Happy Monday, friends! How was your weekend? Tony and I chilled hard — it was something we had been craving due to our busy schedules with virtually no down time. Now that certainly doesn’t mean our weekend was uneventful (we still had things to talk about regarding the house), but we were able to get donuts at Dinkel’s, shop at Paulina’s meat market, make Jamaican Jerk chicken kabobs, walk 20,000 steps and clean our apartment.
Not to mention that we’ve started the process of getting rid of things. Including all the various food ingredients I have sitting in my cupboard.
Speaking of random food items, it’s not uncommon for me to have multiple nut bags & jars in my cupboard. Tony loves snacking on honey-roasted peanuts & I enjoy making DIY trail mixes for healthy snack options.
Just last week I looked in my cupboard and found a package of unopened roasted cashews. Usually the only time we eat cashews is on top of lettuce wraps or in curry-based dishes. So then I thought: why not make a little cashew nut butter and whip up energy bites or bake some cookies? I’ve been ridiculously into making my own nut butters lately with my new food processor so this really was the perfect way to use up my cashews.
If you’ve never had cashew butter, you’re in for the ultimate treat. It’s creamy, rich, slightly-sweet and a wonderful replacement in recipes that call for peanut or almond butter. I love making dressings with it too, then drizzling it over roasted sweet potatoes or broccoli — seriously so so tasty!
This cashew butter only takes about 10 minutes to make. I used roasted & unsalted cashews in this recipe because of the nice flavor they lend the nut butter, but don’t worry raw cashews will also work just fine! (See my notes below in the recipe for more details!)
Cashew butter is going to be making an appearance in a few more AK recipes, so make yourself a jar ASAP then we can bake together. xo!
If you make this recipe, be sure to leave a comment below to let me know how you liked it. You can also upload a photo to Instagram and use the hashtag #ambitiouskitchen!
More homemade nut butter recipes to try + ways to use this cashew butter!
Homemade Vanilla Cinnamon Raisin Almond Butter
Homemade Salted Vanilla Honey Peanut Butter
Sea Salt Cashew Butter Chocolate Protein Bars
Healthy Chai Banana Bread with Salted Cashew Butter Vanilla Glaze
10 Homemade Nut Butter Recipes You Need to Make
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Homemade Cashew Butter with Vanilla Bean & Sea Salt
Ingredients
- 16 oz unsalted roasted cashews*
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil, plus more if necessary
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- seeds from 1 vanilla bean
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Add cashews and coconut oil to your food processor and process for 5-10 minutes, scraping down the sides as necessary. At this point the cashews should start to clump together. Continue to process until you reach the desired consistency. Add salt, vanilla bean seeds, and vanilla and process again for another minute. If it seems to be clumping together, add a teaspoon or two more of coconut oil.
- Transfer to tupperware or mason jar and store at room temperature or in fridge. If you store at room temp, simply give the cashew butter a stir before you use it. Stays longer in fridge.
Do you melt the coconut oil?
Nope! The coconut oil will actually melt as it mixes in the food processor.
Can you make this without vanilla bean?
You bet!
This is so delicious and so easy to make! I used a mix of pecans and cashews. Love your recipes!
So glad you enjoyed this, Christine! Love the pecan + cashew combo 🙂
I just made it.and I think I have a new addiction 🙂 can’t stop eating it!!!
Love it!!
My youngest son has a peanut and hazelnut allergy. After finding this, it is all we eat in our house! Thank you. With 3 growing boys at home, this is a total blessing.
So great to hear! This is such an awesome alternative.
I make this all the time and it is SO good!
yummmmmy!! Wonderful flavour combinations on all foods and dishes you blog ..makes any dietary type veggie paleo or vegan that much more interesting ..keep up the good work! And thank you!
Thanks for this post. I don’t have any food processor. Can I do that with a blender instead ?
Yes, with a powerful blender. I just made some in my Vitamix. It was hard to get it all out but came out delicious. But be careful, it goes fast in a blender and will get hot which affects flavor.
I love everything with vanilla beans! Especially nut butters! Can’t wait to try this!
The vanilla bean and sea salt addition in this is EVERYTHING!
This sounds so simple to make, and here I have been buying it a $8.45 per small jar, and just happy to get it! Think those days are now over! THANK YOU for this post!
Yes, very easy! If you can get cashews in bulk, it’s key to making cheap nut butter!
I love making nut butters! The money you save and the flavor combinations are unlimited! Love that you made a cashew version, it’s one of my favorites!
Monique, Do you know what the difference between coconut oil and coconut butter is?
Yes! Coconut oil is the oil derived from coconuts and coconut butter is basically ground up coconut! 🙂 Hope this helps.
This sounds so good! I haven’t made cashew butter, but I’m definitely going to have to give this one a try – the vanilla in it sounds incredible!
Cashew butter is my new favorite nut butter! Love the addition of vanilla and sea salt to this version!
This looks SO creamy. I absolutely love cashew butter! Glad you and Tony were able to relax for a little bit, I know moving can be stressful! Happy Monday xo