How to Make Peanut Butter

Smooth, creamy and rich vegan peanut butter, ready in just 10 minutes! This one ingredient spreadable peanut indulgence will be your new pantry staple!

Homemade Peanut Butter

Peanut butter is a nutrient-rich food. I always have it in stock in my kitchen. So versatile and ready for use in so many dishes, this protein rich peanut paste is always on standby for use.

It’s perfect for toast, oatmeal, smoothies, ice cream and so much more! And this homemade peanut butter is so much better than shop bought – super fresh and delicious, with no preservatives.

Is the peanut butter vegan?

Vegans can eat peanut butter. A common problem is that the ingredients in shop bought one may include dairy. Or the sugar they use could be processed by bone char. I’ve also noticed that many shop bought peanut butter brands contain trans fats which are said not good for our bodies.

That’s why I prefer homemade peanut butter. You know what’s in it and it’s fresh. This is made without oil and is vegan friendly.

Why You Need to Make it at Home?

We used to buy peanut butter at the shop, endlessly checking ingredients. But after finding out how easy it is to make with a food processor, we never looked back. It’s actually fun to make your own! All you need is a food processor, and you’re pretty much done.

Which food processor should You buy?

It’s worth thinking about how you want to use your food processor before buying one. If you want to grind nuts, or other hard foods, then spend a bit of time choosing.

Most of the food processors are not designed for nut grinding, and need more power. Some break down after grinding nuts. This is usually the result of the motor of the food processor overheating and burning out.

Vitamix is powerful, and highly sort after with no need to worry about the motor. But it’s a big investment. So after some research, I ended up with a Cuisinard food processor. (source)

My Cuisinard has a grinder function. It’s reasonably priced and is powerful enough for peanut butter making! I also use it for desserts, pie crust, hummus, vegan graham crackers, vegan oatmeal cookies and pretty much everything.

Ingredients for peanut butter recipe

Peanut: I use dry roasted peanuts with no salt and without the shells. The skin is bitter so remove it. When the peanuts are roasted for longer, the colour gets darker and the flavour is more intense.

Guess what? Peanuts are the only ingredient you need for this recipe. What?? That’s right, it’s a one ingredient recipe. My partner did not believe it until he saw it made!

Of course you can add salt, sugar, olive oil or maple syrup when making your own, but basically there is no need to add anything. Peanut itself releases oil when it’s grinded and that allows it to become naturally buttery and creamy. It has an intense flavour.

How to Make Peanut Butter

1. Place peanuts into a food processor. Make sure that your food processor is powerful enough to grind nuts. Otherwise, it may take a long time and you’ll need to turn it on and off to avoid the motor burning out. Check that your processor can handle grinding nuts before use.

2. Pulse 5 times and grind roughly. Then start grinding continuously for a few minutes.

3. As the peanuts start releasing their oil,  scrape down the sides with a spatula and keep grinding.

4. Peanuts are getting finely grinded and releasing more oil. The chopped peanuts stick to each other.

5. Peanuts are really grinded and each particles are getting more refined. You are nearly there!

6. Grind the peanuts until they become creamy, buttery and a bit moist.

That’s it! Serve and enjoy!

Nut butter variations

Once you’re mastered the basics, you can make homemade peanut butter recipe variations so easily. Here’s a few:

HOMEMADE ALMOND BUTTER

After making this, I made almond butter! It’s basically the same as peanut butter. I tried with roast almonds but raw almonds are more intense and nutritious. You can simply grind them in the food processor. It depends on the power of your food processor but it takes 5 to 10 minutes to get creamy.

HOMEMADE WITH CHOCOLATE

I love chocolate peanut butter. My favourite is to add ¼ cup of vegan chocolate chips per 1 cup of peanuts. Grind together in the food processor. Delicious.

CRUNCHY PEANUT BUTTER

If you would love to make it crunchy, keep ¼ cup of peanuts aside. Pulse them 6 to 8 times in the food processor separately. Then add them to the creamy peanut butter.

How to make peanut butter extra creamy

The power of every food processor is different. If your’s looks not as creamy as you’d like, keep grinding the peanuts for longer, occasionally resting the processor motor. I try not to burn out the motor in this way. If you have Vitamix, the motor is powerful enough to grind continuously.

How to save vegan peanut butter

Keep vegan in an air tight container and leave it in the fridge for 3 weeks. You can also freeze it for 3 months.