How to Make Nut Butter

  • Level: Easy
  • Yield: about 1 cup
  • Total: 30 min
  • Active: 10 min
Homemade nut butter is one of the easiest pantry staples to make. Our base recipe can be adapted for your favorite nut, and customizing a blend with add-ins is simple -- we've included a few sure-fire pairings below. These are only suggestions, so go nuts (pun intended) and mix and match to your heart's desire.
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Ingredients

2 cups raw unsalted nuts, such as peanuts, cashews, almonds or hazelnuts (see Cook's Note)

Kosher salt

2 teaspoons maple syrup, honey or date syrup, optional

Flavorings, such as cocoa powder, vanilla or cinnamon, optional

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment.
  2. Put the nuts on the prepared baking sheet and roast until fragrant and barely golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes. 
  3. Transfer the nuts to a food processor and add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Blend on high, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary with a rubber spatula, until the mixture is completely smooth and creamy, 5 to 7 minutes; the nuts will go from coarsely chopped, to fine meal, to clumpy ball, to smooth and creamy. Add the sweetener if using and any additional flavorings (see below) and continue to blend until smooth. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or at room temperature for up to 1 week. 

Try these flavor pairings:

  1. For peanuts mix in 2 tablespoons cocoa powder and 3 tablespoons honey
  2. For almonds mix in 2 teaspoons vanilla and 2 tablespoons honey
  3. For cashews mix in 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 2 tablespoons honey
  4. For hazelnuts mix in 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 1/3 cup sugar

Cook’s Note

If using hazelnuts, once the nuts are roasted, gently rub off the skins using a kitchen towel before blending. For crunchy nut butter: Roast an additional 1/4 cup whole nuts and reserve, then coarsely chop and fold into the finished nut butter

Let's Get Cooking!

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