From Nigel's Kitchen Table

Autumn & Winter · Sauces, Jams & Spreads · Spring & Summer

Nutella

Recipe by Nigel Clease Kitchen-tested

Autumn & Winter 4 min read

A smooth homemade chocolate hazelnut spread packed with roasted hazelnuts and real chocolate, with no preservatives.

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This homemade Nutella recipe (chocolate hazelnut spread) tastes even better than the original version by Ferrero. Packed with real hazelnuts and melted chocolate it tastes amazing and is preservative-free.

Nutella is one of the most popular spreads of all time. Spread it on toast or pancakes, drizzle it over ice cream or eat it with a spoon 🙂

This recipe works best if you have a mini food processor that is powerful enough to make nut butters. I personally own a Braun MultiQuick 5 blender that has a 500 ml chopper accessory which is perfect for this recipe and for so many others in the kitchen.

Ingredients

For this homemade Nutella recipe, all you need are these 6 ingredients:

Roasted hazelnuts or nut butter
Hazelnut oil or neutral oil, such as vegetable or sunflower
Icing sugar (vegan) or Medjool dates pitted
Dutch cocoa
Milk or dark chocolate of choice (vegan)

Salt – Here I want to add how just a pinch of salt can make a difference to eating chocolate. With the addition of salt, all the intrinsic flavours of the chocolate are brought to the surface faster. In a seemingly absurd or contradictory way, salt intensifies the mouth’s ability to taste sweetness. It is the sodium that sends signals to move glucose into the sweet taste receptor cells in our tongue, triggering the cells to register sweetness. The result is that salt not only alerts our ‘salt sensitivity’, but also our ‘sweet sensitive’ taste buds. I recommend Maldon Sea salt flakes or Cornish sea salt.

Variations

Hazelnuts: If you don’t like hazelnuts or feel like trying a different flavour, cashews, almonds, peanuts or pistachios are great too. Alternatively, if you don’t want to fuss with the hazelnuts you can now buy many different types of nut butters in supermarkets and health food shops. Simply replace the amount of hazelnuts with the same quantity of nut butter.

Sometimes I make this without the icing sugar, as it can be easily replaced with Medjoul dates as I have indicated in the recipe. If you want to avoid sugar and dates, add powdered sweeteners rather than liquid sweeteners. Liquid sweeteners will cause the mixture to seize up because the water in the sugar will react to the oils in the nuts.

Tools You’ll Need

Milk Saucepan, 1 Litre With Double Sided Pouring Lips

This small pan is a great size for boiling small amounts of liquids and it has pouring lips built into the rim of the saucepan which makes it easy to use.

Food Processor

My recommendation: Magimix 4200XL Compact Food Processor & Blender, 3 Bowls, 3L Capacity, Multifunctional 6 in 1 – This is a really good food processor. I have used Magimix before, I think they are one of the best processors on the market. The blades are very sharp, and I use them for breaking down biscuits and nuts, and for making very smooth creams or dips. It does a really good job and it’s very quiet not as noisy as some other brands. I recommend it to anybody who enjoys baking and cooking. They are a little on the expensive side but you pay for what you get.

Pyrex Glass Measuring Jug, 1L – I think I have said it before that I am not a big fan of plastic, so I like this type of glass measuring jug for calculating my liquids.

Nutrition

Serving: one tablespoon of homemade Nutella

97.47 kcal

CALORIES · 5% DV

7.47 g

TOTAL FAT · 11% DV

6.91 g

CARBOHYDRATES · 3% DV

5.3 g

SUGARS · 6% DV

1.51 g

PROTEIN · 3% DV

11.2 mg

SODIUM · 1% DV

0.9 g

FIBRE · 3% DV

% Daily Values based on a 2,000-calorie diet

Nutrition information is provided as an estimate and may vary depending on the ingredients and portion size used.

Storage and Freezing

It is always best practice to store the finished Nutella in the fridge. Because of the dates, this will keep in the refrigerator for up to a week. If you use icing sugar it should keep up to a month.

Freezing: not recommended

Homemade Nutella

Preparation:10

Baking:10

Total:20

Servings: 30 tablespoons (500 g)

This homemade Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread) tastes even better than the original version by Ferrero. Packed with real hazelnuts and melted chocolate it tastes amazing and is preservative-free.

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INGREDIENTS LIST

150 g whole roasted hazelnuts (without shell, see notes)
4 tbsp hazelnut oil or any neutral oil (60 ml)
1 pinch fine sea salt
1 tbsp icing sugar (US powdered sugar) (or 60 g of Medjool dates pitted)
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (15 g)
300 g dark or milk chocolate (vegan chocolate for vegans)

Preparation

To melt the chocolate, chop it and place it in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water, this is known as a double boiler. Be careful not to allow the water or steam to get to the chocolate or the chocolate will seize up. (If you prefer you can melt the chocolate in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time.)
Place the roasted hazelnuts (see recipe notes) into your food processor. (If you have a mini food processor it's ideal.)
Blend the hazelnuts with the pinch of salt for 2-3 minutes until they become a paste and you get a creamy consistency. You may need to scrape down the sides a few times.
Add the oil and icing sugar (or dates if using) and continue blending for another minute, until the mixture is as smooth as possible.
Next, add the cocoa, melted chocolate and blend until smooth.
Pour into a jar, it will be warm and liquidy.
Allow to cool and keep in the fridge and use as required.

Notes & Tips

Hazelnuts: If you can’t find peeled roasted hazelnuts, place the alternative hazelnuts in a preheat oven to 180C / 350F for 8 minutes.
To remove the skins, you can either rub the hazelnut skins off with a clean kitchen cloth or shake the hazelnuts vigorously in a tightly closed container for a minute or so, until most of the skins come off. Don’t worry if there is some skin, but the idea is to remove the majority because it can be a bit bitter.

Nut butters: If you don’t want to fuss around or don’t have a decent blender for the nuts you can buy any other nut butter of choice, it tastes really good with peanut butter.

Nut butters are now easily found in supermarkets or health food shops.

FROM MY KITCHEN TO YOURS

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