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.
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.
