How to Make Peanut Butter + 4 Fancy Flavor Variations
Peanut butter was actually not a “thing” for me…until I began reading food blogs. Somewhere along the way, everyone’s gushing about nut butter in smoothies, nut butter in oatmeal, and oatmeal in almost empty nut butter jars—it finally got to me. I needed nut butter in all the things too!
We probably go through a jar of nut butter every week. Aaron eats some version of an almond butter and jelly sandwich most days for his fourth meal (he’s on a six meal a day schedule, as required for his training plan) (yes, it’s a ton of food!), and the dogs help him out with their own nut butter kong treat schedule at 12pm every day. ← And this is every. single. day. They are really good about telling time. As for me, I’m usually hit or miss with nut butter, as dictated by hormones. Does this happen to anyone else? One week I can’t get enough of it (especially with chocolate for dipping!!), and the next week the thought of it makes me ill.
The other week, we hit a nut butter rut. We’d been buying raw almond butter for months and needed a change, so we decided to pick up something different at Whole Foods. Um, have you looked at the nut butter selection there? It’s amazing, and it better taste that way too because some jars were $26! What?! That would put our nut butter bill at over $100/month. Insane.
So, I did what I usually do, which is loudly proclaim to anyone standing near me in the grocery store, “I can do this better at home.”—and armed with lots of dry roasted peanuts and a few simple flavorings, I think I did.
Drippy, organic, easy peanut butter, with fancy flavor variations like maple, vanilla, cinnamon, and chocolate, that costs much less than what you’d pay at the store for the non-organic, pre-made stuff (and if you’re enjoying peanut butter, you want it to be organic).
A few recipe notes:
- If you’re new to homemade nut butters, peanut butter is a great place to start because peanuts take less time than other nuts (like almonds) to go from clumpy to perfectly smooth. However, if you’re like Aaron and prefer a chunky peanut butter, I’ve got you covered with this recipe too.
- You can make peanut butter in a high speed blender, but I prefer to use my food processor so I don’t have to fight the blender to get the peanut butter out of the nooks at the bottom. Scraping out the blender is one of my least favorite things.
- I’d suggest choosing one or two of the optional add-ins if you decide to make a flavored peanut butter recipe. Vanilla peanut butter, maple peanut butter, vanilla maple peanut butter…probably not vanilla maple cinnamon chocolate peanut butter. I tried that (because why not?) and Aaron thought it tasted like cake (??), but the flavors got totally muddled.
How to Make Peanut Butter + 4 Fancy Flavor Variations
How to Make Peanut Butter + 4 Fancy Flavor Variations
Serves: about 2 cups
Prep Time: 10 mins
Drippy, customizable, homemade peanut butter that won't break the bank! Below are easy instructions to make your peanut butter creamy or chunky, along with mix-in recommendations for fancy flavor variations.
Cuisine: Gluten Free, Vegan Servings: about 2 cups
Prep Time: 10 mins
Drippy, customizable, homemade peanut butter that won't break the bank! Below are easy instructions to make your peanut butter creamy or chunky, along with mix-in recommendations for fancy flavor variations.
Instructions
- Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. When the pan is hot, add the peanuts, stirring frequently until the nuts become fragrant (about 5 minutes).
- Add the warm peanuts to a food processor or high speed blender. Pulse them a handful of times to break them up. For chunky peanut butter, you can remove 1/2 cup of the chopped peanuts and set them aside.
- Run the food processor or blender for 1 minute increments, stopping to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl or blender. Repeat 3-4 times, until the peanuts resemble a thick peanut butter.
- Sprinkle the sea salt over the nut butter.
- If you're making a flavored peanut butter, add in the optional mix-ins now. Keep in mind that using mix-ins will cause the peanut butter to clump up, but it should get smooth and drippy again after processing for an additional 3 minutes. If it doesn’t, go ahead and add 1/2 tablespoon of oil at a time, until it’s smooth and spreadable again.
- If you're not adding mix-ins, you can simply process the peanut butter until it becomes completely smooth and spreadable (about 1-2 more minutes). Taste and add more salt (or other mix-ins) until you get your preferred flavor. If you reserved peanuts for a chunky nut butter, add them now and pulse a handful of times until they're evenly distributed.
- Transfer the peanut butter to a storage container, cover, and refrigerate. The peanut butter will stay good for 2-3 weeks in the fridge.
Notes [1]
Even though the peanuts are already roasted, you will end up with a much more flavorful, smooth peanut butter if you lightly toast them to warm them up.
Copyright © 2020 Amanda Maguire for Pickles & Honey
It’s funny, because I never really liked nut butters of any kind either until I went vegan and especially once I started blogging. There’s just something in the way they got described that made them seem so seductive. Funny how I grew to like something because of the way someone described it rather than the way it tasted. Before it was always “gummy and sticky” but now it’s “rich and creamy”. Minds can play funny tricks on you!
Love all these variations. I’m craving a maple + cacao combo now!
I was the same way with nut butter. The way bloggers were describing and gushing over it made me start craving it too. It’s pretty powerful advertising when you think about it…
I bet maple + cacao would be really good!
I agree! I NEVER ate nut butter until I started reading blogs and kept seeing it everywhere. The power of suggestion!
Seems like we can all blame blogs for our new nut butter cravings! haha
I was the same, I never really thought about nut butters pre-vegan and pre-blogging. I occasionally had peanut butter but only when there was nothing else in the house to eat. Now I’m a nu butter fiend!
I’ve never actually made peanut butter, though I make almond and others regularly, but your pictures make me want to whip up a batch pronto!
I usually stick to almond butter too. Every once in a while I get a peanut butter craving though–there’s something so comforting about it. If you decide to make peanut butter at home, I think you’ll find it’s much quicker than almond butter (and less noisy!).
i’ve always loved nut butter, especially peanut butter. when i was in 11th grade, i discovered crazy richards natural crunchy pb butter and was hooked. i could eat peanuts or peanut butter every meal for the rest of my life and never get tired of it. needless to say, i love this post and want to eat fancy peanut butter with you!
I’m not sure I’ve ever heard of that brand of peanut butter. We always had the Teddie old-fashioned pb when I was growing up.
Um, how did I not know homemade peanut butter was so easy to make?! Definitely need to try this ASAP.
It’s super easy, Meredith! The hardest part is cleaning the food processor. 😉
That’s why I make Mark do it. I cook, he cleans. 😉
i never like peanut butter until i became a vegetarian and then it become essential for me in order to survive the barren food land of college life. Do you have a good source of organic peanuts? i don’t seem to be able to find organic nuts anywhere local let alone at an affordable price. thanks.
“the barren food land of college life”–too funny! I actually don’t have a go-to source for organic peanuts. Sometimes Whole Foods has them, but mostly I buy them on Amazon since I have Prime. I’ve bought the Sunfood brand before, but there may be a more affordable option.
Hi Amanda!
Photo editor at Yahoo! here and would love to maybe feature a variation of your recipe and some images on our Yahoo Food site.
Could you please contact me?
Thank you!
Jared
jharrell@yahoo-inc.com
I cannot find my favourite brand anywhere near me so I have decided to make my own ! I’ll follow your suggestions, we’ll see if it turns out as good as my fav brand ! 😀
Homemade peanut butter is great! (and in many cases, better than store-bought 🙂 ) I hope you enjoy!