Creamy Homemade Pistachio Butter

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This homemade pistachio butter is made with freshly toasted pistachios and tastes like an absolute dream! It's silky-creamy with the most amazing pistachio flavor.

Updated byKathryne Tayloron July 9, 2024

Have you ever tasted pistachio butter?This homemade version is made with freshly toasted pistachios and tastes like a dream! It’s ultra-creamy with amazing pistachio flavor.

I first tasted pistachio butterwhen we visited anOttolenghi restaurantin London last year. I was so excited and wanted to try everything, so I brought a collection of shelf-stable treats home with us. They had tiny jars of sweetened, spiced pistachio butter—I don’t know exactly what they called it—but it piqued my interest.

This pistachio butter tastes like an absolute treat even without any sweetener.It makes ordinary morning toast feel extra special. Imagine your next stack of pancakes with a drizzle of pistachio butter on top!

In fact, this pistachio butter is so special and unique that it makes agreat homemade holiday giftfor a host, teacher or friend. Tie a pretty ribbon around a small jar to dress up its humble green appearance.

Below, you’ll find the recipe and an instructional videoso you can watch exactly how it comes together. I hope you’ll give pistachio butter a try!

Pistachio Butter Tips

Buy raw, unsalted, shelled pistachios.

Raw pistachiosare simply superior to pre-toasted nuts in quality and flavor, and we’ll toast them ourselves to ease the blending process.Unsalted pistachiosare key because nuts are often over-salted.Pre-shelled pistachioswill save you tons of time! I can’t imagine cracking enough pistachios to make a whole batch of pistachio butter.

I used Aurora brand pistachios from Whole Foods, and the results were delicious and lovely. If you’d like to explore options,Love and Olive Oilhas a thorough rundown on pistachios that yield the greenest pistachio butter with the smoothest texture. I’d say that if your raw pistachios taste nice, they’ll yield a great-tasting pistachio butter, so don’t stress over it.

Toast the nuts just before blending.

You’ll find instructions in the recipe. Freshly-toasted nuts taste incredible and lend more flavor to the finished butter. Perhaps more importantly, warm nuts blend far more easily than cold ones.

Use your food processor, not a blender.

I’m on team Food Processor for nut butters. Nut butters are so thick that blenders—even great ones likemy Vitamix—require a lot of manual help to get going. It’s easier to toss the nuts inmy food processorand let the machine work it out.

Know when to take a break.

Blending nut butter is hard work! If your food processor feels too warm or sounds like it’s struggling, stop and let the machine cool down for five minutes or so before proceeding.

Change it up.

I think this pistachio butter is absolute perfection with just freshly-toasted pistachios and a pinch of salt. You can, however, stir in ground cinnamon and/or maple syrup at the end of blending, to taste.

Forcrunchy pistachio butter, reserve about 1/2 cup of the toasted pistachios, then blend the rest as directed. Add the reserved pistachios at the end and process until you reach your desired consistency.

Watch How to Make Pistachio Butter

Pistachio Butter Serving Suggestions

Serve pistachio butter on toast orpancakeswith fresh berries,chia seed jam, or thinly sliced apple or pear. It’s so special that you can easily work it into bite-sized appetizers, likecrostinitopped with pistachio butter and jam or small berries.

You could also elevate any green salad with pistachios by swooshing a little pistachio butter under the greens. Try it with myRoasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese & Pistachios.

Since this pistachio butter has a lovely toasted undertone, it could also go in a savory direction. Please get creative with it and let me know how you like it!

More Nut Butters to Make

You have to try mypecan butter—it’s especially wonderful around the holidays. You’ll also love mycoconut butterwith optional macadamia nuts, and of course,homemade almond butterorpeanut butter.

Pistachio lovers, be sure to check out mypistachio milktoo!

Creamy Homemade Pistachio Butter

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This homemade pistachio butter is made with freshly toasted pistachios and tastes like a dream! Make this creamy pistachio butter for your morning toast, or give it as a gift. For context, 16 ounces (1 pound) of pistachios yields enough nut butter to fill a standard 16-ounce jar (about 2 cups).

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

Change it up:Add ground cinnamon (for spice) and/or maple syrup (for sweetness) at the end of blending, to taste.

Make it crunchy:Reserve about ½ cup of the toasted pistachios, then blend the rest as directed. Add the reserved pistachios at the end and process until you reach your desired consistency.

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