Guess what I’m doing at 9:00 on a Sunday night?
If you guessed making homemade peanut butter, then you’d be right. (That’s what we do for a good time out here on the prairie. We’re wild like that…)
Peanut butter can actually be a very healthy food. That is, when it’s made with healthy fats and no refined sugars. Unfortunately, your typical-everyday-choosy-moms-choose-it brand of peanut butter is seriously lacking in that department. I have a jar of that certain brand of peanut butter sitting before me as we speak. The ingredients are:
Roasted peanuts (no problems there), sugar (eh, not great, but ok), molasses (ok), fully hydrogenated rapeseed and soybean oils (Yikes!), mono and digyclerides (don’t know what these are, but they don’t sound good), and salt.
Full disclosure: I don’t always make homemade peanut butter– sometimes I just buy it. However, knowing how to make your own homemade nut butters is a delicious skill to have.
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How to Make Peanut Butter
You will need:
- 1 1/2 cups peanuts. (I used roasted and salted- see note below)
- 1/2 teaspoon olive oil (where to buy) (you may need slightly more or less)
- 1 tablespoon raw honey (where to buy–I love this raw honey) (optional)
- Salt to taste (where to buy–I use this one) (if you are using salted peanuts, you probably won’t need to add any extra salt.)
Kitchen Notes:
- You could totally start out with raw peanuts and roast them yourself. Here’s a tutorial.
- A lot of folks make homemade peanut butter without adding any extra oil. Depending on how fresh your peanuts are, this may work for you– but you’ll need to process the nuts for a while longer to make this work.
- Don’t like peanuts? No problem! Use this same technique to create other nut butters instead. (Almonds, cashews, etc)
- You will need to store your homemade peanut butter in the fridge, since it’s not hydrogenated like the store-bought stuff. It won’t last for years on the shelf like the commercial peanut butters do, but I doubt it will have a chance to be around for that long anyway.
- Your homemade peanut butter recipe should last at least a couple weeks in the fridge, if not longer.
Can you imagine a PB&J made with homemade peanut butter, homemade chokecherry jelly or strawberry jam, and freshly baked bread?
How to Make Peanut Butter
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups peanuts.
- 1/2 teaspoon olive oil (you may need slightly more or less)
- 1 tablespoon raw honey (optional)
- Salt to taste (if you are using salted peanuts, you probably won’t need to add any extra salt.)
Instructions
- Thoroughly process the peanuts in a food processor or high-powered blender until they are finely chopped.
- While the processor is running, stream in a bit of olive oil. You may have to turn off the processor for a minute, remove the lid and scrap the bottom of the bowl in order to make sure everything is incorporated well enough.
- Next, stream in the honey in the same manner, if desired.
we're on a no spend month and recently ran out of peanut butter which is staple on our house! we didn't want to buy more just yet so we made almond butter. it's delicious! we did a similar "recipe" although i like the idea of adding honey. we'll have to that next time.
I love making peanut butter! I actually buy the raw peanuts and roast them myself. When I take them out of the oven, they go right into the food processor. They are warm enough to release some of the peanut oil in the nuts, and I don't have to add any extra oils. Try it out!
Jackie- that's a great idea! I can't wait to try it out, thanks for the suggestion!! 🙂
Making your own peanut butter sounds like a great idea. That way you avoid all those preservatives in the store-bought stuff and I know for a fact that freshly made peanut butter is amazing.
Where I live peanut butter cost a fortune so I make my own.
All I do is buy regular roasted and salted peanuts and pass them through the food processor. I don't add anything at all (as I use the nut butter for cooking savory foods as well). If you mix them enough all nuts will release their oils and go liquid, really liquid it's pretty amazing! At first it will seem that the butter is too dry but trust me keep on grinding. The more they are gound up the more runny the paste will get. I agree with Jackie, the warm factor helps, but actually it works with cold nuts as well. I think the grinding may heat them up…
I also make my own almond and hazelnut butters the same way.
This technique has saved me a lot of money and I know what's in it: peanuts and salt
I've been meaning to do this….thanks for the extra motivation 🙂
Hi Jillie! My kids LOVE peanut butter and they go through phases where that is all they will take to school for lunch. I do get the healthy kind from trader joes, but I think making my own would be more frugal and delicious! I have seen recipes using coconut oil, but I like the olive oil for a deeper more earthy flavor. Thanks for sharing this on the hearth and soul hop this week! all the best! Alex
I agree with your assessment of most commercially available peanut butter. I constantly keep my eyes out for the "unsweetened" peanut butter – it's difficult to find if it's pasteurized (as opposed to natural with the oil rising to the top).
Although there are still additives, I prefer pasteurized just because it's easier to spread as it doesn't need to stay in the fridge.
Wow!!! this is one healthy post….I am going to try this….first time here…lovely space.
Jillie, just wanted to chime in here again and tell you that I am featuring your peanut butter recipe and a variation on my I tried it at a moderate life this friday! Also, your assessment of the nutrition information your mother was given is a good one, most older patients get stuck on the cholesterol wagon and following doctor's orders is actually what makes them sicker and older! Such a shame! I hope your mother will listen to you at least a bit! All the best, Alex
I finally found a PB with 2 ingredients- peanuts & salt, yay! I haven't ventured into making PB yet, but I did make sunflower butter this past summer, and it was good. A little gritty, but good. I need a new blade for my blender, which is why I'm guessing it was gritty, but I also got a food processor for Christmas.
Hope you can help your Mom through this!
Yum! I made it once with coconut oil, and it got too solid in the fridge. I will try with olive oil! I suppose you could use peanut oil to maintain the peanut taste? Just a thought.
Great idea! I have made almond butter and, frankly, it's never occurred to me to make peanut butter. I will try this!
It's amazing all the advice nutritionists give. Although, I have to say, that's the first time I've heard of recommending peanut butter, especially with all the preservatives in most pbs! Anyway, your recipe for homemade peanut butter sounds great! I'd love it if you'd link them up to my new Tuesday linky-Made From Scratch Tuesday!
http://messhalltobistro.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-tuesday-linky.html
Thanks for linking up your recipes to Made From Scratch Tuesday! Hope to see you next week! http://www.messhalltobistro.blogspot.com/search/label/Made From Scratch Tuesday/
Just remember not to use honey if you're giving it to a child under one!
I've never made peanut butter myself, but I HAVE made my own Nutella! Much healthier than the store-bought variety, and dairy free if that's an issue. Start with a couple cups of raw hazelnuts- roast them until they turn brown and then throw them in the food processor warm. Process until the bits start to clump together. Add about a tablespoon of a neutral-tasting oil in a stream, then add about a quarter cup of powdered sugar and a quarter cup of cocoa powder. And you're done! You could probably experiment with using alternative sweeteners, but the powdered sugar also acts as a binding agent.
children under one are too young for peanut butter. it’s consistency makes it hard for them to swallow and they could choke 🙁
Hi! I just tried your recipe and it turned out great! I linked to your post. I hope you don't mind!
http://gracefullittlehoneybee.blogspot.com/2011/02/homemade-peanut-butter.html
We make peanut butter all the time in our vitamix using velencia peanuts. We don’t add anything to them and they are naturally sweeter than other peanuts. No need for additional oils or sugars. Just creamy organic fresh peanut butter. My whole family loves it.
Good to know- I have been using Virginia peanuts, and they definitely benefit from the addition of the honey. Will look for Velencias next time!
That’s how we make it too. Especially when I couldn’t find good natural peanut butter in the stores after a contaminated peanut scare took it off the shelves… I have a Bocsh blender. It works great! If it really needs some oil, sunflower oil is a good choice! You can even add sunflowers to the peanuts as you grind! They taste a lot alike. My family likes smooth peanut butter, so I run the blender until it’s smooth. It does fine on my counter.
Hey, Jill – I have heard a bunch of stuff lately about how roasted nuts are bad for you because the oils in them go rancid in the roasting process…can you tell me what your take on that is?
Hmmm… You know, I haven’t heard anything about roasting causing the oils to go rancid, but I know that grinding them can. I know that whenever you grind nuts or seeds (either for peanut butter or whole wheat flour) you need to refrigerate them immediately, as the quality of the finished product decreases rapidly and definitely turns rancid. Going to do more research on this, thanks for the heads up!
Have you ever made nut butter with raw nuts? It kinda sounds to me like it’s just “better” for your body if they are raw – which makes sense as raw fruits, vegies etc are better for you than cooked. I have one person always ranting that they are actually “bad” for you, but maybe it’s just the “good” in nuts is inhibited by the roasting process because of the high temps. Blue Mountain has “Better Than Roasted” nuts which are dried at much lower temps thus supposedly allowing the good enzymes to stay intact. Here are a couple articles I found:
http://www.energyfirst.com/site/newsletter/11-06-Raw-nuts.html
http://centerstagefitness.homestead.com/rostednuts.html
I made mine by soaking the nuts from morning till night, then put them in the oven over night to dehydrate them. 50 degrees. By morning I can blend them to make PB.
All nuts and peanuts should be soaked before eating due to the phytic acid.
See why below
http://foodmatters.tv/articles-1/the-benefits-of-soaking-nuts-and-seeds
Yes– I used to do a lot of grain soaking. 🙂
How long should this keep in the fridge? We don’t eat it that often.
That’s a good question, Angie- It’s never around long enough for me to know the exact answer to this question. 😉 But, I think it should last for at least a couple weeks in the fridge.
Can you freeze it?
Hmmm…. I’ve never tried freezing it, so not sure about that one!
My first question on any natural food recipe is also: “Can you freeze it?” 🙂 My fridge can only hold so much stuff and if I’m making something, it’s usually in a larger batch, so freezing is the next step to make sure I didn’t waste time/money/good food by letting it go back in the fridge or cupboard.
I found this: http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/30628/what-is-the-shelf-life-of-homemade-peanut-butter-in-winters-and-summers
Key text: Store it in the refrigerator until you use it. It should keep for a month or two. You can also freeze it. It will keep indefinitely in the freezer. In both cases, you may need to stir the peanut butter to mix the oils back in (the oil tends to separate over time).
I’m going to try freezing some and will try to remember to come back and post.
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Thank you! I just found your blog today and love it. We just bought 10 acres in Illinois and can’t wait to start our adventure in homesteading. I am going to try your peanut butter recipe, my husband LOVES peanut butter. I bought the “natural” peanut butter for a while but the price drove me back to the store brand, which is awful for him. I am signing up for your RSS feed!
I’m so glad I found this recipe cause my husband loves his peanut butter & jelly sandwich. My question is do you soak the peanuts? And which is better for the body, roasted or raw?! And would love if you have a recipe to (tomatoes sauce) cause all what out there is canes not BPA free and the tomatoes paste I found in glass jars are price?!
Thanks a lot 🙂
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I ran into this post today and I can’t say how excited I am to see this simple recipe! I LOVE peanut butter and can’t wait to try my hand at this homemade variety! Going through your other posts now. Thanks much!
Thank you SO much for sharing a home made peanutbutter recipe that uses olive oil. So many other recipes have specifically said, “DO NOT USE OLIVE OIL”, and I have no idea why. I made your recipe but omitted the honey. It tasted yummy. This will be my forever recipe for home made peanut butter. I am going to try making almond butter next time by substituting almonds in place of the peanuts. Thank you do much for sharing this recipe.
Where did you get that little liquid T. measuring glass? (the one that’s NOT a shot glass 😉 ) we used to have one that was SO awesome and handy, then the boys broke it. 🙁
I think my dad found it at a specialty kitchen shop. Sadly, I ran it through my garbage diposal, so I don’t have it anymore! 🙁 Sure wish I could find another.
I just made this peanut butter and it is absolutely wonderful! I just happened upon your site recently and found this, and I’m so happy I did! I’ll definitely be making this again and again.
Yay! So glad you enjoyed it. 🙂
I believe you can find that tiny “shot glass” measuring glass at walmart. At least I did.
Good to know Mary!
That looks yummy! I love making homemade peanut butter with honey and coconut oil.
Where do you find healthy peanuts (that you know are laden with other stuff)? We would love to try this.
Thanks so much!
I just get the bulk bags at my local health food store. I know some of the “name brands” have MSG in them (was shocked to see that on the label one day!)
How do you get your bulk PB to last long enough to use it up? We buy things from azure standard too, but I have been leery of buying the PB since it goes bad fast.
Well– I’ve had my bucket for a while, and it’s still good. It’s definitely natural, and separates like crazy (kinda a pain to stir…) but it still tastes good! I figured it’d go bad much more quickly than it has…
I used to make peanut butter regularly. I was told that peanuts sold for birds (UK) had to be fit for use human consumption, so started using them. They were smaller and had the skins on but that didn’t matter as the skins come off easy once roasted. So much cheaper! Made great peanut butter and never had any trouble with it going off. Never had to add any oil. Tried using salted roast peanuts but found it too salty, had to make more with unsalted peanuts and mix it in. Love a bit of raw honey in mine! Really enjoy your site, so much useful information, thank you!
We go through a lot of peanut butter around here. We’ve made it a few times, and did a huge peanut unit with the kids. We grow our own peanuts in small quantities….not nearly enough to make much peanut butter though!
Ok- I’m totally jealous that you can grow your own peanuts!
I can’t wait to try it out. Peanut butter is my weakness!!!
LOVE this idea! What a simple, homemade, and healthy recipe! Thank you for sharing this simple homemaking idea 🙂
Does anyone know if peanuts and avocado would make a good blend? Has anyone ever thought of this or tried it? If so, how did it taste? How did it turn out, and what was your recipe?
Hmmmm… I’ve never tried that combo!
My 15 year old daughter just informed me last week that she is no longer eating peanut butter, because (now get this) the manufacturers are allowed so many bugs per pound to be ground in with the peanuts. Yep, bugs, spiders, things with legs….so she will be glad to know we can make it at home and check for bugs. 🙂
Amanda – that is one reason I’ve gotten on a “make it at home” kick – the government has an allowance for bug parts that is NOT Zero. My personal allowance is ZERO – ooks me out to think that the roaches I’m trying to keep out of the kitchen are still sneaking in through processed foods! X-P
someone may have already asked and i just missed it but how to you get the peanut butter so creamy? i have been doing peanuts, coconut oil a little brown sugar , or honey (whatever i have on hand) and a little salt. adding it all to my processor (ninja chopper/processor) and its tasty but really chunky. my sweet, and terribly picky 2 year old wont touch it even though peanut butter is pretty much his favorite food!
Well, mine it’s quite as smooth as store-bought, but it’s not chunky either. I just process it a loooong time. 🙂
I need to do this!
Yummy, I love peanut butter! 😉
Hi, it’s me again–working my way through your site! Coincidentally, I asked my Mr. to please bring a bag of raw peanuts home from the bulk store last night, with the intent to make peanut butter today! I didn’t have a recipe but knew basically what to do. When I found your site today and saw your recipe, it solidified my method and resolve..lol Right now I am enjoying my fresh peanut butter on apple slices. Yum! Thanks for that and TGBTG!
I love peanut butter and apples! 🙂
I really want to make my own peanut butter, but I like to make everything in big batches. Is there anyway to process the butter after you make it in order to give it a longer shelf life?
I just made this peanut butter and it was great! First, I tried doing it in the blender, but it got stuck. Then I put it in the food processor and it turned out fine. You have to blend it a long time though.
Thanks for posting this!!!=]
could I use peanut oil instead of olive oil? and molasses instead of honey? or a little bit of molasses & honey? I was thinking since I am use to the molasses being in the store kind I might like the taste of it better in homemade.
Yes to both! Or you can probably try omitting the oil altogether if you like.
I’m not a big fan of olive oil other than cooking with it. I can’t stand the smell. What about using coconut oil?
coconut oil would probably work, or you could just omit it altogether.
Hey Jill, I just came across your site about getting some ideas of making my own style of peanut butter from scratch. I am a very serious in the fitness field in competition so being very strict on dieting n eating clean is an absolute necessity. I always used to go with natural old fashioned style spreads, that was until I was instantly hooked on Nuts N More High Protein Butter spreads. However, it is very pricey, so I decided on creating my own blend from scratch in my own home. You have given so many people ideas on what to use. Here is my big question, I want to experiment using flavored whey protein while blending natural peanut or almond butter in a strong style blender. Do you have any insight on using whey and how many scoops would you add to creating a 16 ounce fresh batch of peanut or almond spread? Will this be easy to add as it is a powder, or is this going to be a problem. I would eventually like to save and have my own batch of a high protein butter spread that I can have at my place rather than buying Nuts N More. Please let me know as how to do this and your experience on this. Thank you.
Since honey also works as an antibacterial, would adding honey increase the shelf life of the peanut butter and keep it from molding?
Hmmm… it might help a little!
Just out of curiosity, how long does it take for you to process your peanut butter? My husband just bought me a NutriChef variable speed 12-cup, 600 Watt food processor and it is taking me over 5 minutes to process., which is much better than my other smaller processor. The instructions for the processor say not to run for longer than one minute at a time, so I run for a minute, scrape and run again. After doing that several times, it overheated with the peanut butter ALMOST to the creamy stage. It still looks a bit like peanut butter cookie dough. Any thoughts?
And now my peanut butter tastes like olive oil and my processor overheated again. This did not happen the last two times I made it AND my processor is bigger and more powerful. Severely disappointed because I was looking forward to some homemade peanut butter! I wish I could attach a picture to show you what it looks like!
Ok. My family and I have tried all of the natural peanut butters starting with the ones that just have nuts and salt with the oil floating on top even to the organic ones that are no stir. However, we have never found one that compares to Jif Peanut Butter. It is very thick, super creamy, and is easy to spread. More than anything, we like the taste, but I do not like the oils in it. I want to make my own, but I want it to be a product my family will eat. When your kids like to take a spoonful as a snack, it needs to taste good to them.
Jif’s sweetener of choice is molasses, and I have a wholesome organic molasses that I hope to try. There was another woman. who tried making peanut butter online, and he saw something about thickening the peanut butter with shortening or lard.
https://morningchores.com/homemade-peanut-butter/
https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/super-creamy-peanut-butter-step-aside-skippy
I have lard in the freezer from a farm (I can also get pasture raised normal lard or leaf lard from the company Fatworks) , and I have a organic Nutiva shortening made with cold pressed coconut oil and steam released/cold pressed red palm oil (it is super yellow though from the red palm which might affect the color). I feel lard would be more natural, but I am not sure how safe it would be to eat raw?! The shortening seems like the best option, but it might change the color. Any opinions or suggestions? Thanks so much!
I prep my butter from the 200/250g brick into 12 tablets and then cut 3 of those tablets into half-tablets before storing them in a container in the fridge. When I crave peanut butter, I pop one of those into my cheek pocket followed by a few salted roasted peanuts and then grind away. Fresh peanut butter. If I need a peanut butter sandwich, I just pop a piece of bread in as well.
Yum!