Learn how to make AMAZING homemade peanut butter! It's super smooth, creamy, and flavorful - you won't be able to stop eating it by the spoonful.
I start drooling just looking at the pictures of this homemade peanut butter! Jack and I have been all about cooking projects lately, churning out homemade bagels, pasta, tortillas, and more. We’ve loved all of them, but this homemade peanut butter recipe reminded us that cooking projects don’t have to be ambitious to be fun.
This peanut butter recipe calls for just 1 or 2 ingredients, and it comes together in under 10 minutes. Still, making it is a blast! You get to watch whole peanuts transform into the smoothest, creamiest nut butter you’ve ever seen. Its oozy texture beats any store bought brand I’ve tried, and its rich peanut flavor is out of this world. You won’t be able to resist eating it by the spoonful!
Peanut Butter Recipe Tips
Ready to learn how to make peanut butter? There are a few things you should know before you start:
- Making this recipe is easy, but it does require patience. Your food processor will need to run for almost 10 minutes, including breaks, before the nuts become smooth and spreadable.
- You’re going to need to stop the food processor often. Making homemade nut butter can be hard on a food processor’s motor, so be sure to stop it every 30 seconds to 1 minute to give it a chance to cool off. This break is also a great opportunity to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- The amount of peanuts you use should be proportionate to the size of your food processor. I use 3 cups of peanuts in my 7-cup food processor. If yours is much larger, you’ll need more nuts to create a smooth, creamy spread.
- You don’t need anything except for dry roasted peanuts, and maybe salt. You can use unsalted or salted peanuts in this recipe, but if yours aren’t salted, you’ll need to season to taste with salt at the end.
How to Make Peanut Butter
Add the peanuts to the bowl of a food processor, and process until very smooth, pausing to scrape down the sides of the bowl every 30 seconds or so. When you first start grinding the peanuts, it might not seem like they’ll blend into a smooth nut butter. But trust me, they will! You don’t need to add any vegetable oil, I promise.
At the beginning, they’ll be chunky.
Then, they’ll form a shaggy ball.
And finally, they’ll blend into creamy natural peanut butter! Let the food processor run as long as necessary to get the mixture really smooth. Store it in an airtight container or jar at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. Enjoy!
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How to Use Homemade Peanut Butter
There are so many ways to use this homemade peanut butter! Here are a few of my favorites:
- Slather it onto a slice of crusty bread.
- Drizzle it over a bowl of oatmeal, granola, or overnight oats.
- Use it as the binder in homemade granola bars or energy balls.
- Make it into a tangy peanut sauce to serve with noodles, spring rolls, or bowls.
- Whisk together a peanut dressing for a summer slaw.
- Blend it into a smoothie for extra protein.
- Make cookies! It works perfectly in my chocolate peanut butter no bake cookies, peanut butter cookies, and chocolate chip cookie dough bars.
What’s your favorite way to use it? Let me know in the comments!
More Homemade Basics
If you loved learning how to make peanut butter, try making one of these easy recipes for homemade basics next:
Homemade Peanut Butter
Ingredients
- 3 cups dry roasted & salted or unsalted peanuts
- Sea salt, to taste (if using unsalted peanuts)
Instructions
- Place the peanuts in a medium food processor.* Process until very smooth, stopping every 30 seconds to 1 minute to scape down the sides of the bowl, as necessary, and to give the food processor's motor a break. The mixture will be chunky at first. Then, it'll thicken into a ball, and finally, it will become creamy and smooth. The whole process should take about 8 to 10 minutes.
I always warm up the peanuts in the oven first to release the natural oils and it makes a much smoother butter in the food processor.
That’s a great tip, thank you!
but what type if peanuts did you use?? the peanuts in the shell or in the pack without the skin??
Dry roasted peanuts without shells.
do i store it in the fridge or out of the fridge? and how long will it last? like what’s the shelf life of this?
Hi, you can store it for up to a month at room temperature or in the fridge (I like to keep it in the fridge so that it doesn’t separate).
Hi! Do the ground peanuts separate from the oil or does it stay well mixed?!
Hi Emily, The peanut butter can separate slightly if you store it at room temp, but it won’t separate in the fridge.
Will this work with a vitamix blender?
Hi Sophie, yep! It will.
I just made this peanut butter, I made it in 2 batches. It is the best. Will never buy again.
Hi Magella, I’m so glad you loved it!
My peanuts are raw unsalted but have the thin skin on them……do I just leave the skin when mixing in vitamin?
Hi Sharon, I’d recommend placing the peanuts in a clean dish towel and rubbing off the skin as best you can before blending.
How can I make it thicker?
Process it for less time. You can also stir in chopped peanuts too make it chunky.
I will use this for dog treats no salt needed but will make mine with salt to taste. Thank you
Doggy Christmas Cookies. I only had a 1/4 cup of the Skippy and needed a cup. It has been years since I’ve made real peanut butter myself and being only 3 days before Christmas…who wants to go to the store? So I just needed a refresher course. Besides…for doggy treats…you really don’t want all the salt, sugar, polysorbate-whatever and color number gazillion and partially hydrogenated-this and preservative-that. For ourselves and our kids…apparently all those ingredients are fine. But somehow when it comes to our 4-legged kids…no way.
My thoughts exactly today when I ran out! Id rather make my own then attempt the store 🙂
Hi, which food processor do you use?
I like the Cuisinart 7-cup.
Have you used this to make pb cookies? Would I need to add anything like starch or more baking powder or baking soda to my pb cookie recipe? My pb cookie recipe calls for 3 cups of pb, I used Jif or Skippy store bought their texters are similar but they do taste different you can tell even more in the cookie. I’m just wondering about the consistency, your pictures of the pb look a little thinner or lighter then the store bought stuff.
Hi Ilia, it’s great in our PB cookie recipe which uses natural peanut butter: https://www.loveandlemons.com/peanut-butter-cookies/
It’s really very easy to make at home but not said how to preserve it if it is in more quantity
Hi Sagorica, you can store it in a jar for a few weeks, or in the fridge for longer.
I love having homemade peanut butter! BUT we like crunchy peanut butter. So do you crunch up some peanuts and then add to the peanut butter to make it crunchy?
Hi Sandy, I’d process the peanut butter until it’s creamy, then add finely chopped or crushed peanuts and pulse until they’re incorporated.
Would this recipe work with peanuts bought in their shells (obviously shells and skins removed before processing!)
yep!
Please provide the roasting instructions also! What temp and for how long? Add salt when roasting or not? Thank you!
Hi Rachel, I used store-bought dry roasted peanuts – I wouldn’t recommend roasting them any further.
I roast blanched skinless peanuts for 25 minutes on 180 Celsius. I have a peek at them around the 20 minutes mark to see if they are golden and shiny xxx
I use a Cuisinart Food Processor (the heavier one) it works like a charm! I sometimes add Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa Powder and Stevia to make a Chocolate Peanut Butter. Still working out the amounts.
yum!
I have a small KA 3.5 cup food proc .
Can I half the recipe?
I think I will try it.
Hi Patti, I have that one too – I’m not sure it’ll be powerful enough to make creamy nut butter.
How long will this keep? How should I keep it?
Hi Rob, it should keep for about 2 to 4 weeks. I like to store it in the fridge, then leave it at room temp to soften before I use it.
This came out yummy !! Took longer bc of technical difficulties with my food processor , but yum! Processed until creamy and added salt and some honey at the end .
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!