Homemade Peanut Butter

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.

Homemade peanut butter

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!

Jar of homemade peanut butter

Peanut Butter Recipe Tips

Ready to learn how to make peanut butter? There are a few things you should know before you start:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.

Peanuts in a food processor

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.

How to make peanut butter

Then, they’ll form a shaggy ball.

Peanut butter in a food processor

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!

Homemade peanut butter recipe   Spoon of peanut butter

How to Use Homemade Peanut Butter

There are so many ways to use this homemade peanut butter! Here are a few of my favorites:

What’s your favorite way to use it? Let me know in the comments!

Peanut butter

More Homemade Basics

If you loved learning how to make peanut butter, try making one of these easy recipes for homemade basics next:

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Homemade Peanut Butter

rate this recipe:
4.97 from 122 votes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Learn how to make AMAZING homemade peanut butter! It's super smooth, creamy, and filled with rich peanut flavor. You're going to want to eat it by the spoonful!

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.

Notes

Makes about 1 cup.
*Note: I use my 7-cup Cuisinart or KitchenAid food processor. If yours is much larger, you may want to increase the amount of peanuts so that there's enough quantity to blend well.

174 comments

4.97 from 122 votes (87 ratings without comment)

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Rate this recipe (after making it)




  1. Jennie
    06.13.2024

    5 stars
    Ridiculous how easy and yummy this was! I used unsalted and didn’t add salt because I’m making a birthday cake for my dog, and it still is delicious.

    • Phoebe Moore (L&L Recipe Developer)
      06.14.2024

      Hi Jennie, I’m so glad you loved the peanut butter! Happy birthday to your dog 🙂

  2. mochi
    06.13.2024

    How ling can i store this for? Like when does it expire in a warm climate kitchen cabinet?

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      06.13.2024

      Hi Mochi, I store it up to a couple of weeks at room temp, but it’ll keep longer in the fridge.

      • mochi
        06.13.2024

        Thanks! So, how long in the fridge? Or how can you tell if it’s gone bad?

        A small jar of peanut butter usually lasts me months (the store bought ones) so, I’m not sure how to avoid it going bad.

        • Phoebe Moore (L&L Recipe Developer)
          06.14.2024

          Hi Mochi, this peanut butter keeps well in the fridge for about a month. Beyond that, you can tell it’s gone bad if it starts to smell or taste off or if the color darkens.

  3. Mark
    06.12.2024

    If you wanted to make crunchy pb, would you process it less or add in some extra peanuts at the end?

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      06.13.2024

      I’d add some chopped peanuts at the end.

  4. Linda A.
    06.12.2024

    I don’t have a food processor, but I DO have a high-powdered blender. Will that work just as well?

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      06.12.2024

      Hi Linda, it’ll work, you just have to stop and stir more often.

  5. Denise
    04.17.2024

    What food processor do you recommend?

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      04.20.2024

      Hi Denise, I love the 7-Cup Cuisinart food processor.

A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.