Homemade Almond Butter (Almond Butter in a Vitamix)

Almond Butter in a Blender

Peanut butter sandwiches are a staple of my plant-based diet. Whether it’s a quick meal on the go or a tasty midnight snack, there’s nothing that satisfies a quick appetite that is easier to make. If you’re anything like me, you tend to go through jars of peanut butter rather quickly which is pretty expensive once you break it down. I experimented with making nut butters at home in my blender and it really opened things up for me. Not only is it cheaper overall, now I can make a wide variety of nut butters with really fun flavors. Chocolates spreads, spiced up festive nut butters, plain old traditional the list goes on. In this post we’ll look into making homemade Almond butters. Almonds aren’t too expensive, and they have a nice nutty flavor that is great to mix it up if you’ve only had peanut butter to use.

You can make almond butter in a blender??

Yes! We are big proponents of using a powerful blender to upgrade your plant-based diet. If you want to learn more about what kind of blender you should buy, check out our Top Blenders for 2021. For this recipe we used a Vitamix 5200 Legacy blender.

Many people post recipes of nut butters using food processors, and while this works - who wants to get the food processor out just to mess around with 5 different pieces and deal with all that clean up? IT IS JUST TOO MUCH. With a nice blender that provides enough power you can make a delicious nut butter that is just as smooth without the hassle. We love the ease of blenders with just 2 or 3 pieces.

So what kind of blender do you need to make homemade nut butter?

You’ll want a blender that has enough power to blend the thicker butter consistency. In terms of watts - the more the better, but anything above 100 watts should work. The more power will mean a more consistent blend, and a better consistency. For this recipe we used the Vitamix 5200 Standard (1380 Watts) which is available certified reconditioned on the Vitamix store for $399. We also recommend to go for the newer Ascent series Vitamix A2300 for the same price of $399.

What makes a Vitamix so good for making nut butter?

Vitamix and other powerful blenders provide enough umph to cleanly blend nuts of all shapes and consistencies into a smooth butter. You can get away with using a lower Wattage blender. One example on our Top Blenders for 2021 list is the Oster 1200. This is rated at 1200 watts, but keep in mind with less Watts comes more strain on the motor which means shorter lifespan.

Before You Make Your Nut Butter

What do you need to make homemade almond butter in a blender?

All you need is a blender and nuts! Seriously, for a lot of nuts you can get away with just blending the nuts into a butter. However, nuts come in a lot of varieties. One difference is the oil content, so some nuts will need a neutral oil added during the blending. Most nuts you will try shouldn’t need extra oil, but if the consistency you’re getting is not smooth enough, a small amount of oil will take it the rest of the way.

Are there any other ingredients besides nuts?

If it is needed, you can always add salt while you’re blending your nut butter. If you’re looking for a little more flavor after you’ve made your first nut butter, there are countless ways to spice it up. We will include a couple extra recipes down below that we’ve tested that taste great!

Experiment with fun recipes to expand your nut butter collection.

We’re covering just almond butter recipes here, you can experiment with other nuts and even try combining them to create more unique flavors and textures. You can use almonds, cashews, pecans, walnuts, pistachios, macadamia, or Brazil nuts. We’ll have more recipes linked above. 

Are there ways to spice up the nut butter recipes?

Yep! In addition to experimenting with different nuts, you can experiment by adding a bunch of other ingredients if you’re looking for a unique flavor to your nut butter. In one of the recipes below we’ll look at an Almond Butter Chocolate Spread! By adding dark chocolate to the recipe.

If you’re looking to sweeten up your nut butter try adding small amounts of maple syrup. A good combo with syrup would be vanilla, cocoa, cinnamon or cardamom which will add some warmth to your nut butter and give it festive flare.

You can also add different seeds and fruits, like pumpkin seeds or raisins to create a unique flavor. We’ll be experimenting with a PB&J nut butter for a future recipe!

How to Make Almond Butter

     

Making almond butter is the same process as making any nut butter and is pretty straight forward. To make a nut butter you need a method to break up and grind the nuts. People will commonly use food processors or blenders to accomplish this.

     The second and longer step is to agitate the resulting ground nuts to release the natural oils inside the nuts. This will require some patience as you continue to blend your nut mixture to release the oils and produce a smoother texture. I recommend going low and slow. Keep the power low on your mixer until the mixture starts coming together. You may need to stop occasionally and scrap the sides of the pitcher. Don’t worry, depending on the nuts you have, this may take several rounds of blending and scraping but you should end up with a nice smooth texture like the picture below.

Are there any other steps to making almond butter?

There are a couple of steps that are optional depending on your taste.

One step which we recommend is to roast your nuts before blending. This will give the nuts a deeper flavor and help improve the texture of your almond butter.

You can also blanch and deskin your nuts before you roast them. Removing the skins will give you the smoothest result, however this step is not necessary.

How should you blanch almonds for almond butter?

Blanching almonds  for a nut butter does a couple things. It lets you easily take the skins off of the almonds, which provides a smoother texture more reminiscent of store bought nut butter. It will also remove some chemicals in the almonds that provide a bitter flavor, so the end product should have a smoother taste. To blanch the almonds all you need to do is boil them for about a minute.

Should I roast first or blanch first?

BLANCH FIRST. This is a mistake I made when first experimenting with almond butters. If you roast and then blanch, the water will introduce too much moisture into the nuts, which will make the mixture too thick and sticky for the blender. This caused the mixture to stick to the sides of the pitcher and burn out the motor.

If you blanch then roast, the roasting will dry out the nuts enough to make the blending easier.

Recipes