Vegan Nutella (Homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Spread)

Homemade vegan Nutella is absolutely worth making. Roast raw hazelnuts, rub off their skins, blend them into silky butter, then fold in melted dark chocolate, maple syrup, and a pinch of salt. The result is a deeply chocolatey, nutty spread that rivals the original in flavor and beats it in ingredient quality.

The whole process takes about 30 minutes and produces roughly 1.5 cups of spread. The secret is patience at the blending stage: hazelnuts need 5 to 10 minutes in a food processor or blender before they release enough oil to turn genuinely smooth. Rushing that step is the one mistake worth avoiding.

Why This Works (The Science Behind the Spread)

Real Nutella gets its creamy, pourable texture from palm oil and skim milk powder. To replicate that without either ingredient, this recipe leans on two things: hazelnut oil and coconut oil.

As hazelnuts roast, their natural fats warm and loosen. When you blend them long enough, those fats emulsify with the solids to create hazelnut butter without adding a drop of oil. Melted dark chocolate then merges with the butter seamlessly because chocolate is itself an emulsion of fat and cocoa solids. A small amount of refined coconut oil (which has no coconut flavor) keeps the spread pourable at room temperature and helps it stay smooth after chilling.

The result is thinner than store-bought Nutella when warm and slightly firmer when cold. That is exactly how a clean-ingredient version behaves, and it is a feature, not a flaw.

Ingredients and Why Each One Matters

Raw unsalted hazelnuts (1.5 cups). Always start raw. Pre-roasted hazelnuts work in a pinch but raw gives you full control over the roast level, which directly shapes the flavor. Deeper roast equals more toasty, bitter notes. Lighter roast equals a sweeter, more delicate spread.

70% dairy-free dark chocolate (4 oz, roughly 115g). Most 70% dark chocolate is already vegan (no milk solids), but always check the label. Higher cacao percentage gives you real chocolate depth. Chips work fine if you do not have a bar to chop.

Refined coconut oil (3 tablespoons). Refined only. Virgin or unrefined coconut oil will add a distinct coconut flavor that pulls the spread away from that classic chocolate-hazelnut profile.

Pure maple syrup (3 tablespoons). Maple syrup blends in without seizing the chocolate, which is the risk with granulated sugar in a fat-based mixture. Adjust up or down by one tablespoon depending on how sweet your chocolate is.

Fine sea salt (1/4 teaspoon). Salt is not optional here. It sharpens every other flavor and prevents the spread from tasting flat or one-dimensional.

Method Tips for a Truly Smooth Spread

Roast properly. Spread hazelnuts in a single layer on a dry baking sheet and roast at 350 F (175 C) for 10 to 12 minutes. They are ready when the skins have cracked and the kitchen smells toasty. Do not walk away: hazelnuts burn quickly in the last two minutes.

Skin them while hot. Tip the hot hazelnuts onto a clean kitchen towel, fold the towel over them, and rub vigorously for about 30 seconds. The friction pops most of the papery skins loose. You do not need to get every last bit of skin off. Around 80 percent is enough.

Blend in stages. Add the warm, skinned hazelnuts to your food processor or high-speed blender. Blend on high, scraping the sides every 90 seconds. Expect the hazelnuts to go through three stages: coarse crumbs, then a clumped ball, then finally smooth, pourable butter. This takes 5 to 10 minutes depending on your machine. A high-speed blender (Vitamix or similar) gets there in about 5 minutes. A standard food processor may need closer to 10.

Melt chocolate gently. Chop the chocolate and melt it with the coconut oil in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water (a double boiler). Stir until just melted and smooth, then remove from heat. You can also microwave in 30-second bursts at half power, stirring between each.

Combine off heat. With the food processor running, pour the warm melted chocolate mixture and maple syrup into the hazelnut butter. Blend for another 2 to 3 minutes until everything is fully incorporated and glossy. Taste and adjust salt or sweetness now, before jarring.

Variations Worth Trying

Cocoa powder version. Skip the melted chocolate entirely. Add 3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder and an extra tablespoon of maple syrup to the finished hazelnut butter and blend well. The texture is slightly drier and the flavor is less fudgy, but it is faster and still excellent.

Nut-free version. Replace hazelnuts with sunflower seed butter (store-bought, pre-made). Combine 3/4 cup sunflower seed butter with the melted chocolate, maple syrup, and salt. Whisk until smooth. The flavor is earthier than hazelnut but the spread works beautifully on toast.

Extra creamy version. Add 2 tablespoons of full-fat canned coconut milk along with the chocolate mixture. This loosens the spread and gives it a slightly creamier mouthfeel, closer to a ganache texture. It also shortens shelf life, so use within one week refrigerated.

Darker and richer. Use 85% dark chocolate instead of 70% and increase maple syrup by one tablespoon to compensate for the extra bitterness. The result is intense and less sweet, better suited to spreading on fruit or stirring into oatmeal than eating straight from the spoon.

How to Store and Use Your Vegan Nutella

Storage. Transfer the spread to a clean glass jar with a tight lid. At room temperature it keeps for up to two weeks. In the refrigerator it keeps for up to two months but will firm up considerably. If you refrigerate it, let the jar sit at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes before spreading, or stir in a teaspoon of warm water to loosen it.

On toast. The classic. Use it exactly as you would butter or jam, spread thickly on sourdough or a good whole grain loaf.

In baking. Swirl into brownie batter before baking, spread between cake layers, fill thumbprint cookies, or marble into banana bread.

With fruit. Sliced bananas, strawberries, and pears are all natural pairings. The bitterness of the chocolate cuts through the sweetness of ripe fruit in a way that feels genuinely sophisticated.

Stirred into drinks. Add one tablespoon to warm oat milk and whisk until dissolved for a hazelnut hot chocolate. Blend a tablespoon into a smoothie with frozen banana and oat milk for a dessert-level drink.