontaneous), that's likely not going to happen.

This hack uses almond butter instead of actual almonds, but you'll be shocked by just how much it tastes like normal almond milk (and you're still getting all of that skin-loving Vitamin E!).

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Hemp seeds are a great source of omega-3s and complete protein—plus, they're tiny and soft and don't take well to soaking (all the better for the lazy among us!).

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Coconut milk is one of my favorites, as it's thick, creamy, and faintly sweet—and it's filled with lauric acid, which is antiviral, antifungal, and antibacterial!

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