How To Make Nut Butter At Home?

The kind of nut butter that everyone should have heard of is peanut butter. Nowadays, peanut butter can be bought almost anywhere and have different varieties. However, nut butter is not restricted to peanut butter, almost all kinds of nuts can be used to make nut butter. Nut butters are actually quite simple to make at home. All you need to have is a good blender, a few minutes to prepare and there you have, a homemade nut butter to enjoy.

Benefit of Nut Butters

Nut butter is tasty and delicious but that is not only the good thing about it. It has many beneficial properties; two tablespoons of nut butter contain about 200 calories of healthy fats and four to eight grams of protein. These nut butters contain a fine source of omega fatty acids, are high in fiber. They are packed with vitamins and minerals and contain zero sugar unless you add sweeteners. For those who are worried about cholesterol and calories, nut butter contains zero cholesterol and are low in calories. These benefits help reduce risk of heart diseases, fight cancer, control diabetes and even aid in osteoporosis.

Furthermore, since you prepared the nut butter, you know exactly what ingredients your nut butter is made of. Resulting in a food product that is closer to the original food source, eliminating the extra processing that manufacturers do.

In this article, I will talk about the basic method to make nut butter so that you have the knowledge to further experiment and test out different nut butter that are just as appetizing and equally nutritious to peanut butter. I will then provide you with some recipes for you to create your first nut butter. You can use a wide range of nuts like macadamia nuts, brazil nuts, pistachio nuts, hazelnuts, cashew nuts, pecan nuts and almond nuts.

Kind of Nuts to Use?

You can use raw and unsalted nuts or roast the nuts yourself and salt it. You can even use nuts that are in pieces if you want to be more economical as you will be blending the nuts anyway. Purchase them in bulk to get a better pricing. If your family has nut allergy, you can substitute the nuts with rolled oats, sunflower seeds, flax meal or pumpkin seeds.

If you are using raw nuts, remember to soak them overnight. Use 2:1 ratio of water to nuts and add a pinch of salt (not mandatory), soak overnight and use it the next day. If you want to roast the raw nuts, there is no need to soak them overnight. You can learn more about raw vs roasted nuts here as well as how to soak and roast nuts in more detail.

What Sweetener to Use?

We recommend using natural sweeteners like pure maple syrup and raw honey.

What Equipment Do You need?

Food Processor
High Powered Blender

Glass Jars for Storage
Measuring Cups and Spoons

How to Make Nut Butter?

The concept is relatively simple and applies to all nuts, blend the nuts until they reach the creamy consistency that you desire. The longer you blend the finer, smoother and creamier it gets. As mentioned previously, a normal blender may need a longer time to achieve the creaminess as compared to a high-powered blender.

Blend the nuts in a food processor or blender
Blend until the butter is smooth, you may need to scrap down the sides of the cylinder periodically.
Pause the blending every 5 minutes to rest your machine and to allow the nuts to release some of their oils.

Transfer the butter to an airtight container.

Note: For roasted nuts, you might need to add in 1.5 teaspoon of oil to get a smooth, buttery consistency.

What Else Can I Add to My Nut Butter?

You can add in oil, sea salt or sweetener. It is recommended to do so after you have made your nut butter so that you know what the base consistency and flavor is, this will prevent you from adding excessive amount of flavoring which could affect your nut butter results. Some suggestions that you can consider is

5 teaspoon of sea salt
1 teaspoon pure maple syrup or raw honey
5 teaspoon of coconut, grapeseed or olive oil

How Long Does Nut Butter Last?

Storing at room temperature can last about 2 weeks, by placing in the fridge your nut butter can last for up to 4 months. These nut butters are as natural as possible without any preservatives as such they cannot be kept as long as commercially sold nut butter. However, you are more likely to empty the jar of nut butter much faster than you imagine.

Nut Butter Recipes

1) Honey Salted Cashew Butter

This extra luxurious cashew nut butter provides a rich and smooth taste. Having the sweet and salty combination results in a delicious butter than you want to eat straight from the jar.

What You Need

1 cup cashews (approx. 130g)
1 tablespoon of raw honey or pure maple syrup
5 teaspoon of sea salt (not needed if cashew is already salted)

Steps:

Grind the cashews for 5 to 10 mins. Stop to scrap down the nuts from the side of the blender from time to time. Start at low speed and increase speed slowly.
Add honey and sea salt and continue blending for a few more minutes till it is smooth.

Transfer butter to an airtight container for storing.

Preparation Time: 8-12 minutes

2) Chocolate Hazelnut Butter

Hazelnut is added to many foods to produce the sought-after hazelnut taste. One famous brand would be Nutella. Unlike the store-bought hazelnut spread, this one does not contain processed sugar or soy.

What You Need

2 cups of raw unsalted hazelnuts (approx. 240g)

1 cup almond nut milk (approx. 240ml) (learn how to make nut milk here)
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (approx. 40g)
3 tablespoon pure maple syrup or raw honey

2 tablespoons of ground vanilla beans

Steps:

Use hazelnut as it is or remove hazelnut skins. You will need to roast the nuts first to remove the skin.

Let the hazelnuts cool down for 5 mins before removing the skin to prevent burning of your hands. Rub them between your palms to remove skin quickly.
Grind the hazelnuts till your desired consistency.
Add almond milk, maple syrup, vanilla and cocoa powder. Blend for another 2 mins until smooth.

This recipe contains almond milk, it needs to be stored in the fridge. It should last for around 7 to 10 days.

Preparation Time: 5 to 7 mins (longer if require roasting)

3) Cinnamon Pecan Butter

Pecans are often compared to walnuts however they are different. Pecans are naturally sweet and rich in flavors which make delicious nut butters. The addition of cinnamon brings the taste of pecan butter to a whole new level.

What You Need

5 cups of raw, unsalted pecans (approx. 150g)

1 teaspoon of cinnamon
5 teaspoon of sea salt
1 teaspoon of raw honey/maple syrup (not necessary)

Steps:

Combine all ingredients and blend until smooth. It should take about 2 mins with a blender.
If you like it to be sweeter add sweetener when butter is almost ready.

Transfer the pecan butter to an airtight container for storage.

Preparation time: 5-10 mins

By now, you may realize that making homemade nut butter is not as difficult as you have imagined. Other than the above recipe, you can try making macadamia nut butter, brazil nut butter and sunflower seed butter. You can start making nut butter today with any nuts available in your home. Otherwise, obtain high quality and affordable nuts from us today. Below are some of the nuts that you can consider.