As a kid, I didn’t love peanut butter; I was okay with it in a PB&J sandwich and I had no problem eating a handful of Reese’s Pieces, but you would never catch me eating peanut butter straight from the jar. I know, so very un-American of me. There is something about the rich flavor and texture that, to this day, I can only handle in small or very balanced doses. With that being said, I live for a spicy Thai peanut sauce and in the winter, I love to top my oatmeal with a big spoonful of whatever nut butter I have on hand.
I’m not sure what made me decide to try my hand at making homemade nut butter, it’s not like it’s expensive and it’s definitely not difficult to find, at least not here in the States. I do know that the first nut butter I made was the Maple-Cinnamon Roasted Almond Butter from The Oh She Glows Cookbook, and it was delicious. While Angela’s recipe has a few more ingredients in it, your basic nut butter is a simple combination of salt and nuts.
I tend to stick with this simple recipe because it’s versatile and can be added to sweet and savory things alike, but feel free to use this nut butter recipe as a jumping off point. Know that this jar of nut butter will be scraped clean in the amount of time that it took you to blend the nuts, especially if you have little mouths to feed.
Incredibly simple, homemade nut butter that's far better and smoother than anything you'll find at the grocery store.
- 2 1/4 cup nuts - I used a mix of raw almonds, walnuts, pecans, and sunflower seeds
- 1 tsp refined coconut oil, melted
- 1/2-3/4 tsp sea salt
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread out nuts in a single layer on to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Roast nuts for 7-10 minutes, being careful that they don't burn. Let cool for 10 minutes.
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Put roasted nuts into the bowl of the food processor and process for approximately 8 minutes, stopped every minute to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Be patient here, the nuts will become butter. Once your nut butter is mostly smooth, add the coconut oil and the sea salt and continue to process until you get a pourable consistency.
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Taste for salt and enjoy. Store nut butter in a sealed container in the fridge.
In the recipe, I use a mixture of nuts but feel free to stick with almonds or experiment with whatever you have in your pantry. You don’t have to roast the nuts beforehand, but I find that roasting enhances the flavor and the nuts blend down far quicker. I have never tried making this in a high-powered blender because I fear the nut butter getting lodged into the corners of my Vitamix, but I do hear it is possible.
Makes 1 1/4 cups
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