This Healthy Chocolate Hazelnut Spread is super easy to make with just two ingredients: quality chocolate and raw hazelnuts. Rich, creamy, and intensely chocolatey, this sweet nut butter and healthy Nutella substitute is vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free, and has no additional oil.
Since changing our diet, we’ve become hyper aware of food labels and the ingredient lists of grocery store products. And unfortunately, a lot of the products out there no longer make the cut for us. There are so many food items that contain unnecessary or inflammatory oils, chemical preservatives, and shocking amounts of processed sugar or salt.
Take, for example, that one well-known chocolate hazelnut spread on the market. Hint: it rhymes with “Butella”.
A staple in many pantries around the world, Nutella has an ingredient list that includes processed sugar, modified palm oil, milk products, and depending on your country, soy products as well. What’s perhaps most disappointing is the fact that Nutella markets their chocolate hazelnut spread as an everyday breakfast item, especially to children.
If you enjoy an intensely chocolatey hazelnut spread, we urge you to skip the commercial brand and substitute with your own homemade version! This Healthy Chocolate Hazelnut Spread is the perfect combination of creamy hazelnut butter and luscious dark chocolate. It’s super easy to make (two ingredients!), better tasting, and WAY healthier than the store bought stuff. Plus, you can control the amount of sugar depending on the chocolate you use!
When we’re choosing chocolate for a recipe or to enjoy as a treat, we always look for something that:
- Has a high percentage of cacao (70% or higher)
- Is made of simple ingredients
- Is free from dairy, soy, and gluten
For this recipe, we chose bittersweet chocolate chips made with a 71% cacao. If you want an even lower sugar content in your chocolate hazelnut spread, choose a darker chocolate with a cacao percentage that’s 80% or higher.
For the nuts, we like to use raw hazelnuts that we roast gently in the oven. Roasting adds another depth of flavour to the spread, but also helps loosen the slightly bitter skin so it can be removed.
This Healthy Chocolate Hazelnut Spread can be made easily in a food processor or high-speed blender. As much as we love making Homemade Coconut Butter in our Vitamix, we prefer to use our food processor for this chocolatey nut spread. The food processor has no problem breaking down the hazelnuts, transforming them into a creamy nut butter in just a few minutes. And after some melted chocolate is whirled in, you’re done! No icky unnecessary oils here!
- As the filling in a chocolate cup: Swap out classic peanut butter and stuff a chocolate cup with this chocolate hazelnut spread to make double chocolate hazelnut cups – perfect for upcoming holiday celebrations!
- As a decadent cup of hazelnut hot chocolate: Add a couple tablespoons of chocolate hazelnut spread to your blender along with a cup of boiling water. Blend it up for about a minute, then pour into your mug for a deliciously comforting, warm drink.
- As a frosting: Whip up this chocolate hazelnut spread with a hand mixer and spread or pipe it onto all your favourite gluten-free treats!
- Enjoy it old school, straight outta the jar with a spoon!
This Healthy Chocolate Hazelnut Spread stores really well in a glass jar in your cupboard. And if you use a fancier jar and tie a nice ribbon around it, you’ve got the perfect edible gift!
Are you a fan of chocolatey nut butters? Have you ever made your own?
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Tina is successfully optimizing health and healing illness (and helping others do the same) with the help of her husband, Curt. Read Curt & Tina’s inspiring story, “From on our heels to On Our Heals”. Feel free to send them a message.