A culinary deep-dive into the myriad ways to make homemade Nutella. With two clear favorites. Anyone want a barely used jar of store-bought Nutella?
I am suspect of food in jars—with one big exception: peanut butter. The very idea of messing around with the pure, unadulterated taste of roasted nuts of any kind is almost sacrilegious to me.
So that’s my lame excuse for sneering at the ubiquitous jar of Nutella on grocer’s shelves for too many decades to mention. It’s touting itself as a peanut butter substitute, albeit with hazelnuts. And well, there is NO substitute for peanut butter in my mind.
But just this year–influenced by all the Nutella Pinterest Boards no doubt–I buckled and bought the darned jar. I brought it home, twisted off the lid, dipped a big spoon into the creamy darkness, and plunged it into my mouth. Then I gagged and ran for WATER.
I am treading on hallowed ground for those of you who LOVE Nutella. Probably a billion or so folks. Mea culpa! Mea culpa!
But to my palate, Nutella tastes like overly sweet, poor quality chocolate, with way too much vanilla and the lingering taste of stale powdered milk. I can barely taste the hazelnuts. As in, NOT AT ALL. I have no idea what to do with this—okay I’ll just say it– nasty jar of strangely plastic goop.
But this unfortunate experience makes me want to make Nutella myself. Immediately. As an antidote or an act of contrition for not trusting my intuition in the first place.
(PAUSE) Hold on, I’m running to Whole Foods to grab some hazelnuts.
Okay, I’m back and the hazelnuts are toasting in the oven. In the meanwhile, I’m cruising the web looking for inspiration.
Well, that was fun! An exhilarating, two-hour tour of the web revealed FIVE basic options for making homemade Nutella. Every option begins with hazelnut butter, as you can see:
- Hazelnut butter with unsweetened cocoa.
- Hazelnut butter with melted bar chocolate.
- Hazelnut butter with melted bar chocolate and unsweetened cocoa.
- Hazelnut butter with chocolate ganache.
- Hazelnut butter with chocolate ganache and unsweetened cocoa.
I decided to work on two extremes: hazelnut butter with cocoa (#1) and hazelnut butter with chocolate ganache (#4).
The key to getting this spread right turns out to be the difficult balance between the two competing (yet complementary) flavors. Bittersweet chocolate rather easily overpowers toasted hazelnuts and thus needs to be held in check.
Many recipes on the web call for too much bittersweet chocolate in ratio to hazelnuts. For my palate, I wanted the first taste to be hazelnuts with a long, slow finish of chocolate. That’s what I aimed for and hopefully achieved. You be the judge.
Which Homemade Nutella do I like best? Honestly, I can’t choose. I’m tasting back and forth between the jars as I write this. I love the intensity of Hazelnut Butter & Cocoa Spread. And I love the silky richness of Hazelnut Butter & Chocolate Ganache Spread. It’s hopeless. I want them both in the fridge at all times.
Anyone want a barely used jar of store-bought Nutella?
Jump to Recipe
More Chocolate Goodness from LunaCafe
- Bittersweet Chocolate & Cabernet Butter Cake
- Chocolate Almond Pound Cake
- Chocolate Ginger Chipotle Stout Cake
- Heavenly Chocolate Beet Tea Loaf & 3 Variations
- Mad Dash Chocolate Cake (Fast & Easy)
- Mexicano Chocolate Pudding Cake (Hot, Easy & Good)
- Spicy Chocolate, Banana & Fresh Ginger Tea Loaf
- Warm-Spiced Molten Chocolate Cake
Inspiration from Around the Web
- Bon Appetite: Better Than Nutella (Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread)
- Brown Eyed Baker: DIY: Homemade Nutella
- David Lebovitz: Homemade Nutella
- DIY Boston: Easy Homemade Nutella from America’s Test Kitchen’s DIY Cookbook
- Erin’s Food Files: Nutella Cookies
- Food Politics: Mon Dieu. The French “Nutella Tax.”
- Gimme Some Oven: Nutella Hot Chocolate
- Leite’s Culinaria: Homemade Nutella
- Reclaiming Provincial: Homemade Nutella
- Sally’s Baking Addiction: Nutella Swirl Cheesecake Bars
- Sally’s Baking Addiction: Nutella Swirled Peanut Butter Banana Bread
- Savory Sweet Life: Nutella Brownies
- Smitten Kitchen: Chocolate-Peanut Spread
- Sweet and Crunchy: Homemade Nutella
- Tasty Kitchen: Nutella Pecan Pie
- The Kitchn: It’s World Nutella Day! Here’s How to Eat Nutella All Day Long
- The Splendid Table: Homemade Nutella
I just tried the second recipe, and everything looked (and tasted!) great until the very last few seconds. After blending the last ingredients into the hazelnut butter, at about the minute mark, the mixture got super thick glue-y and lots of oil separated from it – almost 1/4 cup! It was perfect when I checked it a few seconds before, I just thought a few more seconds blending would make it creamier, but the opposite happened! What went wrong? It still tastes ok, but the texture is more like a thick concentrated paste in lots of oil than the creamy delight I was hoping for! Next time I will be super careful not to overblend. It was a winner for sure!
Jill, oh no!It sounds like the chocolate seized, and the oil no longer held in suspension. As you suggest,I suspect over mixing. I’ll revisit this process later this fall when I make another batch (and adjust the recipe if needed). Thanks for the heads up!
The first recipe is amazing! I made it with half the amount of sugar and it was still fantastic. I can’t stop eating it. Thanks for posting this.
Rita, thank you, so glad you liked it. 🙂
Ooh I have to try this! Love that you have a dairy-free option — thanks!
Thanks Marlynn! And Happy New Year! 🙂
Thanks for the recipe, it turned out great.
But I want to note it was tooooo thick…
I made about a half of what recipe indicated, and had to pour around 100ml of water.
Thanks Eun! Thinning the spread with water is always an option. Good to note.
Thanks for the recipe, it turned out great.
But I want to note it was tooooo thick…
I made about a half of what recipe indicated, and had to pour around 100ml of water.
At last, I can make lactose-free nutella for my husband. Thanks for your article.
Gayle, I bought a Vitamix 6300 blender over the weekend and ended up putting both Nutella mixtures into the container and giving it a whirl. Completely smooth now! And I love the half ganache, half cocoa powder combo. I hardly feel guilty at all eating it all day long. 🙂