- 40.0% Nut Butter Preparation
- 60.0% Nut Butter Texture
Blending almonds, peanuts, and other nuts into a smooth nut butter isn't easy for a blender. While almost any blender can crush the ingredients, processing nuts into smooth, spreadable nut butter is another matter. Many blenders can produce good results, but only with a lot of effort, including stirring, scraping, and blending for several minutes. The best blenders for nut butter can make a creamy, smooth blend with minimal or no intervention in just a few minutes.
Test results
When It Matters
Even if you don't make nut butter often, you may want to pay attention to a blender's performance for nut butter if you make other spreads and dips like hummus or pesto. Thicker, spoonable smoothie bowls will also be more manageable in a blender that easily makes nut butter. Some blenders can make silky-smooth blends with fibrous ingredients and crush ice but can't keep a thick recipe like nut butter moving, so if you're looking for ultimate versatility, a blender's ability to make nut butter is important.
Full-size blenders are usually the best option for making nut butter. The jar shape and motor power also have a major effect on a blender's ability to make nut butter. Tampers can be useful for keeping ingredients moving without stopping the blender.
Our Tests
We blend two cups of almonds (and no oil or other liquid) by using the blender's nut butter program, if it exists, the suggested speed in the manual, or just by adjusting the speed manually for the best performance.
The score is then determined based on two factors: preparation and texture.
The preparation score is based on the total blending time and the difficulty of the process, while the texture score is related to the quality of the final product. The preparation score makes up 40% of the overall score for nut butter, and the texture score is worth 60%. Naturally, the best blenders for nut butter can make very smooth nut butter quickly and without too much effort on your part.
Preparation
The preparation score is based on two factors: blending time and ease of use. To get a perfect score, a blender must make nut butter in six minutes or less without intervention aside from starting the blender. However, most blenders require at least a bit of tamper use or stirring to produce the best results.
Low preparation scores (0 - 6):
Blenders that score below 6.0 for nut butter preparation aren't a good choice for this use, and you'll want to avoid them unless you only make nut butter and similar recipes on rare occasions. Most immersion blenders and battery-powered personal blenders that we've tested score in this range for preparation.
The Blendtec Total Blender Classic is a powerful, high-end blender, but its jar design isn't well-suited for recipes like nut butter. Ingredients accumulate in the corners of the jar where they can't be reached by the blades. It scores a 3.0 for nut butter preparation. | The KitchenAid Variable Speed Corded Hand Blender scores a 4.0 for nut butter preparation. It's mostly meant for recipes like soup or sauce, and using it for nut butter is a long and messy process. |
Medium preparation scores (6 - 7.5):
Blenders that score between 6 and 7.5 need some hands-on intervention but are still worth considering if you only make recipes like nut butter occasionally.
Making nut butter in the NutriBullet Pro+ takes around seven minutes and requires you to shake the jar frequently to keep the ingredients moving. It scores a 6.0 for nut butter preparation. | The Vitamix A3500 is our best blender overall and gets a 7.0 for nut butter preparation. It makes nut butter quite quickly, but you have to remove the lid and scrape the sides of the jar once for the best results. |
High preparation scores (7.5 - 10):
Some jar designs can help make it easier to make nut butter. The Ninja Foodi Power Nutri DUO comes with a 'Smoothie Bowl Maker' jar that has arms inside that essentially stir the ingredients for you, removing the need to shake or scrape the jar. This personal blender scores 9.5 for nut butter preparation. | The Vitamix Propel 510 gets a perfect 10 for nut butter preparation. It takes less than three minutes, and all you need to do is turn the blender on. It has a powerful motor and performs well for most uses, but it's likely its smaller 48oz jar that helps it perform better than the Vitamix A3500 here by keeping the ingredients closer to the blades. |
Texture
The second component of the nut butter score concerns the final result. The nut butter gets a score from 1 to 10 for texture, with 10 being the best, smoothest nut butter, with no unprocessed bits left over. With enough effort, most full-size blenders can produce at least a decent result, with a few exceptions. However, many personal, portable, and immersion blenders don't make very good nut butter, even with a lot of effort.
Here are some examples of different nut butter texture scores across the range:
 Fresh Juice Portable Blender (Portable) Texture score: 2 |  NutriBullet SmartSense Blender (Full-Size) Texture score: 4 |  Bamix Mono M133 (Immersion) Texture score: 5.5 |
 Blendtec Designer 725 (Full-Size) Texture score: 6.0 |  Hamilton Beach Professional Quiet Blender (Full-Size) Texture score: 6.5 |  Blendtec Chef 600 (Full-Size) Texture score: 7.0 |
 Ninja Nutri-Blender Pro with Auto-iQ (Personal) Texture score: 8.0 |  Oster Master Series Blender with Texture Select Settings (Full-Size) Texture score: 9.0 |  Vitamix Propel 510 (Full-Size) Texture score: 10 |
Which Blenders Are Good For Nut Butter?
Full-size blenders usually perform better at making nut butter. That's because they are usually more powerful, but also because their design makes it easier to use a tamper or stir the ingredients than with personal or full-size blenders. Narrower or smaller jars can also be helpful since they keep ingredients closer to the blades. A wide range of speed settings is good since it lets you fine-tune the speed until you find the best setting for your specific recipe. If you make nut butter and similar recipes only occasionally and would prefer a personal blender, you can find small blenders that are very well-suited for nut butter, but they're rarer.
What's Not Included In Our Tests
For our test, we prepare nut butter that doesn't have anything in it but dry roasted almonds. It's a common way to make it, and the right blender can make very creamy, smooth nut butter using this recipe. However, you might want to add oil and other ingredients, which we don't test. Adding liquid to a recipe makes it easier to blend, so if a blender has difficulty processing almonds on its own, you may get better results by adding a liquid, like oil, to the mix. Also, we use the main jar and blade assembly for this test. Some blenders come with food processor attachments or additional blades that may produce a different result, but we don't currently test these extra accessories.
Because almond butter has a thick and sometimes sticky consistency, we consider how easy it is to clean out a blender after performing this test. However, that information is factored into the blender's score for cleaning and doesn't affect the almond butter score.
Conclusion
Blending thick mixtures like nut butter is a challenge for many blenders. While many can make reasonably good nut butter, it often requires a lot of time and effort and sometimes creates a mess. If you want a very versatile blender or make a lot of nut butter, hummus, pesto, or smoothie bowls, you'll want to look for a blender that gets a high score for preparation and texture.