I have spent over a month now working on compiling every single homemade nut & seed butter I use, to create this ultimate guide to homemade seed & nut butter recipes. This includes 12 nut & seed butter recipes. I’ve also included the benefits of homemade nut & seed butter vs store-bought, how to make and store homemade seed & nut butters. Also, tips to perfect homemade nut butter every time! The key to a good nut butter is a reliable food processor. Over the past few years, I’ve tried different food processors and blenders with varying performance and quality and for the past year and a half, I’ve been using a NutraMilk processor (almost everyday). It does everything I need in the kitchen, giving a great consistency for nut butters, smoothies and nut and seed milks. I am excited to be collaborating with NutraMilk to share these recipes with you. The homemade seed & nut butter recipes included in this post include:
Almond Butter Pistachio Butter Cashew Butter Brazil nut butter Walnut Butter Hazelnut Butter Pumpkin Seed Butter Hemp Seed Butter Sunflower Seed Butter Peanut Butter Sesame butter (Tahini) Coconut butter
The benefits of homemade nut butter vs store-bought
Being 100% in control of the ingredients is a massive plus for me. No oils, additives or preservatives. There’s nothing better than 100% natural clean ingredient recipes. I’ve done the maths, and I can honestly say that making ANY homemade seed or nut butter is more cost-efficient than buying store-bought. Especially if you buy your nuts in bulk and even more so when flavouring the batches. Homemade seed and nut butter recipes make for a delicious edible Christmas gift, particularly as part of an edible Christmas gift basket
How do you make nut butter and seed butter?
I’ll get right into the juicy details of this blog posts up-front. What everyone wants to know – how hard is it, and how do you make homemade seed & nut butters? Well, luckily for you, I can’t overstate how simple homemade seed & nut butter recipes are. The process is almost identical for every nut/seed and is made up of four steps: Obviously, there’s a little more to it than that, and I’ll get into all the tips and secrets in just a moment. I just wanted to explain up-front how simple the process is. Honestly, since starting to make my nut and seed butters, I can’t imagine buying store-bought versions anymore. I love being 100% in control of the ingredients and flavours.
Top tips to perfect nut & seed butter recipes every time
Even with the process being as simple as it is, there are still a few handy hints/tips I’d like to share for anyone wanting to make their own seed & nut butters:
Blender choice – I get asked ALL the time what blender I use because people assume they need the best and most powerful, but this isn’t the case. I’m super lucky to be able to use my Nutramilk, which is my go-to for anything seed & nut-related. It has convenient little “arms” that spin around and wipe down the blender sides, so you don’t have to do it manually. However, if your blender/food processor isn’t particularly powerful, don’t panic! Which brings me to: How to make nut butter with any blender . All you need to do is keep blending, giving your machine a break every 2-3 minutes and scraping down the sides of the blender. This will stop the machine, and nuts, from overheating.The process of making homemade seed & nut butters can take anywhere from 5-30 minutes so – be patient, It’ll happen. The nuts will look ‘crumbly’ for a long time before they start to form a paste! Use warm nuts to blend – If you’re wondering why roast the nuts in the first place, well it is optional of course. However, roasting the nuts/seeds allow their oils to begin releasing, and they become much easier to blend. Roasting nuts, in particular, also reduces their phytate content and makes them easier to digest. If using raw nuts/seeds, you may need to add some additional oil to the recipe, but I like to avoid this whenever possible.
How to store your homemade seed & nut butters
Now the shelf life of these recipes will depend on if you’ve added any flavourings/additives to the recipe and every new ingredient will affect the shelf life. Plain nut & seed butters can be kept at room temperature for around a month or in the fridge for 2-3 months. They can also be stored in the freezer. however, I have to be honest – I’ve never worked out exactly how long they last as I always use it up within a couple of months anyway. When kept in the fridge: The nut butter will harden. But that’s completely normal. When kept at room temperature: The oils may separate from the nuts, and you’ll end up with a layer of oil at the top of your jar. Once again, this is 100% normal. Just stir it thoroughly before using, and you’re good to go. I prefer to keep them in a temperature controlled fridge though as it’s easier to control and will definitely extend the shelf life. If you’re wondering what happens to homemade nut & seed butters for them to ‘go off’ – their oils will become rancid. The easiest way to tell if your nut butter is fine is simple to smell and taste it. If it starts to smell a little funky then better to chuck it out and make your next batch.
Flavouring options
I’ve included customised flavour options for each nut & seed butter in their individual blog posts. However, there are a few options that tend to work for the majority of them. Once again, I want to stress that any new ingredient added WILL affect the shelf life of your final product ( salt being the exception). If I’m wanting to make flavoured batches I tend to only keep a small portion of the original batch to flavour. Usually an amount that I’ll happily eat within 1-2 weeks- so none goes to waste. These flavour options include:
For a simple, delicious twist. Pop in some homemade Vanilla extract or Vanilla Powder. For a creamy, sweet version then add a dollop of your favourite natural sweetener such as maple syrup, agave nectar, honey etc. Add some cocoa powder and your favourite natural liquid sweetener of choice for a chocolate version. Cocoa powder may dry the mix, particularly for harder nuts, so the liquid may be needed to avoid having to add oil. A dash of Cinnamon tends to work with most nuts & seeds. Espresso/ coffee flavoured or ‘Mocha’ cashew butter would work very well!
If using a flavouring I will make sure to only to mix it in right at the end of the process. Just giving it a quick blitz just to incorporate the flavouring throughout the mix. One of the best things about making these at home is that you have the opportunity to experiment. Let me know your favourite flavoured options in the comments below!
How to use nut butter? (And seed butter!)
TOP TIP You can make super quick nut milk and seed milk recipes with your homemade butters. Just put a couple of tablespoons into a blender with some water and blend it up for 30 seconds. This will give you a delicious, creamy smooth milk. This can also be done with homemade tahini for unique tahini milk. If you want, you can also check out my recipes to make delicious plant-based milk from scratch. Here are some great general uses for most nut & seed butters:
Of course, we have the obvious – use them as a spread Drizzled on top of or mixed into a smoothie, bowl of oats, yogurt bowl or ice-cream For delicious fat balls/ energy balls For protein bars and granola bars Used within home-made ice lolly, ice-cream and nice-cream recipes Mixed into frostings for cakes and tarts Mixed into salad dressings and made into dipping sauces And, my favorite, I’ve made alternative homemade vegan peanut butter cups with pretty much every nut butter I’ve ever made.
The recipes
Bonus recipe
Let me know in the comments below if you have any queries. If you give anhy of these homemade seed & nut butter recipes a go then let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Also, feel free to tag me in your recreations @AlphaFoodie.
