Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

Like a vegan version of Nutella, this chocolate hazelnut spread is perfect for spreading on toast, incorporating into frosting or pies, sandwiching between cookies, or just eating with a spoon.

I don’t think I need to convince you to make this recipe. If hearing the words “chocolate” and “hazelnut” isn’t enough to move you, I don’t know what will. These days there are a couple of companies out there making vegan chocolate hazelnut spread, but it really isn’t too difficult to make at home without paying an arm and a leg.

Looking around the Web at similar recipes, I noticed that many people had a difficult time removing the bitter outer skins of the hazelnuts. Fortunately, there’s a trick to make skinning hazelnuts easier. To skin the 1½ c cups of hazelnuts that you’ll need in this recipe, boil 4 cups of water in a deep pot. Add 6 tbsp baking soda (it will fizz and bubble), and add hazelnuts. Continue boiling for 3-5 minutes (watching it to make sure it doesn’t boil over). The water will turn reddish-black. Test by dropping a hazelnut in a cup of cold water. Pinch the hazelnut; the skin should slip right off. If it doesn’t, continue boiling. Once finished, drain and rinse with cold water. Slip off the skins off all the hazelnuts (it doesn’t have to be perfect); rinse one more time and set aside to dry and cool completely.

I like to use soy powder to give this spread more of a milk chocolate flavor; you can leave it out if you desire a darker chocolate flavor.

4.7 from 3 reviews

Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

Recipe type: Condiments

Serves: 1 cup spread

Ingredients

1½ c hazelnuts, skinned
1-2 tbsp hazelnut or vegetable oil
¾ c powdered sugar
2 tbsp high-quality cocoa powder
2 tbsp soy powder
¼ tsp vanilla

Instructions

Toast hazelnuts in oven (or toaster oven) at 350° for ~20 minutes, tossing them frequently so as not to burn the nuts.
While still hot, grind in a blender until nuts break down into nut butter, adding vanilla and a little oil during the blending process.
Once a coarse nut butter has been formed, add cocoa powder, powdered sugar, and soy powder, adding more oil as needed.
Blend until spread reaches desired consistency.

Notes

The longer you blend, the smoother and thinner the spread will become. Grind for a shorter period of time or add more powdered sugar for a thicker spread.

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P.S. If you’re having a hard time tracking down soy powder, or you’re looking for a less sweet chocolate nut butter, check out my recipe for the easiest chocolate almond butter ever!

18 comments

Carrie says:

Sep 19, 2012

I was SOOOO close to just buying a jar of Nutella, milk ingredients be damned. Thank you so much for posting this! Now I just have to find a place in stupid New Mexico where I can buy hazelnuts.

Jen says:

Jan 12, 2013

Made this this evening and it was fabulous!! Thanks for great recipe 🙂

claryn says:

Jan 21, 2013

Glad you liked it, Jen 🙂

niv says:

Feb 2, 2014

the recipe is a treasure 🙂 but what its shelf life?

Feb 4, 2014

Wait, you mean you wouldn’t eat the entire batch in one sitting? 😉 Because there’s a lot of sugar in this spread, it should do just fine in a jar or other air-tight container at room temperature for at least 2 weeks. That said, if you store it in your refrigerator, it’ll harden up a bit, but would last longer — I’d guess 6 months at least.

Katie says:

Just wondering, do you have any nutritional information for this recipe? It sounds great!

This is not a low-calorie food, if you were wondering, Katie! 😉 I don’t really “do” nutritional info on this blog for a number of reasons, but you can certainly calculate nutritional information yourself here: http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp

Marla says:

Mar 30, 2014

Is soy powder soy milk powder? I have some of that.

Mar 31, 2014

I use unsweetened, unflavored soy powder, which can be used to make soy milk (like this here: http://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=709468&storeId=10052&langId=-1). That said, any soy milk powder should work, but be aware that if you’re using a flavored, sweetened kind, it’ll alter the flavor a little bit!

May 12, 2014

Thanks. This powder apparently is much more natural. I was really bothered by the ingredients of the soy milk powder I have, which are just kind of processed, when I bought it but thought I had no other brands or options. I’ll definitely get this instead if I ever buy it again. I don’t really use it much.

Alicia says:

Jun 13, 2014

how long can this be stored for?

Jul 10, 2014

It should last as long as any other flavored nut butter. Honestly, I haven’t tested the limits of its shelf stability myself, but at minimum, it should be shelf stable for a month.

Vegan Before Six says:

Apr 20, 2015

can’t do soy – might you recommend a substitute?

Chocolate Hazelnut Spread | Moms Just Want to Have Fun says:

May 11, 2015

[…] Did you know that it’s really, really easy to make your own Nutella®-type spread? I’m here to tell you that it is! My kids were amazed by this stuff, and I must say that I liked it better than the store bought kind. The original recipe can be found at Hell Yeah It’s Vegan! […]

Easy Chocolate Almond Butter - Hell Yeah It's Vegan! says:

Jun 2, 2015

[…] were widely available in stores (and before I became allergic to hazelnuts!), I came up with this recipe to sate my cravings for Nutella. While delicious, it called for soy powder, which readers always […]

Mostly Vegan says:

Dec 2, 2016

This is really tasty, I can’t stop eating it. It really did taste like Nutella. The only this I would change is the amount of sugar – it was a bit too sweet for me. It might be because I don’t eat a lot of sweets… Still, great recipe!