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Homemade Cashew Butter

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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.

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

Cropped blue bowl filled with creamy nut butter with colorful text above and below for Pinterest.
Tilted forward blue bowl full of a nut butter on a wooden bead mat.

Homemade Cashew Butter

Ginny McMeans
Homemade Cashew Butter is a very versatile spread – you can substitute it for peanut butter in almost any recipe.
5 from 3 votes
Print Save
Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Course Sauces, Dressings, Condiments
Cuisine Nut Butters
Servings 16 Ounces
Calories 89 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups cashew pieces
  • no other ingredient needed

Instructions
 

  • 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 almost done but it 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.

Nutrition

Serving: 2OuncesCalories: 89kcalCarbohydrates: 4gProtein: 2gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 1mgPotassium: 106mgVitamin C: 0.1mgCalcium: 6mgIron: 1.1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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Comments

    5 from 3 votes (1 rating without comment)

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    Recipe Rating




  2. You are so welcome Becky! I hope you get to try it. It is very important to let your machine run long enough to get the cashews creamy. All machines are a bit different and may need cooling down every once in a while. Not my Ninja though. Ha! You’d think I had stock in them.

  10. Im going to buy some cashews to make this weekend! By “ready to bake” do you mean dry roasted cashews? Like the kind you can buy in the store already roasted?

  11. Yes, that is what I meant. You can make the butter with any kind of cashew. It would be cleaner/healthier with raw cashews but I know they are hard to find sometimes.

  16. Yeah Ninja! Just got one for my birthday from my family. This recipe is definitely on my list. Always have cooked everything from scratch. Love your site.

  18. Do I have to do anything special to raw cashews before using them? I can’t use regular cashews cause they have peanut oil on them.

  19. No nothing special. Just soak as usual. I almost always use raw cashews. The longer you process them the creamer they become. If your blender heats up just make sure you let it cool down every minute or so.

  22. Thank you for posting this recipe, all of the others that I have found wanted you to add oil of some sort & sugar or honey. It came out really good!

  25. I’m not having much luck with this. I’m using raw cashew pieces (with nothing added). I’ve blended them in a food processor and now they’ve just formed a huge tough lump like clay. I reluctantly added a little olive oil and a little grapeseed oil but it hasn’t helped. I keep flattening it down with a spatula but it just balls up again and the blade spins fruitlessly around… Help!

  27. Oh, no. I just saw this. I am on the west coast. You are doing right. This is what happens. Scrape the sides, go, stop, scrapes the sides, go, stop, scrape the sides, go, stop. Do not add water. Oil and water don’t mix. Don’t add any oil. Not necessary. It will eventually start releasing it’s own oils. The longer you go the creamier it gets. Give your processor a rest every once in a while. I hope you kept going and you saw how it worked. If you put it in the fridge before it finished – take it out and keep going. You are not working in vain. It will work. So worth it. Let me know.

  29. What about roasting them first? I saw another recipe that said to use roasted ones. ? Can’t wait to try it. Thank you.

  33. I make my own cashew butter using raw cashew pieces and a pinch of salt. Nothing else.I do use my food processor, 3 1/2 cups raw pieces. I’ve never soaked my cashews.

  37. I know this might be redundant but .. All I have are Sea Salted cashews in hand..
    Do you think that would make the butter overly salted? Should I go for raw or non-salted cashews?
    Thanks!

  39. I wonder if one could use this cashew butter in place of butter to make a butter cream icing for a torte? Do you think it would work if icing sugar and a bit of cocoa were added? I’m curious to know if the cashew butter’s consistency is more buttery or peanut buttery like.

  40. It is just like peanut butter but I am thinking it would work as a frosting but not as light as a buttercream. Use this cashew butter, add some icing sugar and cocoa and add non dairy milk to the consistency that you want. Sorry I son’t have measurements. Just thinking what I would do.

  41. Great. Sounds like it would work. Will have to try it next time I prepare my torte. Thanks. : )

  42. Well, my blender just overheated without finishing the job. Which Ninja do you use? There are several models

  44. Is it possible to freeze this? Or will it separate? I prefer making things in bulk and putting it in the freezer šŸ™‚

  45. This may be a stupid question but why is it only good for two weeks? The nuts themselves would last a lot longer and you didn’t add anything to them.

  47. Not stupid at all Cheryl. I err on the side of caution. I should say several weeks and leave it to the persons discretion. The oils do cause the butter to go rancid more quickly but it still keeps very well.

  48. No worries, Cheryl! Homemade nut butters last quite a long time. I typically keep mine in the cabinet and they do fine for a couple months (probably longer but we eat them quickly). I’ve had a cinnamon-cashew butter in the refrigerator since last October and it’s now August of the next year. Enjoy!