Hazelnut Spread Recipe: Easy Homemade Nutella

If you have ever stood in a Turkish supermarket aisle staring at the wall of chocolate-hazelnut jars, here is the thing nobody tells you: the best version is the one you make at home, and it takes about five minutes of actual work. Real hazelnuts, real cocoa, no palm oil, and you decide how sweet it gets. This is the recipe I keep coming back to, and once you taste it warm off the blender you will understand why the jarred stuff starts to feel like a compromise.

There is also a happy geographic accident at play here. Turkey grows roughly 70 percent of the world’s hazelnuts, and the very best of them come from the Black Sea provinces of Giresun and Ordu. So if you are reading this in Istanbul, you are sitting on top of the single best hazelnut supply on the planet. Use it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f122Rd-gMq8&ab_channel=TheCookingFoodie

Why make hazelnut spread at home?

The short answer: taste, control, and cost. Homemade hazelnut spread tastes more of actual hazelnut because that is most of what is in it. You skip the palm oil and the emulsifiers, you dial the sugar to your own preference, and a jar of good Turkish hazelnuts plus a bit of cocoa works out cheaper per gram than the premium imported jars, especially once you are buying the nuts from a Black Sea region trader rather than a fancy deli.

It is also genuinely forgiving. There is no candy thermometer, no tempering, no resting overnight. If you can run a food processor, you can make this.

The ingredients

You only need a handful of things, and you almost certainly have most of them already.

• 2 cups hazelnuts, roasted and skinned
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

A few honest notes on the list. Powdered sugar dissolves smoothly, which is why I prefer it to granulated here. Use a good unsweetened cocoa, Dutch-process if you can find it, because it gives a darker, mellower chocolate note. The half teaspoon of salt is not optional: it is the difference between flat and craveable. And the vegetable oil is what keeps the spread soft and scoopable straight from the fridge, so do not skip it thinking you are being healthy. A neutral oil works best; sunflower oil is the standard Turkish kitchen choice and it stays liquid when chilled.

How to roast and skin the hazelnuts

This is the one step that actually matters, so do not rush it. Roasting does two jobs at once: it loosens the papery skins, and it coaxes out the natural oils that make the final spread smooth rather than gritty.

Heat your oven to 175°C (350°F). Spread the hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast for 10 to 12 minutes, until they smell toasty and the skins start to crack and darken. Keep an eye on them around the ten-minute mark, because the line between perfectly roasted and bitter is short.

While they are still warm, tip them onto a clean kitchen towel, fold it over, and rub them around firmly. Most of the skins will flake right off. Do not chase perfection here. If a quarter of the skin clings on, leave it. Those bits add a little flavor and fiber, and nobody will ever notice in the finished spread.

If you bought pre-roasted, pre-skinned hazelnuts (easy to find in any Istanbul market), you can skip straight to blending, though a quick five-minute warm-up in the oven still wakes up the flavor.

Step-by-step: making the spread

1. In a food processor, pulse the roasted and skinned hazelnuts until they are finely ground. Keep going past the crumb stage. After a couple of minutes the ground nuts will start to clump and then loosen into a loose, glossy hazelnut butter as the oils release. This is exactly what you want.
2. Add the powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and salt to the food processor and pulse until well combined. Scrape down the sides at least once so nothing hides in the corners.
3. With the food processor running, slowly add the vegetable oil in a steady stream. This should take about 1 minute. Adding it gradually rather than all at once gives you a silkier emulsion.
4. Add the vanilla extract and pulse for another minute, or until the mixture is smooth and creamy. If it still feels a touch thick, trickle in a little more oil until it reaches the consistency you like.
5. Transfer the hazelnut spread to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

One small tip from experience: the spread firms up as it chills, so judge the texture while it is still slightly warm and aim for something just looser than you ultimately want.

A few ways to make it your own

The base recipe is only the starting point. Stir a shot of strong espresso or a teaspoon of instant coffee into the mix and you get a mocha-leaning spread that is genuinely addictive on warm toast. A pinch of cinnamon nods toward the spice of a Turkish kitchen. Swap a quarter of the hazelnuts for roasted almonds or pistachios for a different nutty character, or push the cocoa up and the sugar down for a dark, almost bittersweet version.

If you want it more luxurious and you are not worried about shelf life, melting in a little dark chocolate during the last blend gives a denser, glossier result closer to the spreads you pay a premium for.

How to use your homemade hazelnut spread

Toast and pancakes are the obvious move, and they earn their place. But this spread does a lot more. Use it as a filling for crepes, swirl it through a traditional baklava twist or sandwich it between cookies, spoon it warm over vanilla ice cream, or simply eat it off the spoon while standing at the counter (no judgment here).

It also fits beautifully into the wider world of Turkish desserts worth trying. If you are building a sweet table, a jar of homemade hazelnut spread sits happily next to the more famous syrupy classics. And honestly, it earns a spot on the breakfast table too. A generous Turkish spread is already a feast of cheeses, olives, and jams, so adding a small bowl of this alongside the usual Turkish breakfast foods feels completely natural.

A note on Turkish hazelnuts (and timing)

If you want to make this with the freshest nuts, the Turkish hazelnut harvest runs across August and September, starting around mid-August in the lower Black Sea gardens and a little later in the higher villages. New-crop hazelnuts hitting the markets in early autumn are the ones to grab.

Worth flagging for 2026: the 2025/2026 season took a real hit from spring frost in Ordu and Giresun, with Turkish output down roughly a fifth and global supply tightening too. At the time of writing, that has pushed hazelnut prices up noticeably, so do not be shocked if a good bag of Black Sea hazelnuts costs more than you remember. The flavor, frankly, still makes the homemade version worth it.

For the full picture of why hazelnuts loom so large here, they sit right alongside the other famous Turkish foods that define the country’s table, and they make their way into countless Turkish snacks worth trying too.

Serve it the Istanbul way

My honest advice: make a batch on a Saturday morning, then pair it with a small cup of Turkish coffee. The bitterness of the coffee against the sweet, nutty spread is one of those simple combinations that feels far greater than the sum of its parts. Spread it thick on fresh simit or warm bread, sip slowly, and you have basically recreated the best part of an Istanbul morning at home.

This homemade hazelnut spread is a delicious alternative to store-bought jars. It is healthier, more affordable, and it puts you in charge of the sweetness and the ingredients. Once it is in your fridge, you will reach for it constantly. With its creamy, nutty, slightly sweet character, it has a way of becoming a permanent fixture in the kitchen. Give it one try and see if I am wrong.