Homemade Vegan Nutella Recipe
This is a recipe for a creamy, chocolatey, hazelnut spread that was all the rage of my childhood- but we’ve made this vegan Nutella recipe better for you, better for the cows, and better for the environment. Now you can have this rich chocolate spread without the guilt- you can even eat it by the spoonful!
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Nutella- What the Cool Kids Ate
Growing up, we all ate peanut butter sandwiches. It was a school lunch staple, and while not the most exciting option out there, it was good, and kept you happy. But if you were cool, your parents let you have a Nutella sandwich instead- I mean who wouldn’t pick chocolate and hazelnut over plain old peanut butter? I sometimes fit into this cool kid, Nutella on bread category, but I never fit into the really cool kid category- the parents who let their kids eat Nutella without the bread. In large globs, hanging off of pretzel sticks or apple slices, Nutella in a jar was about as close as a kid could get to ultimate popularity. If you’ve somehow never had Nutella (I don’t know, maybe you weren’t a cool kid in school in the early 2000’s) it is a hazelnut nut butter with added chocolate, that’s actually been around since the 1950’s. It’s delicious, but some of it’s ingredients are not.
Vegan “Nutella” Recipe- Like Nutella, but without the Bad Stuff
Here’s a few of the downsides of Nutella- palm oil, milk, whey, and fake vanilla extract. Starting at the least serious, real vanilla extract is a lot tastier so we can do that. Milk and whey are both dairy products, which are not great for you health-wise, but involve a lot of cruelty and death to cows. If you came looking for a vegan “nutella” recipe, I imagine you already knew that, but here’s an informative video if you want to learn more. It’s a little graphic, but sadly that’s how it is!
Palm oil is another tough one- it’s in a lot of products, vegan and not, but there are a lot of ethical concerns about using it. It is a huge contributor to deforestation, loss of ecosystems, and climate change. The refineries are an added strain and a producer of methane gas. Maybe the saddest to us humans is the effect the deforestation has on the habitat of orangutans, who are critically endangered. While Nutella claims that they are producing their palm oil sustainably, it’s hard to really say that their efforts are really effective.
Honestly, making your own vegan “nutella” and leaving out the bad stuff is really better.
Looking to Top Your Toast? Try one of these spreads!
- Sweet and Savory Tomato Jam Recipe
- Seasonal Vegan Spinach and Garlic Scape Pesto
- Black Walnut and Maitake Mushroom Pâté
- Maple Butternut Squash Dessert Crepes (just the maple butternut cream, not the crepes!)
- Holiday Baked Vegan Cheese with Guava Swirl
- Sweetened Vegan Cashew Mascarpone
Making Vegan “Nutella”
Making vegan “nutella” is basically the same as making any other nut butter- it’s all about putting it in your food processor, waiting, and somehow it works. We started our recipe by toasting the hazelnuts- we think it adds a nicer flavor, but if yours are already roasted feel free to skip. Many recipes have you remove the papery skins from the nuts- honestly, I can’t really be bothered with tasks like that, so I didn’t and it’s totally fine. Put all your nuts in the food processor and turn it on. It will go from large pieces into a powdery flour. Keep on going. If the flour all collects on the side, stop and scrape down the edges. Repeat, until, magically, the hazelnut powder will suddenly become wetter and stickier, and suddenly look like peanut butter. You’ve made it! Add the melted chocolate and other ingredients, and combine. Powdered sugar is an optional ingredient- depending on your own preferences, and how sweet your chocolate was, you might want to add some but you might not. Give it a taste to find out- a nice fat, rounded spoonful will really let you know if it needs adjusting.
Homemade Vegan “Nutella” Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups hazelnut pieces (240g)
- 3 oz. vegan chocolate
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. salt
- None-1/4 cup powdered sugar (adjust according to sweetness of original chocolate and preference)
Instructions
- Start by toasting your hazelnuts in a dry skillet for a few minutes, tossing occasionally, until fragrant. Transfer the hazelnuts to a food processor, and process for several minutes until it forms a peanut butter-like consistency. You will probably have to stop several times to scrape down the sides before it gets there.
- In the meantime, melt the chocolate and coconut butter, either in a double boiler or in 30 second increments in the microwave, stirring between each time. Once the hazelnut butter is formed, add the melted chocolate and coconut butter, plus the vanilla extract and salt. Process until smooth, then taste and add sugar as desired. Store at room temperature, and enjoy within a couple of weeks.
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