Creamy, nutty, and incredibly versatile, Sunbutter is the ultimate nut-free alternative to peanut butter.
But instead of spending way too much on those boutique brands of handmade Sunbutter, why not just learn to make your own?
Requiring nothing more than a few simple ingredients and pieces of kitchen equipment, sunbutter is not only delicious and easy to make, but it’s incredibly cheap as well!
How Can I Use My Homemade Sunbutter?
Homemade sunbutter can be used in exactly the same way that you would use any other nut butter. Use it in place of peanut butter in a sandwich, or as a way to massively enhance some homemade cookies!
You can also use it as a great smoothie ingredient; not only does it help to thicken a smoothie, but it gives it all of those intense, roasty, nutty flavors, and it works in basically every smoothie imaginable!
What Kind Of Special Equipment Do I Need To Make Sunbutter?
The only things you really need to make sunbutter are a way to roast some sunflower seeds and a way to break the seeds up and turn them into a paste.
Heating the sunflower seeds shouldn’t be a problem for anyone (you could even do it in the microwave, in a pinch), so to get the sunflower seeds broken apart and turn them into sunbutter, you either need a high-powered food processor, or a mortar and pestle. Just make sure to really roast the sunflower seeds enough to turn them a delicious nutty brown, as otherwise, when you go to blend them, you might just make sunflower seed flour instead!
So long as you can crush or destroy the seeds quickly and at high heat, then you should end up with sunbutter no matter what.
Ingredients
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar (or honey, or other sweetener)
1 tablespoon neutral oil
How To Make Homemade Sunbutter
Step 1 – Pour your cup of sunflower seeds onto a baking tray and roast them at around 350 Fahrenheit for 10-20 minutes, or until about 75% of the sunflower seeds develop a deep, roasty brown color.
Step 2 – Transfer your roasted sunflower seeds to a food processor, along with the salt and the sugar, and begin blending on high speed
Step 3 – Once the sunflower seeds have broken apart and have turned into a fine powder, lower the speed to low.
Step 4 – As the mixture continues to blend, periodically pause the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl to help incorporate any bits that have climbed up the side.
Step 5 – Once the mixture stops turning in the food processor, add your oil, and then resume blending on low speed
Step 6 – As soon as the mixture has thickened and congealed into a lumpy, peanut butter-like paste, you are done! Keep going until it is as smooth as you want it, and then transfer it into a sealed container.
Troubleshooting Tips
• One of the most likely things you will run into when making homemade sunbutter for the first time is that the sunflower seeds just refuse to turn into sunbutter! If you are struggling to get the mixture to actually congeal, add more oil a little bit at a time to encourage it to finally start blending down and turning into sunbutter.
• If you find that your sunbutter has a harsh, burnt flavor to it, it probably means that you over-roasted your sunflower seeds at the beginning. To avoid this in the future, make sure to keep a careful eye on the seeds as they cook in the oven, and pull them when about 75% of the seeds have a nice amount of brown color.
Video Instructions
Nutritional Facts
For the health-conscious out there, here are the nutritional details for 2 tablespoons of sunbutter:
Calories: 200
Total Fat: 16 grams
Saturated Fat: 1.5 grams
Trans Fat: 0 grams
Polyunsaturated Fat: 0 grams
Monounsaturated Fat: 0grams
Cholesterol: 0 milligrams
Sodium: 130 milligrams
Total Carbohydrates: 7 grams
Dietary Fiber: 2 grams
Sugars: 3 grams
Protein: 7 gram
Potassium: 188 milligrams
FAQs
It’s hard to really say whether or not sunbutter is healthier than other nut butters, because all nut butters are essentially a paste made from a fat-rich seed or nut.
However, sunflower seeds are fewer calories than something like peanuts when weighed against one another, so in a purely calorific sense, yes!
How much you toast your sunflower seeds will determine just how dark and roasty the final flavor of your butter will be.
If you toast them until they are pretty much all the way to black, then the resulting sunbutter will have a bitter, slightly burnt aftertaste.
If you barely toasted them at all, stopping just as soon as you see the first hints of brown on the seeds, you would end up with a lot of that raw, vegetal flavor that raw sunflower seeds have, something that some people might prefer.
It is really just up to preference how toasted you like your sunflower seeds, so experiment a bit to find what works for you!
One thing that can happen is that your sunbutter will separate after sitting in your fridge for a little while. Both the oil you added and the natural oils of the sunflower seeds themselves can start to leech out.
This separation is perfectly normal, though, and can be easily solved by just giving it a quick stir before you use it! Pushing some plastic wrap down onto the surface of the sunbutter in its container can help to prevent this, as well as help to mitigate any risks of oxidation.
How to Make Your Own Sunbutter
Homemade sunbutter isn’t just cheap and easy to make, but a delicious alternative to other nut butters as well!
Ingredients
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar (or honey, or other sweetener)
1 tablespoon neutral oil
Instructions
Step 1 – Pour your cup of sunflower seeds onto a baking tray and roast them at around 350 Fahrenheit for 10-20 minutes, or until about 75% of the sunflower seeds develop a deep, roasty brown color.
Step 2 – Transfer your roasted sunflower seeds to a food processor, along with the salt and the sugar, and begin blending on high speed
Step 3 – Once the sunflower seeds have broken apart and have turned into a fine powder, lower the speed to low.
Step 4 – As the mixture continues to blend, periodically pause the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl to help incorporate any bits that have climbed up the side.
Step 5 – Once the mixture stops turning in the food processor, add your oil, and then resume blending on low speed
Step 6 – As soon as the mixture has thickened and congealed into a lumpy, peanut butter-like paste, you are done! Keep going until it is as smooth as you want it, and then transfer it into a sealed container.
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