Name: Homemade Cashew Butter
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 2 cups cashew pieces; no other ingredient needed

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Homemade Cashew Butter is easy and a very versatile spread - you can substitute it for peanut butter in almost anything. It's a 5 minute how to make cashew butter recipe that is so delicious and naturally vegan.

Front and centered view of a textured blue bowl full of swirled homemade cashew butter.

Homemade Cashew Butter is more of a how-to than a recipe but I really wanted to share with you how easy it is to make. Being a very versatile spread - you can substitute it for peanut butter in almost any recipe.

So if you are on a paleo (keto) diet you can use cashew instead of peanut butter.

Cashews have a naturally rich and buttery taste which makes them perfect for a homemade spread.

Also, it is a great butter for additions to ice cream, sauces, candy and so much more. Spread on toast and have a great breakfast.

Very close up photo of creamy swirled cashew butter in a blue bowl on a white plate.

Table of Contents

Interesting cashew facts

Google a photo of cashew seeds on a cashew apple. It will blow your mind.
That brings us to the fact that cashews are not technically nuts but seeds.
They grow on trees that are 30-50 feet tall.
West Africa and India are the major producers of the seeds/nuts.
They are high in starch. That is why they work so well in thickening sauces.
Cashews are nutritious with lots of protein.
They are green before they are roasted.

Left cropped blue bowl filled with creamy nut butter with colorful text above and below.

Ingredients

Cashews - 🙂 - that's it! Cashews will naturally release their own oils.

Instructions

Here ya go. Exact instructions and then a pictorial.

This is such a simple process but I think the photos will help you visually.
Add the cashews to your food processor, or as I used, the Ninja.
Turn on the Ninja and process for about 10 seconds.
You will have a coarse meal as in the photo below.
All of these steps will take longer for a regular food processor but you will get there.
Whir another 20 seconds and you will see it starting to clump together.
Scrap down the sides to the center near the blades.
Whir another 20 seconds and scrape again.
This time hold it for about a minute. You will see the blades (through the plastic bowl on the outside of the Ninja) catch something once in a while so it is blending.
If you don't see the blades working, turn off and scrape again.
This time you will see the cashews blending for sure.
It is starting to look like cashew butter but is not quite there yet.
Hold for another 30 seconds to one minute and you will actually see the creamy cashew butter showing oil and creaming around the edges.

How to make cashew butter

A great way to buy cashews, especially in pieces, is in bulk. You can save a few pennies and make affordable nut butters.

Two cups of cashew pieces in a small food processor waiting to be made into a spread.

Drop the cashews into the food processor.

I have been asked since this recipe has come out which Ninja machine I used. It is the Ninja Master Prep and I use the smallest unit for this recipe.

I've been making cashew butter for over seven years now and they have come out with more models but I still love mine.

Overhead view looking down into a small food processor as the seeds are just starting to be buttered.

You can see the coarsely ground seeds and how it all begins.

Overhead view of cashews being beaten down to a spread but showing as clumps.

More and more oils are being released as the processing goes and you can see in the photo below that it is almost there.

I probably have been going about a minute in the photo above.

Give the machine a rest every 30 seconds and the clumps begin to form. It really is fast work though.

Looking down into a small food processor where cashews have just started to get creamy.

Just keep going until you have a creamy spread.

That is it! You have a beautiful, homemade, natural, healthy, creamy nut butter.

Store in the refrigerator with a tight-fitting lid for up to 2 weeks.

Cashew butter recipes

Cashew Butter Chocolate Truffles would probably be your favorite if they came in a store-bought mixed truffles mix.
Cashew Pralines are sweet sweet sweet and irresistible.

Cropped blue bowl filled with creamy nut butter with colorful text above and below for Pinterest.

📋 Recipe