Chocolate Hazelnut Spread (Healthy Nutella)

❓ What is Nutella?

Store-bought Nutella is a gooey chocolate spread made from roasted hazelnuts, skim milk, sugar, palm oil, and cocoa. While it is technically a nut butter, it doesn’t contain the same health benefits as other nut butters like almond butter or smooth peanut butter. 

Homemade Nutella recipes, however, are made with minimal, natural ingredients and zero preservatives. The end result keeps the chocolatey hazelnut spread healthy with the ultimate creamy consistency!

⭐ Why You'll Love This Recipe

Stop buying overpriced hazelnut butter! Instead, make it from scratch for a fraction of the price. This homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Spread mimics the luxurious taste and texture of Nutella but is made with only 4 dairy free, vegan ingredients and no added sugar. 

Making dark chocolate hazelnut spread at home is unbelievably easy in a food processor or blender. It whips up in just a few minutes and lasts for weeks! Smear it onto a slice of walnut banana bread, add to you homemade oatmeal cookies, your morning toast, or drizzle it on a chocolate cake. There’s no wrong way to use homemade Nutella!

🍴Ingredients

• Hazelnuts - Raw hazelnuts are best here. Toasting them releases the oils and intensifies their naturally sweet and creamy flavors. This is our main ingredient, so make sure you're grabbing some quality hazelnuts for our homemade spread. 
• Vanilla extract - Quality pure vanilla extract is best, but vanilla powder or vanilla paste will work instead.
• Salt - Just a pinch to brighten up every flavor. Use sea salt if you have it or just regular table salt.
• Dark chocolate - Use your favorite dark chocolate bar, chunks, or chips. Dark chocolate is usually dairy free, but check the ingredients beforehand if you want to keep this hazelnut butter vegan-friendly.

📖 Step by Step Instructions

Step 1: Toast the hazelnuts. Spread the hazelnuts out on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and toast them in the oven until lightly browned and fragrant.

Step 2: Remove the hazelnut skins. Peel off the skins by rubbing the toasted hazelnuts gently with a clean towel. 

Step 3: Blend the hazelnuts. Place the hazelnuts in a food processor (or high powered blender) and blend until smooth and creamy. Every 20 seconds, use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides of your food processor bowl to ensure everything is mixing evenly. 

Step 4: Combine with vanilla and dark chocolate. Add the vanilla extract and melted chocolate and blend until incorporated. Transfer the chocolate spread to a glass jar, let it cool before closing the lid, then start spreading it on everything!

👩🏻‍🍳 Expert Tips

• Toast the hazelnuts at home - Taking the time to toast your own raw, whole hazelnuts on a rimmed baking sheet instead of buying roasted hazelnuts will boost the best flavor and color. Plus, the skins are easier to remove from freshly toasted nuts.
• Always remove the skins - Hazelnut skins have a bitter flavor, which you don’t want in your DIY Nutella creamy chocolate spread! Use a clean kitchen towel to gently rub off the skins of your hazelnuts after they've been toasted in the oven.
• The easiest way to remove hazelnut skins is to rub the nuts in a clean towel. If the friction doesn’t pull the skins right off, you need to roast the hazelnuts a few minutes longer.
• Use a food processor - It’s the best tool for blending crunchy nuts into creamy nut butter. Blenders work as well but you may need to stop and scrape down the sides as you go.
• Add some additional flavors - Perhaps you prefer milk chocolate, a touch of sweetened condensed milk, cocoa powder, honey or a dash of maple syrup! Making your own chocolate hazelnut spread means that you can add ingredients that are specific to your palate. 

How to use homemade hazelnut butter

Chocolate hazelnut spread is a versatile, sweet, and chocolatey addition to all kinds of recipes and treats! Chocolate lovers may use it as a:

• Spread: On your morning piece of toast or banana bread slices.
• Filling: In a chocolate hazelnut tahini babka, cheesecakes, layer cakes, sandwich cookies, macarons, ice cream sandwiches, and smoothies.
• Topping: On pancakes, waffles, chocolate milkshakes, granola, fresh strawberries and ice cream.
• Decoration: On frosted cupcakes, instead of ganache, or on top of chocolate-flavored macarons.

💭 Recipe FAQs