My friends, there is NOTHING as delicious as homemade nut butter. I’ve been making it at home for years and it is just as splendid every time I take the first bite of a fresh batch, as the first time I tried this! Below I break down all the things you need to know to make the perfect batch of nut butter at home.
This Recipe is Totally Versatile
As you will see in the images for this recipe, I whipped up a batch of cashew butter for these pictures, but you can do this with all sorts of nuts and seeds, including:
- Almonds
- Peanuts
- Hazelnuts
- Sunflower Seeds
- Cashews
- Walnuts
- Pecans
One nut that I do not advise trying this with is macadamia nuts. Due to the very high fat content of the nuts, you end up with more of a nut soup than a nut butter. Not ideal. Save those special nuts for eating straight out of the bag 🙂
What You’ll Need For This Recipe
So for starters, you’ll need some nuts of choice! I will tell you more (in a moment) about how to roast your nuts if yours happen to be raw. You’ll also need a bit of salt if your nuts are not already salted. And finally, you’ll need one key kitchen tool… a food processor.
This food processor from Cuisinart gets a stellar amount of use in my home, making homemade nut butter for me and my husband on a regular basis. Not to mention all the energy balls that are whipped up in this thing, like these Brownie Batter Balls. Okay now I’m drooling. Back on track with the recipe…
To recap, you’ll only need the following:
- Nuts of choice (can be raw or roasted & salted)
- Salt (if your nuts are not already salted)
- A food processor
How To Make A Perfect Batch of Nut Butter
If you are starting with raw nuts…
If you are starting with raw nuts, I would suggest roasting them before putting them in the food processor. Roasting your nuts helps to bring out the flavor for a delicious butter. This is a super simple process:
- Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Step 2: Lay your nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet (no need to grease the baking sheet or coat your nuts in any sort of oil).
- Step 3: Bake your nuts for ~7-12 min (depending on the type of nut and depending on your oven, this can vary) – you want to take them out of the oven when they are visibly turning a slightly darker shade and there is a delightful aroma of the nut.
Once your nuts are roasted, you are ready to make nut butter! Simply dump your nuts into the food processor and add 1/4 tsp of salt for every cup of roasted & unsalted nuts. Then you turn on your food processor and let it run.
It will take at least 5 minutes (sometimes closer to 10 minutes) of letting the food processor run to get your nuts from full nut into nut butter form. At first you may be watching and think, “Gee, that is looking awfully chunky and not very spreadable.” With time, the heat of the blade whirring and the continuous pulverization of the nuts, you will end up with a smooth nut butter!
If you are starting with roasted & salted nuts…
This is as simple as dumping your nuts into the food processor and turning it on 🙂 SO EASY! The same rule regarding time applies here as well. It will likely take 5-10 minutes of the food processor breaking down the nuts to get the final consistency.
How To Make Raw Nut Butter
If you are starting with raw nuts and want to keep your nut butter raw (which is totally delicious, by the way) you will simply dump your raw nuts into the food processor, then turn it on and let it work it’s magic. The raw variety tends to be on the thicker side when done, so keep in mind that you will still need to run the food processor for 5-10 minutes, but you will likely get a slightly thicker butter. Mmmmmm the perfect kind to eat right off the spoon 😉
Spoonful of Cashew Butter
How Many Nuts = How Much Nut Butter
Generally you will get 1/3-1/2 the amount of nut butter for the comparable amount of nuts. For example, one cup of nuts will yield 1/3-1/2 cup of nut butter. This is helpful when making nut butter for a specific recipe! But let’s be real, leftover nut butter is a blessing as well. This stuff never goes bad in our house!
How to Store Your Homemade Nut Butter
Make sure to store your nut butter in an airtight container (I love mason jars). It can be stored on your counter for about 1 week or in your refrigerator for about 1 month. Keep in mind that freshly homemade nut butter usually goes rancid a little faster than the store-bought variety.
Homemade nut butter is incredibly simple to make and tastes far better than the store-bought variety! Learn how to make nut butter with your nut of choice!
- Nuts of choice
- Salt (if your nuts are not already salted)
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
Lay your raw nuts out on a baking sheet that is NOT greased
Bake for 7-10 minutes, until the nuts are beginning to brown and you can smell the aroma of the nuts.
Put your roasted nuts in the food processor and add 1/4 tsp salt for every 1 cup of roasted (and unsalted) nuts
Blend for 5-10 minutes until your nut butter is your desired consistency
Put your roasted & salted nuts in the food processor
Blend for 5-10 minutes until your nut butter is your desired consistency
Recipe Video
Macros vary depending on the variety of nut used for this recipe.
It’s Time to Put That Butter to Use!
Have some leftover nut butter and want to put it to great use? Check out this recipe for Oatmeal Cookie Energy Balls, for which you can use any variety. I love using a mixture of cashew and almond butter for these balls.
And if you have some leftover peanut butter, these PB&J Energy Balls will be a delicious use of your leftovers!
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