Homemade Nut Butter

Have I ever mentioned that I have a weakness for nut butters?  Spread on toast, whizzed into my smoothie, mixed into oatmeal, rolled into cookie dough balls, sandwiched in between chocolate, or straight up on a spoon- anything goes!  As soon as I get to London, I will definitely be stocking my freezer with one of these new Peanut Butter Love Cornetto ice creams- well played Walls!  

PB Cornetto

Due to laziness, I usually buy peanut butter but when the natural option is not available, I go back to the basics and make my own.  Although it had been a number of months since I whipped up my own batch, I broke my hiatus when I was in China.  I kinda felt I needed to after taking my sister a jar of Natural Skippy Peanut Butter & then proceeding to finish a good chunk of it (pun obvi intended 😉).  As peanuts are freely available in the market over there, I made a simple batch of Crunchy Peanut Butter with a Hint of Sea Salt:

Crunchy Peanut Butter with a Hint of Sea Salt

When I came back to Bombay, I made another batch although this time was Almond Butter:

 Almond butter

And now for my latest favourite as of last Tuesday: Hazelnut Butter

Homemade hazelnut butter

You guys- this stuff is LEGIT!  All it contains is hazelnuts & salt but the flavour is out of this world.  It honestly tastes like Nutella without the chocolate.  Of course for a more authentic flavor, you could add in some cacao (or unsweetened cocoa) powder & maple syrup.   

Aside from containing minimal ingredients & hence being inevitably healthier, I find homemade nut butters taste so much richer & creamier than store-bought varieties.  And the beauty of it is that they don’t require any fancy machinery.  Although pricier blenders like the Vitamix & NutriBullet certainly get the job done, I’ve never had an issue using a basic blender. I personally use a Morphy Richards Icon Classique 750-Watt Mixer Grinder,  which works like a charm. The process of making homemade nut butter may initially sound intimidating and laborious, but it’s actually dead easy – I promise!  There are plenty of precise recipes online, but essentially it’s just a matter of adding nuts to a blender/food processor and whizzing until the nuts yield a creamy texture.  In between whizzes, you’ll need to scrape down the sides.   

Almond butter proccess collage

Some other tidbits I’ve learnt about making perfect homemade nut butter include:

  • Buy your nuts in bulk to reduce overall costs.
  • Roasting the nuts beforehand significantly enhances the flavour.

Roasting almonds

  • Use at least 1 cup of nuts– anything less tends to affect the overall texture.
  • As it contains no preservatives, store your homemade nut butter in an airtight jar in the fridge to avoid it going rancid.  I’ve kept mine for up to 2 weeks in the fridge without any issue.
  • Due to the natural oils in nuts, I typically do not add oil when making my nut butter.  However in some cases (e.g. when using a less powerful blender), you might need to add a teaspoon or 2 of oil to help get things moving.  
The beautiful moment when the powdery texture starts turning creamy.
The beautiful moment when the powdery texture starts to turn creamy.
  • To add an oomph to the flavour of your homemade nut butter, great mix-ins include:
    • Cocoa or cacao powder
    • Honey or maple syrup
    • Cinnamon
    • Sea salt
    • Vanilla bean

I personally prefer to wait till the absolute end to add in my mix-ins.   

And the most important tip: 

  • Have patience! The first few minutes of processing will result in the nuts looking dry, crumbly & incredibly unappetising (as seen below).  Take a deep breath, blast some music and continue letting the blender/food processor do its thang.  After an additional minute or 2, the nuts start to release their natural oils and suddenly develop a softer & smoother texture.  If you’re adding any mix-ins, this is the time to do so.  Give it one final blitz and you are good to go!

Almond powder

  • As the process is essentially same for all nuts, experiment beyond almonds & peanuts.  A few nut butters which I plan to make soon include:
    • Walnut
    • Macadamia
    • Cashew
    • Pistachio

Happy nut butter’ing – because let’s be honest, it’s always a happy time when nut butter is involved ;)!

What’s your favourite nut butter flavour?

Have you made nut butter at home?  Any tips?

30 thoughts on “Homemade Nut Butter”

  1. I made the creamiest cashew butter, with just cashews – in a Sumeet Mixer! My attempt at peanut butter wasn’t quite as successful. It tastes great, but it isn’t smooth and creamy; it’s sort of crumbly, even with a little oil and honey to help it along. What did I do wrong? Over blend it?? Is that even possible?!!

    1. Oh wow that sounds awesome- will have to try making cashew butter soon! By the sounds of it, you probably needed to blend the peanuts a bit longer.

  2. I’ve made my own nut butter on a few occasions! It’s crazy addictive. And kind of a necessary evil for me since it’s the only way I can enjoy some of the fancier flavours like vanilla and chocolate — too many of those “contain traces of peanuts” 😡 That and it’s nice not to have to shell out $13 for a small jar 😛

    1. Seriously though- when did nut butter become SO expensive? The most I’ve paid is $18, which of course had to get confiscated at the airport – who knew that it counts as liquid!

  3. I tried making almond butter in my BlendTec and ended up burning some of it in the process! I think I need to buy a bigger food processor and try again. 🙂 I think it’d be worth the investment.

  4. Love this! I’ve been wanting to make my own nut butter for a while but quite frankly, my laziness gets the best of me. I’m verrrry curious about the hazelnut butter, because I am a complete Nutellaholic.

  5. Your nutbutter looks so creamy, Khushboo! I have an older blender that really doesn’t have the power to pulverize nuts into nutbutter, but a Ninja is on the horizon and I am hoping that helps as store bought nubutters are so expensive these days! I cannot wait to see how your pistachio nutbutter turns out – that’s one I haven’t ever tried!

    1. Seriously- when did nut butter become SO expensive! The most I’ve spent is $18 – definitely not an amount I’d shell out regularly!

  6. You will have to let me know if you try making pistachio butter – I have always been tempted but know it would cost a fortune to make so want to know if it’s worth it! Homemade nut butter is where it’s at!

    1. I certainly will let you know once I try it- fortunately pistachios aren’t overly expensive over here!

    1. I don’t know how you managed to have the patience to turn it into nut butter- I would have just eaten the almonds straight up :)!

  7. My current obsession is almond butter – I added a spoon of coconut oil to help it along – amazing for the flavour! I highly recommend!

  8. Despite all the crazy food things I’ve tried over the past few years, homemade nut butter is not one of them. I know, shocking right. I love this post though because not only do you share a recipe for making various kinds, but also tips and tricks for actually making it. In fact, this might be the most helpful homemade nut butter post I’ve seen. Plus I get to say nuts.

    1. Thanks so much Meg :)! I’m surprised you haven’t tried making nut butter yet…you know, given your love for nuts and all ;)!

    1. Definitely give it a shot- I find that just sticking with roasted nuts & salt gives the most authentic flavour :)!

  9. Love nut butter… favorite is probably almond.
    I’ve made almond butter and coconut butter at home. You do it perfectly! I personally prefer homemade almond butter to store bought. I don’t roast the almonds though, it just has a different softer taste that I love.

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