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DIY: Homemade Peanut Butter
It’s certainly not a secret around here that I am a full-fledged peanut butter-aholic. I’ve been completely obsessed with the stuff since I was a kid. It was the only sandwich I wanted in my lunchbox, I would slather peanut butter on everything, and I even had a peanut butter and jelly sleeping bag growing up. I’ve continued my obsession into adulthood, favoring peanut butter and chocolate sweets over most anything else, and sneaking peanut butter into my day whenever possible.
Surprisingly, I only recently began making my own peanut butter from scratch. Once I did, I was totally hooked! It has infinitely more flavor than any store-bought peanut butter I’ve had; it just tastes much… wait for it… NUTTIER. I love it! When I made it a few weeks back and posted a picture to Instagram, I received a ton of requests for a recipe or tutorial on how to do it. The good news is that making homemade peanut butter is incredibly easy and takes less than 10 minutes. Let’s do it!
First, we start off with some dry roasted peanuts (I prefer unsalted). This batch will yield about 2 cups of peanut butter, but you can easily scale it up or down, depending on your needs.
Throw the peanuts into the bowl of your food processor:
MY OTHER RECIPES 
Start running the processor and then just let it do its thing!
This is what it will look like after about 15 seconds – pretty much ground nuts…
This is after 30 seconds – the nuts are much more finely ground, and they’re starting to stick to the outside of the bowl…
After 1 minute, the peanut mixture will start to clump up, sort of like a graham cracker crust…
We’re 1 minute 30 seconds in, and the peanut butter has gotten to a very thick, paste-like stage. Keep going!
At 2 minutes, the peanut mixture has broken down and it’s starting to look like peanut butter… we’re almost there!
Finally, around 2 minutes 30 seconds, we’ve hit the peanut butter jackpot!
You can certainly let the peanut butter churn longer if you’d like, but at this point, the peanut butter should have a very smooth and creamy consistency. You can eat it with a spoon straight from the food processor (guilty as charged), cut up an apple, toast a slice of bread, or transfer it to a container to store in the refrigerator.
If you prefer jazzing up plain ol’ creamy peanut butter, here are some ideas for different versions:
Variations
- Chunky: Pulse an additional 1 cup of peanuts into the finished peanut butter for a chunkier texture.
- Honey: Pulse 2 teaspoons of honey into the finished peanut butter until evenly disbursed.
- Cinnamon-Raisin: Pulse ½ cup raisins + 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar into the finished peanut butter until evenly distributed.
- Maple: Pulse 1 tablespoon of maple syrup into the finished peanut butter until thoroughly combined.
It’s also worth mentioning that you can use this same process (and add-ins) to create any nut butter you’d like. Feel free to swap in almonds, cashews, even sunflower seeds!
What’s your favorite peanut butter flavor? I’m a crunchy girl through and through!
Note: I made batches of peanut butter in both the food processor and in my Vitamix blender. While both worked, I found the processor to be much easier. Using the blender, I had to push the peanuts down into the blade, and at one point, it started to smell like the motor was burning a bit. If you have a food processor, I definitely recommend going that route. If you don’t, you can use a blender, but you might want to break it up into smaller batches to it’s more manageable for your blender.
One year ago: Buckeye Brownies
Two years ago: Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese and Baked Asiago and Caramelized Onion Hummus Dip
Three years ago: Caramelized Onion, Mushroom and Gruyere Tartlets
Four years ago: English Muffins
Five years ago: Vanilla Ice Cream (Philadelphia Style)
Six years ago: Spaghetti and Meatballs
Did you make this recipe?
An easy recipe and step-by-step tutorial for making homemade peanut butter
Place the peanuts in the bowl of a food processor, and process for 2 to 3 minutes, until smooth and creamy, stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl as needed.
Store the peanut butter in a glass jar or airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.
Nutritional values are based on one cup
Calories: 1755kcal
Fat: 148g
Saturated fat: 20g
Sodium: 2037mg
Potassium: 1974mg
Carbohydrates: 64g
Fiber: 24g
Sugar: 12g
Protein: 71g
Calcium: 16.2%
Iron: 37.7%
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
Your PB looks great! I love making homemade Pb and no two versions are usually quite the same for me. From a splash of bourbon to cinnamon chips to malt powder, I love mixing it up. I included 35 different recipes for it in my cookbook. Best recipe testing ever! :) And I totally agree with you. A food proc is WAY easier than using a Vita. Hands down.
Wow, that’s it? :) Awesome. Thank you for the how-to.
This is so funny! I need some peanut butter for a recipe and am out. Thought I would just wait till next time I was at the store. Now, I found I have those peanuts and can make my own now. For recipes, would you just leave the pb plain? Thank you so much for this recipe! Can’t wait to try it a little later, then make my recipe.
Hi Nancy, I would leave it plain. Enjoy!
How is its spreadability straight from the refrigerator?
Hi Jane, Surprisingly great! I’ve had issues with natural peanut butters before, becoming hard as a rock in the fridge. This remains smooth and relatively “loose”, easy and scoop and spread.
Hi Michelle, thanks for replying and that is exactly why I asked. I have also purchased natural peanut butter that had to be refrigerated and needed to either nuke it or bring it to room temp. Going to give yours a try! Need to dust off my cuisinart, I hate washing the parts and have no counter space so I don’t use it often.
I need to make time to make homemade peanut butter. I’m sure I would love it so much more. Thanks for sharing : )
Where can I find shelled peanuts in bulk?
I buy them either at Sam’s Club or Costco, or online through Nuts.com.
Trader Joe’s sells 1lb bags of salted and unsalted roasted whole peanuts that I’ve been using to make my own. $3.29/bag.
I love homemade peanut butter! It is the reason I started blogging! I made it once and I couldn’t believe how incredibly easy and tasty it was that I felt the need to share it with the world. Crazy story, but it’s true! :)
I love peanut butter too. I remember when I was little, I hide in a closet with a peanut butter container and eat it like crazy.
I did not expect peanut butter to be easy to make. I am surprised when I read this post
Nummy!! Do you suppose making Nutella would be similar? Like you said different nut, hazelnuts, and then cocoa or melted chocolate? Can’t wait to try this, my husband is a peanut butter freak!
Hi Heike, I actually made homemade Nutella last year; you can find the recipe here: https://www.browneyedbaker.com/2013/02/21/homemade-nutella-recipe/
Do you think making your own peanut butter results in some cost savings?
Hi Bethany, Truly, it all depends on how much you pay for the nuts and how much you were spending on peanut butter (what brand, etc.). A 5-pound bag of dry roasted peanuts is $19.35 on Nuts.com, which will yield about 64 ounces of homemade peanut butter. A 28-ounce jar of Skippy peanut butter is a little over $4 on Walmart’s website. Based on those calculations, it’s a little more expensive to make it at home, but for me, it’s totally worth it to know exactly what’s in my peanut butter; no extra oils, salts, evaporated whatever juice, etc.
I think I would trade off a few dollars to know what is going into my peanut butter. With all the extra additives that some peanut butters have, you might even be breaking even on the cost per peanut anyway.
I’m not sure if I am weighing incorrectly or not, but I do a batch using 10oz of peanuts (2 cups) and my yield is usually 10oz or so of peanut butter. Since I buy my peanuts from the bulk section at the store (Sprouts Market here in CO) I have seen a significant cost savings plus the peanut butter is better for you as there is no sugars or preservatives (I do add 1T agave syrup to mine). I stock up when peanuts are on sale which is pretty often at my market (peanuts keep at least a year in a container in the fridge). See if you can find a market with a bulk foods section which lets you buy what you need at the time.
I make homemade almond butter all the time, and have had homemade peanut butter (as well as Nutella), on my radar for a while. This looks perfect! Homemade nut butters are definitely worth the effort. :)
LOVE making homemade peanut butter. It’s cheaper than natural peanut butter from the store too! I’ve got about 10 different flavor ideas now too.
Homemade peanut butter is the best!
Love this recipe-and your nutella version as well! You are absolutely right about the processor. After cleaning peanut butter from the bottom of my VitaMix, I’ve never used it for nut butters again. Love your site!:-)
Wow! That is so easy!! Will be making this tomorrow! Thanks !!
Hi, Salted or Unsalted peanuts?
Hi Alice, You can use either, but as I mentioned, I prefer unsalted.
I bought a Vitamix about 4 years ago and that’s when I started making my own peanut butter. It’s infinitely tastier and has no added sugar and crap that the store bought brands have in them.
Hi Michelle!
I was thinking about making peanut butter as a wedding favor (with jam, or perhaps nutella) and I wondered if this needed to stay refrigerated? Or perhaps it could be sealed in a mason jar through the hot water bath as can be done with other foods for canning?
Hi Sarah, If you refrigerated the peanut butter up to the day of the wedding and handed it out that day and included a little note that said to refrigerate as soon as you get home, I think that would be fine. I just wouldn’t leave it unrefrigerated for days on end. I also can’t guarantee that a canning bath would render this safe to store long-term.
A water bath will not do for long term storage. You could look into pressure canning it, but a water bath is not the way to go. It will most likely go rancid. I wonder how it would freeze?
Sarah, I’ve been making peanut butter (and other nut butters) for years, and do NOT refrigerate mine (just keep it on the shelf like peanuts). Storage/spoilage has never been an issue. I’ve never needed to refrigerate peanuts, so why peanut butter, I asked myself. Caveat: I’ve never had a batch that wasn’t gone in a month, so I haven’t actually tested it beyond that time, but again,l do your nuts “go bad” on the shelf? Mine don’t, and neither does my nut butter.
I have also made almond butter for special recipes. My Vitamix has a Dry Container which works best for the nut butters! I don’t have the “burning, hot motor” smell with the dry container! It also is the easiest to clean “self-cleaning” method!
ok this looks incredibly easy! And yes, i love too that you know exactly what is going in to your peanut butter…i might try it with cashews too. YUM