How To Make Peanut Butter

And just like that, it’s autumn! Pumpkin patches open their doors, apple picking season hits its peak, and it’s time to pull out those flannels and boots. This fall, as we continue to spend more time at home, do-it-yourself projects are this season’s craze. And what could be better than perfecting your own homemade peanut butter for those freshly picked apples? If you’re already a pro, try our Hampton Farms Fresh Nut Butter Grinder SG5000 to amp up your homemade peanut butter game. If not, we’ve put together the perfect at-home recipe below, just for you.

Peanut Butter Ingredients

In traditional peanut butter, over 90 percent of the ingredients are, you guessed it, peanuts.

However, for optimal results, peanut butter recipes should also include small amounts of salt, sugar or another sweetener, and oil, such as peanut oil or palm oil. These ingredients bring out the flavor of the peanuts to produce a rich, creamy, and balanced nut butter.

Traditional Peanut Butter Recipe:

*makes about 1 ½ cups of peanut butter*

• Raw, Shelled Peanuts: 2 cups
• Salt: ½ teaspoon
• Sugar or Honey: 1 tablespoon
• Peanut Oil: 1 tablespoon

The Peanut Butter Process

The first step in making peanut butter is roasting the peanuts. Heat the oven to 350℉ and place the peanuts onto a baking sheet. Bake the peanuts for around 10 minutes, or until they become a light golden brown. This is an optional step if you prefer raw peanut butter for any reason, but roasting the peanuts loosens up the organic oils, which makes them easier to blend and produces a much deeper flavor. 

Next, transfer the warm roasted peanuts into a food processor or blender and pulse them until ground, about one minute. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and pulse the processor again. The peanuts will gradually become gritty and dry before they start clumping together. Continue to repeat this procedure, and the peanuts will start to get softer as the oils release. Slowly, they will transform into a glossy, soft butter.

After three or four minutes of this, add in your sugar (or sweetener of choice), salt, and oil and continue to process for an additional one or two minutes until done.

The finished product should be a rich, creamy peanut butter, which can be easily transferred to a storage container. Adjust your quantities to your liking, but this simple process makes it extremely easy to produce homemade peanut butter in bulk.

Homemade peanut butter lasts several weeks and is best kept refrigerated.

Peanut Butter Variations

While many peanut butter variations exist, peanuts are always the predominant ingredient. But any other kind of nut works exactly the same in the above recipe—try it with pistachios, cashews, almonds, and more. However, for chocolate peanut butter, melt a half-cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips, let cool to room temperature, and whirl them into the blending stage. For maple peanut butter, add three tablespoons of pure maple syrup to the mixture and blend until smooth. For cinnamon peanut butter, add a half-teaspoon of ground cinnamon into the concoction and run the processor until thoroughly mixed.

Hampton Farms has been delivering the freshest, best quality peanuts from seed to shelf since 1917. Our business is family owned and operated, and we are committed to producing the finest peanut-based snacks and services with integrity, honesty, and the pride of American farmers. Whether you are restocking your peanut stash or making peanut butter for the first time, try Hampton Farms peanuts today.