Homemade All Natural Toasted Almond Butter
I can’t believe that I’ve never shared this recipe on here until now. Seriously. Of all the nut butters that I keep in my cupboards, this would be the one variety that I can NEVER be without. I’ll even often whip up a new batch before I actually run out.
And that’s especially true now that I’ve discovered just how good this stuff goes with avocado.
For realz! Avocado!
Several times a week, at breakfast, I’ll split an avocado in half, remove the pit and fill the cavity with a tablespoon of creamy, dreamy, delicious Toasted Almond Butter.
It’s so insanely good, I can’t tell you how often I daydream about it. I’ve tried other nut butters, such as Toasted Sunflower Seeds and Roasted Cashew, but frankly, Toasted Almond is my fave so far!
I’m now thinking that I need to come up with some kind of a keto recipe using avocado and toasted almond butter, but I just can’t seem to figure it out yet. For the time being, I’m so happy with the simple act of enjoying the two of them together with a fork, I can’t think of any other way that would give me more satisfaction… hopefully it’ll come to me someday!
Until then, I say we should probably get busy making some Almond Butter, that way you will already have it handy when I do come up with that recipe. If you don’t end up eating it all with plain avocado, that is…
Now, just as I do when I make Toasted Almond & Hazelnut Butter, I like to use a blend of toasted and raw nuts with this variety also, because I find it gives the nut butter a milder, sweeter taste as well as a bit of a thicker consistency. For me, the perfect ratio is half toasted almonds and half raw.
Of course, you could use all toasted or even all raw, if you wanted to. Or 75% / 25%… Feel free to play with the ratio until you find one that works well for you.
For the purpose of this post, let’s say we’re going half and half. Obviously, the first thing that we need to do is toast us some nuts.
Preheat your oven to 350F and place 2 cups of almonds in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Place the almonds in the oven and toast them for about 15 minutes, moving the nuts around a few times during the process to make sure they don’t burn and roast evenly.
Allow the almonds to cool until you can safely handle them with your bare hands. While the nuts are cooling, make sure you lend an ear and listen to the nice snap, crackle and pop concerto that the nuts will be playing for you. It’s actually fun to listen to: it kind of reminds me of the Rice Krispies cereal that I used to eat when I was a kid. Only much better!
When the nuts are done playing their tune, transfer them to the bowl of your food processor, add the remaining 2 cups of raw almonds, as well as the salt, ground cinnamon and chopped vanilla beans, if using.
I like to add whole vanilla beans to most of my nut butters. It add so much flavor and you don’t even need to bother scraping the seeds. Just chop it up and throw it in there, it’ll get pulverized anyway! So why waste?
This particular nut butter is one of the easiest to make, in the sense that it comes together fairly quickly, in about 10 to 15 minutes, and you will hardly ever need to scrape the sides.
The picture above was taken about 1 minute into the process. As you can see, the nuts are still very dry at this stage and want to fly all over the place as soon as you take that lid off… perhaps you better pass and just let that motor run… there’s no real need to stop at this point, trust me.
About 1 minute and a half into the process, this is what you should be looking at. See how the nuts are already starting to release their oil and the mass is kind of wanting to turn into butter…
Another 45 seconds in, we’re definitely getting there…
Again, 45 seconds to a minute later… When you get to this point, you can just let the motor run for a good 10 minutes uninterrupted, until your nut butter becomes super smooth and creamy.
This is pretty much the consistency you’re after. The longer you let it run for, the creamier your butter will be. You’ll notice that it’s pretty hot at this point, and fairly liquid too, but that’s normal…
It will return to a firmer, more natural state once it’s had a chance to rest and cool down.
Transfer your Almond Butter to clean air tight glass jars and keep in a cool dry place for up to a few months.
That’s if you can keep it that long…
I know mine never lasts this long… especially not now that it’s made such good friends with another favorite of mine: the avocado.
But seriously, I tend to include almond butter in a lot of recipes, so it usually goes pretty fast. You’d think I’d learn and start making double batches, but I enjoy the process of making nut butter way too much for that.
Nothing makes my day like finding out I’m out of a certain variety of nut butter and need to make a fresh batch.
I know… I’m weird! What can I say?
All Natural Toasted Almond Butter
Ingredients
- 4 cups raw almonds
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, optional
- 2 whole vanilla beans, finely chopped* (optional)
Equipment
- Food Processor
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F
- Place 2 cups of almonds in a single layer on a large baking sheet
- Place the almonds in the oven and toast them for 15 minutes, moving the nuts around a few times during the process.
- Allow the almonds to cool until they can be safely handled with your bare hands, then transfer them to the bowl of your food processor; add the remaining 2 cups of almonds, as well as the salt, ground cinnamon and chopped vanilla beans (if using).
- Process for a total of about 10-15 minutes, stopping to scrape the sides from time to time, until the butter becomes very smooth and creamy and almost liquid in consistency. It will return to a firmer, more natural state once it's had a chance to rest and cool down.
- Transfer to clean air tight glass jars and keep in a cool dry place for up to a few months.
Notes
Nutrition
If you’ve tried this recipe, please take a minute to rate the recipe and let me know how things went for you in the comments below. It’s always such a pleasure to hear from you!
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58 Comments on “Homemade All Natural Toasted Almond Butter”
Nut butter and avocado?? I never would’ve thought of putting the two together! Would make for a really interesting fat bomb or pad thai type of sauce for zucchini noodles! 🙂
Fat bombs is pretty much what I had in mind in terms of recipe… but I absolutely LOVE your idea of a pad thai sauce. That may very well work beautifully. Note definitely taken! 🙂
Do you mix up the avocado and nut butter together with a fork or cut the avocado into pieces with nut butter as a sort of topping? Thanks!
I just fill the pit hole with the nut butter, Sara. TO.DIE.FOR is what it is!
Does it really keep ok for a few months refrigerated? I keep my homemade nut butters for only a couple weeks in the fridge. I don’t know if they really go totally off, but I’ve smelled them turn kinda rancid.
Almond butter in an avocado? How the heck did you come up with that one??
I don’t even refrigerate mine, Jill, and have never had one turn rancid on me. I guess the freshness of the nuts you use to make the butter also plays an important role. Or maybe it’s just that I go through my jars too fast?
And seriously, the combination of avocado and almond butter just came to me one morning. I decided to give it a try and it was love at first bite!
How much does 12g per serving translate into Tablespoons or teaspoons.? I don’t really have a way to measure grams.
Thanks.
Vickie
How many gram in 1 teaspoon? The answer is 5.
It says in the recipe, Vickie. The nutrition facts are based on approximately 1 tablespoon. Hope this helps!
Wow – nothing better than homemade almond butter! I gotta try your combo of it with avocado – would love to know what food processor you are using? I have been on the fence for awhile if I should invest in a food processor or ninja – as nutbutters are what I mostly make.
I use a KitchenAid Food Processor very similar to this one, although mine is a much older model since I’ve now had it for well over 12 years. Still working like a charm, so I highly recommend it!
Oh, and thanks for your kind words, by the way! You HAVE to try that combo, it’s to die for, I swear! 🙂
Thank you for this one! I just made some and it tastes delishous. Hopefully it keeps my hubby away from the peanut butter… 🙂
I hope so too, Claudia! 🙂 Honestly, it tastes soooo much better. Just leave the jar unattended on the counter, it should do the trick! 🙂
The verdict was: Not as good as the peanut butter but keep trying… 😉 I thought it was waaay better than that… I think his taste buds are spoiled from that store bought stuff. I love your blogg by the way. I only discovered it recently and I am the kind of “let’s do it all from scratch” person… so I definitly will try more from your blogg (will be smoking some ham or bacon soon for sure…)
Did you try the roasted cashew butter? Now this has to be WAY yummier than peanut butter! I’m sure it’ll make him a convert.
And thank you very much for your kind words. I find the more stuff I make from scratch, the more stuff I WANT to make from scratch. Everything tastes so much better when you make it yourself, plus you can’t beat the feeling of satisfaction that comes with it. So rewarding! 🙂
Can’t wait to hear about your bacon or ham making experience!
I am vegan, so love this. I just made cookies and substituted this instead of the peanut butter. umm so good!
Do vegans not eat peanuts, Ann?
Cant wait to make this but I live in Europe and we don’t measure in cups. How much are 2 cups of almonds in grams? (I am asking because, depending on the ingredient, cups and grams don’t always equal the same)
Thank you very much!
Check out this conversion guide, Annita. It may come in very handy for you!
looks very good and am going to try it. Just a clarification, is water or oil required to make it into a smooth paste?
Not at all, ahmed. Just the ingredients that are listed in the recipe!
This may seem a silly question but what speed do you set the processor at?
Low, medium or obliterate 🙂
Yummy – almond butter! I love home made, but never thought of trying it with avocado! Thanks so much for the heads-up on that.
Oh, welcome to your new addiction! Please let me know how you liked it when you do give it a try!
It tastes delish! However after running the new Cuisinart food processor for more than 20 minutes, I could not get the consistency of smooth butter…just powdery and not real firm.
I did start w/raw skins removed almonds that I roasted…I noticed that you leave the skins on…your opinion would be greatly appreciated…thank you!
Janice
The presence / absence of skins shouldn’t affect the ability of your nuts to turn into butter. Perhaps your food processor isn’t powerful enough, perhaps you didn’t use enough nuts, or perhaps you just didn’t let them spin long enough. Nuts WILL turn into butter, eventually. That is a certainty!
I love peanut butter because its thick texture, but almonds looks much thicker.
This is delicious! Thank you for posting! I made it with all toasted nuts, the cinnamon and some hawaiian sea salt (I got it at a Macadamia Nut Farm on Molokai where they sell the salt that’s left over after they roast their macadamias so it has a sweet toastiness to it). It’s amazing! This is going to be dangerous to have in the house! Thanks again! 🙂
I totally hear you, Stephanie. Dangerous to have in the house is so right. Enjoy it while it lasts! 🙂
I’ve heard of almond butter being a little on the dry side if no oil is used, yet your recipe looks smooth as silk? Did you use any oil in your recipe?
No I did not, Melissa.
Made this today! My first time making almond butter and it turned out so well! Not sure why I waited so long to make my own. Thanks!
Isn’t it super fun? Bet you’ll never go back to store-bought!
How long does it last on the fridge ?
It will keep for well over a few months, and doesn’t really need to be refrigerated. You can safely keep it in the pantry for a couple of months.
You’ve made it all the way to Denmark now 🙂
It looks great – but apart from avocado – what do you eat it with?
Just about anything you’d normally eat peanut butter with… 🙂
It looks amazingly easy. Do you think I can toast the almonds in a pan on stove? my oven broke and cant wait to try it 😀
Absolutely Sarah. Just keep that temperature very low, move the almonds around very often, and keep a very good eye on them to make sure they don’t burn!
Coool. I’m so excited 😀 Thanks for your reply Sonia 🙂
I made it yesterday, and can’t thank you enough for the amazing beauty. The lovely aroma of almonds while i was roasting them in a pan on stove, mesemerized me lolz. roasted warm nutty almonds are a bliss. I wanted to eat them as it is 😀 but they survived and i ended up making around a cup of almond butter. You were right that many will lose patience midway, but as you said in the recipe, i kept going and it slowly started coming together. I am originally from a part of world where we did’t have these amazing numerous sort of spreads when i grew up. And while i’m now in this modern age 😀 somehow I dont like peanuts and hence dislike for peanut butter, So it was my first time to try this and i’m hooked on it. Thanks a lot once again 🙂
What a beautiful comment, Sarah. I’m so happy that you are enjoying not only the nut butter itself, but also the whole process and the enticing aroma that are part of the experience. Enjoy the fruit of your [agreeable] labor! 🙂
ps. Now you just got me wanting to make a fresh batch of toasted almond butter, like really, really bad! 😀
Hi, I made this today and it was great. I used 1/2 dry roasted almonds that I had from Trader Joes and 1/2 raw. I was concerned that it wasn’t going to get creamy ( patience is not my strong suit), but I let it rip while I was putting dinner away. Wow it came out creamy and delicious!! The vanilla beans added great flavor. Thanks for the recipe.
Ha! Isn’t homemade the best? Plus, it makes the house smell sooooo good of roasted nuts. Now I bet you’re never gonna buy another jar of the commercial stuff ever again!
Much better with 100% toasted almonds. No, raw will not add any significant nutrients to your life. Lets not get obsessive.
This is just soooooo good. Reminds me of Christmas. 🙂 I will definitely make this again and again and again. I also love it with celery stalks.
Hey everybody,
wow, this looks amazing. I´m gonna try it next week and I´d like to ask if somebody tried this one with protein powder so it´s gonna be more proteins there? I´m just wondering when should I put the powder there and how many scoops. Thanks for any advice 😀
Kristyna
Sonia…
I’m having a love-hate moment with you right now.
I saw this recipe and thought: “Oo! I have a huge bag of almonds in the freezer that I always forget about!”
Turns out, I’ve had the bag long enough that I had whittled it down to about 1.5 cups. Darn…
But! I have a bag of walnuts in the freezer and a can in the pantry, so I added those, enough to come up to about 2.5 cups of nuts. I roasted about half of them, with the almonds, and then ground ’em up in my little tiny Cuisinart.
I didn’t add the cinnamon or vanilla because I’m going to use this for a savory Pad Thai/Sunshine Sauce recipe tomorrow.
But, oh my freakin’ goodness! That is amazingly tasty! Thanks for the inspiration to make my own nut butter!
(The hate part comes in here: this is so tasty that now I’m fighting the urge to have several spoonfuls… maybe the whole batch! LOL)
Hahaha! I so totally hear you, I’m the exact same. Whenever I create a new flavor of nut butter I have to give it away after tasting it, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to stop eating it until the jar was all gone… Why oh why does nut butter have to be so addictive?
i havent tried this yet but i hope it will be awesome
I think I toasted my almonds too long.. kind of has a burnt taste to it… anyway to fix it or did I just waste a ton of $?
If they have a burnt taste to them, I’m afraid there’s not much you can do. And the last thing you want to do is turn them into butter, as this will only accentuate the flavor!
Thank you so much for this recipe, Sonia! I woke up to a five ingredient chocolate chip cookie recipe from The Vegan 8 and just knew I had to try it! Alas, I realized I was out of almond butter, but googled a recipe and found your site. The butter worked perfectly in the cookie recipe! Yum! I noticed a few other vegan recipes on your site and I am anxious to try them. Thank you so much for sharing your talents! 🙂
Haha! You are very welcome, Colleen. And thanks for leading me to Vegan 8! I’ve recently decided to switch to a plant based diet so I need all the inspiration I can get. Oh, and you can be certain that the vegan recipe collection on here will keep growing and growing from now on! Hopefully you’ll find a bunch that you like! 🙂
I like to take some of the partially chopped almonds out of the processor after 30 seconds or so, and then stir them back in at the end to make crunchy almond butter.
Awesome idea! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Hi, this is my first time making almond nut butter. I followed the recipe and instructions but instead of turning into a creamy consistency it turned into a thick , quite dry, putty like texture. Not sure where I went wrong. Have you any ideas?
You simply didn’t process long enough… or maybe your food processor wasn’t powerful enough.