Homemade Peanut Butter — This recipes breaks down how to make peanut butter with just 1 ingredient! I’ve also answered some FAQs about making peanut butter so you know exactly what to expect from the process.
Easy Homemade Peanut Butter Recipe
Once you make peanut butter at home, it will be very difficult to get excited about store-bought peanut butter ever again. Not that eating peanut butter of any kind would ever be a chore because I love it so much, but homemade peanut butter is a delicacy. And a nearly effortless delicacy at that.
It’s akin to savoring a piece of high-end dark chocolate that’s rich and pure, uncomplicated by fillers, additives, or ingredients that have no place being in chocolate; and then grabbing a milk chocolate bar in the checkout line at the grocery store, which is likely tasteless, grainy, and waxy.
Apples and oranges. Store-bought peanut butter versus homemade.
Once you have something amazing, it’s hard to get excited about any less than. That’s this peanut butter.
Sure, all peanut butter is good, and some is better than others, but this is in its own league. It’s similar in taste to store-bought varieties of “natural” peanut butter. It tastes like real peanuts and nothing else.
At room temperature, it’s similar in consistency to a stir-free natural peanut butter, thicker than almond butter, but thinner than conventional Jif or Skippy.
Homemade Peanut Butter Ingredients
For this peanut butter recipe, you’ll need a 16-ounce bag or jar of peanuts. You can use honey roasted, plain, salted, unsalted, or even a jar of mixed nuts. You won’t need oil or salt, just peanuts.
For this particular recipe, I used honey roasted peanuts because I love how flavorful they are, but if I know I’ll be using my homemade peanut butter in dipping sauces or specific baked goods, I stick to plain peanuts. This way, I can add salt and other seasonings as needed to the peanut butter to prep it for the recipe at hand.
How to Make Homemade Peanut Butter
Making peanut butter from scratch takes less than 5 minutes. Simply add peanuts to the canister of the food processor, turn it on and watch it go.
The peanuts go through various stages in the five minutes it takes to go from peanuts to peanut butter: crushed peanuts, peanuts crushed into a fine powder, a paste, a thicker paste, and then a big peanut butter “dough ball” will form.
And just like that, the big ball will magically break down and turn into a gritty peanut butter. Keep processing and the peanut butter will get smoother, creamier, and thin out.
No oil was ever added at any point during processing — just the natural oils from the peanuts are being released.
Keep processing until you’re certain the peanut butter is smooth enough for your liking, another minute or so. (I like my peanut butter very smooth, like buttah.)
The peanut butter will be a little on the thinner and runnier side immediately post-processing because it’s warmed from the motor and is similar in thickness to store-bought almond butter. After refrigeration, it thickens up a bit.
How to Make Flavored Peanut Butter
You can flavor your homemade peanut butter with anything you want, from vanilla or coffee extract to cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice or even cocoa powder. This is your peanut butter, get creative!
If you don’t trust your gut when it comes to making flavored peanut butter, start with one of my recipes instead. Some of the flavored peanut butters I’ve made include:
- Sunflower Seed Peanut Butter
- Gingerbread Cookie Dough Peanut Butter
- White Chocolate Cinnamon Chip Peanut Butter
- White Chocolate Butterscotch Peanut Butter
- Chocolate Peanut Butter
- Cookie Butter Peanut Butter
Other seasonings or flavorings to try and add in the final moments of processing are: cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, cardamom, brown sugar, vanilla extract, coffee extract, a pinch of cayenne or chili powder, cocoa powder, or chocolate/white chocolate/butterscotch/peanut butter chips. Just pulse to incorporate whatever flavoring you use!
You could even add egg-less cookie dough chunks, dried fruits like raisins or dates, a splash of Bailey’s Irish Cream, Kahlua, Frangelico, Chambord, or Godiva Liqueur. Have fun with it!
If you’re unsure how a flavoring will turn out, I suggest removing half the peanut butter or two-thirds of it, placing it in another container, and flavor a smaller portion, to taste, before flavoring the entire batch with one particular seasoning or flavor. Or get two or three flavors from one recipe based on how inspired you are.
How to Store Peanut Butter
I store my homemade peanut butter in an airtight container in the refrigerator, and although I could keep it at room temperature I’m sure it will keep longer being refrigerated and I prefer my peanut butter on the thicker side. Storing it in the fridge helps it to stay thicker and less runny, especially since my house is warmer now during the summer.
Interestingly, my peanut butter has turned out to be “stir-free.” It has not separated into oil and a solid mass, which is something I detest about natural peanut butters; the oil slick on top and that stubborn dry blob on the bottom that never really wants to re-accept the oil.
How Long Does Peanut Butter Last?
Because homemade peanut butter contains just peanuts, it’ll last for up to 3 months if kept in an airtight container in the fridge. You’ll know if the peanut butter has gone bad if it smells rancid (trust me, you’ll know if it’s gone bad!).
Can I Make Peanut Butter Without a Food Processor?
Not that I’m aware of. Blenders aren’t powerful enough to process all those peanuts, so a food processor is a must.
Can I Make Chunky Peanut Butter?
Of course! To make homemade chunky peanut butter, you need to make this recipe as instructed. Once the peanut butter is creamy, add in another cup or so of peanut and pulse until it reaches your desired consistency.
Can I Make Another Type of Nut Butter?
You can make almost any nut / seed butter you’d like using the method listed in the recipe card below. Just keep in mind that certain nuts (like almonds) are much coarser than peanuts and therefore will take more time to make. If your food processor starts to overheat, turn it off and let it cool down before continuing.
Can I Double This Recipe?
If your food processor can hold that many peanuts, yes. Just keep in mind that the more nuts you use, the longer you’ll need to make creamy peanut butter.
Can I Make This With Raw Peanuts?
Yes, you can use any kind of peanut you’d like in this recipe. Personally, I prefer roasted peanuts since they have more flavor and are easier to process. But if you prefer raw, go for it. You can also toast the raw peanuts yourself before blending them up.
Where Do You Buy Your Peanuts?
I always buy my peanuts at Trader Joe’s. They’re inexpensive (around $3) and easy to find. Plus, Trader Joe’s carries different flavors of peanuts!
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Homemade Peanut Butter
Ingredients
- 16 ounces peanuts, you can roasted, salted, unsalted, honey roasted, etc.
Instructions
- Add peanuts to the canister of a food processor, process on high power until creamy and smooth, about 5 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the canister if necessary.
- Note that the peanuts will go through stages of: crushed, crushed into a fine powder, a paste, a thicker paste, a big “dough ball”, and then the ball will break down into runnier peanut butter. At the point the peanut butter is runny, continue processing for about 1 more minute, making sure the peanut butter is as smooth as desired.
- Store the peanut butter at room temperature where it will keep for at least 2 weeks, or store in an airtight container or jar in the refrigerator, where it keeps for many weeks, and I’ve stored it for months. As with any food that has no preservatives, use common sense.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Peanut Butter Recipes:
Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Mini Blender Muffins — These muffins are gluten-free, grain-free, soy-free, dairy-free, oil-free, refined sugar-free, and they’re under 100 calories each (66 calories if you omit chocolate chips).
Better Than Anything Peanut Butter Cake — This Peanut Butter Cake is a super easy poke cake recipe. It’s packed with peanut butter flavor and topped with a mix of peanut butter chips and peanut butter cups. Poke cakes don’t get tastier than this!
Slow Cooker Thai Peanut Chicken — This chicken is coated in the most incredible peanut sauce. Serve it over rice for an easy meal, and garnish with green onions and extra peanuts for added crunch!
Peanut Butter Brookies — A soft and chewy peanut butter cookie base with a rich fudgy brownie recipe on top!
Did you know I wrote a cookbook that includes 100 recipes that all contain peanut butter? It’s called Peanut Butter Comfort. Included are 25+ recipes for homemade peanut butter variations
do you happen to know a calorie count on this? is it better than store bought peanut butter??
It’s about equal but there’s nothing else in it besides…peanuts. No other fillers, additives, etc.
I love homemade nut butters :) your pictures are excellent! I noticed that you say there is no salt or oil, but TJ,s nuts you have pictured already has salt and oil added, as well as sugar and honey. Just thought I would mention it, in case someone has trouble with theirs not coming out as gooey. I love that you gave a bazillion ideas of different ways to flavor/spice up your PB :) thanks for posting!
The first two times I made this, no problems…once with honey (which was harder in the fridge) and once with maple syrup. That was smoother in the fridge. This time, I did made it with maple syrup again. It’s very crumbly. It was smooth, but I kept it going, hoping it would be even smoother. But it suddenly turned crumbly, and no amount if mixing could make it smooth again. Any idea what happened? Just mixed too long? Thanks!
I really don’t know what happened. Anytime you start tinkering around and adding honey, maple, etc. things can happen at a molecular level with sugar/water and how things break down and change and I’m sure somewhere therein lies the culprit but from a layman’s perspective, I don’t know. I would stick to using the method you’ve have success with already!
I will be making this tomorrow! I adoooore roasted peanut butter! I get gallons of it at Whole Foods and have never tried to make it at home. I will DEFINITELY try this out :) ! Thanks for the fun post!!
How long does the peanut butter last at room temperature? in the fridge? Thanks! Awesome!!!
Reread the post/recipe section, it’s discussed.
I made my first nut butter today! I wasn’t even sure where to respond because I didn’t make peanut butter or any recipes available. I had been wanting to try cashews! After reading all your recipes, you encourage being creative, so I was. I just wanted to see how it works and test my new food processor. It was so awsome! The stages went exactly as you described and took exactly 5 minutes. The taste was interesting but I wanted something more . I had read where you said to only try add in with half the finished butter which was a great idea, one that I didn’t follow however :( I added about 7 spectuloos cookies, some vanilla and even a little almond extract. I know now why I am not a recipe developer and will gladly leave the task to you :) the process was so much fun and knowing what to expect by your super awsome step by step instructions made it a no brainer and it really is a magical process! My cashew spectuloos vanilla and almond extract butter was not a complete failure but rather a great success ! It may not have been the ooh and ahh butter that I was looking for but yet I feel so satisfied that I tried it and it worked and I did eat some on celery sticks and one of my dogs liked it and the other did not, my husband isn’t home to try it yet, but the experience was an A+, so thank you for taking the time to write this recipe out so perfectly step by step and thank you for encouraging your readers to be creative and giving such great add in ideas. ( my kids have all flown the coop, so my guinea pigs are now my husband and dogs lol)This is not my last butter! It was to much fun to stop here, so beware, you will be hearing from me again :) my next butter will be one of your recipes though!
Just FYI, I noticed the more my CSVA butter sits and got to room temp instead of warm, it’s quite good! I keep going back with my handy spoon, Im just so excited! I can’t believe how fun and easy it is, sorry for writing a book, just so excited and had to share.
Thanks for trying it and making your first batch! That’s a great feeling! And yes, experimenting with flavors and new versions is so fun. Enjoy, Julie!
What is the shelf life for home made peanut butter?
Re-read the post/recipe. It’s discussed.
I have read your post twice, trying to find any indication/estimation of shelf life. I know you say it’s there, but all I see is this:
——-
“I store my homemade peanut butter in an airtight container in the refrigerator and although I could keep it at room temperature, I’m sure it will keep longer being refrigerated and I prefer my peanut butter on the thicker side. Storing it in the fridge helps it to stay thicker and less runny, especially since my house is warmer now during the summer.
Honestly, there’s not that much to store. Every time I open the fridge, I see the jar staring at me.
And it calls my name.”
—–
This doesn’t actually indicate a shelf life other than the fact that it doesn’t last long in your fridge because it is so delicious. Which Is why I would like to try it. However, can you provide something more specific? Is it closer to 3 days or three weeks? I am wondering about batch size, etc. Thanks!
I have stored jars for 6 months in the fridge (forgot about them). There are no preservatives in this and it’s a homemade item, so you need to do what YOU FEEL comfortable doing. Some people won’t eat yogurt past the expiration date that’s printed on the carton but I will; to each their own :)
MY mixer is not so quality. so after 2–3 min. starts to over heat. Is it possible to make peanut butter with mixer having brakes (to cool down) ?
Yes you can take breaks, it will just take longer overall but it’ll be fine, I’m sure.
Dear Averie Sun , Thank You very much for taking your time to answer. you are doing amazing job, providing such an superb recipes to people , even for free ! :-) Bless You :-)
Glad you appreciate everything! Happy holidays!
I thought it would be fun to make my own sunflower butter, so I gave it a whirl!! I added raw honey to sweeten it up a bit and oh my….was it ever yummy!! My kids love it on fresh made sally lunn bread :-)
https://www.averiecooks.com/2013/09/homemade-white-chocolate-and-butterscotch-sunflower-seed-butter.html
I’ve got one!
And stay tuned, my post in 6 hrs is a seasonally-inspired PB flavor!
Made the peanut butter today!! So yummy!! Sent my mom the link!! Thank you for this!! I honestly never thought it was that easy!! YAY!! Will be making cookie butter next!!!
Glad you love it and stay tuned, my post in 6 hrs is a seasonally-inspired PB flavor!