Nut butter is about as easy as it comes when talking homemade wholefoods. Some smart marketing geniuses out there have cottoned on to the fact that everyone these days is, well, nuts for nut butter, and a 375g tub of organic pure nut butter can set you back a ridiculous amount of money. The solution to this is, of course, to make it yourself at home which works out to be more economical and the taste is amazing! This is the type of stuff that will cause you to creep around the kitchen at 10pm at night in your pyjamas, spoon in hand, hoping no one hears you opening the cupboard door to steal “just one more” taste of this amazing stuff.
Step 1 – Roast the nuts (optional)
Nut butter can definitely be made raw, but for a rich and toasted flavour, lightly roast the nuts first. This method works well with nearly all nuts, and gives the end product a slightly different taste, texture and consistency (the nut butter will be a little thicker and less runny than what it will if you use raw nuts).
Simply preheat the oven to 180C || 350F and spread the nuts out on a baking tray. Place in the oven and roast 10 – 15 minutes until they are nice and golden. Allow to cool completely before progressing to the next step.
Step 2 – Blend the nuts
The processing of blending the nuts take a little time, but is relatively simple – simply place the nuts in a food processor and blend on high speed. You’ll need to stop every minute or so and scrape down the sides, but other than that it’s just a matter of watching and waiting until the nuts are fully processed. Note that this process does take quite a bit of time. You can stop at any point once the nuts start to form a paste and come together in a ball, but if you persevere after this for another minute or two you’ll end up with a runnier and creamier end product.
Step 3 – Enjoy!
And there you have it! While it’s not the quickest process in the world, making your own nut butter is ridiculously easier, and as with most things, it tastes way better than it’s store-bought counterparts. If you want to get a little fancy, you could add some sweetener or spice (honey and cinnamon work really well) in while processing, or leave it plain.
Once you get the hang of it, try a few different variations – you can use a variety of nuts, mix in some seeds or some shredded coconut. Toast them all first or leave them raw; add some ground spices or other flavourings such as vanilla seeds, cacao or dried berries even – the options are endless.
- 2 - 3 cups nuts
- Preheat oven to 180 C | 350 F
- Spread the nuts out on a baking tray, and bake for 10 - 15 minutes until starting to turn a golden colour. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
- Once cool, add the nuts to a food processor fitted with an "S" blade. Blend around 10 minutes* until a paste is formed, stopping to scrape down the sides every minute or two.
- Store in an air-tight jar in the fridge.
A friendly tip – make a double batch of roasted nut butter to turn into these delicious cookies… You won’t be sorry! ;)
thank you so much for all you’ve done to teach people like me who don’t know how to cook learn to eat well at affordable cost.
Thank you Mary – so glad you’ve been finding my posts useful :)
I love Chef AJ’s tip on making almond milk w/almond butter, instead of going through the trouble of making it w/almonds and then having to strain them. So much easier, and no mess!
Hi Teresa, I’m not familiar with that method, I’ll have to look it up. Thanks for the tip :)
Awesome and easy! took the roasted not path… Smelled great baking and tastes even better!
So glad you liked it Martine, and great choice to roast the nuts, I much prefer the flavour that way (and the lovely aroma throughout the house!)