The 4 Best Nut Milk Makers of 2024, Tested & Reviewed

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We tested five top-rated models to determine which makes the best non-dairy drinks.

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Making nut, seed, or grain-based milk is a creative way to customize your blend of milk and experiment with homemade oat milk and other plant-based recipes. The best nut milk makers ensure freshness and are incredibly cost-effective, especially considering the price of some store-bought nut milk brands. If you're currently using your Vitamix blender and nut milk straining bags, you might want to consider upgrading to a dedicated nut milk maker. Plus, almost all of the nut milk makers we tested make the process easy and (dare we say) fun.

To help you find the best nut milk makers, we tested some of the industry’s leading, best-selling models for weeks, comparing five popular brands including Nutr, ChefWave, and Almond Cow. We ground up over 10 cups of nuts, seeds, grains, and legumes to assess yield, viscosity, speed, flavor, and overall ease of use. We also spoke with a registered dietician for additional insights and tips for making the best nut milk at home.

This nut milk maker produces about 2 1/2 cups of milk in a single batch, steams the ingredients while blending to improve texture, and self-cleans.

We had to experiment with ingredient quantities to achieve the right consistency.

The ChefWave is a feature-loaded appliance with preset buttons for various kinds of nuts, soy, oats, and coconut, and we were able to combine nuts and seeds to make unique flavor combinations. In less than 15 minutes, we made 20 ounces of almond milk which was hot and ready to use in coffee, as the Chefwave cleverly uses steam while grinding its ingredients. The design is straightforward and intuitive, and we liked that we never had to figure out a whole panel of different settings.

The recipes took a bit of tweaking and adjusting the ingredient quantities to get a thicker consistency, but comparatively, we used fewer quantities of nuts and grains to make creamy milk. We noted that the texture of our milk was slightly gritty with harder nuts like almonds, but this was easily fixed with a fine mesh strainer. Cleanup was also very easy and required a simple soap and water rinse of the wastewater basin, the water reservoir, and the glass pitcher. The steam cover took care of the rest. The grinding jar self-cleans each time it makes a batch of milk, too. Overall, we love this machine for its features, customization, and self-cleaning.

Dimensions: 13.6 x 6.5 x 12.8 inches | Capacity: 2.5 cups | Power: 1000 watts

It is the fastest milk maker on our list, making nut milk in just a minute.

Our main problem with the Almond Cow was how much pulp this machine left behind. The mouthfeel of our almond milk was quite gritty.

If speed is your main concern, we recommend the super fast Almond Cow as our best splurge. It uses about 10,000 RPM while processing the ingredients to make milk. At most, it only took one minute, but usually, it was even less for softer nuts like cashews. The entire unit is sleek and consists of a motorized unit, a stainless-steel filter basket, and a container for collecting the milk. Once loaded, operating it is simple. Just press the ‘cow’ button and let it run through its cycles. The ingredients are ground and blended with the water, and once the cycle finishes, the pulp stays back in the filter basket. Although the unit does not have heating capabilities, you can add warm or hot water to make the milk at the desired temperature.

The biggest drawback of this machine is it leaves behind a lot of pulp. The mouthfeel of the almond milk was quite gritty at first. We found that running the cycle twice and further straining it through a cheesecloth increased the desired mouthfeel of the nut milk and improved the yield. It takes some maneuvering to attach the filter basket especially when it is full, as getting the blade through a full cup of whole almonds is tricky.

We should also note that cleaning the Almond Cow is challenging, as the sharp blades are attached to the top where the electric components are housed. It is heavy to hold in just one hand while you scrub the food off with the other and try not to get any water in the vents.

After long-term testing, our writer Nick DeSimone adds: "The Almond Cow is easy to use. It's super hands-off and makes nut milk instantly, especially compared to nut milk bags that have to drain. This is best for beginners or folks who aren't making much milk. If you've never made nut milk before and want to try it out in the easiest way possible, this is a great way to get started. If you're a seasoned nut milk maker and go through a lot of milk, I would say this might not be worth the cabinet space."

Dimensions: 12 x 10 x 7 inches | Capacity: 6 cups | Power: 240 watts

It is quite versatile as it can grind dry ingredients like flax meal and coffee, and heat beverages. It is also easy to store.

It takes a long time to finish hot cycles and it is tricky to assemble.

This is a value option for someone who regularly makes soy milk, soups, and other beverages, as the Tribest Soybella heats, cooks, and blends all in one go. It’s also easy to store if it’s not used every day. We were able to easily make chai with cashews, warming spices, and black tea leaves by simply adding our ingredients and pressing the preset function for hot beverages. It worked similarly for making soups and stocks. The raw function makes milk from nuts, seeds, and oats and does not heat up. The machine comes with a fine and coarse screen to filter out the pulp after blending. Though we found the texture to be gritty at first, we learned that running the cycles a few times and using another strainer improved the texture.

It took some time to figure out how to attach the head to a fine mesh container that holds the nuts or grains. It is tricky to attach especially when it is full of nuts, and occasionally it does not thread in properly. The clean-up is a bit time-consuming, as everything must be hand-washed. We also noted that there is a slight wait time for making hot beverages or soups to allow for proper cooling before cleanup. And since the blade is attached to the motor head, clean-up feels like a bit of a balancing act between trying to keep the electrical bits dry and watching out for the blades.

Dimensions: 8.5 x 6.25 x 10.5 inches | Capacity: 5.5 cups | Power: 200 watts

The Nutr is versatile and loaded with preset functions to make milk at both warm and room temperatures in a short amount of time, all with consistent texture and flavor. Plus, it’s very easy to operate.

It's best used for making small batches. Harder nuts like almonds need an additional cycle for smoothness, and the hot function takes a bit longer.

The Nutr is chic, small, and ideal for single servings or smaller households. The Nutr is extremely user-friendly and has seven preset functions that are controlled via a control panel with a single touch button for toggling through the various settings. There’s even a function for self-cleaning. The option to make milk at room temperature, warm, or boiling adds to the versatility of this nut milk maker. During testing, we found that the milk had a smooth texture, though we appreciated the fact that you can run it through a second time for added smoothness.

For the most part, you don’t need to use the strainer that comes with the machine, but if you want to, you can strain the milk directly into a cup or your favorite coffee mug. The hot setting in the Nutr is for making milk that requires prior cooking (like soy or rice) and it runs for 20 minutes. The flavor and texture of the milk was consistent throughout our testing.

Given the capacity of the machine, it's important to note that this machine makes small batches of milk. Should you need more, you can run it multiple times, but only after giving it time to cool down between batches. In our tests, it stopped blending when we worked it continuously because of overheating. It is easy to clean with the self-clean function and also very easy to store due to its compact size.

Dimensions: 4.3 x 4.3 x 8.2 inches | Capacity: 1.5 cups | Power: 1400 watts

After weeks of thorough testing, we awarded the ChefWave Milkmade Non-Dairy Milk Maker as our top overall pick. This nut milk maker produces about 2 1/2 cups of milk in a single batch, it steams the ingredients while blending to improve texture, and it self-cleans. For single servings or smaller households, we recommend the Nutr Nut Milk Maker for its versatility, ease of use, and selection of built-in preset functions to quickly make nut milk at both warm and room temperatures.

We put five of the best nut milk makers through side-by-side testing, making three different alternative kinds of milk with almonds, cashews, and oats. We paid attention to the quality of the alternative milk produced, and we also rated each machine using the below metrics:

Because you would be using this machine frequently, look for something that's either easy to store or has a sleek design that would look good on the counter. An intuitive interface with pre-programmed functions takes the guesswork out and saves you time. Some nut milk makers come with filters; some are without. Choosing one or the other depends on if you like your nut milk with a little texture or completely smooth.

We tested products with capacities that go from one or two servings up to six cups. Depending on how much nut milk you would consume typically in a day or even a week, choose a size that fits the requirements. Also, consider the time it requires to prepare and blend a batch of alternative milk (including clean-up time) and decide if buying a machine with a larger capacity might serve you better.

A machine that can make different types of plant-based milks including nuts, grains, and seeds gives you more flexibility. If the machines can do more, like make nut butter, soups, and pastes, it adds more value.

If it takes more time to clean the machine than it takes to make the milk, chances are you will not use it very often so look for a machine that's easy to clean and maintain. Some machines have self-cleaning functions, others have parts you can wash in a dishwasher, and a few require handwashing.

“When you make nut milk, you can avoid many of the processed additives that are used to keep the nut milk fresh and you have control over any extra flavorings and sweeteners added to the nut milk,” says Katie Couch, PhD, RD. It also reduces waste by eliminating single-use packaging of store-bought alternate milk. Homemade nut milk can also be customized to suit the application, creamy and thick for coffee, slightly thinner for adding to cereal, and somewhere in between to add to your smoothies.

Individual nutritional and dietary needs vary quite a bit, and the nutritional profile of dairy and nut milk is also quite different. Couch says, “Dairy milk packs in more protein has a lower glycemic index, and greater micronutrient availability, especially calcium. Many of the bioactive components in nut milk such as phytic acid, oxalate, and lectins, bind to and inhibit the absorption of essential minerals and trace elements – calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc."

"Concerning fat, dairy milk does have saturated fat, whereas nut milk can sometimes have a higher proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids. Something else to consider is that the nutritional composition of nut milk is highly variable depending on the brand and nut. However, for people who are allergic to dairy or have a dairy intolerance, nut milk is a great alternative that allows them to still enjoy many foods,” says Couch.

Homemade nut milk is just water and nuts, whereas store-bought nut milk can (and often does) have additives such as thickeners, stabilizers, and emulsifiers. “Some people are not able to tolerate products with these processed additives”, Couch says. For them, being able to make nut milk without additives and being able to control the nutritional composition of the milk is significantly important for their health goals.

Making nut milk at home creates many possibilities and choices for what type of nuts, seeds, and grains to use. The most popular choices are almonds, pistachios, cashews, hazelnuts, oats, soy, rice, hemp, chia, flaxseeds, and quinoa. Popular flavorings include vanilla, chocolate, and spices like cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, saffron, turmeric, and black pepper. Popular sweeteners include dates, honey, and maple syrup.

The NutraMilk Nut Processor ($500 at NutraMilk)

We were impressed by this nut milk maker's versatility. Even after our testing, we kept making bean dips, hummus, and salsas in addition to making nut butter and milk. We found this machine intuitive, easy to use, and clean. However, it's bulky and heavy, weighing 26 pounds. Given its large footprint and hefty price, we feel this is more suited to a commercial kitchen setting and not necessarily the best nut milk maker for home chefs.