We stopped buying peanut butter, and all nut & seed butters, about a year ago, and determined to make them ourselves. After experimenting with several methods, we finally got it down. Here's how you can make a spreadable, lovely, rich & flavorful organic peanut butter at home. You control the ingredients so this will be the freshest peanut butter you can get- and you can really taste the difference!
The secret, we discovered, is giving the peanuts a very long time in a food processor. If you blend for just a couple of minutes, you will have a crumbly, dry nut butter that will barely stick to itself and be difficult to spread. Give it a few minutes more of your time and attention, and it will transform into a spreadable, creamy, perfectly textured nut butter.
Starting with raw peanuts and roasting them yourself will make a huge difference in flavor. Fresh roasted nuts are so delicious, and the quality of flavor declines with age. Roasting nuts without burning them takes a lot of dedication. There seems to be a fine line of doneness, which I often cross. One batch of peanut butter we made looked chocolatey, the nuts were so over-roasted (some might say burnt). I was ready to toss them to the chickens but we decided to give them a chance and, even though it was super dark, that batch of peanut butter still tasted really good! It had the slight bitterness of dark chocolate or coffee, but even my kids liked it. Still, I would not intentionally make them that dark! If you don't try to multitask while roasting them, they will turn golden brown and delicious.
To roast, place nuts in a pan in a 350 degree oven. Stir after about 8 minutes, and then stir more often after that, until they are done. Roasted nuts will get slightly darker, with split, dry skins. Even if they get a little brown, you will have a tasty peanut butter, but go for golden if you can.
We used to use a cookie sheet and roast the nuts in a single layer, as shown in the photo above. However, we found that it's just as effective, and a bit easier, to layer them more deeply in a cake pan. They might take more time in the oven this way, but you can roast tons more at a time, and stirring is easier in a deeper pan.
Once roasted, let the nuts cool completely. You don't want the nuts to be hot in the food processor. Still slightly warm is OK. We have a 7 cup food processor, and I think it handles about 4 cups of nuts perfectly. Since we usually roast about a half gallon of nuts, we often blend in a couple of batches so we don't overfill the food processor.
Be prepared to give them time in the food processor, including stopping periodically to scrape the sides with a spatula to make sure it's all getting incorporated. This takes patience & perseverance, but you will have some lovely peanut butter in the end, and have one less thing to buy that comes from some factory.
We usually add salt once the nuts are thoroughly macerated, but before they are truly creamy. We use Celtic sea salt. Choose whatever salt you like and add it gingerly. We add maybe a teaspoon of salt for every quart of nuts, but everyone has a different salt threshold. Start with this ratio, and add more if you like.
When you blend it with patience & perseverance, you will be rewarded with a creamy, spreadable peanut butter, and a wonderful feeling of having made something so perfect from scratch. Try it with this simple, raw blended fresh berry jam.
Organic raw peanuts can be purchased in bulk from Azure Standard, a natural foods distributor. Below are Amazon Affiliate Ads. Any purchase made through them helps support our family. Thanks in advance!
Share the article to support the site!
How To Make Fresh Roasted Homemade Peanut Butter
4/
5
Oleh
Mellow
38 comments
Write commentsdo you leave the skins in the batch or do you remove them before putting in the processer?
ReplyThank you,
Dori
Yay, this looks great. Lonnie has tried PB once but we've only good results with sunflower seed butter and I did find I needed to add some liquid (honey) despite running it for a LONG time. But its very possible it would have gotten smooth and spreadable even without that (I kind of wanted the sweet anyway!). We will definitely be trying peanut butter again!
ReplySkins on! I imagine it would be difficult to remove all those skins, and I'm sure it adds to the nutrition to keep them on. They just blend right up!
ReplyEven when we added oil to our early batches of peanut butter, they never ended up this creamy! As weird as it is to blend something for so long, it really makes the difference.
ReplyHi Mellow,
ReplyThis looks like yet another great project. When you say blending a long time, around how long do you mean?
Alex
That's a good question Alex! I've never timed it, but I would say 8 to 10 minutes, maybe? It probably depends on the quantity in the processor. Honestly, two minutes of running the food processor already feels like a long time; the point is to not stop processing until it's actually creamy. Good luck!
ReplyThanks so much! I love your blog!
ReplyAlex
I really need to get a blender. :) Since moving, I haven't bought another. Where do you get all your peanuts from?
Replywww.munchtalk.net
We used a Cuisinart food processor to make the peanut butter... but our blender is well-loved around here as well!
ReplyThe peanuts, we buy from a bulk natural food distributor, Azure Standard. You can check out their website azurestandard.com and see if they deliver in your area.
ReplyThanks Alex!
ReplyThis looks amazing! I bet it tastes so good too.
ReplyThanks for sharing this at the Carnival of Home Preserving!
Awesome! I bet it tastes amazing too mmmm..
ReplyI saw this post on Slightly Indulgent. I shared an apple protein donuts recipe, I'd love for you to check out as well :)
I have a blender that's perfect for trying to make peanut butter. I'll have to give this a try. If you haven’t already, I'd love for you to visit my Gluten-Free Monday party at OneCreativeMommy.com and link up this and any other GF idea you would like to share. I hope to see you there.
ReplyThanks Heidi, I will!
ReplyHi Mellow, this brings back memories, I used to make this when my two eldest boys were little, we don't eat peanut butter anymore as we have friends who's daughter has a severe allergy to peanuts so safer to not have them in the house and son's school is peanut free/nut free...but I make lots of other nut butters, macadamia I love I will sit and crack them and then give them a quick whiz in food processor..also we made almond butter, brazil nut butter...all delicious...
ReplyWow, those nut butters sound great! Do you just blend the raw nuts? I tried making sprouted almond butter this week, but it just turned into almond fluff (which made great truffles later!)
ReplyCan you use a blender? If so what setting and for how long(rough idea)? If you can't and absolutely need a blender what is the process for blending (setting and approx. time etc.)? Thanks for your help.
ReplyI checked Azure Standard and they didn't seem to have peanuts in the shell or unroasted peanuts...only roasted & salted or unsalted. Where do you get your raw shelled peanuts from or do you find the roasted ones you can buy are just as good?
ReplyI think PB is too thick for a blender. I've heard of one blended PB recipe that called for adding WATER, which just sounds gross to me. We have made peanut butter with a hand crank wheatgrass juicer. It's a lot more work, and it doesn't turn out as creamy as with the food processor. I would go with the food processor if at all possible, but if you have a high speed blender, you can try blending in small batches. I think it would burn out the motor on a regular blender.
ReplyIt needs at least 10 minutes in the food processor. Ours is just on/off, so there's no specific setting.
Yes! They are out of stock, and for some reason, when they're out long term, they simply remove the item from their catalog. It's annoying, because then it's like the item doesn't exist at all. Azure is where we got our peanuts from, but since then there has been something of a national peanut shortage. You may have to find another source- possibly order from a local health food store or co-op?
ReplyYou can also use any other nuts you can find! Don't limit yourself ;)
Sounds great! I've only tried making peanut butter once, but not very successfully, unfortunately! I'll have to give it another try sometime!
ReplyIt can feel pretty discouraging when you blend and blend and it's just peanut paste. But I promise if you keep at it for longer than you think you should have to, it will eventually turn to "butter". Good luck!
ReplyIt's interesting that keeping the peanuts in the food processor longer makes a smoother, creamier peanut butter. Homemade peanut butter is definitely healthier and I'm sure it's incredibly delicious too.
ReplyOh my gosh. I'm going to have to try this. Just pinned it.
ReplyThank you for sharing this process. This looks amazing rather than the peanut butter in the store and who knows what is in it.
ReplyWe may have met by chance...but we become friends by choice.
http://simpleesue.com/french-toast-grilled-cheese-sandwich-with-an-italian-twist/
We love peanut butter at our house, and I'm always happier to make something myself so that I know just what goes into it. This look fantastic! I’d love for you to bring this to Tuesday’s Table over at Love in the Kitchen (http://zentmrs.blogspot.com/2013/04/tuesdays-table-for-april-23-2013-and.html)!
ReplyThank you, I'll check it out!
ReplyThank you Susan, I'll check it out!
ReplyHi!,
ReplyI Was wondering if you have to put the final product in the fridge? And how long is it good for?
Thank you!
Nicole
We go through peanut butter pretty quickly. I usually divide it into two containers and put one in the fridge, but keep the one we are using at room temperature. We like it to be more spreadable, and it gets kind of stiff in the fridge- though refrigeration does help it keep longer if you don't go through it quickly. I don't know how long it lasts, but it is best fresh. We've never had it go bad.
ReplyWonderful! I've been wondering how to do that for awhile now. We shared this with our readers at homesteadlady.com
ReplyWe go through so much peanut butter at our house, and I always wonder if it would be better to make our own. I don't have a food processor yet, but hopefully soon! Thanks for sharing this at what i am eating!
ReplyYum! I'm coming over for pbjs later ;-) Thanks for sharing on Wildcrafting Wednesday! Hope to see you again today at:
Replyhttp://www.theselfsufficienthomeacre.com/2013/06/wildcrafting-wednesday-24.html
I love the way the kitchen smells when peanuts are roasting, a smell from my grandmothers kitchen when I was a child. Your homemade peanut butter looks awesome! Thanks for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and hope you are having a great weekend!
ReplyMiz Helen
I wanted to invite you to the Friday Flash Blog Party, the best linky in town! I hope you'll join us and link up. Who knows. You may just get highlighted!
ReplyThe party goes on ALL weekend.
Jennifer @ The Jenny Evolution
www.thejennyevolution.com
Do you know that raw peanut butter may contain a carcinogen caused by fungus that is called aflatoxin? I wonder if your process is processed enough to eliminate this carcinogen...
ReplyAs I describe in the article (and the title implies!) I don't make peanut butter from raw peanuts. I roast them in my oven, and then grind them up! It's so good. Buying peanut butter from a factory is way more likely to contain aflatoxin, since they'll use damaged peanuts and it's the damaged peanuts that grow the mold.
Reply