We’ve already talked about how good for you homemade almond milk is, but the added bonus to making your own fresh almond milk is the almond meal that’s leftover from the process. You can use it in a variety of different ways to add nutrition and flavor to your baking and cooking recipes. Because I’m currently breastfeeding my baby, I need extra protein ALL THE TIME. Adding in a little almond meal has been a great way to get some extra protein in my diet.
There are a couple of different ingredients you can make with the leftover almond meal. The first (and easiest) is wet almond meal , the raw product leftover from fresh almond milk. The second is homemade almond flour.
How to Use Leftover Almond Meal
I like to freeze the almond meal in a muffin tin, then pop the frozen almond “muffins” into a resealable bag in the freezer. That way I can pull one out at a time and keep it in the fridge to use up in a of couple days. Here are my favorite ways to use the almond meal:
- Add up to 1/2 cup of leftover almond meal to a fruit smoothie. I’d start with a two or three Tablespoons and work your way up to make sure you like the texture.
- Stir a few Tablespoons of almond meal into hot oatmeal. You can also stir in a homemade fruit butter, syrup, jam, conserve, compote, or pomegranate molasses.
- Stir a few Tablespoons of almond meal into yogurt. Try any of the fruit add ins listed for oatmeal as well.
- Mix the almond meal with sucanat or another natural sugar, some butter or coconut oil, then spread it across chopped fruit. Bake in the oven until the almond meal is golden and the fruit is bubbly for a simple fruit crumble.
- Mix the almond meal into a cheese ball. You can use the recipe for my cheese mummy or cheese snowman.
- You can also make the cheese ball without the almond meal mixed in, then roll the cheese ball in the almond meal for a pretty effect.
- Add 1/2 cup of almond meal to your favorite homemade granola recipe before you bake it.
- Sprinkle almond meal on top of sauteed greens, salads or stir fries.
- Use the almond meal to make a crust for pork, fish, chicken or shrimp.
- Use almond meal as a gluten free substitution for casseroles calling for a breadcrumb topping.
- Mix almond meal into vegetable or bean dips like Pea Dip, Carrot Dip, or Fava Bean Dip.
- I MUST try this apricot bread.
- Dip fresh strawberries into melted chocolate and then roll them in the raw almond meal. Perfect for Valentine’s Day!
How to Make Your Own Almond Flour
Turning leftover almond meal into almond flour takes a little bit more time, but not a lot of active work. Once you’ve baked your almond meal and/or turned it into flour, you can store it in the fridge for a few weeks or the freezer for 3-4 months.
To make your homemade almond flour, line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the almond meal out on the sheet. Bake in a 200F degree oven for about 2-4 hours, depending on how much you have. Stir the meal occasionally with a spatula or wooden spoon. It’s done when it is completely dry and crumbly. Now assess the texture of your almond meal.
If you keep the baked meal a coarser texture, you can use it in most of the methods listed for above for the raw almond meal, it will add a nice roasted nut flavor. I wouldn’t try it in the ideas that will cook the almond meal though, like the granola, casseroles or crusting meat. It could end up burning. You can also try this recipe for making your own almond butter!
If you want to use it like flour, pulse the roasted almond meal in a food processor or blender until it reaches your desired texture. I like to make my almond flour really fine to use it in baking. You can typically sub up to half of the all purpose or whole wheat flour in a baking recipe (bread, cookies, crumbles, crackers, etc) with your homemade almond flour.
From what I’ve read (I haven’t done a lot of baking with homemade almond flour yet), this type of almond flour that has the skins in it works better in rustic recipes likes breads, crumbles, or perhaps a rustic fruit tart. Here are some recipes fellow food bloggers have created with homemade almond flour that I’m excited to try:
- Paleo Banana Bread
- Almond Flour Pancakes
- Breakfast Cookies (how amazing does that sound?)
- Gluten Free Sesame Crackers
- Blueberry Cherry Crumble
- Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Blackberry Lemon Cheesecake (dairy and gluten free!)
- Raw Caramel Chocolate Pie
Do you have any other ideas or recipes for using the almond meal leftover from homemade almond milk? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!
Those are some great ideas I had not thought about. Thanks for the tips!
I made my own almond milk but back then I didn’t know how to store almond meal leftover so I just kept it in my refrigerator… How many days it is good to eat ? :/ Thanks for these tips, now I know! (:
Hey riina, I’m having the same issue. It’s been in my fridge for a couple of weeks now, at least 10 days… what did you do?
I kept it in the fridge because I hadn’t figure out what to do with it but now I need the recipient it is in so it is time to act….
Hi Riina and GinnyMaria, it should be good for a couple weeks in the fridge, and 6 months in the freezer. You can also dry it in the oven and then grind it in a food processor to make flour that will last months on the shelf.
Hi, I jut made the almond meal and stored it in a glass container…was wondering what is the best way to preserve it, in the regrigerator or in the pantry? How long will it last? Its summer , I live in Northern Massachusetts and its starting to get pretty warm up here.
Great question, I keep mine in the fridge for up to a year. You could keep it in the freezer too.
We made walnut milk! And my friend used meal as a face treatment! Seems almonds would be good for that too!
I use mine to make protein balls , I blend up some oats into flour add it to almond meal then melt some coconut oil and add mixed seeds chopped dried fruit ,maple syrup and almond extract or vanilla and roll them into balls . I freeze mine & defrost when needed I’ve also melted some chocolate and dipped them in chocolate for a special occasion.
That sounds great!
Hello! Thanks for the tips. I make milk one cup of nuts at a time. Wanting to cook my flour when I have 3 or 4 batches so I can save time and oven energy. Can you freeze the meal then make flour in a bigger batch?