4-Minute 2-Ingredient Homemade Creamy (or Crunchy!) Peanut Butter

Add peanuts then salt to food processor. Blend for four minutes. Bam, peanut butter. I mean, really. Does it get any easier? C’mon.

Don’t believe me? I made a video for you just in case you doubted me. And because videos are fun. This one has bloopers at the beginning AND the end. Cause bloopers and laughing are the best parts. Why skimp?? (Don’t forget the rest of the post below the video!)

About the Peanuts

When buying peanuts there’s raw, roasted, salted, unsalted, you name it. Pick what you like!  I prefer unsalted so I can add the amount of salt I want.

I prefer roasted, to raw. Roasting nuts always adds flavor in my book. Go raw if you want. If you want roasted, buy them that way or roast them yourself! If you do roast them yourself, let them cool a bit before you add them to the food processor. I added out-of-the-oven-hot roasted almonds to an old food processor to try and make homemade almond butter once — which by the way, after like 10-12 minutes of running the food processor it STILL hadn’t gone from almond meal-y type consistency to smooth almond butter.  At that point I finally said, “heck with this I’m adding oil to get it smooth and creamy.” Well running the machine that long also generates more heat. Yeah… I melted some of the plastic off of the center part of the blade attachment. All that work, those almonds, and the oil – ruined by melted plastic. Not to mention I ruined that blade. Major fail. Still too scarred to attempt almond butter again anytime soon.

So why would I try and make my own peanut butter then?

I couldn’t tell you why it’s so much quicker/ easier than almond butter but dang it’s simple. Dan and I went on this epic hike the other day with some friends and they mentioned that they make their own PB because it’s so quick and it’s way cheaper. They found peanuts at about $2 a pound! So cheaper, fresher, tastier, and only 4 minutes to come together. Why not? They got me excited to try it.

I had been avoiding PB during the paleo-focused days because peanuts are legumes and legumes are a no-no for paleo. So almond butter (which I do love, love, love by the way) was an easy sub in without any sacrifice. I made one of my go-to smoothies the other day. It’s not posted to the site anywhere, but it’s a ‘lil “PB&J with banana” smoothie. {1/2 large frozen banana + 1 cup almond milk + 2 T almond butter + 1 scoop strawberry protein powder.} Freakin’ delicious. With PB back in my life, I used it instead of almond butter this time and holy. wow. The same amount of PB added SO much more flavor to my smoothie than the almond butter. I decided my newest kick is only PB instead of almond butter in smoothies. Give it a try yourself. Major flavor difference.

Storage

I keep my homemade PB in the fridge in an air tight container so it will last the longest. You could keep it in the cabinet if you’re gonna chow down on it quickly; it probably won’t go bad before you can finish it. PB is high in oil and oil is prone to oxidation (which is what happens when nuts or nut butters spoil). Hot temps increase risk of this process, so keeping the PB in the fridge really slows down this process and keeps it freshest the longest. (Also the reason freezing nuts is ideal for long-term storage and ultimate freshness!) If you’re worried your nut butter has spoiled, your nose knows. Just give it a sniff! You’ll know.

So get to it! 

As if you need help knowing what to do with the peanut butter… but I’m going to give you a few suggestions anyway. If any recipe below lists almond butter (especially if it’s a smoothie) I highly suggest you use your homemade peanut butter instead!

• Classic Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie – PB + banana + milk is your base with other options to jazz it up!
• Coconut Refresh Smoothie – I die. Chocolate, mint, coconut, and PB?! Yes. Please.
• Pumpkin Pie Smoothie – I mean it’s almost fall, when Prom Queen Avocado will be quickly forgotten by Homecoming Queen Pumpkin.
• Banana Blender Bread – Banana bread. You make the batter by just dumping the ingredients into the blender. Talk about EASY baking.
• Coconut Monkey Bites – Cause everybody needs a healthy dessert or on-the-go snack made without refined sugar now and then.
• Grilled Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Quick Pickled Veg – this recipe is an oldie but goodie. Lots of crunchy, fresh, bright flavors and a peanut sauce that is to die for. A healthy dinner that would make great lunch leftovers too!