Vegan Nutella with Dates - 2 Ways

Discover how to make Vegan Nutella with dates with two delicious recipes: creamy or thick! Plant-based chocolate hazelnut spread is very easy and quick to make using only a few ingredients. Video with step-by-step instructions included.

I don't imagine that many need intense convincing to invest time in preparing a spread as delicious as Nutella. Is it also likely that 99% of hazelnut & chocolate spread recipes will taste pretty good. The question is, how do you like it best? What are your priorities? Are nutrition facts more important than the flavor? Is a lack of creaminess or spreadability a deal-breaker?

Hopefully, this post will help you answer those questions by addressing what ingredient contributes to which quality so that you can nail your preferred version of a plant-based Nutella in one go.

Ingredients for Vegan Hazelnut Chocolate Spread

There are many combinations, but nearly all versions will include roasted hazelnuts, a sweetener of choice, and cacao/cocoa powder or chocolate.

• To make it as similar to Nutella as possible: use cane sugar, cocoa powder, palm oil (preferably sustainably-sourced), coconut milk powder or plant milk, and vanilla extract.
• To make it as healthy as possible: use dates or erythritol as a sweetener, cacao powder, plant milk, and no oil.
• Somewhere in the middle: use a blend of sugar and dates, cacao powder, plant milk, and palm oil or cocoa butter.

Basically, oil is necessary to make it is as creamy as the real thing. Blending the hazelnuts for a long time also contributes to a more spreadable texture. When it comes to sweetness, powdered sugar is likely the best choice for flavor—but not for nutrition.

Lastly, the taste of cocoa powder is usually slightly less bitter than that of cacao powder, making it a better candidate for a more similar flavor to Nutella. You could also substitute the cocoa powder, oil, and sugar with melted chocolate as Nora Cooks did with her wonderfully simple recipe!

Creamy:

• 1 cup hazelnuts
• 10 dates, pitted (or ½ cup blackstrap molasses or ½ cup powdered sugar)
• 3 tablespoon coconut oil, melted (or melted cocoa butter)
• ⅓ cup cacao powder (cocoa powder also works)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

Thick & Nutty:

• 1.5 cup hazelnuts, raw
• 10 dates, pitted (or ½ cup blackstrap molasses or ½ cup sugar)
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted (or melted cocoa butter)
• 2 tablespoon unsweetened plant milk
• ⅓ cup cacao powder (cocoa powder also works)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

How to Make Vegan Nutella

1. Roast the hazelnuts at 350°F for 15 minutes.
2. Place the hazelnuts on a dishcloth to cool down. Once they are cool enough to handle, rub them together inside the cloth to remove their skin.
3. In a food processor or powerful blender, place the peeled hazelnuts and mix until smooth—for about 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides as needed.
4. Add the remaining ingredients and blend again until the spread is smooth and well incorporated.
5. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
6. Enjoy on toast, with strawberries, or by the spoon!

Watch how to make it step-by-step in this video, vegan nutella starts at 3:34:

Bonus: What is the Best Store-Bought Vegan Nutella Alternative?

If you'd like to keep a jar of Nutella at home with a long shelf-life for emergencies, luckily, alternatives do exist! So far we've tried:

• Rigoni's Dairy-Free Hazelnut Spread with Cocoa: Nocciolata (Taste 10/10, Nutrition: 2/10)
• Justin's Hazelnut & Almond Butter (Taste 8/10, Nutrition: 5/10)
• Date Lady's Chocolate Spread (Taste 7/10, Nutrition: 8/10)

We like Nocciolata the best. The taste is unbeatable and so very close to real Nutella. Speaking of flavor, Justin's is also quite good, but not as creamy/spreadable or indulgent as Nocciolata.

Last but not least, Date Lady's spread is sweetened with dates, making it the leader in the nutrition category. It is also easily spreadable. However, the amount of coconut oil used was a tad too much for my palate.

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Don’t forget to let me know in the comments if you make vegan nutella with dates! Afiyet olsun (bon appetite)!

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