Pistachio Paste

Hello sweet friends! Let’s make this super lovely recipe for Pistachio Paste today! Whether you call it Pistachio Paste or Pistachio Butter, this recipe is a breeze and only requires two ingredients: pistachios and water!

Making homemade Pistachio Paste is not only easy and cost-effective, but it’s also fun! Store-bought versions can be hard to come by, but now, you can make your own vibrant, green paste that’s perfect for a variety of desserts.

The Best Pistachio Butter Recipe

So in this post, I’ll show you how to make easy homemade pistachio paste.  Let’s start talking about the main ingredient: the pistachios.

Skinning the Pistachios

Preferably, you’d use raw pistachios, or roasted pistachios in the shell because they are easier to peel. The pistachios that already come off the shell and roasted will be very hard to remove the skin.

Blanching the pistachios and removing their skin is not a necessary step, but it helps make a vibrant green paste. If you are short on time, you can skip the blanching and peeling step. The paste will be just as delicious, but won’t have the vibrant green color, and will, have more of a brownish-green tone.

If your pistachios came in the shells, the first step is to remove the shells. Then, bring a pot of water to a boil. Put the pistachios in boiling water and let them sit for about 90 seconds in the boiling water.

Drain the pistachios, and rinse them in cold water, to stop the cooking of the nuts. Spread the nuts on top of a clean kitchen towel, or paper towels.

Rub the nuts gently using a piece of paper towel, and the skin should start to come off. Then individually pick the pistachios and remove the skins that couldn’t be removed with the paper towel.

It can be tedious, or therapeutical depending on how you look at it, but it will ensure there is no brown skin left behind, so you can obtain a really beautiful vibrant green paste. If you decide to not skin the pistachios, that’s totally fine, just skip to the step below, where you process the pistachios.

Processing the Pistachios

Place the skinned pistachios in a food processor and blend for about 2 minutes. The mixture may appear oily or separated—this is normal. Slowly add water, one or two tablespoons at a time, until the paste is smooth and creamy. Be sure to scrape the bowl during processing to ensure even blending.

Tips for making Pistachio Butter

• You can toast the pistachios in the oven first to give a more toasty flavor to your green pistachio paste.
• Look for raw pistachios, or pistachios in the shell, they will be easier to skin.
• If you don’t want to skin the pistachios, that’s fine, the paste will be just as delicious, but will have a brownish color.
• Add flavorings such as vanilla extract, vanilla bean paste, or almond extract.
• Other flavoring options are: cardamom, cinnamon powder, or grated nutmeg.
• Add sweetener such as maple syrup or honey, up to 1 tablespoon, or to taste, if desired.

Storage

Store the homemade paste in airtight container in the fridge, with a piece of plastic wrapped directly on top of the paste, to prevent it from drying out.

You can also freeze the pistachio paste for about 2 months in a freezer bag or container.

Why make your own pistachio paste?

Well, pistachio paste is not the easiest thing to find at the grocery store. Often times, you have to order online and wait a few days to get it.

When you make your own pistachio butter, you know exactly which ingredients you are adding, and you can even tailor it to your own taste by adding sweetener (or not), or any flavorings you desire. You can also make it to your desired consistency by adding more or less liquid depending on what you are going for.

In my experience, store-bought pistachio paste is not as delicious and doesn’t look as vibrant green as the homemade version (specially the one made with skinned pistachios).

How to use Pistachio Paste

This stuff is precious, friends! It’s golden! You can probably eat it with a spoon! I know I can!

Pistachio paste can be used to top pastries, desserts, cakes, and cookies.

It is also used to make many desserts, such as this delicious and fabulous Pistachio Cannoli. Pistachio paste can be used in Pistachio Cheesecake or ganache recipes. Pistachio Buttercream is also such a good way to use this paste, like in my Pistachio Raspberry Cake. Or how about a delicious No-Bake Pistachio Pie to sweeten up your day?

And if you want to make Pistachio Macarons, you can use the paste to make the buttercream or ganache to fill the macarons.

Either way, this Pistachio Paste will change your life!

If you make this recipe tag me on instagram, I love to see all your creations!