How to Make Peanut Butter
ByI just learned last week how to make peanut butter.
Here is what I must now ask myself…
WHY HAVE I NEVER MADE PEANUT BUTTER BEFORE?
I make almost everything else from scratch. But somehow making peanut butter sounded hard to me. I guess I thought I’d have to crush each individual peanut for three hours with my fingernails until it turned soft and creamy. I’d just never looked into it before. Finally I watched a tutorial here.
Um, hello Laura! It takes about a minute and a half! And you don’t even break a sweat (or a fingernail).
Now, I’m totally addicted to making peanut butter. It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever made.
After I made it, we ate it on pancakes and it was one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten. I loved it!!! All of us loved it! (Except Malachi who doesn’t love peanut butter at all.)
Here’s how to make it:
Pour about 2 cups of dry roasted peanuts into your food processor and begin to chop.
After about thirty seconds the nuts will all be crumbled up like this.
Keep going with the food processor…
Here’s what it looks like after about one minute.
And after about a minute and a half, it starts to become butter-like and rolls itself into a ball. We left ours like this, but you can process it a bit more if you want it smoother.
Tada…peanut butter!
Stir some honey into your peanut butter if you think your family would like it better that way.
NOW, I’m going to experiment making other nut butters and sunbutter (which is butter made from sunflower seeds if you aren’t familiar with that one). I’ll let you know when I get those perfected!!
The math: The way I figured it, making my own peanut butter did save me money, but not oodles of it like I was hoping for. However, because of the fresh taste of this peanut butter…and the fact that making it was as easy as using my thumb to push a button….I’m hooked!
Grab the family and try this! Then pour yourself a glass of milk and enjoy your hard work! (I love hard work that isn’t hard!)
Now I’m really wishing I had a food processor! :) My best friend has been doing this for several months now, and it’s delicious!
Blessings,
Michele
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Huh… I always thought you had to add oil or something to make it creamy. I don’t have a food processor either, though.
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blakesmimma Reply:
September 3rd, 2011 at 10:53 am
You can use a blender.
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How long does it keep? How do you store it for maximum freshness? Or do you have to eat it all at one time? It sounds good!
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I love homemade peanut butter! I have even made chocolate peanut butter before-SO heavenly!!! I love cashew butter and hazelnut-chocolate butter, too! We have pecan trees and when the nuts are ready-we have more than we know what to do with. I made some peanut-pecan butter and it was really yummy and different. I keep it in the fridge and try to use it up within the week…it doesn’t stay fresh as long as the “shelf-stable” stuff you buy at the store.
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How about almond butter with a little coconut oil in it…yum!
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I am going to have to make some! love it!
Beverly
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I remember we got a food processor when I was a kid, and peanut butter was one of the things we made. I was so impressed! We didn’t make it on a regular basis, but as an adult, we’ve had homemade peanut butter fairly often. I throw in other nuts that I have on hand, and frankly– the peanut taste is usually the most noticeable. But I figure the other nuts add other nutrients, and it’s just good!
I have wondered: in Nourishing Traditions, I read about soaking nuts and dehydrating them… which I’ve tried and don’t really like all that well. Especially the peanuts. We made nut butter with the ‘crispy’ nuts and had to add oil to it and such… and it’s still sitting in the fridge because we don’t really like it. How much should we worry about eating roasted peanuts, instead of soaked and dried nuts as Sally Fallon advises? (Especially since regular peanut butter is so much better than the other version) I’d be interested in what you think!
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We made peanut butter in elementary school and I thought it was super cool. Why have I not thought to make it now??? We’ll have to give it a try.
To answer another’s question, I think that as long as you keep it in the fridge it should keep for quite a while. I use all natural peanut butter right now that has nothing added so it should be about the same I would think.
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That is so cool! My son is allergic to peanuts so I am very interrested in how well this would work with other nuts.
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We have made peanut butter before too! Try almond butter…so good!! To the ladies who asked about oil before, it is totally optional. It does make it creamier, and would probably be needed if you used dry/roasted nuts that don’t have a lot of natural oils left. While you might get a better flavor from a roasted nut, keeping the oils would be ideal as far as nutrients go. If you do use oil, I recommend coconut or olive oil, and add it in a little at a time. You won’t need much, maybe a tablespoon overall.
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lol My first thought was you used your thumb to push the button??? I thought it would be much harder to make peanut butter. I’m going to have to try it now. I can use that in my hummus rather than the commercial stuff. Thanks for the info!
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Great pix with the post. I do this too but with raw almonds as I am not a fan of peanuts. We add in raw coconut butter, honey, cinnamon, or even fresh fruit (if it is to be eaten right away). If you have a Green Star Juicer, you can make nut butters with that too.
Hey Kathy, I am not familiar with the book you reference in your comment, but as a raw food nut myself, a person gets the most nutrients from eating raw (vs. roasted) nuts. However, in order to make them optimally digestible, it is best to soak nuts/seeds overnight (to start the sprouting process and flip-flop the fat/protein ratio) and then dry them. You don’t want to dehydrate them to a crisp, do it at temps less than 105 degrees (to maintain the live enzymes).
And you are right, soaked & dried nuts don’t produce the same texture or consistency as store-bought peanut butters. But the fun of doing it homemade is all the experimenting…
Blessings.
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Great Tutorial! We are actually growing peanuts this year in our garden. This is exciting!
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Amazing! I will have to try this sometime. So easy!
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Way to go!!! :)
I think you will like almond butter as well!!! It’s yummy!!! :)
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We’ve enjoyed making peanut butter for a while now. It really is easy and oh so yummy!
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How completely simple! I will have to try this.
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It has been so long since I have seen someone make peanut butter. We use to shop at an Amish store and they always had fresh homemade peanut butter to sample. Yummy!! I will have to try this soon.
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This is great! I am enjoying some homemade peanut butter on homemade wheat bread right now :)
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Julie Reply:
February 27th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
mmm…that sounds so good!
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Thanks so much for the recipe Laura!! I`m definatly buying peanuts this week to try this recipe!! I also plan on trying your recie for fudge as well.Maybe I`ll even have homemade peanut butter to use!Thanks again!!Blessings,Toni
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That’s why I bought my food processor but I never knew how to do it! Thanks for the recipe! I tried it and it worked out well. Thanks again!
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I also use my food processor to make butter… it’s just so dang hard to get all the buttermilk out of the butter and it just doens’t last as long. I’m looking forward to making peanutbutter though!
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Hum…never gave that one much thought before…so simple…kind of like butter. For the people without food processors…keep an eye out for them at yard sales…I just saw one the other day for $5. I wish I had of known somebody who needed one…that was a great deal!
Thanks for the tutorial! Good stuff.
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Thank you for posting this.
Regards,
Recipes World
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Hey, just wanted to let you know I linked to this post in my weekly link roundup. It was in conjunction with Sarah @ Sarah’s Musings’s strawberry preserves sweetened with honey . . . mmmmmm!
We got a few hours of sunshine today – so nice to see it! Wish the humidity would go down a bit, though.
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Love Peanut butter! Gimme some anytime! I’m definitely gonna try making it at home!
Thanks! :-)
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Why would you want to make butter with soaked and dehydrated nuts? Is it coz of the oil content in them? If the flavor’s lost then I’d stick to the ‘normal’ nut-butters! :-P
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i love peanut butter
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Can you make peanut butter with a food mill? My husband and I have gone through (used and I guess abused) a couple of food processors and are now thinking of just going back to the original technology. Thank you for your replies.
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Laura Reply:
February 18th, 2010 at 11:26 am
No, at least not in the grain mill I have (Nutrimill). It takes three or four minutes of constantly grinding the peanuts for them to turn into peanut butter.
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Could you home can the peanut butter to make it stay fresh longer? I can almost everything.
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Laura Reply:
February 18th, 2010 at 11:27 am
I’m not familiar with a method to can it. I’m not sure you’d really want to just because peanuts have a tendancy to go rancid when not refrigerated. I LOVE just making it fresh and having the FRESH peanut butter taste!
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I’m trying to decide if this is worth the money/time (I know it’s easy, but still SOME work, right??) How much peanut butter did you end up with for how much weight in peanuts? I’m thinking of buying the 5 lbs of raw valencia organic peanuts from Azure Standard… $9.90… think it’s worth it? I’ve heard (from my husband, who is all into real healthy foods now too!) that valencia is the best for peanut butter because of risk of mold (I think?) in other types of peanuts that grow in more moist climates. I’d hope it would still be cost effective to make our own with that purchase. Fresh peanut butter just sounds yummy, and we go through it so quickly! What do you think?
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Laura Reply:
March 25th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Well, it costs about $3.50 for a jar of pb at Azure. With a $10.00 bag of peanuts you can make (I’m estimating here) about 5 batches (equalling about the same amount as the jar of premade pb), so it would cost $2 per batch. Now, I’m totally estimating and you may not get that great of the deal out of making your own, BUT seriously the freshness is WORTH it even if it doesn’t save as much money. I’m telling you…it tastes SO GOOD!
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Kathy Reply:
November 4th, 2010 at 5:30 pm
Are you estimating the cost of a jar or Jif or “natural” P.B. bought from a store? The natural stuff is expensive.
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Laura Reply:
November 24th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
I’m estimating the cost of the homemade compared to the cost of natural peanut butter.
Merrilee Reply:
January 17th, 2011 at 1:17 am
Do you leave the red skins on the valencia peanuts?
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Laura Reply:
January 17th, 2011 at 2:18 pm
No, I think it would be best to take the skin off, otherwise the peanut butter will be a little crunchy…but not because of the peanuts!
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I saw a recipe for peanut butter at Sparkpeople, too. I haven’t made nut butter for years and didn’t do it much. I keep looking at those fancy peanut butters and groaning at the prices. Here’s to homemade next time!
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I made PB for the first time today, and it was yummy. I used unsalted dry roasted peanuts, added a drizzle of canola oil and a dash of vanilla. Yum! Thanks for the recipe Laura!
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Thank you!!! Great Pics!!! I will make this soon.. i Usually have Peanut Butter on toast with a spread of coconut oil.. soooo I will add Coconut oil instead of peanut oil in with the peanuts..
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Have you found a way to make sunbutter yet? Your peanut butter tutorial looks so easy! I wonder if it’s the same process.
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Laura Reply:
November 4th, 2010 at 2:13 pm
It didn’t turn out great, but I did make it: http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/how-to-make-sunbutter
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I don’t have a food processor either but I DO have a blender and it works just fine. A little more scraping into the bottom possibly and had to pulse rather than zap but end result is the same – I put a few nuts in later than others and ended up with chunky! Fantastic. I found about three cups of viriginia unsalted peanuts made approx 6oz of pb – the nuts cost about 1.30 so not much saving but hey at least I know what is in this stuff. OK, may not keep as long, but I keep it in the fridge and only making a small amount so it will be used within two weeks. Plus, the taste is amazing!
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I can’t wait to try this peanut butter!
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Hi! First let me mention that I LOVE this website!
My question is this: I grow my own peanuts, can anyone give me instructions on how to roast them? And if I do it this way, would I simply add salt to the food processor when making the peanut butter or do I salt the nuts while they’re still hot? (I’m guessing it probably wouldn’t matter.) I don’t have a dehydrator but my oven goes as low as 170 degrees F.
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Lurdes Reply:
August 13th, 2011 at 6:13 pm
Hi Dana,
I grow peanuts and for generation we have made PB. My gradmother just soak the sheld peanuts in salted water for 2 or 3 hours, tip the salt water off then put it in the oven to roast at about 180c.When the pink skin comes off the peanuts easily it’s done. Take it out the oven and rub the skin off then just do what you want with it. You can eat it or make your PB
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How long does the peanut butter last? Does it need to be refrigerated? Thanks!
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Laura Reply:
January 24th, 2011 at 4:34 pm
I keep mine in the fridge to keep it tasting fresh. It should keep for about a month I think. We eat ours faster than that though, so I really am not for sure!
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Does yours firm up in the fridge a bit to wear it isn’t easy to spread? I heated mine a little so that we could spread it. Am I missing something? It looked so yummy and creamy. Then got it out for pancakes and it wouldn’t spread……..:( What do I do?
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Laura Reply:
February 20th, 2011 at 2:38 pm
Yes, mine does get firm in the fridge, making it hard to spread. It’s super creamy when it’s fresh, but the oil in it solidifies in the fridge. It NEEDS to be kept in the fridge though so that it doesn’t get rancid. I usually get it out and let it sit while I’m making pancakes…that helps a little. And…it just kinda gets soft when I put a blop of it on a hot pancake, so if I wait a while and let it kinda “melt” a little bit, then it spreads more easily.
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I’m trying to find good peanuts to make peanut butter out of. While checking lables at the store, even the health food grocery store, many of the peanuts are roasted with salt, peanut oil or cottonseed oil, and some have sugars. I have not been able to find raw peanuts, anyone know of a good source to purchase raw nuts? I buy the “grind yourself” peanutbutter at the health food store, so I’m hoping to save some money by making my own.
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Laura Reply:
February 20th, 2011 at 2:40 pm
I KNOW…I was shocked that so many peanuts at the store were so naughty!! Frustrating!
I buy my peanuts in bulk through my health food co-op. I’m researching other sources online to recommend.
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Hi, I have a question about making PB. Mine never got to the creamy stage. I processed for almost 5 minutes. I used 16oz of raw peanuts. Are roasted peanuts the key? Thanks for everything!!
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Laura Reply:
February 20th, 2011 at 2:40 pm
Maybe…I’ve only used roasted to make peanut butter, I’ve not tried raw.
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how many cups does this make?
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Laura Reply:
May 19th, 2011 at 9:16 am
I’d say it makes about one cup of peanut butter.
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One of my favorite uses for the blendtec!! I add a little oil to make it just a bit more spreadable and coconut oil tastes great for this by the way! I don’t refrigerate mine but that’s because I make small amounts and we plow through it pretty quick. Because it’s room temp it’s easy to spread and even my husband who hates natural peanut butter likes it!
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This is fantastic!!! I love your blog and I just noticed you have four boys! …I am a mom to four boys – ages 6,5,3 & 1 years old!! NO wonder I’ve been able to relate to so many of your posts and blogs ;)
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I have a Ninja, and I have put some peanuts in, added a little vegetable oil and honey, and “Voila!” Peanut Butter! It was delicious!
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my niece loves peanut butter,but it’s a little bit expensive here. I have no food processor,but i’ll try my blender. Thank’s for the recipe.
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Works great with a little bit of honey. We used honey roasted peanuts though, so it was a bit harder. But still great!! Thanks!!!
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Wow! Nice tutorial. Easy to follow. I am excited to make my own peanut butter now. Thanks
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I just made peanut butter . I don’t have a food processor but used a blender. Used the stir or chop button. Turned out pretty good.
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