Frothing almond milk is a great way to make any almond milk drink a little bit better. Using a frother is the easiest way to get perfectly foamy almond milk, but not very many people have a frother at home.
If you do not have a frother in your home but you still want to enjoy frothed almond milk, there are a few different ways that you can replicate what a frother does.
Does Almond Milk Froth Easily?
While cow’s milk is the easiest milk to froth, you can still froth almond milk. Plant-based and soy-based milks are not as easy to froth as regular cow’s milk. This is because those other milks are usually water-based and are not as inherently thick as cow’s milk.
Even in cow’s milk, it is better to froth thicker milks. For example, if you try to froth fat-free milk, it will not become as frothy as whole milk would.
The reason why milks are able to froth is that they have fats and proteins. Fats are what help the milk froth and proteins are what enables the milk to hold the foam for long amounts of time.
Almond milk is mostly just a mixture of soaked almonds and water. The almonds and water are blended together to create almond milk. Because the mixture is heavily water-based, unlike regular milk, it is not as easy to froth.
No matter how hard you try, you will never be able to get plain water to froth even if you are using a frother. This is because water has no fat or protein. When you are frothing almond milk, it is the other ingredients that make it possible for it to become foamy when you froth it.
Best Almond Milks for Frothing
Some almond milks are likely to froth better than other almond milks. This is especially handy to keep in mind if you do not have a frother at home and will be using other methods to froth your almond milk.
Since using a frother is the easiest method for creating frothy almond milk, it might be worth your time to get an almond milk that is made for frothing if you do not have a frother.
There are specially made “barista” almond milks. These almond milks are a little bit thicker than regular almond milk, and are formulated to be able to froth more easily and to hold their foam for longer than regular almond milk would be able to.
If you can find barista almond milk, you should use that when you are trying to froth it without a frother. It will make the whole process go more quickly and you will be able to get it to froth up more easily than you would if the almond milk was thinner.
1 – Froth Almond Milk in a Jar
This method might be one of the easiest. Almost every household has some sort of jar around and you likely have a microwave as well. Those two things are all you need to be able to froth almond milk with this method.
Pour some almond milk in the jar. Measurements don’t really matter. Just make sure that there is at least half of the jar left empty so that the almond milk has some room to froth. Make sure that you do not heat the milk until after you have frothed it or it could hurt your hands as you hold the jar.
Once you have the almond milk in the jar, screw the lid back on the jar. Make sure that the lid is on tightly so that none of the almond milk will leak. Then shake the jar until you are happy with the amount of foam that is made. This might take a few minutes so you will have to be patient.
After the foam has formed, put the jar in the microwave and heat the almond milk. You shouldn’t have to heat it for too long; about thirty seconds to one minute will probably be enough to get the milk hot, depending on how much milk you have in your jar.
The heat is what will help the almond milk retain its foam for longer. Then you can add the frothed almond milk to your drink of choice.
2 – Stand Mixer or Electric Mixer
You can also whip the almond milk using either a stand mixer or an electric mixer. If you have whisk attachments to put on your mixer, you can use those.
The thinner the attachments you put on the mixer, the easier it will be for air to be introduced as you whip up the almond milk.
Pour some almond milk into a bowl. It is easiest if you make sure that the bowl is large enough to contain the milk as you build up the foam and if the bowl is also microwave safe. Place the bowl in the microwave and heat up the milk for about a minute or until the milk has been warmed through.
Whip the almond milk on the highest setting until you are happy with the density of the foam. Make sure that you left enough milk unfrothed or your drink will only have foam sitting on top and will not have much milk mixed in.
3 – Hand Whisk
Using a hand whisk is a good way to froth milk if you do not have a stand mixer or an electric mixer. The process is almost exactly the same, only you are controlling the whisk instead of having a machine to help you with it.
Because you are whisking by hand, this will be a more time-consuming project. Make sure that you pour the almond milk into a bowl that will be large enough to hold the foam as it builds up.
Put the bowl with the almond milk into the microwave and heat it up before you start trying to whisk it. Microwave it for about a minute or however long it takes for your almond milk to heat.
It will take a while to whisk but it will help if you make sure that you are whisking as quickly as you can to introduce the most air possible to the almond milk. Once the almond milk has built up some foam, should be ready to add to your drink.
4 – Froth Milk in a Blender
Using a blender is similar to using a stand mixer or an electric mixer, and will be easier to do than whisking it by hand. Warm up the milk in a bowl before you pour it into the blender.
Then blend the milk on a medium speed, not a high speed. Some blenders might even have an option built in for frothing or could have a different blade attachment that is designed for frothing milk.
However, most blenders don’t have this and simply blending warm almond milk on medium speed will work just fine.
This method will generally make smaller bubbles in the milk than other methods as the blender isn’t able to introduce as much air as other methods are. Once you see that there is enough froth that has built up in the blender, pour it into your drink.
You can also use a hand immersion blender to froth milk. Heat up milk in a bowl, making sure that the bowl is big enough so that the milk does not splash out of it.
The foam produced by the immersion blender might be slightly more airy than a regular blender if you are able to introduce more air into the almond milk as you blend.
Using a hand blender could risk some hot milk splashing on your hand or arm. To make sure that you don’t get hurt, wear an oven mitt and long sleeves. Make sure not to heat the milk up too much.
How to Use Frothed Almond Milk
Once you have frothed almond milk, there are many different drinks that you can use it in. Frothing the almond milk is the hardest part of making any of these drinks. The most common way that frothed almond milk is used is in lattes.
Lattes are a very popular coffee drink. They combine frothed milk and espresso. You can use any kind of frothed milk in a latte.
Similar to a latte, you can also make a cappuccino. The difference is that a cappuccino has more foam and less milk than a latte does.
It can be a little more difficult to make a cappuccino with almond milk because it will not want to produce a lot of foam when you froth it.
You can make a chai tea latte or a matcha green tea latte with frothed almond milk as well. Just mix the frothed almond milk with brewed chai tea or chai tea concentrate.
For a matcha latte, mix matcha powder in your frothed milk. Of course, you can also simply mix frothed milk into your coffee as a creamer.
Sarah is the founder of Baking Kneads, LLC, a blog sharing guides, tips, and recipes for those learning how to bake. Growing up as the daughter of a baker, she spent much of her childhood learning the basics in a local bakery.