DIY coconut milk is my quick and simple solution to those dreaded times I'm out of non-dairy milk. While I love making homemade nut milks, or store bought vegan milks (I have a weakness for this one brand of unsweetened vanilla almond milk), sometimes I just want something a little more coconutty (and cheaper) to whip up. That's what I love about this DIY coconut milk alternative.
There are many ways to make your own coconut milk — some more involved than others, and some resulting in a richer coconut milk. This recipe is for a light milk, best suited for smoothies and cereals, or in baking in place of water to give the recipe a richer coconut flavor.
The best part? It's the easiest thing to make in the world!
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DIY Coconut Milk
Prep Time: 5 min- Total Time: 5 minutes
Yield: approx 6 cups milk
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Pin RecipeIngredients
- 2-3 cups shredded coconut (or coconut flakes)
- 6 cups water
Instructions
Blend water and shredded coconut together on high speed until it's well blended. Strain contents through a nut milk bag (squeeze out as much as you can) and enjoy the resulting milk!
Notes
I mentioned approximate quantities of coconut to water because it's really up to you how strong of a flavor you like. The good thing about this recipe is that you can always adjust the flavor by adding more coconut and blending some more.
I make a full Vitamix's worth of coconut milk and then pour the strained mixture into a reusable glass milk container. I get one full 1L bottle of coconut milk that way. You can then store this milk in the fridge. Between my smoothies, cereal and porridge, this quantity normally lasts me 2-3 days, but I've had it even a week later and it's been fine before. I like storing it in those milk jugs because after about a day or so the milk will start to separate, so you should store it in something you can shake up to mix it up again.
I sometimes like to flavor mine either by adding some vanilla, or 2-3 Vanilla Creme liquid stevia drops, or a bit of liquid sweetener to taste. But it also tastes great on its own. {Skip stevia for AIP}
After you press the milk through the nut milk bag, you will end up with all the solids (clumped up coconut solids). You can either discard these leftovers or reuse. I like to reuse mine — don't like the idea of wasting something fully edible. So here are some ideas of what you can do with it: use it in a recipe that calls for pulp (like in raw cookies or cookie balls, etc.); dehydrate it into some coconut flour; or compost if you don't have a use for it.
