I use homemade Pistachio Paste (pistachio butter) in almost all of my pistachio desserts to give a real, punchy flavor to cakes and frosting. It's super easy to make at home (and much more cost-effective than store-bought).
Pistachio Paste Recipe Snapshot
What it is: Nut butter made from 100% pistachios.
Why you'll love it: Easy to make, cheaper than store-bought, and can be used as a topping or to flavor baked goods and frostings.
How to make it: Roast the pistachios to release natural oils, then blitz them in a food processor or blender until smooth.
The most important thing to clarify first is that pistachio butter and pistachio cream are two different things. With pistachio desserts like Dubai Chocolate becoming more popular, a lot of recipes are using the names interchangeably - but they are totally different ingredients that will give very different results.
This is a recipe for pistachio butter (also known as pistachio paste). You can use it to add natural pistachio flavor to desserts or as an unsweetened topping for toast.
I use pistachio paste all the time; it's one of my all-time favorite ingredients to use in baking. But pre-made pistachio butter can be tricky to find and is usually quite expensive.
Since I bake so many pistachio recipes, I decided one day to experiment with making my own homemade pistachio paste, and I couldn't believe how easy it was! Now I make my own pistachio butter all the time. And the great thing is, the same method can be applied to make all kinds of homemade nut butter.
Jump to:
What Is Pistachio Paste?
Pistachio paste is a nut butter made from 100% pistachios. It's made by roasting pistachios to release the natural oils, then blending them up until they form a paste. Pistachio paste can be used in baking to create pistachio-flavored desserts, or it can be used as a spread or dip.
Ingredients
Pistachios - Real pistachio paste only has one ingredient - pistachios! They are the star of the show.
What Kind of Pistachios To Use
- Shelled: Use pre-shelled pistachios to save time and sore fingers!
- Unsalted: Best for baking, so you can control the salt. Add salt later if needed.
- Raw or Roasted: Both work, but raw pistachios are less likely to be dried out.
What You'll Need
You'll need a powerful food processor or high-speed blender to blend the pistachios smoothly. I get the best texture from a food processor. Blenders tend to make the paste a little runnier, which is fine for baking but less ideal as a spread.
How to Make Pistachio Paste
Roast
Lay 2 cups of pistachios on a baking sheet in a single layer and roast them for 5-7 minutes in the oven at 350°F / 180°C, shaking them around halfway.
This will release the natural oils and allow them to blend up into a lovely creamy consistency.
Some brands of pistachios may need a longer roasting process than others. Once you start to smell the lovely nutty aroma, take them out of the oven.
Blend
Put your pistachios in a food processor or blender on high speed. You'll see them go through several stages:
Pistachio flour → Moist chunks → Thick paste → Smooth Paste
The total time this takes will vary depending on how powerful your food processor is. Mine usually takes about 3-4 minutes.
Tips For Smooth Pistachio Paste
- Use enough power: You will need a strong motor to properly blend the nuts.
- Watch the roast: Under-roasted pistachios won't blend smoothly, but over-roasted ones may turn dry and clumpy. Take them out as soon as they smell fragrant.
- Add oil if needed: If the paste seems too thick or dry, add 1-2 tablespoons of neutral oil and keep blending.
- Scrape the sides: If there is a buildup of pistachio in your bowl, scrape down regularly so it all gets mixed in.
How to Get Really Green Pistachio Paste
If you want a super smooth pistachio butter with a vibrant green color, you can blanch the pistachios and peel the skins off. To do this, you need to soak your pistachios in boiling water for 10 minutes, then rub them with a towel and individually pick off all the little pieces of skin from each of the pistachio kernels.
If you really want the greenest pistachio butter, you can do this. Personally, I think life is too short to be picking skins off of pistachios, especially since you end up with an insanely tasty nut butter either way. The skins do not result in any kind of different flavor for the final product; it is purely aesthetic.
How To Use Pistachio Paste
Let me count the ways! I use this homemade pistachio butter recipe in SO many of my bakes. Here are a few of my pistachio dessert recipes using it:
- Italian Pistachio Cake
- Pistachio Cheesecake
- Pistachio Cupcakes with Pistachio Frosting
- Pistachio Muffins
- Pistachio Cannoli
- Pistachio Dacquoise Cake
- Pistachio Pastry Cream
You could also use it to:
- Make homemade pistachio ice cream or pistachio gelato
- Spread on toast
- Drizzle on yogurt, oatmeal, or a smoothie bowl for extra protein.
- As a dip for your favorite fruit
- It also makes for a great gift in a little jar
Flavoring
You can also add a pinch of salt, spices, or a spoonful of liquid sweeteners like honey or maple syrup to flavor your pistachio butter to taste.
Storage
Store your perfect pistachio paste in a jar or other airtight container. It will be good in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
FAQ
Making your own pistachio butter is not only cheaper than buying it, but you know the quality and ingredients, and can modify it to your exact needs - smoother or chunkier, added flavors, etc.
Pistachio butter and pistachio paste are just two different names for the same thing; they are both just pure pistachios that have been crushed up and made into a paste that can be used in baking or as a spread (like peanut butter).
No - pistachio paste and pistachio cream are two completely different things. Pistachio cream is pistachio butter that has been combined with other ingredients to make a delicious, sweet, and creamy spread. It makes a tasty topping, like on my Pistachio Cheesecake, and it is what is used to make Dubai Chocolate, but it can't be used instead of pistachio paste in baking recipes, so make sure you know the difference!
Absolutely! The method for this pistachio paste recipe can be used to make all sorts of homemade nut butter recipes, such as almond butter, peanut butter, or cashew butter. My favorite is this sweet pecan butter.
Recipe
Pistachio Paste Recipe
Ingredients
- 300 g (2 cups) Pistachios without the shells
Equipment
- High-powdered Food Processor or Blender
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F / 180°C and spread your pistachios out on a baking sheet.300 g (2 cups) Pistachios
- Roast the pistachios for 7 minutes, giving them a little shake half way through to turn them over a bit. Do not overcook the pistachios or they will be bitter and brown. When you start to smell them, they are ready.
- Remove from the oven and let the nuts cool slightly.
- Once cooled, put the pistachios in a food processor and blend them. You'll see the pistachios go through stages, from chunky, to a fine powder, then it will start to clump together, eventually form a ball, then finally it will turn into a lovely, smooth pistachio paste.
- If the nuts seem too dry and are clumping together and don't look like they will blend up, you can add a tablespoon of neutral oil to help rehydrate them.
Nutrition
Notes
What kind of pistachios to use:
- Shelled: Use pre-shelled pistachios to save time and sore fingers!
- Unsalted: Best for baking, so you can control the salt. Add salt later if needed.
- Raw or Roasted: Both work, but raw pistachios are less likely to be dried out.
Michelle
The ridiculous number of ads you have running on your site was way too much of a challenge. I will make the pistachio daquiose and cream, but will never try to read another. Shame. I believe you are probably a great pastry chef.
Jules Grasekamp
I'm sorry to hear you feel this way Michelle. Ads are how recipe creators like myself are able to provide the recipes for free. There is a lot of time, energy and ingredients that go into making these posts and unfortunately, AI reicpes and google's algorithm are making it harder and harder to earn a living this way. That's why you see a lot of recipe sites are now putting their posts behind a paywall.
I really believe in making baking accessible to everyone, so I don't want to have to do that - but it does mean there have to be ads. I am however working on trying to make the user experience the best it can be - so I'm hoping to be able to make some layout changes in the new year to make the ads less intrusive where possible.
I hope you loved the pistachio dacquoise - it's one of my favourites!
Best wishes from Scotland,
Jules
yusuf
Looks like you don't answering the questions but still I wanna ask.
I wanna do sweet one. How much I should add sugar and if I can't find the unsalted one still can I normalized and sugared ?
Jules Grasekamp
Hi Yusuf,
I do try to respond to all comments but there are sometimes a lot and it's just me working on this website by myself 🙂
How much sweetness to add really depends on your personal taste! I haven't made a sweet pistachio butter before. I do have a recipe for pistachio cream that you might be interested in though, you can find it here - https://bonnibakery.com/pistachio-cream/
For a sweet pistachio spread you might also want to try mixing the pistachio butter with white chocolate, rather than just straight sugar - the flavors compliment each other very well!
You can still use the salted pistachios if you like, but the flavor will obviously be noticably saltier. I actually quite like it like that - but it's all downn to personal preference!
I hope this helps!
Jules
Maureen
Hi i am getting ready tto make the pistachio butter. If I buy the pitachios already roasted do I still have to roast them?
Michelle
Hi! I'm getting ready to make this to go in your pistachio cake. If you buy the already roasted pistachios, do you still roast them again? Thanks!
yusuf
I wondered too. She doesnt answered but she mentioned 'i use roasted one'. So I think still need to roasted.