This Homemade Nutella couldn't be easier to make! Just a few ingredients, and lower in sugar than the regular kind and oil and refined sugar free. A smooth, nutty, rich and creamy chocolate hazelnut spread that you will want to put on everything. Just grab a spoon! There is also a dairy free option too, so you can have delicious vegan Nutella.
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Nutella is a popular brand of a chocolate-hazlenut spread and it is super moreish. It is seen as a breakfast choice in many countries across the world, but store-bought Nutella isn't the healthiest breakfast choice and might leave you with a sugar crash a couple of hours later.
We have lightened it up a bit - there's no palm oil, it's refined sugar-free (but it's still nice and sweet), which means you can still enjoy healthy Nutella for breakfast (or any time of the day), but it's a little bit more nutritious. It's sweetened with a few dates and a little maple syrup and just 53 calories per portion.
Looking for some other sweet breakfasts? Why not try our quick Apple Cinnamon Pancakes, easy Banana Porridge and our delicious Healthy French Toast?
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Healthy Nutella Ingredients
A full ingredients list, along with US Customary and Metric measurements, can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- Hazelnuts - This is the star of the healthy Nutella and what gives it the incredible nutty flavour. Roasting the raw hazelnuts really does give the best flavour. If you don't want to roast them, then buy skinless hazelnuts.
- Vanilla - This adds a real warmth to the chocolate spread. Make sure to use extract, rather than essence, as you will get a more natural flavour.
- Cocoa powder - We used unsweetened cocoa powder and it gives it a lovely intense chocolate flavour and richness. Use the best quality cocoa powder you can, as you will be able to taste the difference. Use raw cacao powder for a more intense flavour.
- Milk - This helps to loosen the Nutella up. If you wanted to make this dairy free, then use a dairy free alternative. You could leave the milk out and use coconut oil instead, which would make it lovely silky smooth.
- Dates - This adds some natural sweetness to the recipe, and a lovely flavour too. Medjool dates have the best flavour.
- Maple syrup - Along with the dates, this is what we have used to sweeten the recipe. Just a little goes a long way. Try to use pure maple syrup.
- Sea salt - We add a pinch of salt, because it balances out the sweetness and really enhances the chocolate flavor. You could leave this out though.
More ingredient substitutions and variations can be found in the recipe card.
How To Make Homemade Nutella
Prep: Preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C(fan)/350°F/Gas 4. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Boil your kettle.
- Step 1: Spread the hazelnuts over the lined baking tray in a single layer and put into the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
- Step 2: Put the dates into a bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to soak.
- Step 3: Once roasted, work quickly to remove the skins from the roasted hazelnuts as they are easier to remove whilst still warm. Don't worry if some stubborn ones still have skin on.
- Step 4: Process the nuts in a high powered blender until a smooth nut butter forms.
When blending, trust the process. The hazelnuts will go from whole, to a floury mixture which will seem like nothing is happening. But keep scraping the sides down and blending and it will all start to smooth out. Scraping it down gives the blender breaks too, so it doesn't overheat.
- Step 5: Drain the dates and add to the hazelnut butter along with the cocoa powder, maple syrup, vanilla and milk.
- Step 6: Process again to combine everything into a smooth chocolate spread.
Ways To Use Healthy Nutella
To be honest, we are happy to just eat it out of a jar with a spoon. But that isn't the healthiest choice. Luckily, there are so many different ways to serve this and here are some of our favourites:
- Dip apple slices in it
- Put it on microwave porridge
- Make our Nutella Waffles
- Use it to make hot chocolate
- Spread on our Healthy Banana Bread
- On toast
- As a pancake topping
- On waffles
- To make our Nutella Smoothie
- In a croissant
- Melted and drizzled over ice cream
- Dip strawberries in it
- As a cake frosting
Dannii's Top Tips
- If you are trying to convince your kids that this is the real thing, then after you have finished a jar of Nutella you can wash it out and fill it with this. They will never know!
- You need a high powdered food processor to make this. You can use a blender, but you won't get a really creamy and smooth Nutella.
- Blending time will depend on the blender that you are using. Some will take longer than others.
- To make this healthy Nutella really smooth, you could add a couple of tablespoons of coconut oil to it. This would change the flavour a little though and change the nutritional information.
- The more full your food processor is, the easier it will be to blend the ingredients. So, if you doubled the batch of this, it would blend faster. But then you would have a lot of Nutella - not that that is a bad thing.
- If you want to make it softer when it comes out of the fridge, spoon out your serving and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, if you don't like the taste of hazelnuts, or you don't have any, then you can swap them for almonds or peanuts in this recipe. Have you tried our Honey and Vanilla Almond Butter?
Because our recipe contains milk, it doesn't store as long as it would if you just used oil and it does need to be refrigerated. You will need to keep it in an airtight container in the refrigerator and it will keep fresh for a week to 10 days. If you want to keep it for longer, you will need to swap the milk for oil. If you use oil instead of milk, it will store in a jar in a cupboard for up to 2 weeks.
No, you cannot freeze this. Once it is defrosted, it will not be smooth and creamy. Instead, it will be thick and crumbly and nobody wants that!
If you find that your homemade Nutella is too thick (this really is a preference thing), then you can add a teaspoon of melted coconut oil, until it is your preference consistency.
More Spread Recipes
If you've tried this homemade Nutella recipe, let us know how you got on in the comments below.
Tag us in your creations on Instagram @hungryhealthyhappy - Use the hashtag #hungryhealthyhappy too.
Recipe
Homemade Healthier Nutella
Ingredients
- 200 g (1.66 cups) Hazelnuts
- 8 Medjool dates - stoned removed
- Boiled water
- 60 g (0.5 cups) Cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoon Maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 125 ml (0.5 cups) Whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180°C/160°C(fan)/350°F/Gas 4. Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Boil your kettle.
- Put 8 Medjool dates into a bowl and cover with Boiled water. Leave to soak.
- Spread 200 g Hazelnuts over the lined baking tray and put into the preheated oven for 10 minutes.
- Once roasted, work quickly to remove the skins from the hazelnuts as they are easier to remove whilst still warm. Don't worry if some stubborn ones still have skin on.
- Process the nuts in a high powered blender until a smooth nut butter forms.When blending, trust the process. The hazelnuts will go from whole, to a floury mixture which will seem like nothing is happening. But keep scraping the sides down and blending and it will all start to smooth out. Scraping it down gives the blender breaks too, so it doesn't overheat.
- Drain the dates and add to the hazelnut butter along with 60 g Cocoa powder, 2 tablespoon Maple syrup, 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract and 125 ml Whole milk.
- Process the mixture on high until it is smooth. Transfer to a jar and store for up to 1 week in the fridge.
Recipe Tips
- If you are trying to convince your kids that this is the real thing, then after you have finished a jar of Nutella you can wash it out and fill it with this. They will never know!
- You need a high powdered food processor to make this. You can use a blender, but you won't get a really creamy and smooth Nutella.
- Blending time will depend on the blender that you are using. Some will take longer than others.
- To make this healthy Nutella really smooth, you could add a couple of tablespoons of coconut oil to it. This would change the flavour a little though.
- The more full your food processor is, the easier it will be to blend the ingredients. So, if you doubled the batch of this, it would blend faster. But then you would have a lot of Nutella - not that that is a bad thing.
- If you really wanted to, you could even make this recipe sugar free. It would taste very bitter though.
- Make sure to sift your cocoa powder if it is clumpy.
- You can add a pinch of salt to balance out the sweetness of the sugar and the nuttiness of the hazelnuts.
- If you want to make it softer when it comes out of the fridge, spoon out your serving and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds.
Nutritional Information
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The nutritional information provided is approximate and is calculated using online tools. Information can vary depending on various factors, but we have endeavoured to be as accurate as possible.
As all appliances vary, cooking times are a guide. Please note that by changing the serving size, the cooking time may also need to be altered.
Roxy says
Can I use a blender in order to make this super delicious spread? I'm a student living on my own and I do not own a food processor. :)
Roxy says
Thank you,darling! I was thinking of maybe soaking the almonds and letting them sit overnight?
Roxy says
okeyy. Thank you for the tip. Can't wait to put this on everything. <3
rachel says
Could you replace the dates with stevia?
Dannii says
I haven't tried it, but it might work. You would need to add a little extra liquid.
Asma says
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay I did it and it tastes yuuuuuumy
I also did the peanut butter recipe, but I just wonder for how long can be valid in the fridge?
Dannii says
I would keep the nut butter in the cupboard for a couple of weeks.
Heather says
Can you tell me how much nut butter you had once the almonds were processed? I have a previously purchased almond butter I'd like to use. Thanks!
Jennifer says
Heather, I used store-bought fresh-ground almond butter. I just weighed out 100 grams (because I halved the recipe... so 200 if you do the full amount). I figured 100 g of almonds might fill the cup up more, but it will still weigh 100 grams after smashing it down.
Diane says
Sounds delicious.
May I ask where you tend to get your nuts from, and am I right in thinking they are always raw rather than roasted? Im on a really tight budget and looking for the best place (read cheapest) to buy peanuts, almonds and cashews to attempt to make my own nut butters and now nutella!
Thank you
Diane says
Raw ones for everything?
Dannii says
Yes, raw and then I roast if needed.
Caitlin says
This is everything I could ever want and more!
Carly says
My kids are going to be so happy this weekend. When I started getting healthy, I started reading the labels on things like you suggested to and I was disgusted by what was in shop bought nutella. I was giving that to my kids every morning. I stopped buying it, but they always nag me for it.
Katrina Modlinsky says
OMG far too chocolatey haha- I had to water it down with more milk but each to their own taste. The almond butter was a complete nightmare- I think my processor is too large as the mixture was was constantly going around the edge and I had to keep scraping it down every 2 minutes. I added olive oil to speed it along but it didn't work. I had it going round for about an hour! I gave up in the end and just bunged it all into the nut mixture and it came out alright. I will perservere and try again with double the almonds next time to make pure almond butter.
Jennifer says
I halved the recipe and did it in a little bullet-style blender... and used the halfsize jar (again this was for half the recipe... it filled up the half-size jar) BUT I also used 100g of store-bought fresh-ground almond butter, which worked really well. (But I think it would work with the almonds too, but I already had almond butter on hand so I just skipped that step :))
Dannii says
You need a high powder food processor to make the nut butter and it does take about 10-15 minutes and scraping down the sides a couple of times.
sylvana vella says
Did you use raw nuts or roasted nut?THIS IS SOMETHING I WILL TRY
sylvana vella says
Did you use roasted nuts or raw nuts ? this is something i will try .Thanks
Dannii says
I don't bother roasting the nuts first, but some people do.
Cheryl says
Have you tried freezing this filling as part of your Pop Tart recipe? Just wondering if that would work... (less chance of eating all 12 Pop Tarts with this filling if I can freeze some of them!) :-) Thanks so much for such wonderful recipes!
Cheryl says
Just wondering if anyone has tried freezing this? I'm thinking of using it for the Pop Tart recipe, and didn't know how well it would freeze. Thanks!
janelle says
do you have any suggestions on what i could use as a non-dairy substitute for the skim milk? rice or coconut or soy milk? or something else? thanks!
Linda Davidson says
Amazing, well done, am going to make this tomorrow for breakfast, inspirational!!!
Jen says
Do you store it in the fridge or at room temp? And what is the shelf life?
Jennifer says
Guess I need to get to eating mine :)
So delish!!