This delicious smooth and creamy healthy homemade Nutella recipe is one of the most popular recipes I’ve ever posted, and for good reason!
The Best Nutella Recipe
Currently with more than ten thousand positive online reviews, this surprisingly easy Nutella recipe is definitely a huge reader favorite.
Super rich and creamy, it effortlessly holds its own against that famous Ferrero chocolate spread in the iconic red and white plastic jars at the grocery store.
And yet the homemade version also has fewer than half the calories per serving.
It’s much healthier than store-bought, without sacrificing any of the kid friendly classic chocolate taste that we all know and love.
Also be sure to try these Black Bean Brownies
Homemade Nutella
Just one spoonful of the thick chocolate vegan Nutella recipe, and you’ll absolutely never want to put the spoon down again.
Yes, it’s that good.
Unless, of course, you don’t like Nutella… is such a thing even possible?
Is there really a single person in this world who can resist that luxuriously rich and velvety hazelnut chocolate spread?
If true, please send me your spoon so I can happily eat your portion.
I’m nice like that.
Healthy Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
I didn’t specifically set out to make a low calorie Nutella.
It just turned out that way.
Unlike store-bought Nutella, which lists palm oil and sugar as the first two ingredients, this option is suitable for vegans or those with dairy allergies and is lower in sugar or can be a sugar free recipe.
It’s also high in Vitamin E, B vitamins, and healthy fats.
My first introduction to Nutella was in preschool, and it was love at first bite.
Back then, the spread wasn’t popular like it is now. All of the other children in my class thought I was so weird for bringing Nutella sandwiches to school, neatly packed into a lunchbox with the crusts cut off.
Day after day, they ate their boring peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, while I blissfully devoured a chocolate sandwich.
Needless to say, in just a few months I’d hooked all of my friends on this miracle hazelnut cocoa spread, and soon everyone was bringing Nutella for lunch, as sandwiches or a dip for fresh apple slices, strawberries, or bananas.
Vegan Nutella Ingredients
I gave up eating Nutella upon going vegan years ago. Vegan Nutella or gianduja brands, including Justin’s or Nutiva, do now exist, but buying them can get expensive.
Making your own hazelnut spread at home saves money, and you get to control exactly what ingredients to use.
For the milk: If you choose a nondairy milk such as almondmilk or coconut milk, the recipe can be naturally dairy free, gluten free, egg free, and soy free.
The sweetener: Use your favorite all purpose sweetener, such as date sugar, regular granulated sugar, or coconut sugar. Liquid sweeteners like pure maple syrup, agave, honey, or date syrup also work but will yield a much less creamy and spreadable result.
For a low carb or keto Nutella recipe: Simply use a sugar free sweetener such as xylitol or erythritol instead of the sugar. The low carb version will have just 0.1 net carbs per serving.
I haven’t tried sweetening the Nutella with stevia or allulose, so feel free to experiment and be sure to report back with results if you do.
The hazelnuts: Look for raw hazelnuts in the bulk aisle of health food stores or online. I’ve also seen them sold in bags at Costco. Feel free to sub unsalted roasted hazelnuts and skip the roasting step in the recipe instructions below.
If you can’t find hazelnuts at all, the spread can be made with almonds instead. The flavor will be different but it’s still tasty.
How To Make Nutella At Home
Gather all of the ingredients, and preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roast the two cups of raw hazelnuts on the oven’s center rack for about 6 to 8 minutes.
Rub the roasted nuts together in a cloth or paper towel to remove the skins. Don’t worry if some of the skins refuse to come off.
In a high speed blender (like a Vitamix) or food processor (like a Cuisinart), blend the hazelnuts until they turn into a smooth butter.
Add all remaining ingredients, and blend on high for a few minutes until the texture resembles real Nutella.
Homemade Nutella Storage Instructions
Is using the oil instead of milk, the homemade Nutella is shelf stable and does not need to be refrigerated. It can be stored in a tightly covered container in your kitchen cabinet for up to two weeks. Or refrigerate for up to two months.
If using the milk, it’s best to store the recipe in the refrigerator, where it should stay good for two to three weeks.
After this time, to prevent the nuts from going rancid, you can freeze leftover Nutella. The texture will not be as smooth, but it still tastes great!
Is Nutella Healthy?
The main ingredient in store-bought Nutella is surprisingly not cocoa powder or hazelnuts. Palm oil and sugar make up more than 50% of the spread, which also includes skim milk, whey, soy lecithin, and vanillin (artificial flavor).
Two tablespoons of the packaged hazelnut spread with cocoa contain 200 calories, 11 grams of fat, 4 grams of saturated fat, and 21 grams of sugar.
Even if you use all regular sugar in the recipe below, it will still only have 70 calories, less than a gram of saturated fat, and under 5 grams of both fat and sugar per two tablespoon serving, making the homemade Nutella a much healthier option.
Recipes With Nutella
Other good uses for homemade Nutella include spreading it over toast or Vegan Pancakes, frosting cupcakes or adding a spoonful to hot chocolate, or eating it straight out of the jar with a spoon!
Above, watch the step by step homemade Nutella recipe video
Homemade Nutella Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups hazelnuts (240g)
- 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/3 cup sweetener of choice (see above for options that work here)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup milk of choice or 2 tbsp oil, optional
Instructions
- Homemade Nutella Recipe: If hazelnuts are not already roasted, preheat the oven to 400 F and bake for 6-8 minutes or just until they begin to brown. Rub them together in a paper towel to get the skins off. It’s okay if a few stubborn skins won’t come off. In a Vitamix or food processor, blend the nuts until they’ve turned to butter. (This could take up to twenty minutes in a food processor.) Then add all other ingredients except milk or oil and blend a long time until it’s smooth like Nutella! If desired, add in the milk or oil. Storage tips are listed above.View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
Easy Chocolate Recipes
Homemade Chocolate Bars (3 Ingredients)
I just made this by toasting 2 cups of bob’s red mill hazelnut flour in a heavt dutch oven. While that was gently toasting i melted coconut oil and cacao butter. I poured agave, vanilla extract, stevia, salt, cocona powder and homemade coconut milk into my vitamix in between stirring the hazelnuts. I mixed that up and poured in the oils. Then i slowly added the hazelnuts. I had to stop and scrape down the blender jar and added more coconut milk, a lot more. By the time i jad added all of the nuts i probably had 10 ounces of mylk added. It came out pretty smooth because i added the solids to the liquids. I scooped it into a 500 ml french jelly jar and popped it in the feidge. Then i cleaned the blender with cashew milk and stevia to make a great shake! 🙂
I don’t want to read through the hundreds of comments to find if this has been answered–does this need to be refrigerated after it’s done? I finally ordered raw hazelnuts so I made this and it’s delicious, but I want to store it properly. I hate how some nut butters get all solid and chunky when stored in the fridge…I hope this one can stay smooth and creamy.
I refrigerated mine because it contains milk, but it still stayed smooth and creamy 🙂 I even froze some and it was fudgy and delicious! Hope this helps. 🙂
Is there a way to substitute dates for the sugar in this recipe? I just made it for my kiddos and it was shockingly sweet to me…. (I also totally burnt my first batch of hazelnuts, watch them carefully after 10 minutes!)
I bet you could but I haven’t tried it.
How would you store this? How long is it good for? (assuming it doesn’t last in a cupboard so long!) Should it be stored at a certain temp? Is there a way to jar it and seal it?
Fridge… at least a few days!
Yum I’ll make this when I win the lottery and can spend $20 on nuts. Has anyone tried this with hazelnut extract? And maybe using 2 cups of almonds… I might try it
Quick question, since this is made w/ milk (Almond Milk, etc) how do you recommend storing the yummy nutella? In the fridge? on the shelf? Any suggestions?
Fridge 🙂
oh I see half the the answer to the question I posted here. Now how long does it keep or does it never last long enough to know? LOL
Mine’s lasted a week before. After that, who knows? 😉
Hi Katie. I’ve been really enjoying looking through all of your amazing recipes. Have you thought about using dates to sweeten your sweets? I just thought I’d ask, as I’ve been having some really great results with them, but would love some more recipe inspiration using dates as the sweetener. Thank you for all of your sharing!
I tried this recipe, but I found that it did not taste like nutella. Did anyone else have this problem?
It sounds like you may have mis-measured an ingredient… if you follow the recipe correctly, it WILL taste like Nutella. I used to be the world’s biggest Nutella fan ;).
I may have. I could eat a whole container of nutella, which is really bad for the hip action!! I may try the recipe again.
Oh! Did it matter that I used a vitamix instead of a food processor? I’ve been wondering if that makes a difference.
One more thing. I made the recipe in canada, but I’ve been having a hard time finding hazelnuts in NC. Where do you buy them?
BEST THING I have ever EATEN!!!
WOW I’ve made this twice and it is amaaaaazing i can’t help from eating it with a spoon :p
i subbed hazelnuts for almonds as i live in indonesia and its hard to find them, and i added lots of shredded coconut at the end. Totally addictive.
I just made my homemade Nutella and it is yummy! Though not what I was expecting. Maybe too many of my hazelnut skins were left one, but mine has a super nutty taste! And I made this batch with all xylitol and coconut oil but it didn’t come out very sweet at all…. I may have to switch it up next time and try some different sweeteners like agave or even coconut sugar perhaps?
PS- Someone earlier asked about using a Magic Bullet and I did use a Magic Bullet for this one and it actually worked! It didn’t enjoy it but got the job done!
You can also use rice malt syrup as the sweetener. Rice malt is free of fructose- so a much better option than maple or agave which are both quite high in fructose (one half of sucrose/table sugar). I’m no sure how readily available it is in the states but in Australia you can get it in all supermarkets now! It’s cheaper than buying honey too! I tastes very similar to honey and is the same consistency so is very easy to substitute. You can read a little more about it here.
http://www.mitoku.com/products/brownricemalt/healthbenefits.html
This nutella is deeeelicious!! Will never buy the supermarket stuff again! I can wait to have it on everything!
I’m going to make this, and wondering if I could slip a bit of Katie’s Coconut Butter in it instead of the sugar… or would that overpower the hazelnuts? Hmmmm. I think I’ll try it. 😀
I’m glad to have found something that gives me something similar to Nutella but not as excessively sweet. Hazelnuts showed up again this week at my local market, so I dove for them.
I did have one issue, though: mine ended up somewhat bitter (not too bitter, but definitely noticeably so). Is that just a side-effect of taking away the tongue-numbing sweetness and oils, or did I do something wrong?
Thanks.
Nope, definitely shouldn’t be bitter. Maybe your nuts were rancid. 😕
Shoveling spoon fulls of homemade nutella into my mouth as I type. This recipe is awesome! I was horrified to give up the original when I realized my nursing son has a cows milk allergy. I had already cut out most dairy when I became vegetarian, but I wasn’t prepared to say goodbye to my milk chocolate goodness they call nutella. Thanks so much for this recipe!!!
My favorite part of blogging is when someone actually tries one of the things I’ve posted. Thank YOU! 🙂
Dear Katie,
my boyfriend and I absolutely loved this recipe! Since I run a German food blog, I’s like to ask whether it is O.K. for you if I posted a German version of this recipe there, of course with a link back to your site!
Carola 🙂
Sure… thank you for even asking! 🙂