The right milk maker is the one you'll still be using in March
Homemade almond milk is a cup of nuts, water and five minutes. Soaking, wringing a bag and clearing pulp out of the sink are what make people stop. A milk maker takes that work away, and the machines go about it differently enough that the choice matters. This guide starts with which milks you'll make and how often, then with what you'll put up with, and only then with the machines, compared on what their makers publish.
A no-strain machine makes cold almond and cashew milk in minutes. A heated maker cooks soy, which has to be cooked, and serves oat milk warm. A blender and a bag costs the least and leaves texture in your hands.
A no-strain machine for the daily almond milk, a heated maker that cooks soy and cleans itself, and the bag that turns the blender you own into a milk maker. Picked on what the makers publish; the full comparisons are on the topic pages.
Product links on this page go to Amazon. If you buy through them, Milk the Nut earns a commission. How we pick and earn
Cold no-strain maker, filter basket, one button
Almond Cow Milk Maker
Almond Cow Almond Cow Milk Maker (120 V)
The machine that made the category: a cup of nuts goes in a stainless filter basket under the motor head, water in the jug, and one press of the cow button spins a pitcher of milk out in about a minute, by Almond Cow's account. Soaking is optional, there is no bag to wring, and nothing heats. The meal stays in the basket and comes out as almond flour.
Batch
Up to 1.5 L, about 5 to 6 cups; dry ingredients to the 1-cup line of the basket
Cycle
About one minute ("Fresh in 60 Seconds"); soaking optional
Programs
One cold cycle, one button; no heating
Touches the milk
304 stainless interior (international page); "food-grade stainless steel and plastic" (US page)
The household size of the Kidisle line: a stainless jug on a heated base with eight touch-panel programs covering soy, almond, oat and coconut milk, rice paste, boil water and a self-clean, plus a delay start and a keep-warm of up to two hours. It ships with a fine mesh strainer and a nut milk bag for the people who want their almond milk smoother than the grinder leaves it.
Batch
32 oz (listing)
Programs
Soy, almond, oat and coconut milk, rice paste, boil water, self-clean; delay start; keep warm up to 2 h (listing)
Heats
Yes
Touches the milk
Stainless jug, 10 stainless blades (listing)
Power
800 W, 120 V (listing)
In the box
Fine mesh strainer and nut milk bag (listing)
Size
Listings disagree: 5.1 × 5.1 × 11 in or 7.8 × 7.8 × 12.8 in; about 4.2 lb
The bag most blender-route recipes assume: fine Italian nylon mesh at 200 microns, triple nylon seams, a drawstring, and a rounded bottom so the meal doesn't pack into corners. Ellie's Best says it is built for milk with no pulp in it and to be squeezed hard.
We compare what manufacturers publish: capacity, cycle time, heating and programs, what the filter and pitcher are made of, what is dishwasher safe, warranty, and what is in the box, against what a person who makes a batch or two of milk a week needs. Where a maker publishes no spec sheet, the card says the figure comes from the retail listing. We make plant milk at home and say what we haven't run. Nobody pays to be listed. How we earn
