Let's Get Nutty Natural Nut Butter

by Ashley Cattell, Registered Dietitian on January 10th, 2012

Creating your own natural nut butter is more simple than you may think. If you have ten minutes, 1 to 2 cups of your favourite unsalted nuts and a food processor you are ready to get nutty!
Place 1 to 2 cups (250 to 500ml) of raw nuts (such as almonds, walnuts, cashews, hazelnuts, pecans, or peanuts) in a food processor.

Pulse 5 to 6 times, then turn the food processor on (so it will blend continuously), stopping as needed to scrape down the sides of the work bowl with a rubber spatula.

Depending on the type of nut you choose this process may take up to 10 minutes. (The peanuts pictured on the left took 2-3 minutes to form a creamy nut butter.)
The end yield of homemade nut butter will depend on the type of nut you choose. Softer, more oily nuts, such as pecans will require more nuts to produced the same yield as harder nuts like almonds.

Store your natural nut butter in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Your homemade nut butter will keep for 1 month.

Homemade natural nut butters are naked to the eye. What you see is what you get, whether it is almonds, peanuts, cashews, or a combination of your favourite nuts. Store bought nut butters may contain added sugar, salt, hydrogenated vegetables oils, modified vegetable oils, saturated fats, and trans fats.
If you would like to purchase a nut butter from your local supermarket, read the ingredient list first.

Select a nut butter where the name of the nut is the only ingredient present in the ingredient list i.e. Ingredients: almonds

Nut butters can be spread on apple slices, celery sticks, whole grain crackers or toast. They are a flavourful addition to breakfasts and snacks. Enjoy!


Posted in Fabulous Tastes, Dietitian in the Kitchen    Tagged with nut butter, almonds, pecans, cashews, walnuts, hazelnuts, peanuts


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