This chocolate hazelnut spread is easy to make and tastes even better than the store-bought version! Homemade Nutella is a great dairy-free sauce, dip, and drizzle over desserts.
Most people who know me know that I have never been a fan of store-bought Nutella. No matter how hard I tried to like it, it tasted… off. It contains a weird grainy (read: highly processed) texture that never tasted right to me.
However, I LOVE the chocolate and hazelnut flavor combination. Chocolate Hazelnut Pie? ALL OVER IT!
And I absolutely adore making this copycat Nutella recipe from scratch at home.
Table of contents
Why make your own chocolate hazelnut spread?
The best part about a homemade chocolate hazelnut spread? You know exactly what’s going into it – mainly hazelnuts and chocolate.
- Homemade Nutella has less sugar. Sugar is the main ingredient found in store-bought Nutella; it’s listed right there as the #1 ingredient. The jarred stuff is also reported to have 21 grams of sugar per serving. Yikes! Whereas, homemade Nutella has between 7 and 10 grams per serving.
- You can adjust the taste to your preferred level of sweetness.
- You can also adjust how thick the spread is. For me, the jarred stuff is just too thick and hard to spread (thanks to some of the ingredients they use to help it stay shelf-stable).
- It’s dairy-free. If you use pure cocoa powder and not a hot cocoa mix, this is a yummy dairy-free recipe!
- It’s easier to make at home than you think.
Convinced it’s time to make your own chocolate hazelnut spread? Let’s get started!
Kitchen tools and ingredients
To make Nutella from scratch, you just need a few kitchen tools
- Baking sheet – You’ll need a rimmed baking sheet to roast the hazelnuts.
- Dish towel – To remove the skins from the hazelnuts, you’ll need a clean, dry dish cloth. Try to use a weave-style towel that has grooves, to help create friction and remove the skins better.
- Blender – because we’re blending up hazelnuts, you’ll want to use a high-powered blender. Most home blenders will work. This is the Vitamix blender I use and love.
Ingredients to make your own Nutella spread
It all starts, of course, with hazelnuts.
We are lucky enough to live near an abundance of hazelnut farms. If you ever visit Oregon, you’ll notice hazelnuts as one of the many popular homegrown ingredients in local restaurants, used in so many different ways for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert.
You can also usually find a bag of hazelnuts in your local grocery store. If not, you can purchase hazelnuts online (that’s my affiliate link to really delicious Oregon hazelnuts!).
In addition to hazelnuts, you will need:
- Coconut sugar – You can substitute granulated sugar if you wish.
- Cocoa powder – Use the best tasting cocoa powder
- Coconut oil – The recipe calls for one tablespoon of coconut oil measured, then melted. This helps create a smooth spread and also helps the spread stay fresher longer.
- Water – To adjust the thickness of the spread, start by using the suggested amount of water in the recipe card. Then if you want the spread to be thinner, add more water in small 1/2 teaspoon increments, as desired, to thin out the spread.
- Syrup – Maple syrup adds a little sweetness to the spread. You can also use agave nectar instead.
How to Roast Hazelnuts
Roasting hazelnuts is fairly easy. Taking the skins off hazelnuts sometimes can be tricky. But that’s usually the only potentially challenging part of this recipe.
First, preheat your oven to 300°F.
While the oven is preheating, spread the hazelnuts out onto a rimmed, ungreased baking sheet.
Bake at 300°F for 20 minutes.
Allow the roasted hazelnuts to cool on the baking sheet for 2 to 3 minutes.
How to de-skin hazelnuts
After the hazelnuts are cool enough, work to take the skins off. To do this, gently roll the hazelnuts in a clean, dry, thick dish cloth and gently rub the skins off. This usually takes off most of the skins.
Sometimes, the hazelnuts seem to cling to their skins. So you have to work a little harder to rub the skins off.
And it’s ok if you have some hazelnut skin left! Just as long as the majority do not have their skins.
Make the spread
Place de-skinned hazelnuts into a food processor and process until smooth. This takes about 3-4 minutes.
Once the hazelnuts are a smooth texture, add the coconut sugar, cocoa powder, melted coconut oil, and water.
Process until the cocoa powder combines fully and the mixture is now a beautiful chocolate color.
Use a silicone spatula to transfer the homemade Nutella into a glass jar and store until you are ready to use!
Recipe FAQs
This recipe already makes a fairly sweet chocolate hazelnut spread. However, you can add more sweetness by adding a half tablespoon of maple syrup to the food processor, pulse, then stop the food processor and taste the spread. If you prefer the spread to be sweeter, repeat with another half tablespoon of maple syrup and pulse, until the chocolate hazelnut spread reaches the level of sweetness you prefer.
Store your homemade chocolate hazelnut spread in an airtight glass jar. You can store it at room temperature for up to one week, or in the refrigerator for up to three weeks.
While the company that makes the store-bought stuff markets their spread as a breakfast spread, this is really a dessert item. Our recipe is made mostly of hazelnuts and cocoa powder, but it’s still a sweet dish that doesn’t really offer you a ton of vitamins and minerals to qualify as a breakfast food, in my opinion. You can, of course, use this chocolate hazelnut spread over breakfast dishes like pancakes and waffles. It’s a delicious way to make breakfast a sweet treat!
Ways to use homemade Nutella
This homemade Nutella is an AMAZING chocolate hazelnut spread with so many uses.
- Place in mason jars and give as holiday gifts.
- Spread onto waffles, pancakes, and french toast for a fun, sweet breakfast.
- Make s’mores by spreading onto graham crackers and top with marshmallows.
- Add to a Valentine’s Day Dessert Board as a dip for cookies.
- Use as a drizzle over ice cream, cakes, and pies.
Most recently, I drizzled it over a crazy tasty S’mores Skillet Cookie. SO GOOD!
The homemade Nutella drizzle took this already delicious dessert to the next level!
More Delicious Dessert Recipes
- S’mores Skillet Cookie
- Chocolate Chip Bars
- Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Apple Pie Bars
- Vegan Chocolate Mousse
- Unicorn Magic Shell for Ice Cream Cake
Homemade Nutella recipe (Chocolate Hazelnut Spread)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups hazelnuts
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
- ¼ cup water
- 1 ½ tablespoons maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300° F.
- Spread hazelnuts onto an ungreased, rimmed baking sheet.
- Bake at 300 degrees in the middle rack for 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool at room temperature for 2-3 minutes.
- Place hazelnuts onto a clean thick dish towel, then rub hazelnuts against the towel to remove the skins. I’m not going to lie: this is my least favorite part, and it can take a while. However, don’t be too picky: hazelnuts can have a bit of skin on them and it’s going to be fine!
- Place de-skinned hazelnuts into a food processor and process until smooth. This takes about 3-4 minutes.
- Once the hazelnuts are a smooth texture, add the coconut sugar, cocoa powder, melted coconut oil, and water. Process until the cocoa powder combines fully and the mixture is now a beautiful chocolate color.
- To add sweetness, start by adding a half tablespoon of maple syrup, pulse, then stop the food processor and taste the spread. If you prefer the spread to be sweeter, repeat with another half tablespoon of maple syrup and pulse, until the chocolate hazelnut spread reaches the level of sweetness you prefer. For us, we found one and a half tablespoons to be perfect.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This post was originally published on December 20, 2017. It was updated February 5, 2020 with new content .
I have pinned this as well. We love Nutella at home and what better than making it at home!
Oh my I love Nutella definitely making this recipe for my family looks fantastic and easy too!
I am a big hazelnut fan, so super excited to try this at home! I didn’t know how easy it would be to make!
Never tried this at home but grateful reading this post which piqued my attention, what a great idea. Now I will include this on my to-do list next month. Our family loves nutella.
I am all over this recipe! I may just grab a straw and drink it too! Delish!
Ah, nutella… there is just never enough of it! Such a delicious and needed recipe to have on hand. I use nutella all the time and never stop admiring it – yum!
What a perfect idea for a holiday gift!!!! :)
I love handing these out in cute jars! Thanks!
Yay for homemade Nutella! I’m so excited to have discovered your recipe. I look forward to trying it out. I love how your recipe has a smooth consistency and a beautiful look. I can tell the flavor is simply scrumptious. Yum, yum!
Thanks so much, Denay!
I definitely thought this process is tougher, but you make it seem pretty simple! Need to give this a try soon since I LOVE nutella!!
It’s fairly quick and easy and tastes great! Let me know how you like it! Thanks!
This looks so delicious! I instantly thought of putting the homemade nutella inside chocolate truffles, or even spread on a biscuit. YUM!
That would taste great! Thanks, Samantha!
It’s so much simpler than I thought it would be! I love Nutella but the texture does feel a little… off.
It’s pretty easy! I always prefer to put in a little work for something that I enjoy rather than settling for store bought!
Homemade Nutella is so delicious. What a great gift. Would be so nice with a jar of homemade waffle/pancake mix – I love the idea of putting it on waffles and pancakes.
It’s great on breakfast foods! Thanks, Leslie!
Mmmm! Homemade nutella is something I wouldn’t have thought to try to make myself. This looks great!
Thanks, Tiffany!
Love the idea to put your homemade Nutella on Smores!
It’s so yummy! Thanks, Erin!
Being that I’m OBSESSED with Nutella, I will NEED to make this! Plus this would be such a perfect gift to hand out during the holidays!
Nathalie