How to Make Homemade Peanut Butter

If you worry about unhealthy ingredients in your peanut butter such as trans fats, and even worse, contaminants such as bacteria, you have choices. You can make your own, all-natural peanut butter at home using a food processor. When you make your own homemade peanut butter, youll not only get a healthier product but youll be saving money at the same time. Heres how to whip up a batch of fresh peanut butter in your food processor or blender.

Make homemade peanut butter: Buy your supplies

To make peanut butter, youll need access to a blender or food processor as well as a source of peanuts and oil. You have the choice of either using peanuts that have already been roasted or roasting the nuts in your oven at home. Roasting your own peanuts is as simple as placing the nuts on a cookie sheet and heating them for fifteen to twenty minutes in an oven at 350 degrees Farenheit. Both roasted and raw peanuts can be found in most grocery stores. Youll also need to pick up a bottle of peanut oil.

Make homemade peanut butter: Make the butter

Once you have the roasted nuts, place two cups of nuts into your food processor. Add two teaspoons of peanut oil to the processor along with a pinch of salt. Turn on the food processor or blender and allow the nuts to grind for two minutes. Stop the processor and check the consistency of the butter. It will likely still be clumpy at this stage. Turn the food processor back on and allow it to grind until you see a smooth paste form. This usually takes an additional two minutes or so. If you want creamier peanut butter, you can blend a little longer.

Make homemade peanut butter: Store your peanut butter

Once you have your fresh, homemade peanut butter, place it into a glass container and refrigerate it. Because it doesnt have any added preservatives, it wont last as long as store bought peanut butters. It should be good for about two weeks if kept refrigerated, but it will taste so good, dont expect it to be around that long!

Keep in mind that you dont have to use peanuts. Try substituting almonds, cashews, macadamia nuts, pistachios, or hazelnuts instead. You can even use a mixture of roasted nuts to make homemade nut butter. Try adding chocolate chips to the food processor along with the nuts to create chocolate nut butter. You can also add dried fruit to freshly made peanut butter to add additional flavor. Bananas are a particularly good choice. Have fun experimenting!