There are only 1 or 2 brands of canned coconut milk without BPA packaging, and without questionable gums and fillers. And those 1 or 2 brands are so pricy for my budget. Especially when making your own coconut milk is just so simple and cost effective!
This recipe makes a quart and a half of coconut milk. I purchase coconut shreds from the bulk refrigerated section at our local health food store and they come in bags that equal about 7 cups – where ever you end up getting your shreds from just use a 1:1 ratio of shreds to water and you will be good to go! Also! I don’t have a high powered blender so don’t worry if you don’t have one. The only blender I have is a Magic Bullet and it works just fine for the blending part! I have to do the blending in batches but it works just as well!
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DIY Coconut Milk
Ingredients
- 7 cups unsweetened coconut shreds
shreds work better than flakes in my experience - 7 cups water brought to a boil
- Optional splashes of vanilla or almond extract to flavor
Instructions
- Put the coconut in a large mixing bowl, and pour the boiling water over the coconut shreds.
- Cover the bowl with a towel and let it steep 2-3 hours.
- Pour the water/coconut shred mixture into a blender and blend about a minute.
- Pour the blended coconut/water mixture into a cheesecloth or tea towel over a bowl and squeeze out the milk.
- Store the milk in the fridge for a week, or in the freezer for months. Shake the coconut milk before serving –the cream will separate.
- Save the leftover coconut shreds to use in your baking (granola bars, energy bars, etc), your smoothies, your oatmeal, or dehydrate and grind into coconut flour.
Let me know how the coconut milk making goes!
This post was shared at Fat Tuesday!
I love all things coconut…jelly, milk, water lol!! I use the Nutribullet to make mine then pass it through my juicer!! I was surprised how much milk I got from one nut! I wish I could drink it all the time!! Seems your kids love the stuff! I was wondering how fattening it is since I’m trying to lose weight!
Coconut milk is an excellent source of “friendly fats” – meaning your body NEEDS them. You will never lose weight effectively by cutting out fats that your body needs. Your body goes into starvation mode and will hold onto fat if you cut fat! Read more here :: http://www.nourishingourchildren.org/Fat.html
Hello, bombshell,
Just read your comment, and I’m wondering what you do? Do you use a whole coconut, and add the meat and some water to your Nutribullet? When you said you put that mixture through the juicer next, do you think that’s an easier way to squeeze and separate the pulp from the coconut milk, than using cheesecloth?
Thanks!
Hi Lynda, I blend the steeped coconut/water mixture and then strain it through the cheesecloth. There really isn’t another way to strain out the coconut bits from the milk other than that. It goes pretty fast!
I was wondering if using hot water makes a difference?
You need the hot water to “steep” the coconut – just like you steep tea 🙂
I’ve never tried this! And it sounds so easy and cost effective!!! Thanks so much for sharing. I always buy the green cans 🙂 But they cost so much. I mostly only use them for making ice cream once in a while. I will for sure have to try this. I had shredded coconut on my list for my next trip to HH 🙂
I just wish my kids liked the taste of coconut milk. At least it’s great to use in baked goods, etc.
This is also good to know in case J can’t do dairy for a long time yet.
Oh great Mary! I think you will like the taste even better too – I like this but not a fan of the taste/texture of canned. Yeah our budget just doesn’t allow the cans either. Keep me posted how you like it!
Yummy. I use coconut oil a lot but only use coconut milk when cooking for my dairy free daughter. So good know how to make it myself!
Delicious! Thank you for this perfect version of the process. Simple and so nutritious. 🙂
Nice post Renee! I love making my own milks. Such a simple and enriching process.
Thank you Krystal! I totally agree!
I bought some flakes to make my own! 🙂
Awesome Jessica!
Is this full fat since many recipes call for full fat coconut. This is so much easier than drilling into a coconut!
Hi Anna! Yes this is full fat 🙂
This is great! And so easy to make! Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe … it’s so simple and has no filers like all of the other coconut milks on the market.
Wow, never knew it was so easy, just waiting a few hours.
Thanks for the tutorial! It’s so easy to make coconut milk, and often a much better option than what you can find in the store.
thanks!!!
Thank you for this post! I would love to make my own coconut milk. But when I do the math, it seems expensive. Can you help me figure out where I’m going wrong? Your affiliate link shows the coconut is roughly $25 for 12 cups of coconut, making each cup just over $2. Thus, your recipe calls for a little over $14 of coconut. It makes 1.5 qts, or 6 cups. I think each can I buy has about 2 cups. So the recipe is about 3 cans worth of milk. I pay about $2.89 per can, or about $8.67. While I’m sure yours is much healthier and tastes great, I’m struggling with the cost. Am I miscalculating somehow? Please know that I’m not trying to be critical. I really appreciate the time and effort it takes to blog. Thank you!
If you are using the coconut shreds again after they have steeped, are they still nutritious and worth using? I love the idea of putting them in our granola bars but don’t want to lose all their good stuff! 🙂
Hi Kathleen! Some of the fat is taken into the milk but the fiber and nutrients in the shreds are still there which is great for adding to a smoothie, granola, or granola bars! It helps save money too!
This is wonderful! It’s so frustrating to search the stores for gum-free coconut milk.
After refrigerating, my milk had about half an inch of solid fat? cream? that doesn’t want to break up when shaken. Any suggestions for how to deal with this?
Hi Rebecca! Great! Yes that is coconut cream! I leave the jar out on the counter to come to room temp and it softens, or I warm it up in a sauce pan if I need to use it quick!
I’m curious to know how this is cost effective as you say. You can purchase coconut milk for 3-4 dollars per half gallon at most stores. I’m not doubting you I’m just wanting some clarification before I try. Very tight budget here lol.
Hi Kelly! That is a pretty good price – it is double that where I live. Making it makes it about $3.50 for a half gallon for me here. So it may not be as big of a savings for you! I also like to avoid the gums and fillers so that is something to think about if those in your store bought coconut milk. I hope that helps!
how do u wash your cheesecloth…….. I’m new at this! =P
Hi April! I just rinse it in the sink!