Sunbutter looks and tastes much like peanut butter, but instead of peanuts, it’s made from sunflower seeds. Sunflower butter is 30% lower in fat than peanut butter, chock full of vitamin E, and bonus: when you make it yourself it is entirely free of preservatives & added sugars, AND it is totally safe to send off to nut-free environments. Sunbutter has become a school lunch staple in our household. This stuff costs a fortune to buy pre-made, which is silly because it is SO EASY for Prudent Mamas to make at home. So learn how to make sunbutter now!
I’ve heard many home cooks express frustration with their attempts to make sunbutter, so I thought I’d do a sunbutter recipe and photo tutorial to explain the key to making rich, creamy, nutty-flavored sunbutter. It is all about time.
Learn how to make sunbutter with our sunflower butter recipe below, and prepare to lick your fingers, the spoon, the bowl, and maybe even that spill down your toddler’s shirt (don’t judge me)…
How to Make Sunbutter: The Best Sunbutter Recipe
First assemble your ingredients. You’ll need unsalted, shelled, plain-old sunflower seeds. You’ll also need some salt, sugar (or honey/agave/whatever sweetener you like), and some olive oil. That’s it.
Heat a pan on the stove, then toss about 3 cups of sunflower seeds in the hot pan for a minute or two. Keep them moving so they don’t burn. Do not buy roasted sunflower seeds thinking you can skip this step (pre-roasted seeds don’t have enough moisture to create a creamy sunbutter). Here are my seeds before toasting:
Now my seeds are lightly toasted. You don’t NEED to toast them, but it adds a delicious nutty flavor to the seeds. Don’t toast them much darker than this, or you’ll lose too much moisture and end up with a mealy consistency to your sunbutter.
Now toss them in a food processor with 3/4 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon sugar.
Have helper place lid on processor if you wish.
Process into a fine powder consistency (the seeds, not the helper).
This is where many people trip up when making sunbutter. This is the KEY to how to make sunbutter. Do not add olive oil yet, or you will end up with a mealy, grainy, unappetizing mess. Sunflower seeds need to process for quite a while, about ten minutes. The reason being that they will eventually begin to release their oils. This will turn your sunflower powder into sunbutter. So after about five minutes, your mixture will start to get a teensy bit moist, but still crumbly, like this:
Keep processing it. Soon it will release more oil, and get a sheen to it, and look more moist:
At this point I add a teaspoon of honey because I like the flavor, but you don’t have too. Keep processing and watch as more oils are released, until it starts to resemble peanut butter:
Now have a taste. So good, right? Think about what consistency you prefer your sunbutter to be. While the processor is running, drizzle olive oil into the mixture until it reaches the consistency you desire. For my creamy sunbutter pictured here, I added a little more than a tablespoon of olive oil:
Scrape into a container of some sort. I love these paper containers I get from Smart and Final, but you can find similar ones here on Amazon.
The lids have two holes in them for venting (these are normally used for take-out soup and hot food), so I cover them with stickers to keep air out so the sunbutter stays fresh. I also write the date, which is silly because the sunbutter doesn’t last more than two days, what with child, mother, husband, and even mother-in-law chowing down.
Serve your sunbutter up with a variety of dippers. I love sunbutter with fresh carrots (cut on a diagonal to release some of those yummy carrot sugars), apples, and of course crackers.
Now that you’ve learned how to make sunbutter, pack some of your homemade sunbutter up with a variety of fruit, veggie, and carb dippers in your tot’s lunchbox and you’ve got a quick, simple, healthy, inexpensive, no-preservative, allergy-free meal. Can’t beat it.
To use your sunbutter in another recipe, check out our Most Delicious No-Peanut Peanut Sauce recipe. Or make some more healthy lunches like Lunchtime Tabouli, Baked Avocado Hearts, or The Best Grilled Corn Salad.
PrintHow to Make Sunbutter: The Best Sunflower Butter Recipe!
Step-by-step recipe for rich, creamy homemade sunbutter.
- Prep Time: 3
- Cook Time: 10
- Total Time: 13 minutes
Ingredients
1 lb unsalted, shelled (not pre-roasted) sunflower seeds
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar (or honey or agave – any sweetener you prefer) (optional)
1 tbls olive oil (optional – for a smoother consistency)
Instructions
Toast seeds: Heat a pan on the stove, then toss sunflower seeds in the hot pan for a minute or two. Keep them moving so they don’t burn.
Place seeds in food processer with salt and sugar (or alternate sweetener)
Process into a fine powder. Continue processing, for quite a long time (depends on your food processor) until the powder releases oils. Continue processing as mixture becomes crumbly. When it becomes moist and has a sheen, add sweetener if desired. Keep processing until mixture resembles peanut butter. If a smoother consistency is desired, add olive oil and process.
Place in airtight container or serve immediately with yummy dippers like carrots, crackers, or apples.
