3 Ingredients | Low Carb, Keto & Sugar-Free Recipe!
Every now and again you taste something that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside; something that puts a big smile on your face and makes you wonder why you hadn’t tried it long ago. I can’t say this was the case for me the first time I tasted Nutella, to be honest. But then again, I’m not a big chocolate fan. I also like healthier ingredients where I can find them, and the chocolatey hazelnut store-bought spread has pretty much none of that.
In lighter news: I’ve found a homemade Nutella recipe that is quite tasty and not at all processed! With fresh roasted hazelnuts, cocoa powder, and sweetener — are we counting salt as an ingredient? — it can be anyone’s favorite (even on a low carb or keto diet).
Homemade is the way to go!
When I recently decided to take on homemade Nutella, I knew it would be a healthier choice, and I also know that most homemade things tend to taste better. Well this recipe did not disappoint! It’s also keto & low carb-friendly — if you’d like to make it that way — so no sugar rushes, and a good amount of fat from the hazelnuts. If you are strict keto, make sure to log it into whichever carb-tracker app you have and use it a little more sparingly.
Speaking of hazelnuts…
This was my first time using them…like, ever. You have to roast them first until they get to a dark brown on the outside, and then rub them with a dish towel to get the skins off. It gave me a bit of a workout trying to get all the skins off. Then I read that you don’t have to get every last bit of it off…Umm, life went a bit smoother after that.
Blend, blend, blend!
I would suggest grinding the hazelnuts as smooth as you can with your food processor or blender (I used both), and then see if you need to add any oil to loosen it up. The heat generated from the blending in your machine will let you know, as it will draw the oil out of the nuts a bit more.
A powerful blender works great here! I started out with my food processor and once it was pretty well pulverized I threw it in my Ninja and it made it super smooth. But don’t worry if you’ve only got one or the other. It just may not be as smooth. Think of it like chunky peanut butter.
You’ve got options
This homemade Nutella is made with cocoa powder, but feel free to use chopped chocolate instead. I’d go with 3 ounces of chocolate. Chop your chocolate into very small pieces, and once your nuts are smooth, blend the chocolate in. This will also help to make your Nutella thicker, instead of runny.
You can also adjust the sweetness and the amount of chocolate to your liking, or even add in a flavor extract for an interesting flavor combo. It makes about a half pint of the good stuff. Double the recipe for more, of course.
The only thing I would change here from the original recipe would be to not add in the avocado oil. I love avocado oil, but it seemed to make my Nutella pretty runny, and I imagine leaving it out of the recipe would help to avoid that problem — although it does make a great dipping or drizzle sauce that way! (Crepes, anyone?) — It might have been the oil content in my hazelnuts; who knows? For this reason I’ve made the avocado oil optional in this recipe.
Enjoy your jar of homemade chocolate hazelnut spread on pancakes, crepes, toast, slather it on cookies, or just eat it with a spoon when you get a craving.
Keep it in the fridge for about a month. I just always do a smell/taste test for a freshness gauge. Guess I’m a bit daring in the kitchen.
Homemade Nutella | 3 Ingredients
Ingredients
- 200 g hazelnuts roasted and skinned
- 25 g cocoa powder
- 18 g powdered sweetener I use erythritol; you can use regular sugar if you’d like. I would stay away from “powdered sugar” if using the regular stuff – just blitz it into a fine powder in something like a bullet.
- ¼ tsp kosher salt if it sounds strange to use salt, it isn’t. Salt helps to bring out flavors and to balance out sweet things. Don’t leave it out!
Optional:
- ½ Tbsp avocado oil or a neutral oil – use if you want a slightly runnier consistency, or if it’s too difficult to blend
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract or any other flavor extract you’d like
Instructions
ROAST YOUR NUTS (tee-hee)
- Preheat your oven to 300°F/150°C. Put raw hazelnuts on a baking sheet in a single layer and roast them for about 12-14 minutes, until they turn a deep dark brown. They will start to smell fragrant but not burnt.
- Wrap the hazelnuts in a kitchen towel layed into a bowl and let sit for 5 minutes to steam a bit, then rub them with the kitchen towel inbetween your hands. It’s okay if all of the skins don’t come off, but try to get as much off as you can.
MAKE YOUR NUTELLA
- Drop your hazelnuts into a food processor or a high-powered blender (preferably while still warm), and blend until the oils come out and it smooths out. It should look like nut butter. Depending on the strength of your blender, this can take anywhere from 5-15 minutes.
- When you’ve made hazelnut butter, add the rest of your ingredients and blend some more. (you can’t really blend this too much)
- Pour into a glass jar or airtight container. Keep in the fridge for about a month.
Notes
- If you don’t have a means of using powdered sweetener, your end result may turn out a bit grainy. To combat this, you can try and heat up the spread over a low heat in a saucepan. Add in your sweetener and stir frequently, until your sweetener has dissolved.
- If using granular sugar, this should happen pretty quickly; if using erythritol or xylitol this may take a little longer.
- Cool down your mixture before putting into the jar.
I love testing out recipes I find and play around with them to see how well they will work, or if they need any changes for my tastes. I can’t take all the credit for the original recipe, and I like to give credit where it’s due. Here is the original recipe I found to try out. The recipe on my site is my tested and adapted version.