Homemade Paleo Nutella (Refined Sugar Free, Dairy Free)
Homemade Paleo Nutella – made with just hazelnuts, cocoa powder and coconut sugar! A much healthier Nutella copycat hazelnut spread that is paleo, dairy free, refined sugar free, gluten free, grain free and clean eating.
This is big! Paleo Nutella! Get excited!
It is my new favorite late night snack with fruit. And since it is paleo, I don’t feel guilty enjoying it every night. And I do mean…every night.
Do you all love Nutella hazelnut spread as much as I do? It makes everything taste better, especially fruit. But I don’t love how much refined sugar and dairy it has in it. The #1 ingredient is sugar, which means there is more sugar than hazelnuts. Crazy!
After reading the ingredients, I tweaked them to make a paleo Nutella that was refined sugar free and dairy free.
All that is in my paleo nutella is hazelnuts, cacao powder, coconut sugar, a pinch of salt, and water. That’s it. Completely guilt free and clean eating.
I roast the hazelnuts to intensify their flavor. Then, I use my food processor to turn the hazelnuts into hazelnut butter. It only takes about 5 minutes since hazelnuts are so soft. Then I add in cacao powder, coconut sugar, a pinch of salt, and some water to thin it to that perfect Nutella consistency.
This recipe makes 2 cups of homemade paleo nutella. I store them in 2 of these half pint mason jars. I’ll keep 1 the fridge, and the other in the freezer. Love freezer safe mason jars! It will keep in the fridge for at least a month, and in the freezer for at least a year.
But in my house, I’m lucky if it lasts longer than a week before we eat it all, ha!
This homemade Paleo Nutella is delicious on so many things. Pancakes, cookies, muffins, or with fresh fruit.
My latest obsession has been a cold Honeycrisp apple and some Nutella every night after I put the baby to bed. Such a delicious and healthy late night treat! And I can enjoy it guilt free since this paleo Nutella is
Homemade Paleo Nutella (Refined Sugar Free, Dairy Free)
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 cups hazelnuts
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder/cacao powder
- 6-8 tablespoons room temperature water
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- On a rimmed baking sheet, roast the hazelnuts at 300º for 20 minutes.
- Once the hazelnuts are cool enough to touch, rub them with a kitchen towel between your hands to rub off any excess hazelnut skin. You don't need to get all of it, some skins are ok.
- In a food processor with the S Blade attachment, process the hazelnuts until creamy. About 5-7 minutes. I scrape down the bowl and lid once or twice.
- Add the coconut sugar, cocao powder and pinch of salt. Process another 2-3 minutes.
- With the blade running, remove to top pour spout and slowly pour in 6 tablespoons water. Process another 5 minutes until very creamy. Add in another 1-2 tablespoons of water if a thinner consistency is desired.
- Store in an airtight container. I store mine in 2 wide mouth 1/2 pint size mason jars, which are also freezer friendly mason jars. Will keep refrigerated for 1 month, and frozen for 1 year.
More Paleo Dessert Recipes
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16 Comments on “Homemade Paleo Nutella (Refined Sugar Free, Dairy Free)”
Absolutely the best! I always double the recipe except on the sugar, I reduce it to 3/4 cup for a double recipe). All the grands love it. Have shared this to many family and friends, rave reviews.
Forgot to give this a 5 star!
Thank you, Susan!
Love to hear this! So honored!
Hey! I tried this recipe a couple weeks ago and it worked beautifully and my husband and I couldn’t get it enough! I tried making it again today and, when I added the water, it wouldn’t blend and kind of turned into more of a paste. Any reason you can think why this happened? :( Maybe the water wasn’t room temp enough or I poured it in too fast? I don’t think I poured it in faster than last time but maybe I’m not remembering quite right.
Oh strange! I wonder what it was? Was it really cold water? It should be thinner and smooth just like store bought nutella. Might need more water to keep thinning it out.
Hi Again! I’m not sure why because it worked for me just fine the first time. My guess is one of the following, the water wasn’t warn enough in contrast to the nuts, the nuts weren’t warn enough because I had let them cool more then the time before, or because the nut were bad. The first batch I made was AMAZING. This round just tasted off. Moldy is an issue with nuts so they very well could have been bad.
I also googled it and found this article (http://www.juliemorris.net/the-dos-donts-of-making-nut-butter/) that says to never add water based liquid to homemade nut butter because it causes the nut butter to seize, like mine did, but, obviously, it has worked for you, others and for me the first time. There has to be some scientific reason… I’ll keep trying those. :) thanks!
I had this happen twice, I was using a small vitamix. It turned into something similar to a caramel or soft tootsie roll! Since then Ive switched to using a food processor. When I add the water, very slowly, you’ll see it go from a weird wet gloppy mess to a creamy Nutella! It takes a few minutes, I just keep it going until it gets smooth. Just keep the processor going!
Could I use honey or maple syrup & if so would I add less water?
Yes! Absolutely! I would hold off adding the water until after the hazelnuts are completely broken down. Then, if you want it thinner, add in water until it is your desired texture. You’re going to love this one!
I want to try this, and I’m not super knowledgeable about Paleo, but isn’t coconut sugar still “sugar”? Is it really allowed on Paleo/keto diets?
Coconut sugar is paleo! Along with honey, pure maple syrup, and dates. But none of those sweeteners are keto. The only sweetener allowed in the keto diet is monkfruit.
I made this just then but mine tastes a bit bitter and I think it’s from the hazelnuts. Why would that be? Have I roasted them too much?
I would think it’s definitely the hazelnuts Mari. Darn. First try eating the hazelnuts raw, and make sure they haven’t already gone bad. Nuts last a lot longer when frozen, prevents the oils from turning the nut bitter. I get my hazelnuts from Trader Joe’s and they’re always perfect!
It’s possible they may have been over roasted, but you would have had to really brown them and had them almost black for them to taste bad. I’m sure you would have noticed. Hope you can get your hands on some good hazelnuts for next time, because this nutella is so delicious!
Tastes just like Nutella! You weren’t kidding! I added a little more coconut sugar though. Guess I was craving a lot more sweetness tonight. I used hazelnuts from Trader Joe’s and it worked great. I was likcing the spoon!
So glad you liked it Tabitha! I get my hazelnuts from Trader Joe’s too. And feel free to add more coconut sugar if that’s how you like it!