Learn how to make homemade Walnut Butter by roasting walnuts to bring out their natural oils and create the most buttery, silky smooth and creamy nut butter! Great on toast, bagels or even use it in baking for a butter taste in place of oil!
HOW TO MAKE WALNUT BUTTER
Most people are familiar with making homemade almond butter or cashew butter, but let’s not forget about the magical walnut butter! When you roast walnuts and then process them, they become insanely smooth, creamy and an oily consistency. It is very similar to pecan butter, just not as sweet. Much more smooth and runny than almond butter or cashew butter.
Also, walnuts are a much healthier nut butter because they are a great source of omega 3 fats, antioxidants and vitamins. Having a balance of omega 3 and omega 6 fats are better for our hearts and overall health.
HOW TO MAKE WALNUT BUTTER
First, you will add 1 1/2 cups of raw, unsalted walnuts to a pan lined with parchment paper.
Roast them at 300°F for 12 minutes until looking a bit moist or oily on top and smelling fragrant. They don’t need to cook too long, as we don’t want to burn them.
Add the roasted walnuts to a food processor and process for about 1 minute. It should look like a chunky paste like this.
Since roasting the walnuts brings out their natural oils, it will process really quickly into a butter. Scrape down the sides and process another couple of minutes or so until it is very runny/oily and dripping and easily pouring off of a spoon. It should be much runnier than almond butter, as can be seen here. Very similar to a canola or olive oil consistency.
Walnut butter on its own is very nutty, but you can add a pinch of salt, coconut sugar or cocoa powder for flavor variations. It would even be delicious adding pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon. It is delicious on toast, bagels or even try swapping with almond butter in baking. I like to add a spoonful to my daughter’s smoothies for added omega 3 fats.
This walnut butter is also a magical ingredient in these Vegan Cinnamon Rolls With Cream Cheese Icing!
If you make this recipe, be sure to leave feedback below and share your pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thevegan8 #thevegan8!
How to Make Walnut Butter
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups (205g) raw, unsalted walnuts
- I use this food processor.
Instructions
- Add the walnuts to a pan lined with parchment paper. Roast them at 300°F for 12 minutes until looking a bit moist or oily on top and smelling fragrant. They don't need to cook too long, as we don't want to burn them.
- Add the roasted walnuts to a food processor and process for about 1 minute. It should look like a chunky paste.
- Roasting the walnuts releases their natural oils, so it will process really quickly into a butter. Scrape down the sides and process another couple of minutes or so until it is very runny/oily and dripping and easily pouring off of a spoon. It should be much runnier than almond butter. Very similar to a canola or olive oil consistency. NOTE: Keep in mind that different sizes of food processors can affect how quickly your nut butter forms. I have an 11 cup Cuisinart, so it is large and powerful. If you only have a 7 cup or a small one, it may take a few minutes longer.
- Walnut butter on its own is very nutty, but you can add a pinch of salt, coconut sugar or cocoa powder for flavor variations. It would even be delicious adding pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon. It is delicious on toast, bagels or even try swapping with almond butter in baking. I like to add a spoonful to my daughter's smoothies for added omega 3 fats.
I started with 2 cups. Used a Ninja 1000w food processor. Added salt, cinnamon and about a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Processed about 30-60 seconds at a time between scraping down the sides. Probably a total of 5-6 minutes processing time to get the consistency of a store bought almond butter. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezie!
OMG! This was very easy and my Crohns Disease love love loves this recipe! Thank you for sharing…
Ten out of Ten!👌♥️
So happy to hear it!
No extra ingredients but walnuts! Now my 85 year old mother can have nut butter! She cannot have almonds and peanuts but walnuts! Thanks for the walnut butter recipe!
So happy to hear this!
It tastes delicious. I think i made a mistake though because it’s really thick and hard to spread. Did I maybe not roast the walnuts long enough. They roasted for 12 minutes. But in my small toaster oven
You just need to blend longer because the oils in the walnuts will make it very runny. But if you stop too soon it will stay thick.
I am trying lots of different butters. I am wanting ones with a good nut flavor but know what ingredients are in it. I found the Walnut Butter to oily for me but my daughter suggested instead of adding something else to let it sit for awhile and then pour off the extra oil
My favorite butter has been a ChocolatePeanut butter. Had a better peanut taste
Question: Do I have to refrigerate it, if I added some butter?
Yes, if you added dairy butter you will need to refrigerate it!
I have a huge food processor and I only wanted to make a small amount. I did roast the nuts and ground them in the machine. I did add a little water at the end to get it to smooth out. It tastes delicious and I am going to add it in the homemade granola I plan to make in the next few days.
Definitely five stars.
I have a walnut addiction. Seriously. Every month I soak 2 lbs of walnuts overnight, rinse in the morning and load the beauties into my Excalibur dehydrator. Of course once dehydrated I roast them. It removes the bitter tannins and elevates the walnut taste profile. I add them to oatmeal, tossed salad, and yogurt.
Thanks to this DELICIOUS walnut butter recipe I may have to check into a walnut rehab. Thank you so much for sharing.
Haha that is awesome Kim, thank you so much!!
Easy. Fresh. Will never go back to store bought expensive nut butters.
Greetings Brandi,
I’ve made walnut butter before; however I missed a crucial step- I didn’t lightly roast the walnuts. I tried your recipe and pronto! I love it. No need to buy walnut butter again.
Thank you for sharing.
I love this recipe. It is easy and yummy!
Hi! I’m excited to try it! Do you know how long it lasts and how to store it?
Hi Lindsay! It lasts at least a month in the fridge or more! If you want to store it at room temperature, it should last 2-3 weeks.
I roasted and blended as you said, but it’s just crumbly and dry, not oily or anything.
You need to keep blending it. It does take a few minutes, it doesn’t happen in seconds. The process is you are breaking up the nuts and then a paste and then a smooth nut butter as pictured. And as noted in step 3: NOTE: Keep in mind that different sizes of food processors can affect how quickly your nut butter forms.
Keep blending. It takes a long time.
Glad I found this recipe to use up large amount of walnuts I didn’t know what to do with. This is what led me here. I can’t believe I finally found your wholesome vegan recipe site without all the commercial advertisements. I just wanted to say “Thank you.” I won’t mind perusing here and finding more great recipes. 🙏🏻
This is so sweet, thank you Jocelyne for the kind words!!
I just made this recepy and it worked perfectly. I also love that I can control the consistency and leave it a bit thicker, and no sugar for me as i have cancer. Thank you for this…I will try it with other nuts too and not buy nut butter ever again.
Hi, this feels like a silly question, but I only have an immersion blender, so if I finely chop the walnuts by hand (after toasting, before blending), I assume that will reduce the time/workload on my blender?
Hi Amanda! Hmmm, I honestly have no idea if that will get them as smooth as a nut butter. Immersion blenders tend to be for blending up liquids/soups, etc. so I’m not sure if it would work well in a bowl of loose nuts.
great recipe, I added a bit of sugar and a pinch of salt. I read a recipe to make homemade nut milk.
add a heaping TBL to 1 cup of water, yes water ! , and blend in a bullet blender or reg blender , makes
a creamy nut milk perfect for drinking , cereal, cooking, add ice if you want it instantly cold, store in fridge in a glass jar, for up to 4-5 days, now I keep your nut butter on hand and make my own instead of store bought.
Love the recipe. I added 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. My bag of walnuts held 2 c which may be why it took a longer to liquify. Also I used a large toaster oven and wanted to be careful not to burn the nuts but possibly I did not cook them long enough. They were very hot and worked fine. For those who worried about not getting to the liquid stage- have patience.So wonderful not to have any sugar or salt in the nut butter.
I am so happy you loved this Natalie and yes, patience!! So worth it!
Fabulous. I added 1/2 cup of Cashews to the pan when roasting.
It is a beautiful thing.
So very fine.
Thanks!
Excellent recipe, thank you. I did accidentally over roast them but I figured since I’m using it for my smoothies it should be fine. Nutritionist told me walnut is a better nut option for my gastroparesis.
Thanks for posting this recipe. I haven’t made it yet but it looks good! 🙂 I was just snacking on some walnuts and reading it ha ha ha!
I made this as a thank you gift for my physio, she loved it and so did her family.
Thank you. It was a very easy recipe. I baked a 16 Oz bag of walnuts at 400 for 10 minutes. I let cool then put on my food processor. I added about 3 squirms of liquid stevia and a shake of pumpkin spice. Totally forgot the sea salt. It’s good. Slightly bitter but still very good
Oh, that sounds yummy!! Add the pinch of salt, it will help with bitterness.
I just made this and it really works! I have a small, 35 year old Cuisinart and I put all the walnuts in at once and they were finely ground after a minute. They seemed very dry, but I just kept scraping the sides and letting it whir for maybe another two minutes and all of a sudden the oil began to appear like magic. It was a wonderful consistency and I added a big pinch of iodized seas salt and it tasted great. Then I put it in a glass storage container and stirred some chia seeds for a little crunch and to thicken and add more omega 3. I love this recipe and have already shared it!
So very happy to hear that Jeanne!
I’m using the walnut butter as a basis for my vegan Caesar dressing!