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)
Any of you fine folks know how long this will last after it’s been made? Thanks.
Just tried this recipe using natvia instead of sugar and two tablespoons of queens sugar free maple syrup and skim milk and it turned out awesome! Question for you though… how long will this last and i should store it in the fridge to make it last longer?
Thankyou
Can you make a healthy version of cookie butter?
I tried Nutella when I was a little kid, but I hardly remembered, and I didn’t like it much. But I just tried it today, and I adore it! So. Good.
And now, since I don’t like processed and granulated sugars, I’m going to find time for your recipe! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I wonder, how it works with coconut oil 😉
I added coconut oil to mine and it’s awesome.
you mention oil for extra smoothness, but don’t say what kind?
I saw mention of a recipe for making your own coconut butter (on another of your pages) for this recipe, yet I don’t see coconut butter as an ingredient. Help-I want to try this recipe but don’t want to mess it up!
Coconut oil would be fine, as would hazelnut oil. But really, the nuts should provide enough oil on their own, without needing any extra.
Katie, Just made this nutella. Absolutely awesome. Oh, and I also linked my pics of the nutella I made, to your website. All my friends should be visiting 🙂
I made this last night using xylitol and it was amazing! It was actually better than nutella! Thank you so much, Katie!
yum! There are alternative brands to nutella, and some ‘organic’ brands, but still have too much sugar and use soybean oil or soy additives. If it weren’t for all the sugar, nutella would be okay. Gosh, the other day I saw some cute tiny jar of nutella and got one. I ate it all by the spoonful in less than 2 days! Hazelnut butter is expensive, but could you buy some and add cocoa to it and eat it? One thing I love is spreading some natural peanut butter on a bit of chocolate, and there are chocolate peanut butter blends out there. Much better than reese peanut butter cups.
Hi Katie,
I was introduced to your website a couple of months ago and have tried numerous recipes with great results. Thanks for that! I would like to try this nutella, kindly advise if it has to be refrigerated and how long it will last.
Katie you are a genius. I tell everyone about your blog. One of my hard-to-sell friends just wouldn’t visit your blog. She has celiac and just couldn’t believe healthy desserts could exist that are gluten free-and taste good. She finally visited your site and you know what she said…”She’s a genius! She is going to be famous someday!” I already knew that. Thanks for yet another genius recipe that I will be using every day.
This looks amazing!
Does anyone know how long this keeps in a sterilized jar?
Hi there! If you dont mind, would you please let me know about how you counted the nutritional information of your nut butter ? I wish to calculate the calories of a homemade chocolate almond butter .
Not sure how she counted the calories, but this is what I use to get the nutritional info for a recipe: http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php.
You can copy the ingredients and paste it into the box. If the recipe analyzer doesn’t understand the ingredient, then it will be highlighted and you can search for the right match. It even gives a rating and tells you what’s good or bad about the recipe.
You should try making your own nutella pop tarts!
How should this be stored? And how long will it stay good?
This is absolutely delicious! I added about 1/2 of a cup to 3 frozen bananas in my food processor along with a couple splashes of almond milk and maybe a tablespoon of extra cocoa powder and made AH-MAZ-ING soft-serve that reminds me of baci gelato! It also keeps really well in the freezer, and hasn’t iced up like banana soft serve can tend to do. I think I may have found two new staples in my kitchen (your nutella and the soft serve). Thank you so much for this recipe!