Last week, I stopped by the store to pick up a few ingredients and restock my pantry shelves. I headed straight for the baking section, set baking powder and a few bags of whole wheat flour into my cart, then walked to the end of the aisle for cocoa powder.
As I glanced at the display, I internally groaned… The cocoa powder that I needed was on the very tippy top shelf, well above where I could reach! I stared up at the boxes of cocoa powder for what felt like an eternity…
Yet shortly after, a man who stood over 6 feet tall wandered onto the aisle, so I politely asked if he was able to reach that pesky cocoa powder on the top shelf. He laughed and offered to grab as many boxes as I needed, and after I thanked him profusely, we both continued on with our shopping.
I turned my cart down the next aisle to pick up more almonds and cashews, but as I glanced to my left, the shelves of nut butters caught my eye… And I did a double-take. $10 for a teensy jar of “fancy” almond butter?? I thought incredulously. I could easily make that myself for half the cost!
And that’s exactly what I did once I got home! I whipped up a batch of this Healthy Vanilla Bean Almond Butter in my blender in just 10 minutes… And it tasted even better than those fancy store-bought jars!
The best news? You just need 3 ingredients to make it!
So let’s talk about how to make this homemade vanilla bean almond butter!
To start, you’ll need roasted unsalted almonds. It’s pretty hard to make healthy vanilla bean almond butter without the nuts, right?? ?
Since most stores typically sell roasted salted almonds OR raw unsalted almonds, I prefer to buy the latter and toast them myself! It’s super easy. Just toss them on a foil-lined baking sheet (for easy clean up later!) and bake at 350°F until they’re fragrant.
Just remember to cool your almonds to room temperature before using them to make this healthy vanilla bean almond butter!
Next, you’ll need vanilla bean paste. This is the one I use! It’s cheaper than buying whole vanilla beans, and it’s also easier to use. You don’t have to scrape out the vanilla beans out of the pods yourself, which makes me one happy girl!
Then the last ingredient you’ll need to make this healthy vanilla bean almond butter is… Salt! I find that nut butters made without salt taste pretty bland. That little salt pop makes a big difference in this healthy vanilla bean almond butter’s flavor!
Hint: If you decide to use roasted salted almonds instead of toasting your own raw unsalted almonds, then simply reduce the amount of salt you add to compensate!
Time to turn those ingredients into this healthy vanilla bean almond butter! And to do that, you’ll need a blender or food processor. This is the blender that I use. It makes the smoothest, creamiest, absolute best homemade almond butter!
Hint: Modern high-powered blenders with really sharp blades work best! Because it takes about 10 minutes to make this healthy vanilla bean almond butter, you want to use a blender than can stay on that long without overheating, too.
Would you blame me if I said my favorite way to eat this is with a spoon?? And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your healthy homemade vanilla bean almond butter!
| Healthy Blender Vanilla Bean Almond Butter | | Print |
- 2 cups (285g) roasted unsalted almonds (see Notes!)
- 2 tsp vanilla bean paste (I use this one!)
- ¼ tsp salt (or adjusted to taste… I often use more!)
- Add the almonds to a high-powered blender, and blend the almonds until smooth and creamy, with a texture similar to thick honey, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed. Add the vanilla bean paste and salt. Blend until everything is fully incorporated and smooth. Transfer to a glass jar or airtight container, and refrigerate.
Lightly salted roasted almonds may be substituted, and reduce the amount of salt called for in the recipe to compensate.
For a stronger vanilla bean flavor, increase the vanilla bean paste by an additional teaspoon. From my experience, it seems like more vanilla bean paste causes the almond butter to thicken (or look like it has “seized!”). If this happens to you, then add any neutral tasting oil (except coconut oil!) ¼ teaspoon at a time to your blender, and continue blending until the almond butter is the consistency that you’d like.
I prefer my vanilla bean almond butter without any sweeteners, but you’re welcome to add some if you prefer! My favorite is ¼ to ½ teaspoon of vanilla stevia (I buy it online here because that’s the cheapest price I’ve found!). Pure maple syrup, honey, and agave also work. I typically avoid granular sweeteners because they don’t always evenly distribute throughout the almond butter.
You’ll want to use a blender (or food processor!) with very sharp blades and a strong motor. This ensures that the almond butter turns out smooth and creamy without overworking your machine. This is the blender that I own, and I absolutely love it! It’s worth every single penny, and I use it every day. (And if you check out this blog post, you’ll see lots more recipes of mine you can make with it!) See the text of this blog post above for more information about the best blenders!
For the thickest texture, wait at least 12 hours after refrigerating before dipping in your spoon!
{gluten-free, clean eating, vegan, low carb, low sugar}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Healthy Blender Dark Chocolate Almond Butter
♡ Healthy Blender Cinnamon Roll Almond Butter
♡ Healthy Blender Vanilla Espresso Almond Butter
♡ Healthy Blender Almond Joy Almond Butter
♡ Healthy Blender Pumpkin Spice Almond Butter
I don’t blame you at all! 🙂
Thanks Liz! You’re the best!! 🙂
Can you use a coffee grinder for the almonds?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe, Alicia! I actually don’t recommend trying that. I explain why it’s important to use a high-powered blender (or food processor!) in the blog post above the recipe, and for those reasons, I don’t think a coffee grinder will work and result in smooth, creamy almond butter — without overheating! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you’re able to make this almond butter!
I have used non roasted almonds and they don’t blend smoothly at all without adding oil. Are roasted the only way to go? doesn’t look anything like yours!
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe! I always use roasted almonds in my homemade almond butter because I think they have a much better flavor and texture. The texture is also tied to the blender/food processor that you use! My food processor’s blades aren’t quite as sharp as my blender’s blades, and I’ve found that my blender almond butter is always smoother and creamier and more liquidy / not even slightly chunky. What’s the exact brand and model of blender or food processor that you’re using? 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try this almond butter recipe!
I tried to make it with just plain room temp almonds in my Ninja Intellisense Blender which is a powerful one but it does not get creamy just looks like not working so then I put some almond oil in it and it works, but would love it to work without that step. What does roasting do to make it work so well, I am curious! TIA and LOVE your site!
Thanks so much for your kind words about my site! That means a lot to me! 🙂 I use a Ninja blender as well! I’ve found that roasted almonds (rather than natural / raw almonds) do blend better and have a better flavor. I always make sure my homemade roasted almonds are at room temperature before making almond butter out of them! How long did you blend the almonds before adding the almond oil? I typically have to scrape down the sides a couple of times in the first 8 minutes to help move things along, but right around that 8 minute mark is when my almond butter starts to turn really creamy.
I would love to try this recipe, but do I have to have the vanilla bean paste in it? It has sugar in it and I would prefer to not have sugar in it at all. Would it still be good or should I add vanilla extract?
I’m so happy to hear you’re interested in this recipe, Aja! If you’re not too worried about having the vanilla flavor, you can completely omit the vanilla bean paste, or use our recipe for Easy Blender Almond Butter. We also have other almond butter recipes that don’t use vanilla bean paste you might like to try as well.
If you do want to keep the vanilla flavor you can try substituting vanilla extract, but it isn’t as strong. You may need to add more to detect a vanilla flavor. For what it’s worth, the amount of sugar in 2 teaspoons of the vanilla bean paste is pretty small, especially since it’s distributed throughout 1 cup + 2 tablespoons of almond butter! 😉
Whatever you decide, I’d love to hear what you think if you try any of these recipes!