Pistachio Butter
This homemade pistachio butter is made with freshly toasted pistachios and tastes like a dream! It's so creamy with amazing pistachio flavor.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on July 9, 2024
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Have you ever tasted pistachio butter? This homemade pistachio butter is made with freshly toasted pistachios and tastes like a dream! It’s creamy with amazing pistachio flavor.
I first tasted pistachio butter when we visited an Ottolenghi restaurant in London last year. I was so excited and wanted to try everything, so I brought a collection of shelf-stable treats back home with us. They had tiny jars of sweetened, spiced pistachio butter—I don’t know what they called it, exactly—but it piqued my interest.
This pistachio butter tastes like an absolute treat even without any sweetener. It makes morning toast taste extra special. Imagine your next batch of pancakes with a drizzle of pistachio butter on top!
In fact, this pistachio butter is so special and unique that it’s a great homemade holiday gift for a host, teacher, or friend. Tie a pretty ribbon around a small jar to brighten its humble green appearance.
Below, you’ll find the recipe and an instructional video so you can watch how it comes together. I hope you’ll give pistachio butter a try!
Pistachio Butter Tips
Buy raw, unsalted, shelled pistachios.
Raw pistachios are simply superior to pre-toasted nuts in quality and flavor, and we will toast them ourselves to ease the blending process. Unsalted pistachios are key because nuts are often over-salted. Pre-shelled pistachios will save you tons of time! I can’t imagine cracking enough pistachios to make a whole batch of pistachio butter.
I used Aurora brand of pistachios from Whole Foods, and I thought the results were delicious and lovely. If you’d like to explore pistachio options, Love and Olive Oil has a thorough rundown on pistachios that yield the greenest pistachio butter with the smoothest texture. I’d say that if your raw pistachios taste nice, they will yield a great-tasting pistachio butter, so don’t stress over it.
Toast the nuts just before blending.
You’ll find instructions in the recipe. Freshly-toasted nuts taste incredible and lend more flavor to the end result. Perhaps more importantly, warm nuts blend more easily than cold nuts.
Use your food processor, not a blender.
I’m on team Food Processor for nut butters. Nut butters are so thick that blenders, even great ones like my Vitamix, require a lot of manual help to get going. It’s easier to throw the nuts in my food processor and let the processor work it out.
Know when to take a break.
Blending nut butter is hard work! If your food processor feels too warm or sounds like it’s struggling during the blending process, stop and let the machine cool down for five minutes or so before proceeding.
Change it up.
I think this pistachio butter is absolute perfection made with freshly-toasted pistachios and a pinch of salt. You can, however, add ground cinnamon and/or maple syrup at the end of blending, to taste.
For crunchy pistachio butter, reserve about 1/2 cup of the toasted pistachios, then blend the rest as directed. Add the reserved pistachios at the end, and process until you reach your desired consistency.
Watch How to Make Pistachio Butter
Pistachio Butter Serving Suggestions
Serve pistachio butter on toast or pancakes with fresh berries, chia seed jam, or thinly sliced apple or pear. This pistachio butter is so special that you can easily incorporate it into bite-sized appetizers, like crostini topped with pistachio butter and jam or small berries.
You could also take any green salad that contains pistachios to gourmet restaurant style by adding a swoosh of pistachio butter under the greens. Try it with my Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese & Pistachios.
Since this pistachio butter has a nice toasted undertone, it could also go in a savory direction. Please get creative with it and let me know how you like it!
More Nut Butters to Make
You have to try my pecan butter—it’s especially wonderful around the holidays. You’ll also enjoy my toasted coconut butter with optional macadamia nuts, and of course, homemade almond butter.
Pistachio Butter
This homemade pistachio butter is made with freshly toasted pistachios and tastes like a dream! Make this creamy pistachio butter for your morning toast, or give it as a gift. For context, use 16 ounces (1 pound) pistachios to yield enough nut butter to fill a standard 16-ounce nut butter jar (about 2 cups).
Ingredients
- 2 to 3 ½ cups (9 to 16 ounces) raw shelled pistachios
- Pinch or more of salt, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spread the pistachios across a rimmed baking sheet and toast them until nicely fragrant, about 7 to 9 minutes, stirring halfway.
- Let the pistachios cool until they’re just warm (not hot), about 10 minutes.
- Transfer the pistachios to a food processor. Add a pinch of salt.
- Blend until the mixture is completely smooth and creamy, pausing to scrape down the sides as necessary. The pistachios will go from flour-like clumps, to a ball against the side of the food processor, and finally, the mixture will turn creamy and glossy. If the mixture gets hot along the way or your machine seems tired, stop and let it cool for a few minutes before proceeding.
- Taste, and blend in another pinch of salt if desired. Let the pistachio butter cool to room temperature, then transfer the mixture to a mason jar and screw on the lid. This nut butter keeps well at room temperature for 1 week or store it in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.
Notes
Change it up: Add ground cinnamon (for spice) and/or maple syrup (for sweetness) at the end of blending, to taste.
Make it crunchy: Reserve about ½ cup of the toasted pistachios, then blend the rest as directed. Add the reserved pistachios at the end, and process until you reach your desired consistency.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Oh my goodness! I’m ordering raw pistachios now! I’m imagining a banana and pistachio smoothie and vanilla bean ice cream with warm pistachio butter drizzled on top! Thank you!
Holy moly, that would be delicious! Enjoy!!!
Kate- this looks so good! Will definitely make this- Always enjoy your recipes, although forget to respond- sorry will get your cookbook- Happy Holidays
Thanks so much, Dave! Happy holidays to you!
Looks totally yummy…will have to make a slightly smaller amount! Thank you for the idea!
Enjoy! It’s really so good.
I look forward to making this recipe. Sadly I always have trouble trying to print from your site
Juanita, I’m sorry you’re having trouble. Are you clicking on the “print” option directly within the recipe card? I’d love to know more so I can help.
Yes, I was. It could just be me technologically
This sounded delicious, and thought it would make a nice addition to some Christmas baskets I’m doing. I made it tonight, you are not kidding, you have to be patient, it takes a while to develop into’butter. Thanks for the detailed instructions. It came out beautifully, I was able to get 3 small containers for gifts and some for myself as well. It tastes so yummy. Love your recipes Kate!
Hooray! So happy to hear it, Kay. Happy holidays!
Love this recipe! Easy to make and delicious result. Thank you!
Awesome! Thank you, Michael!
I am going to try this recipe as my grandson loves pIstachios. I love your cookbook which I bought several years ago..
Thank you, Linda! I hope you both enjoy it. Really happy to hear that you’re enjoying the cookbook!
Just made my first ever pistachio butter and it looks and tastes wonderful.
Your instructions are so clear, Kate. I enjoyed seeing the pistachios transforming just as you described.
Happy Holidays,
Carol
I’m excited you loved it, Carol!
This looks amazing! Do you think this could be done in a Ninja-type blender or is the food processor essential?
If it’s considered high powered, it may be ok. You just want to make sure it can handle getting the nuts to the right consistency.
Perfect instructions. My husband really likes the butter and I do like it too! Btw I got your cookbook for Christmas and I love it!
For a pistachio cheesecake that I wanted to make, I needed 1/2 cup of pistachio cream/paste/or butter. I could not find any in the grocery stores I went to so decided to make my own using the recipe from this site. It was so easy to make that I would recommend for users to try it. It worked easily and perfectly. I had some left overs and will use it on toast or to make cookies.
That sounds delicious! I’m glad you tried this recipe.
I ordered some online and it was soooooo good on toast. Did you know it’s a perfect protein! But very expensive with shipping and could not indulge in it everyday due to cost…so excited to give this a whirl! It’s excellent on toasted oat and walnut bread with a banana across the top…very good at keeping you feeling full for hours. thanks for the clear video on how to make it.
I tried scaling down to 6 ounces, but it got to a point where the pistachios were stuck on the side and was not mixing anymore. I was only able to get it to a paste stage, not creamy butter. Any suggestions? Do you think it was due to pistachio quantity being too small?
Hi Rita, the ratio could likely be your issue.