Around my freshman year of high school, my mom’s allergies really started to flare up. She could barely make it through the day without Kleenex, despite taking medicine round the clock. The blossoming flowers and pollen caused even more issues, creeping their way into her sinuses, so she decided to have allergy testing done.
After pricking her with needles corresponding to 144 different common allergens, the doctor presented Mom with her results: not chocolate (thank goodness!!) but lots of other foods and just about every single plant out there.
Mom started receiving allergy shots a couple of times each week to help decrease her reactivity towards her biggest triggers and modified her diet as well. She eliminated peas (she literally jumped for joy about those—she’s hated them since she was a tiny girl!), raw tomatoes and bell peppers, cantaloupe, walnuts, peanuts, and countless other foods.
But because our family loves peanut butter, especially on toast in the mornings, Mom started to search for alternatives. Although she bought quite a few jars of nutella for her English muffins, she also picked up almond butter from Trader Joe’s, way back before it became popular.
I tagged along on one of her trips to TJ’s, and as we walked around the aisles tossing produce and snacks into the cart, we stopped at the nut butter shelf to refill Mom’s almond butter stash at home. While she grabbed a jar, I scanned the other options and noticed something I’d never heard of before: cashew butter.
Since cashews are her favorite nut, I nearly mentioned it to Mom… And then saw the price sticker. That much for a tiny jar of nut butter?? Oh my! So I kept my mouth shut and walked to the register with her to check out instead.
Because I’ve been nut-butter-obsessed lately, eating both my almond butter and peanut butter out of the jars with a spoon (does anyone else do that?), I wanted to add a new variety to my stash: this Easy Blender Cashew Butter! That might have been a bad idea though… After sampling it again and again and maybe even again, this new jar won’t last long at all!
Since this recipe only includes two ingredients—cashews and salt—let’s talk about the equipment you’ll need.
In other words… The blender. I highly recommend a high-speed blender that can handle staying on and crushing nuts for at least 10 minutes. (My parents’ 30-year-old blender would probably fizzle out after just a few minutes!) Ninja, Vitamix, and Blendtec are the best options. I currently own and love this blender. If you don’t have one of these high-speed blenders, then use a food processor instead. (I have this one.)
Now add the cashews, turn on the blender, and wait. And wait. And wait. It’ll take about 10 minutes for the blades to turn those nuts into thick, creamy butter, and you may need to occasionally scrape down the sides with a spatula. But all of that patience will pay off!
As soon as the blades stop, the cashew butter will be very warm and slightly liquidly from the heat of the blender’s motor. Transfer it to a jar, and place that in the refrigerator to help it thicken to a peanut-butter-like consistency. It takes a few hours, if not overnight, but when you dip in your knife spoon…
Cashew perfection!
| Easy Blender Cashew Butter | | Print |
- 2 cups (240g) roasted lightly salted cashews
- ½ tsp salt, or to taste
- Add the cashews to a high-speed blender, and blend on low for 8-10 minutes or until creamy, scraping down the sides with a spatula as necessary. Add the salt, and blend for 20-30 seconds. Transfer to a jar or airtight container, and store in the refrigerator.
In answer to the “Why not raw cashews?” question, raw cashews get stuck in the blender and it’s impossible to get beyond a coarse cashew flour. I’m going to mix my raw mistake in with the roasted cashew butter.
Thanks for sharing your insight Jennifer — I appreciate it! 🙂 I hope your roasted cashew butter turned out much better!
Hello Amy , I love peanut butter and grew up on it. But I have heard of info. That bacteria gets on the peanut s when being stored I started making cashew butter and almond butter and Am going to add caca power chocolate I have a Tower high powered blender that makes nut butters,ice cream,soup, smoothies and I Love it I have made quite a few of your cookie, banana bread and scones making Carrot ? next today I have ricotta cheese can I use that instead of cream cheese? Thank you ☮☯
I’m so glad you’re enjoying my recipes Melissa! I have a few of carrot cake recipes, so please leave your comment on the specific recipe that you’re interested in trying so that I can give you the best advice possible. 🙂
Do you recommend soaking the nuts first? I’ve read it removes the phytic acid and makes them easier to digest.
No, I do not recommend soaking the nuts first for my homemade nut butter recipes. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of this cashew butter Dawn!
You would soak raw nuts, not roasted 🙂
Hi Amy,
Are you 100% sure you dont need to add any oil for example coconut oil cause I dont seem to get it right. I prepare peanut butter since year 2000, but in this case, peanuts have so much oil that dont need; But cashew nuts are different.. God knows why I cant get it right…
Thanks
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Michael! As long as you’re using one of the blender/food processors that I recommend, you won’t need any added oil. If you’re using a blender that doesn’t have a powerful motor or very sharp blades, then it won’t crush the cashews into as small of pieces, and you’ll probably need a little oil, like vegetable or canola oil, as a result. I highly recommend staying away from coconut oil in homemade nut butters because it’s a solid at room temperature, and homemade nut butters should be stored in the refrigerator, which is even cooler. This means that coconut oil won’t help add any liquid to your nut butter — in fact, it’ll make it more solid and much harder to spread! 🙂
Thanks a lot!
I see what I can do… hummmm cant make up my mind what way to go really.
Though I believe that not having a very pure and natural oil as an option I will go for the coconut oil. It will get the butter/paste a bit solid but utterly healthy. I will let you know. Thanks for yoru suggestions…
My pleasure, Michael! If you’re okay with olive oil as a pure and natural oil, that will be a better option than coconut oil. Still, I’d love to hear what you think of this cashew butter regardless of what you end up using! 🙂
I had some roasted unsalted cashews that I tried to “fix” with olive oil and salt. Unfortunately, I used too much oil and was left with oily salted cashews. Amazing that after a few minutes in my food processor those oily nuts are now cashew butter. I know you didn’t call for oil in your recipe, but it worked with that added in.
I’m glad you were able to save your cashews with this recipe Andrew! I hope you enjoyed your cashew butter! 🙂 And thanks for letting me know the extra olive oil didn’t make a difference — I always love hearing what recipe tweaks work!
Hi Amy,
With ref to your question regarding raw v roasted nuts, I think the issue may be the production of acrylamide which significantly increases during the roasting process (there’s a bit of concern about this online but here’s a relatively easily digestible link http://www.healwithfood.org/list/foods-high-in-acrylamide.php). I might experiment with raw and maybe add some cinnamon or something to add flavour if it turns out too bland, just in case. If I ever get round to it i’ll let you know how it turned out!
I’d love to hear how it turns out if you do, Glen! Thanks for offering to let me know! 🙂
I am super excited to make this!! But, I too would prefer to use raw because raw nuts are much healthier for you. When cooking nuts you lose a lot of the nutrients and enzymes (as with any whole food). However, I am curious to know if the butter would keep as long as the roasted nut butter would in the fridge. Any idea?!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Tiffany! I haven’t tried raw cashews, so I’m not sure. But from the research I’ve done, there really isn’t a big difference in the nutrient levels between raw and roasted cashews. (I was an organic chemist before I became a baking blogger, so I love nerdy food chemistry like that! 😉 ) I can’t wait to hear what you think of this cashew butter!
This destroyed my food processor.
The fumes got in the cashew paste. So the paste wasn’t edible either:
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe! That sounds frustrating. Did you use one of the blender or food processor brands that I recommended? I went over that in more detail in the text of my blog post above the recipe! 🙂
Wow! How many people asked you the SAME question over and over and….raw or roasted??? That would be known as a first world problem in the UK! Get a grip people! Thanks for the recipe Amy, it’s fab! x
I’m so glad you enjoyed this almond butter Lyn!! 🙂
Hi Amy,
I have been unsuccessful making cashew butter. I start with 1 and 1/4 pound of raw cashews, rinse them in warm water and then dry roast them in a low(130 degree) oven until you can see the oils.
I immediately then put the warm roasted cashews in a Cuisinart food processor and turn into nut butter which it does and then goes into the refrigerator. It is creamy and liquidy at this point before going in the fridge.
After being in the fridge, the problem is that my nut butter is hard. You can slice it. So, I tried adding between 1 to 4 heaping table spoons of coconut oil during the processing and the result is the same.
Any suggestions for why my nut butter is not spreadable? I do have a Vitamix. So, I could try that if you think it would be worth it. I could try other oils if you think it would be better.
I am cooking for someone that needs to gain weight, so adding the oil didn’t seem so bad 🙂
Any help would be appreciated,
Thank you,
I
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Deborah! Do NOT use coconut oil in your cashew butter! It’s a solid when at temperatures less than room temperature, so it actually exacerbates your hard cashew butter issue. 🙂 How liquidy is your cashew butter when you transfer it from your Cuisinart to your jar? If it’s not as liquidy as honey, then it’s actually your food processor that’s the issue, not your method of preparing it. If it’s thicker than honey, then your food processor just doesn’t have sharp enough blades and a strong enough motor to achieve the proper consistency.
If you’d still like to use your same food processor, then try adding canola or olive oil to your cashew butter instead of coconut oil. If you’re up for purchasing a new food processor, then I guarantee the one I use works! I’ve already linked to it in the recipe, and I purchased it online at that same link. 🙂
Hi Amy,
Thanks for your quick response. My cashew butter with the coconut oil was runny like honey until chilled. Great to know my processor is ok… .I’m happy to be able to add oil since it;s for my husband who is working on gaining weight. I will try olive oil after he finishes his sliceable coconut cashew butter. 🙂
Do you have any suggestions about how much olive oil to use? So, how much olive oil per cup or pound of roasted cashews?
Do you think that avocado or grapeseed oil might also work? We are avoiding canola oil. I was hoping to be able to change it up since he wants nut butter for lunch almost every day.
I make him 2 other nut butters: Hazelnut and combo of brazil nuts, hazelnuts and walnuts. They come out great without any thing extra. Of course his fav is cashew. I would like to try almond butter but with truly raw(not pasteurized) almonds. I know there is a chemical and steam process that they use on domestic almonds and still call it raw that bother him. I ‘m sad that I will have to try imported raw almonds to see how that goes…
Thank you so much
.
It’s my pleasure, Deborah! I don’t have a good estimate because I’ve never had to add oil to my cashew butter. It’s still spreadable, even after chilling. I’d say to drizzle in a teaspoon at a time until your cashew butter is closer to the consistency of pure maple syrup, rather than honey. Any oil that’s still a liquid at room temperature will work — so basically, anything except coconut oil! 😉
Thank you so much Amy, I was anxious about making my own butter as we have gone plant based diet five months ago but I tried this and absolutely love it and it is SO easy and way cheaper! I make it every fortnight or so now! Thank you! Jazelle
I’m so glad you’re enjoying this cashew butter Jazelle! That means so much to me that you make it so often. Thank you for sharing that with me — it made my day!! 🙂