This post contains affiliate links. When you purchase through our links, we may earn a commission.
Making homemade peanut butter is the easiest thing in the world. It’s also the best thing in the world because you can flavour it with anything you like. Maple syrup is what I used in this recipe.
For other delicious nut butter recipes, take a look at our Honey Cinnamon Cashew Butter and Chocolate Almond Butter.
I remember when natural peanut butters first hit the market. I was really excited about having a no additives and preservatives product and while I really appreciated the health benefit of such peanut butter, I was quite disappointed with the texture.
It separated into thick, stodgy lumps of ground nuts and oil. Because it was natural it had to be refrigerated but the cold turned it into a solid, grainy mass. That made nearly impossible to stir it or spread on toast
Gradually, many people went back to the regular peanut butter.
Natural Peanut Butter
I remained convinced that lumpy peanut butter was the only way a natural peanut butter could be made.
Little did I know that throwing a bag of roasted peanuts into a This is an affiliate link.food processor produces velvety smooth butter that begs to be spread. On everything. Or made into a peanut dressing for Asian Noodle Salad.
Ingredients
So here is my ingredient list. Ready?
Peanuts. That’s it.
Okay there is one more ingredient. We want it to be a little sweet, right? So I stirred in a touch of real This is an affiliate link.maple syrup.
If you are not a fan of maple syrup, you can replace it with honey, agave nectar, brown or white sugar.
Recipe Tips and Notes
- The key to a silky, smooth peanut butter is a good powerful food processor and patience. You start with a bag of peanuts.
- Hit the START button and process for a minute or so, then stop the motor and scrape the sides. Keep blending.
- At first it will turn into a thick mass, that is hard to stir with a spoon, not unlike the grocery store variety I was mentioning above.
- At that point, add 2 tablespoons of This is an affiliate link.real maple syrup and a pinch of salt and keep blending. It will take 3-4 minutes to get to an even and creamy texture.
- Skip salt if using salted peanuts.
Serving suggestions
Although slathering peanut butter on toast with jam or honey is the obvious way to use this recipe, you don’t need to start there.
It’s also an amazing base for savoury chicken recipes like my spicy peanut butter chicken and chicken satay skewers. Using homemade peanut butter instead of processed store-bought varieties imparts so much more taste to the dish.
Prefer to stick to something sweet? You can use them in any peanut butter cookie recipe out there, where the maple will be very welcome!
Storage and leftovers
I’ve had this homemade peanut butter in the fridge for a week before it was gone. No sign of separating and the texture remains smooth, creamy and easily spreadable.
I recommend keeping it in an airtight container and refrigerated otherwise homemade peanut butter will go rancid. It will keep well and fresh in your fridge for up to 3 months.
Maple Peanut Butter Recipe
Equipment
- This is an affiliate link.Food processor
Ingredients
- 500g / 3 cups roasted peanuts
- 2 tbsp This is an affiliate link.maple syrup
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- Add peanuts to the bowl of a food processor and process for 1-2 minutes. Open the lid and scrape the sides. The mixture will be grainy.
- Continue blending for another minute. Open and scrape the sides once again, season with salt and maple syrup.
- Blend for 2-4 minutes until silky smooth in consistency.
- *If you like your peanut butter chunky, reserve 1/4 cup of peanuts, coarsely chop them or lightly process in a food processor and mix in with the smooth batch.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This looks great and I have a maple syrup farm here in Maine, so….we have lots and lots of the good stuff! I’m going to try this with my Vitamix blender since I am not sure my food processor will handle it.
Hi Kim, yes Vitamix is definitely made for this!
Please what food processor did you use? I’ve found out that most processors and blenders doesn’t grind it as smooth as the commercial types. Thank you.
Hi Elle, good question, I use MagiMix food processor.
Hi there, I recently tried to make this peanut butter and had some difficulty. I followed your method to the T, but my peanut butter wouldn’t become smooth no matter how long I ran the machine. I must have run it for about 15 or 20 minutes, taking breaks in between to scrape the sides down. I eventually had to stop because my processor got too hot. What I’ve ended up with is a crumbly mass of peanuts. I’m not sure where I went wrong. I’m thinking my equipment might not be strong enough for this recipe. What are your thoughts? Have you had this problem before? Thanks.
Hi Amanda, how annoying is this! Does your peanut butter look like a “dough ball” or just not smooth enough for your liking? I can think of two reasons 1. The peanuts are raw instead of roasted as they don’t release oil the same way. 2. The machine in fact is not powerful enough or the blade is not very sharp. You can still try to save it by adding 2 tbsp of oil such as coconut oil, and process until smooth. That happened to me when I made cashew butter with raw cashews and I was still able to save it. Here is the recipe link.https://vikalinka.com/2014/07/23/honey-cinnamon-cashew-butter/ But if it’s the machine I can’t help. 🙁
Perfect peanut butter recipe. I loved the addition of maple syrup, and absolutely gorgeous photos! 🙂