Did you know that making your own homemade pistachio butter is actually very easy? Not to mention much healthier than some of the pistachio spreads available on the market. One of the more popular pistachio spreads contains a whole range of ingredients including palm oil, milk powder and sugar. Make your own pistachio butter with just two ingredients, pistachios and sea salt for a much healthier and tastier version.
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What’s to Love About Homemade Pistachio Butter?
I’m so glad that pistachios are getting the love that they deserve at the moment because they are so delicious! Pistachio butter is made by blending lightly toasted pistachio kernels in a food processor until you have a smooth and creamy texture. You can use pistachio butter in a range of recipes like bliss balls, pistachio milk, pistachio overnight oats and more! Or spread onto toast for a beautiful and healthy breakfast.
- cost effective – making your own nut butters can be a lot cheaper than buying nut butter.
- delicious – homemade nut butters taste just as delicious, if not more delicious, than store bought pistachio butter or pistachio paste.
- healthy – made using just two ingredients and no artificial or unhealthy additives.
- allergy friendly – this recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free and vegan.
Ingredients Notes & Substitutions
As I mentioned earlier, you only need two ingredients to make homemade pistachio butter. These are shelled pistachios and sea salt. You can substitute the raw pistachios for any other nut like peanuts, almonds, cashews or macadamias. You won’t need to follow the steps to soak the pistachios if using another variety of nut. Just toast in the oven and blend.
How to Make Homemade Pistachio Butter
There are a few ways to make this pistachio butter recipe, one is a bit quicker and one is a bit of an investment of time.
Method 1
The quicker method is to toast shelled pistachios in the oven and then blend with a little salt until you reach your desired nut butter texture.
Method 2
Yes, this method has more prep time, however follow the instructions below to get a more vibrant green paste with more of a pistachio taste.
Soak pistachios and remove skins
First, add the shelled pistachios to a bowl and top with water. Soak the pistachios for at least 30 minutes, the longer you soak them, the easier it is to remove the skins. Strain the pistachios and then tip out onto a clean tea towel. Rub the pistachios vigorously but being careful not to crunch them together too much as this will break them up.
Now, pick out any pistachios that the skins are completely removed and place into a bowl. Use your fingers to pick off any bits of skin stuck to the pistachios. Repeat this process until you have removed the skins from all of the pistachios. You can do this one by one and use your fingers to pinch off the skins, however this method takes a lot longer. Rubbing them in a tea towel is definitely quicker than removing the skins one by one.
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Toast the pistachios
Tip the skinned pistachios out onto a large baking sheet and spread out. Place the tray into an oven preheated to 160°C, fan forced. Bake for about 10-12 minutes but keep an eye on them so that they don’t burn. Open the oven from time to time to give the tray a shake so that the pistachios roast evenly.
Blend into nut butter
Tip the roasted pistachios into the drum of a food processor or high-speed blender along with a pinch of sea salt flakes. Place the lid on and blend on medium. Continue blending until the pistachios reach your desired consistency. This will take some time and requires a level of patience. If it looks like the pistachios aren’t going to turn into pistachio butter, don’t worry, they will, it is just a process. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the food processor drum from time to time so that all of the pistachios are incorporated.
Storage
Once smooth and creamy, pour the pistachio butter into a glass jar or airtight container, place the lid on and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks.
Variations
If you want to add some sweetness to the pistachio butter you can add a liquid sweetener like honey or pure maple syrup while blending. I think a few teaspoons would be more than enough but add to your own taste.
How to Use Homemade Pistachio Butter
You can use pistachio butter anyway that you would use other nut butters like almond butter or peanut butter. Here are some suggestions:
- make Dubai chocolate
- add to smoothies
- make pistachio ice cream or pistachio cream
- add to cookies
- make pistachio milk
- make pistachio overnight oats
Health Benefits of Pistachios
Pistachios aren’t just beautiful and tasty, they are incredibly healthy as well! Here are some of the nutrient standouts in pistachios:
- minerals – pistachios provide are a great source of potassium, iron, magnesium and calcium.
- vitamins – pistachios are an excellent source of B6 and a good source of Vitamin C.
- dietary fibre – pistachios are a good addition to your daily fiber intake.
- healthy fats – pistachios only contain a small amount of saturated fat and are a good source of the healthy fats, polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats.
- protein – pistachios provide 20 grams of protein per 100 grams.
Homemade Pistachio Butter Recipe
Equipment
- Measuring Cups
- High speed blender or food processor
- Baking Tray
Ingredients
- 2 cups pistachio kernels, shelled
- pinch sea salt flakes
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160°C fan forced (320 F).
- Add the pistachios to a medium bowl and top with around 2 cups of water. Set aside to soak for 30 minutes to an hour. The longer they soak for the easier they are to peel.
- Once the pistachios are soaked, strain the water away. Use clean hands to pinch the skins off each pistachio. Alternatively, tipped with strained pistachios out onto a clean tea towel and use the tea towel to vigorously rub the pistachios to help to remove the skins, peeling off any skins that remain stuck to the pistachios.
- Place the skinned pistachios onto a baking tray and into the oven to bake for 10 minutes, watching closely so that they don’t burn. Give the tray a shake every few minutes to roast the pistachios evenly.
- Remove from the oven and place into a high-speed blender or food processor with a pinch of salt. Blend on high until the pistachios have turned into a smooth pistachio butter. The longer you blend the pistachio’s for, the runnier the pistachio butter will be.
- Transfer the pistachio butter to a glass jar. Place the lid on and store in the fridge for up to 1 month.
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