Food & Wine
Homemade peanut butter
There’s nothing like the taste of peanut butter. But why stick with the boring store-bought options? Try this recipe for delicious, homemade peanut butter.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups raw, shelled peanuts
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1 to 2 tablespoons peanut oil or other oil (optional, for creamier peanut butter)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons honey or other sweetener (optional, for sweeter peanut butter)
Method:
- Heat the oven to 176°C and toast the peanuts on a baking sheet until lightly golden and glossy with oil, about 10 minutes. You can skip this step if you prefer raw nut butter or if you're using pre-toasted nuts; roasting gives the peanut butter a deeper flavour and also helps make the oils looser and easier to blend into a smooth butter.
- Transfer the peanuts to a food processor or blender. If you toasted your nuts, do this while the nuts are still warm. Pulse a few times just until chopped. For chunky peanut butter, remove 1/2 cup of chopped nuts and set aside.
- Run the food processor or blender continuously for 1 minute. Stop and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. At this point, the peanut butter will look gritty and dry, almost like couscous.
- Run the food processor or blender continuously for another minute, then stop and scrape down the sides. At this point, the butter will start clumping together. It's not quite peanut butter, but it's getting there!
- Run the food processor or blender continuously for another minute, then stop and scrape down the sides. At this point, the butter will be glossy and soft, like very thick peanut butter.
- Add the salt, oil, sweetener, and any other extras: Sprinkle the salt, oil, sweetener, and any other extras over the top of the peanut butter.
- Process for 1 to 2 additional minutes. Continue processing the butter until it becomes completely smooth. Homemade peanut butter will still be a little more gritty than Skippy peanut butter, but should be spreadable at this point. Taste and add more salt or other add-ins to taste. If you reserved some nuts for chunky peanut butter add them now and pulse a few times to incorporate.
- Transfer the peanut butter to storage container: Scrape the peanut butter into a storage container, cover, and refrigerate. The peanut butter can be used immediately and will keep for several weeks in the fridge.
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