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)
Oh I am sooo happy to see this recipe. I know that you don’t need any more comments but I couldn’t help but post to say this worked perfectly for me. I was afraid to get my hopes up because I have missed Nutella since I started eating a more “clean” diet. I actually went to the store just to get hazelnuts and agave in order to make this and it was worth it for sure. I used grapeseed oil (3 tsp.) and unsweetened almond milk. It is so good! The taste is spot on, to me the only difference I can see is that it isn’t as smooth or greasy as nutella. My husband says that he would prefer it to be sweeter but it is just perfect to me. I can’t wait to eat this on bananas all this week. I can’t believe how decent it is in calories too. It seemed too good to be true so I put it into my calorie counter just to make sure and I got around 60 calories a serving as well. I hope storing it in the fridge doesn’t harden it up too much but I guess since it has the milk it will have to refrigerated. Thanks so much for making this one over, great job.
Oh wow, I am so so excited you already tried it!
(P.S. You can always add a little extra sugar/stevia as desired :).)
Oh Christi, thanks for posting! I was born in Germany and raised on all the chocolatey goodies (Milka, Toblerone, Nutella…) from there and once moved to the States at the age of 5, my Oma sent them to us. Fast forward years later and now the US carries them and I was delighted to buy Nutella myself years ago. That was, until, like you, I started last February on a “clean” diet and never bought it again… While I don’t have time to do this weekend, I am DEFINITELY going to give this a whirl! Katie, I’ve been “quitely” following you the last week or so, and I thank God I found you as I became vegan on October 3 – just a few months ago – and with that, week to week custody, working full-time and already giving up ALL processed food, I am stressed to the max as I am “sold out” to clean eating… Seeing your recipes and posts gives me such pleasure that I might get to have some of the many things I’ve given up as being vegan AND processed food. I went the gambit of organic food, “clean” oils, organic spices, no processed food, vegetarian and then to vegan – and in that order! Never in my 40 years of living, would I have EVER guessed/thought I would be eating and changing my lifestyle as drastically as I have. THANK YOU Katie for giving us such a glimmer of hope and giddiness as we traveling down this path together. Yes, giddy it is as I’ve saved several of your recipes, but haven’t had to time to try yet with juggled work, having my son every other week, MAKING EVERYTHING we eat, and now the blessing from above… I’ll be getting remarried in a little less than 6 weeks and he currently lives 1 1/2 hours away… Even today I’m in the kitchen just finished making my own dressing, cutting up carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes for my son’s salads. About to make guacamole to head out to watch the game at friend’s house…
I never liked nutella on bread as a kid, but I’d eat it with a spoon. Then my mum stopped buying it 🙁 I reckon it’d be good made into an icing for cupcakes or something 🙂
Hi! I really enjoy reading and trying your blog posts, but I have become concerned about something. How much have you researched agave nectar? I have found these two articles to be helpful for myself and thought I should share them with you. I don’t want to offend you or anybody, this is just to help people make wise decisions about what they put in their bodies. 🙂
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mercola/agave-this-sweetener-is-f_b_537936.html
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/the-great-agave-nectar-debate.html
I, myself, am not a big Nutella fan. My husband and both of my boys love it. I prefer maple almond butter or Dark Chocolate Dreams from Peanut Butter & Co. Looks like a great recipe. I may try it out with walnuts instead. I wonder what chocolate walnut butter would taste like? Hmm…perhaps like brownies with walnuts? Gotta go – gonna see if I have the stuff to try it out!
In case anyone is doing Weight Watchers, the entire batch of this gooey goodness is 62 points. If you split it into 10 portions, they are 6 points+ each. Can’t wait to try it.
Hi, I used to do WW and a 15g serving of Nutella was 2 Points + , so shouldn’t a serving of this recipe by only 1 Point +?
Well, it totally depends on your serving size! I used 10 servings at 1/5 cup each. If your servings are smaller, the points will be lower. I calculated 62 points in total using the WW recipe builder.
It depends your serving size! I went with 10 servings at 1/5 cup each and calculated 62 points for the whole batch using the WW eTools recipe builder. If your servings are smaller the points will be lower, of course. 😉 FYI, the 240 gm of nuts alone are 43 points.
Sorry for the duplicate response – it wasn’t showing up at first so I thought there was a glitch!
where do you buy your hazelnuts because I find them to be SOOO expensive that I never use them! I really want to make this though!
I bought the first batch at Kroger (a regular grocery store), in the baking section with the other raw nuts… they were cheaper (already cut up, too). But I ended up making two batches of this spread (one with agave, one with sugar). I found hazelnuts in the bulk aisle of Whole Foods as well.
woah! Looks so addicting 😀
Heyy Katie,
I tried making this tonight ((just like I said haha)), but unfortunately our processor is not NEAR powerful enough :(. Wouldn’t know where to get a Cuisinart, I will look it up :). Our poor Braun processor and blender died, but Dad just bought the same one again ((will he ever learn??.. That’s the 2nd time that’s happened, now!!)) Ahh well, for now it will have to do, until I get my own place probably 😉 ((not that in really planning to be anytime soon, of course.
Darn, didn’t get any posts up tonight – I have a lot of work to do!!
Good luck with your chocolate-covered adventures, Katie. Take care!! :).
Jade C.
Try soaking the nuts and reducing the milk a little 🙂 My little food processor can’t deal with unsoaked nuts and seeds, so I do this kind of thing all the time.
Kohl’s.Com has Cusinart items and also in their store.
Wow, what a great recipe, I have all the ingredients, my daughter bought me the agave, it is a little difficult to find here in Australia. I am going to make your recipe now. We LOVE NUTELLA,
when my daughter came back from Italy she bought back everything Nutella, even the cook book,
over there everything is made with nutella, frappes, pizza’s, you name it and they have a Nutella version. Your recipe will really help us get onto a healthier diet, my daughter is vegan, and after sharing a book called “skinny bitch” about the plight of cows to keep producing milk, I have gone from being vegetarian to vegan also.
Oh wow, a Nutella cookbook? A real chocolate-covered cookbook… that sounds really yummy! 🙂
Hello,
This sounds wonderful! I see in the nutrition info you list it as 15g, I was wondering about how much is 15g? I don’t have a food scale =(
15g is a tablespoon 🙂
LOVE this! I went on a Nutella kick a few years ago… until I turned the jar around and saw that sugar count. Can’t wait to try this!
Katie, you are the bomb!
I have Justin’s, but I will now be using this recipe!
Giada once had a segment on Nutella ravioli (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/chocolate-hazelnut-ravioli-recipe/index.html) it sounds so good, but would you be able to tell me if that egg is really necessary in the recipe?
THANK YOU, you made my chocolate dreams come true 😉
Oh my.
Oh my oh my.
LOL you are dangerous!!!
And no, I don’t think the egg is necessary! It looks like it’s just on there to make them look shiny/glossy. Oh yes, this could be dangerous indeed…
LOL– ok, maybe a little dangerous 😀
And thank you for the reply… I think I’m gonna make up a batch for my hubby and my 5-year-old this weekend!
Oh my goodness, this looks divine!! I am so going to have to try this out!! Looks like you got a pretty smooth consistency with the food processor…I am always wanting to try peanut butter, but nervous it’s not going to get smooth enough. Looks like I should just do it 🙂
How long does it take you to turn it into nut butter? I tried hazelnuts awhile ago, but I didn’t roast and I didn’t take the skin off…and after more then 10 minutes of pushing it down, still no butter. More like crumbly crumbly. Then when I tried to add chocolate, agave, oil, it remained sadly crumbly.. though it was good on some vegan waffles! The only nut butter that really has gone quick for me is peanut butter, i’ve tried almond and hazelnuts with no success. Is it the skin maybe?
Definitely roast them to get them softer. It was butter in about a minute, I think (but I didn’t time it so I can’t say for sure).
I also think adding the milk makes a huge difference in creaminess!
Oh my gosh, this looks sooo good. I can’t wait to try it. I have hazelnut meal but not whole ones. Do you think they would still butter-ify? I have a bad feeling it wouldn’t; I should probably go out and buy some so I can make this!
Hmmm… that’s an interesting question! I’d really be interested to know if it works!
—I bought Nutella for my cookies and ate the entire jar before I actually made them
I Love this stuff. I Looooooooooove it!