You can make your own Nutella at home—here’s how
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Whether I'm eating simple toast, delicate crêpes or thick waffles, I can always find a reason to spread some Nutella on top.
I used to laugh at my friend, a Nutella fanatic, who always packs a jar of the chocolate hazelnut spread when she travels outside Germany, but she's right when she claims that not all jars are created equal. Like Coca-Cola and other brands, Nutella’s manufacturer adjusts its recipe for different markets—for both economic reasons and consumer preferences.
But if you want a taste of authentic Nutella, you don't need to board an eight-hour flight to Italy every time. Thanks to my dear friend Serena from northern Italy (not very far from Piedmont, where Nutella was originally created), I learned how to make Nutella with three main ingredients: milk chocolate, raw hazelnuts, and whole milk.
In Serena’s recipe, she suggests keeping the ratio of raw hazelnuts to milk chocolate as is, and adjusting the amount of melted dark chocolate as you go, since the dark chocolate is mainly for added flavor.
“You can start by mixing the roasted hazelnuts and sugar in a blender,” Serena says. To add more flavor, she also recommends an additional 2/3 tablespoon of hazelnut oil if available. “This will smooth out the cream to give it a shiny texture," she says. If you don’t have hazelnut oil, any neutral vegetable oil will do. Then, alternate between adding milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and milk. Following her traditional method, you then move the mixture from the blender to a bain marie, and cook for 20 minutes on medium low heat. Let it cool before storing the spread in the jars.
But if you’re in a hurry and don’t have the patience to watch the bain marie as it cooks, here's how to make Nutella quickly at home:
How to make Nutella
What You Need:
- 90 g (1 cup) raw hazelnuts
- 250 g (1 cup) milk chocolate, chopped
- 50 g (1/4 cup) dark chocolate, chopped
- 10 ml (2/3 tbsp) hazelnut oil (or canola oil, if unavailable)
- 80 g (1/3 cup) brown sugar
- 150 ml (1/2 cup) whole milk
- A toaster oven or a skillet—we’re using the Breville Smart Oven
- A rimmed baking sheet
- A blender (we’re using a Vitamix)
- Two microwave-safe bowls for melting the chocolate
- Some jars for storage
Time Needed
25 minutes
Difficulty
Easy
Step-by-Step:
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350°F and roast the hazelnuts
To bring out the nutty flavors of the raw hazelnuts, you can roast them in a toaster oven or a skillet on the stove. Here we used the best toaster oven we’ve tested, the Breville Smart Oven, because it heats up quickly and roasts the nuts evenly.
On a rimmed baking sheet, spread the hazelnuts and make sure the nuts are not touching each other. Then, roast the hazelnuts until they’re lightly browned, about 20 minutes. If your raw hazelnuts have skins on them, wrap the roasted nuts in a piece of kitchen towel and rub vigorously until the skins are removed. If you like the nutty flavor from roasted hazelnuts, you can also leave the skins on.
Step 2: Melt the chocolate
As the hazelnuts are roasting in the toaster oven, you can start preparing the chocolate. In a microwave-safe bowl, add the chopped milk chocolate and start microwaving at 30-second intervals. Stir until all chocolate is melted. In a separate bowl, melt dark chocolate using the same method, or over a water bath on the stovetop.
Step 3: Grind the hazelnuts
In a blender or a food processor, add the hazelnuts and hazelnut oil (or vegetable oil) and grind until it forms a paste.
Add in the two bowls of melted chocolate, brown sugar, and milk, then keep mixing. Add more chocolate, sugar, or any other flavorings to taste. Continue blending until smooth and spreadable.
What can I do with Nutella?
Everything! If a big scoop of Nutella on a piece of toasted bread doesn’t satisfy, you may also want to check out these no-bake Nutella cookies, or these two-ingredient Nutella brownies.
How to store the homemade Nutella
Typically, a jar of store-bought Nutella doesn’t require refrigeration because its ingredients can survive room temperature. Plus, the sugar content in the spread acts as a preservative to keep microorganism from growing. Homemade Nutella has a shorter shelf life because this recipe doesn’t call for palm oil and uses less sugar, but because hazelnuts are high in fat, storing Nutella in the fridge may cause the spread to harden. For homemade Nutella, we recommend storing the spread in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks.
Making Nutella from scratch is easy—just follow the three steps, adjust to taste, and you’ll have creamy, delicious spread for snacks, toast, and baked goods!
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