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:
4.96 from 99 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.

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  1. Sharon g
    02.08.2024

    My peanuts are raw unsalted but have the thin skin on them……do I just leave the skin when mixing in vitamin?

    • Phoebe Moore (L&L Recipe Developer)
      02.09.2024

      Hi Sharon, I’d recommend placing the peanuts in a clean dish towel and rubbing off the skin as best you can before blending.

  2. Roanna
    01.24.2024

    How can I make it thicker?

    • Yesenia
      02.06.2024

      Process it for less time. You can also stir in chopped peanuts too make it chunky.

  3. Shirley
    12.30.2023

    I will use this for dog treats no salt needed but will make mine with salt to taste. Thank you

  4. speppers69
    12.22.2023

    5 stars
    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.

    • Kate
      12.22.2023

      5 stars
      My thoughts exactly today when I ran out! Id rather make my own then attempt the store 🙂

  5. Su
    11.16.2023

    Hi, which food processor do you use?

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      11.16.2023

      I like the Cuisinart 7-cup.

  6. Ilia
    11.10.2023

    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.

  7. Sagorica Sarkar
    10.23.2023

    4 stars
    It’s really very easy to make at home but not said how to preserve it if it is in more quantity

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      10.23.2023

      Hi Sagorica, you can store it in a jar for a few weeks, or in the fridge for longer.

  8. Sandy Stephens
    10.16.2023

    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?

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      10.18.2023

      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.

  9. David
    10.15.2023

    Would this recipe work with peanuts bought in their shells (obviously shells and skins removed before processing!)

  10. Rachel Vigil
    09.22.2023

    Please provide the roasting instructions also! What temp and for how long? Add salt when roasting or not? Thank you!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      09.27.2023

      Hi Rachel, I used store-bought dry roasted peanuts – I wouldn’t recommend roasting them any further.

  11. Mike
    08.20.2023

    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.

  12. PattiAnn
    08.14.2023

    I have a small KA 3.5 cup food proc .
    Can I half the recipe?
    I think I will try it.

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      08.16.2023

      Hi Patti, I have that one too – I’m not sure it’ll be powerful enough to make creamy nut butter.

  13. Rob
    08.06.2023

    How long will this keep? How should I keep it?

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      08.07.2023

      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.

  14. Erin
    07.23.2023

    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 .

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      07.24.2023

      I’m so glad you enjoyed it!

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.