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Every plant milk is the same recipe: a cup of something, some water, grind, filter. What changes is the soak, the ratio and whether heat helps or ruins it. That last one is what decides the machine.
Almond
One cup of raw almonds to three or four cups of water. Soak 8 hours or overnight, drain and rinse; the soak softens the nut and rinses off the bitter skin dust. Blend or spin cold. Three cups of water makes a milk close to whole dairy in body; four is the carton texture. The meal left behind is almond flour: dry it on a low oven and it keeps for weeks.
Any machine does almond. The no-strain makers are built for it; the heated makers have a nut program that runs cool; a blender and a bag is where most people start.
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)
- Motor
- 240 W, 120 V; Almond Cow says 10,000+ rpm
- Size
- 12 × 9.5 × 6.5 in; 4.6 lb
- Warranty
- 1 year, parts and motor
Suits: A household that drinks almond, cashew or oat milk daily and wants the biggest cold batch with the least handling.
Weigh: It makes cold milk only, so soy has to be cooked afterwards on the stove. Almond Cow's own pages disagree on which parts are dishwasher safe (the filter basket on one, all removable parts on another); plan on hand washing. One-year warranty.
Cashew
One cup of raw cashews to four cups of water; soak two hours, or skip the soak if the blender is strong. Cashews are soft and have no skin, so they grind almost completely and leave little meal; many people don’t strain cashew milk at all. The creamiest of the cold milks and the easiest.
Oat
One cup of rolled oats to four cups of cold water. No soak. Blend for no more than 30 seconds, cold, and strain without squeezing. Oats are starch, and starch plus heat plus agitation is glue: blend too long, use warm water, or squeeze the bag, and the milk turns slimy. Why oat milk goes slimy has the full explanation and the fixes.
On a machine, oat milk wants a cold or raw cycle. Heated makers with a room-temperature setting do it well; ones with only hot programs cook the oats and the result is porridge water.
Heated multi-cooker, 35 oz, hot and cold programs
IAGREEA 8-in-1 Nut Milk Maker, 35 oz
IAGREEA 8-in-1 Nut Milk Maker, 35 oz, white
One of the few budget heated makers with a maker's page behind it. Eight programs (juice, soy milk, almond milk, milk shake, boil water, oat milk, rice paste, self-clean), hot and cold cycles, a 12-hour delay and a two-hour heat preservation, with a small lid for adding seasoning mid-run. IAGREEA says fresh soy milk takes 36 minutes and the self-clean 8 to 11.
- Batch
- 35 oz / 1 L
- Cycle
- Soy milk in 36 minutes; self-clean 8 to 11 minutes (maker)
- Programs
- Juice, soy milk, almond milk, milk shake, boil water, oat milk, rice paste, self-clean; hot and cold; 12 h delay; 2 h heat preservation
- Heats
- Yes, with cold programs too
- Touches the milk
- 304 stainless chamber and lid (white 8-in-1 page); the 35 oz page says nonstick interior
- Power
- 750 W, 120 V
- Size
- 5 × 6 × 10.3 in; about 4 lb
- In the box
- Cleaning brush, measuring cup, scrub sponge
Suits: Oat milk and smoothies on the cold cycle in the morning, soy or rice paste on the hot ones at night, for a household of two or three.
Weigh: No filter in the machine: IAGREEA's own how-to says to strain for a smoother texture. The maker's pages disagree with each other on interior (304 stainless on one, nonstick on another) and on weight. Dishwasher and warranty not published.
Soy
Half a cup of dried soybeans, soaked 8 hours, to four cups of water, and then it must be cooked: brought to a boil and held there for several minutes. Raw soy milk contains trypsin inhibitors that cooking destroys, and it tastes of raw bean until it is boiled. That is the whole reason heated makers exist: they grind and cook in one program. A no-strain machine or a blender makes raw soy milk you then have to cook on the stove, watching for the boil-over. Why soy milk must be cooked goes through it.
Heated soy milk maker, 1.3 L, no filter
Joyoung DJ13U-G91 Soymilk Maker
Joyoung DJ13U-G91 Automatic Soy Milk Maker, 900 to 1300 ml
Joyoung built the soy milk machine category in China and this is its US-voltage 1.3 L model: ultra-fine grinding with no filter to wash, a soy program that grinds and boils in one cycle, presets for time and temperature, and a warming function. Soy first, then grains and nut milks.
- Batch
- 900 to 1300 ml (listing)
- Programs
- Soy milk, grains, nut milks; preset time and temperature; warming function (listing)
- Heats
- Yes: grinds and boils
- Touches the milk
- Stainless (listing; sibling models list 304)
- Power
- 120 V, 1100 W (listing)
- Straining
- No filter: ultra-fine grinding (listing)
- Warranty
- 1-year limited (listing)
Suits: Anyone whose milk is soy, who wants it cooked properly with the least fuss, and who may go on to tofu.
Weigh: Joyoung has no working US website; model names churn (G91, P10, D988SG) and the listing is the only identifier, so match the model before buying. Specs are from listings. No filter means fine sediment in the glass; strain if you mind.
Coconut, hemp, peanut, rice
Coconut: one cup of unsweetened shredded coconut to four cups of hot water, no soak, strain; it sets solid in the fridge and loosens when warmed. Hemp: one cup of hulled seeds to four of water, no soak, no need to strain. Peanut: like almond, soaked and cold, or on a heated maker’s peanut program for a cooked, nuttier milk. Rice: cooked rice blended with water, strained; thin and sweet.
Salt, sweet, and keeping it
A pinch of salt in every batch; a date or a spoon of maple if you want it sweet; a drop of vanilla for almond. Homemade milk keeps three to five days sealed in the fridge and separates; shake it. It has no gums, so it will not foam like a barista carton without help: frothing homemade milk has the tricks.
The machines compared by kind are on the no-strain and heated pages.
