Best Nuts for Nut Butter

This is going to be a brief blog post. It’s going to be a straightforward, simple list of what nuts work best for making nut butter.

This article won’t cover which blender is best for making nut butter. It also won’t cover if a food processor or a blender is better for making nut butter. I have separate articles on those topics if you want.

The information here is simply designed to help you decide which nuts you can and should be using to blend nut butter.

The last thing about blending almonds that I’d like to address is the soaking issue. Do you or do you not have to soak them?

If you’re using a cheaper, mid level blender, then I would either soak them or skip blending almonds. That’s because almonds are very hard and if you’re using a cheap blender they might not blend up.

I’ve used the classic Ninja, and Nutribullets work well, and of course Vitamix blenders work also.

Table of Contents

#1 Best Nut for Nut Butter – Almonds

My number one nut for nut butter is the almond. It’s simply the best option for people who want a healthy nut butter that tastes good.

Why do I rank almond nuts so high?

They are the healthiest nuts. Almonds are, without much debate, consistently listed as the healthiest nuts in scientific studies. Almonds are linked to health benefits such as reduced cancer risk, reduced heart disease, lowered blood cholesterol, and improved brain function.

I also like to recommend almonds for nut butter because when making nut butter, you can ensure you’re getting organic nuts and making organic nut butter.

Organic is always a big concern, but it’s even a bigger concern when eating almonds. The reason that I like to make almond nut butter is that I can have complete control over the type of almonds used.

You should always get organic almonds. And if you buy organic almond butter in the store it can be expensive (and hard to find).

My recommendation to people is to get a good organic almond butter online from a reputable source, or to get a good source of organic almonds.

# 2 Best Nut for Nut Butter- Walnuts

My second pick here is going to be walnuts. Why? Because walnuts are also super healthy, and they are expensive.

You are not normally going to find walnut butter for sale in the supermarket, and even when you do, it’s going to be super expensive.

Walnut butter isn’t as popular a nut butter as almond butter, so you won’t see it for sale. And when you do, it’s very expensive.

So Walnut makes the list for the best nuts to blend for nut butter for a variety of reasons.

You will save a lot of money if you buy your own walnuts and blend them in your blender.

You an also add walnuts to smoothies and you don’t have to soak them.

Walnuts have a softer, more mellow flavor than almonds. And because some people have a sensitivity to developing cold sores when they have too much of the amino acid arginine in their body (which almonds have a lot of) walnuts are a good alternative.

When you’re looking to buy walnuts, try for organic, but it’s not as important as when you buy Almonds. That is because almond trees are sprayed with pesticides at a higher rate than walnut trees.

#3 Best Nut for Nut Butter – Cashews

I really love Cashews. They are soft and have a healthy fat content. They also taste great.

Now, you can sometimes find cashew butter for sale. But, it is expensive. I prefer making walnut butter from scatch as it’s way cheaper to make it yourself.

All you need to do is buy some cheap, good quality organic Walnuts and then you can make fresh walnut butter. You can even mix in some frozen dark cherries or blueberries if you’re looking for a really super healthy snack.

I like to store nut butters in small glass jars when I have made them, which makes them easy to spoon out.

You can add a small amount of sea salt when blending up the nuts. If you’re not sure how much to add, you can blend the nuts without salt and then add the salt at the end pinch by pinch.

Here’s a great brand of organic cashew butter that you can get if you are not able to blend nuts in your blender or if you’re just looking to add some nut butter to a smoothie and don’t want make a whole bunch of nut butter)

Other Nuts and Non-Nuts

The three nuts listed above are my favorites. Almonds, Cashews, and Walnuts are the sueprfoods. There are some other really great nuts, such as Brazil nuts, which I do like to include in my diet. But Brazil nuts need to be eaten in moderation and you should not make a nut butter of it.

Peanuts

I am not a big fan of making peanut butter when you have other alternatives. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love peanut butter. It’s just that it’s not the healthiest option. Technically, it’s not even a nut. It’s a legume.

Also, peanuts don’t have as many health benefits associated with them as almonds, cashews, or walnuts. Plus, you can buy organic peanut butter pretty affordably online.

However, if you are someone who really wants to control the texture of your peanut butter, then you might want to make it in a blender.

What I like to do is make a special berry and coconut oil peanut butter blend. It’s an easy way to boost the antioxidant content of the peanuts and also create a more rich flavor with healthy MCT fats.

The other reason that blending fresh peanut butter at home is good, is that you can make sure you’re using healthy peanuts.

There is a serious concern when eating rotten peanuts that you are going to get peanuts with Aflatoxins. This toxin has been linked to cancer and other serious health concerns.

If you’re able to buy organic, non-moldy, and roasted peanuts online or even in a local health food store and visually inspect them, then you will have a better sense of what you are eating when you eat peanut butter.

The advantage to making your own fresh peanut butter at home is you can make as little, or as much as you want. When you buy freshly made peanut butter from the store it’s often pre-made and sold in containers and you have no idea when it was really made and you also have to buy the whole container.

Chia Seeds

I will admit that chia seeds work best in a blender when they have been soaked and when they are added to a smoothie. Chia seeds are not something you’d want to try blending into a nut butter on their own.

Chia seeds are best as an addition to a smoothie. They help to boost the protein content and make it a richer, creamier smoothie. If I’m making a single serve smoothie, then what I like to do is add a tablespoon of soaked chia seeds right into the blender to give it a nice protein boost.

Sunflower Seeds

Funny enough, sunflower seeds are actually very popular in the expanding nut butter category. And the reason that sunflower seeds are so popular with people who blend their own nut butter is that they are very high in protein.

Fitness fans and people looking to lose weight and maintain muscle are particular fans of sunflower seed butter.

My problem with sunflower seed butter is that I’m not a big fan of it. It’s not something that I particularly like the flavor of. So, I would not make it as a nut butter to eat alone. If you want to incorporate it into smoothies as a source of protein, then that is perfectly fine. And sunflower seeds are super easy to blend. They are soft like cashews.