Recipe Directions

  • 1. Place the almonds only (do not add the honey or salt) into your food processer.
  • 2. Food process your almonds for five minutes, stopping every 1 minute to scrape down the sides. (Almonds will just be all powdery and you'll think you need to add liquids. But do NOT add any liquids.)
  • 3. Continue processing almondsfor an additional 15 minutes.(Yes, that's right, 20 minutes total!!) Almonds will eventually turn dough-like, then whipped, and then finally, they'll turn buttery and identical to store bought almond butter if you process them long enough! (Scroll down to "Thoughts" for a minute-by-minute play by play!)
  • 3. After approximately 20minutes of food processing (could be a bit longer or a bit less depending on the strength of your food processor), your almond butter is ready.
  • 4. Transfer creamy, spreadable almond butter to a jar or bowl. Then, optionally, add the honey and salt immediately and then stir by hand.
  • 5. Enjoy immediately. Store leftovers in fridge.

The Rawtarian's Thoughts

By The Rawtarian

Raw almond butter recipes are something of a myth in the raw food world. Why won't they blend well? What's the deal with all these bad raw almond butter recipes?

But I've got a raw almond butter recipe that does the trick.

Make this raw almond butter recipe in your food processor, not your blender, not your VitaMix and not your BlendTec. (Trust me.)

This raw almond butter recipe is simple and delicious. I love it spread on apples or raw crackers. Keep it in the fridge. It tastes best when it is served at room-temperature.

Note: Do NOT soak your almonds in advance. (Use dry, unsalted, unsoaked, unroasted almonds.)

This is a great replacement for peanut butter. And much healthier, too!

Please wear ear protection, by the way! This is a long and loud process.

Note: Note all food processors are up to this task. There is a small chance that your food processor's engine will burn out during this process, particularly if you have a cheap one. Consider letting the motor pause for a few 20 second intervals during this process to let your food processor cool down a little.

Note re: photograph: The almond butter in this photograph is a bit too chunky! Keep processing until you get the texture of store bought spreadable wet butter. I need to update this photo but I haven't gotten around to it yet!

Laura-Jane's Notes using her Cuisinart Classic Food Processor:

  • First 5 minutes: Need to scrape the sides every minute or so to ensure the mixture is evenly distributed. (Important.)
  • 5 minutes: Sticky, beginning to ball together.
  • 6 minutes: Formed a big ball. (Might need to stop briefly and bust up the ball.) 
  • 8 minutes: Doesn't need any more interference from here on. Now, little sticky crumbs.  
  • 10 minutes: Big hot sticky dough ball!
  • 11 minutes: Starting to look whipped!
  • 12 minutes: Getting wet.
  • 14 minutes: Getting smooth and creamy!
  • 16 minutes: Similar to above.
  • 17 minutes: More spreadable, almost store bought.
  • 18 minutes: As spreadable as store bought!
  • 20 minutes: Yep - it's perfect! Same texture as store bought but a little lighter in color.

Recipe Photos

Nutrition Facts

Nutritional score: 89 out of 100
  • This recipe is very low in Calories, Carbohydrates, and Sodium.
  • This recipe is an excellent source of Vitamin E.
  • This recipe is a good source of Protein, and Riboflavin.
  • This recipe is a noteworthy source of Dietary Fiber, and Iron.

Amounts per 35 g (1 oz) suggested serving

NameAmount% Daily
Calories 206 8 %
Protein 7 g 13 %
Fat 18 g 23 %
Carbohydrates 7 g 2 %
Dietary Fiber 4 g 12 %
Sugars 1.7 g
Calcium 92 mg 9 %
Iron 1.3 mg 10 %
Sodium 1 mg
Source: USDA, The Rawtarian

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Comments and Reviews

Top voted

530 votes
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Do you need to refrigerate? How long will it keep? (FYI - I have a super cuisinart and it took way longer than 10 minutes)

495 votes
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Hi Beth, it will keep for at least 5 days in the fridge.

476 votes
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LOL Ooops baby look, I burned up my Food Processor trying to make you some coconut butter, mmmmm Yeah, i think that will work ***Winx***

Signed Me

T

All

84 votes
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Kate's Review

Raw almond butter recipe
5
5 out of 5

My raw almonds turned into butter in 10 minutes of processing in Breville food processor without adding anything! I am very excited!

87 votes
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Kate's Review

Raw almond butter recipe
5
5 out of 5

My raw almonds turned into butter in 10 minutes of processing in Breville food processor without adding anything! I am very excited!

97 votes
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Kate's Review

Raw almond butter recipe
5
5 out of 5

My raw almonds turned into butter in 10 minutes of processing in Breville food processor without adding anything! I am very excited!

82 votes
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I did not have any luck with this recipe... I kept processing and processing, I'm in nearly 90min and the it's still crumbly. I adjusted speeds to try, and finally just started adding coconut oil and honey and still never ended up getting it a creamy texture. Even after getting into it's container, it's just more a dough than anything. This one will take some time to conquer I guess.

117 votes
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antoineh's Review

Raw almond butter recipe
5
5 out of 5

Much better than the store one. However, it took me 50 minutes to reach the desired consistency and 40 minutes to form the big ball.

Posted from The Rawtarian's Raw Recipes App

105 votes
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Wow, now THAT is a lot of processing! Glad it turned out for you!!!!! :)

98 votes
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Questions:
1. If one soaks raw almonds and peels the skin but lets them dry, that should be ok, right? Some sources I found say that almonds need to be soaked (and have their skin peeled) b/c the skin has enzyme inhibitors that make digestion and use of the nutrition difficult.

2. If I wanted to make sure the almonds don't get heated above 118 degrees F via the food processor (to preserve the 'rawness' and those benefits), I'm assuming I can periodically check the temperature of the almond mixture (e.g. via an infrared, non-contact thermometer) & stop and let the mixture cool if it's too hot? But if I do stop and let it cool periodically, will the mixture become unmanageable (as long as I don't let it cool down too much?) (note: a nutrition-minded friend told me that roasting almonds changes their fats; he also recommended not heating above 107-118 degrees F -- I'm in the process of researching this ... )

3. Do you have recommendations for food processors that will perform this job nicely?

4. Why is this much healthier than peanut butter (I'm not disputing this -- I'm trying to compare this to making peanut butter from peanuts and ... I don't understand the health advantage)? I normalized/converted the nutrition info for 4 nuts (cashews, pistachios, almonds, peanuts) to a common amount (e.g. 24g, although it can be any size as long as it's the same & you ratio the nutrition info based on it), and I couldn't detect a significant health advantage of almonds over peanuts. E.g. for 24g, almonds have 180 calories, 14g fat, 1g sat fat, 3.5g poly fat, 9g mono fat, 6g carbs, 3g fiber, 1g sugar, 6g protein. 24g of peanuts have 138 cals, 11g fat, 1.4g sat fat, 3.4g poly fat, 6g mono fat, 7g carbs, 2.6g carbs, 2g sugar, 5g protein. Both have no cholesterol & no trans fats.

120 votes
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Have you checked the temp of the almond butter when it's finished? My process is pretty much the same as yours and after I scooped the almond butter out of the food processor into jars, I stuck in an instant read thermometer. By this time, the temp had to have reduced a bit, but it was still too hot at 120. No longer raw. So disappointing. I will try next time giving lots of rests to the processor to keep the heat down, but not sure how well the oils will release or how much time that will add. Any others with similar experience or solutions?

127 votes
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Do you need to soak the raw almond to remove the peptic acid before blending them into butter?

136 votes
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Nope :) Do not soak. The almonds need to be dry to make this recipe.

103 votes
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How about soaking then drying before processing? That would activate the nuts and unlock the nutritions that are locked done in nuts in their dormant (pre soak stage). I almost never it nuts without soaking because of this

98 votes
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Good suggestion! This is definitely an option for those who want to take this extra step :)

But to others who read this and find the idea of that overwhelming, it's not necessary and that step can be skipped.

xox

126 votes
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Can you use the Omega 8004 that has the attachments for nut butter ?
Or is the food processor better?

130 votes
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I have an 8006 which is just a newer version of the 8004. It will create nut butter.

The cons:
It's very messy (using a food processor is also very messy, but the juicer is more so).
You have to put the nuts through the juicer numerous times.

The pros:
It doesn't heat up like a food processor, so if you want raw nut butter you can run it through the juicer nonstop and not run the risk of the butter being heated past the point of still being raw.

130 votes
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I imagine that it would be messy to make almond butter in a juicer!

128 votes
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Hi Oma! I've never done it myself as I have never owned an Omega, but I am sure it would be worth a shot -- especially if it's an attachment made specifically for nut butters. The timelines might be a bit off, but my timeline will at least give you a sense of what to expect :)

Good luck and let me know how it turns out

164 votes
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Sandy's Review

Raw almond butter recipe
5
5 out of 5

I made a half batch of the Almond Butter and it turned out perfectly delicious. Thank you for this wonderful recipe.

148 votes
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I'm so glad it worked out well for you, Sandy! What did you eat it with?

144 votes
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Sandy's Review

Raw almond butter recipe
5
5 out of 5

I used a tablespoon of the almond butter in a breakfast bowl, and the remaining with apples. Delicious!

143 votes
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Very nice Sandy!

174 votes
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Sorry to ask a silly question, so you are saying not to use a Vitamix, is it possible to use a Thermomix? no heat of course?

143 votes
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Hi Adam...I make nut butters in my Viatmix all the time. Takes only a few minutes and works perfecyly. Thanks for the great recipe Rawtarian!

154 votes
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Hi Adam! I've never used one, but it should be okay! :)

145 votes
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desiree's Review

Raw almond butter recipe
5
5 out of 5

My family will not eat store-bought almond butter, but they will eat this one! Thank you for this simple, yet delicious recipe. And yes, the full 10 minutes were needed.

164 votes
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Wonderful news, Desiree. It's always great to have your family on board! Thx for sharing!

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