This Gluten-Free Vegan Vanilla Maple Cashew Butter is an easy and healthy recipe made with just 4 clean, real food ingredients. It's a perfect plant-based staple recipe to have on hand and better than plain cashew butter!
Gluten-Free Vegan Vanilla Maple Cashew Butter
I'm a big fan of making homemade nut butter like homemade peanut butter, homemade almond butter and a really unique one I created, Superfood Cashew Butter with Spirulina Crunchies, which is one of my favorites.
But for this one, I started with a homemade cashew butter base (made with organic cashews) and added some vanilla extract and a little maple syrup for the sweetness.
It was super easy to make with just a food processor and took less than 10 minutes.
My boys really enjoyed it as a dip with apples instead of their usual plain peanut butter but it would also be good to spread over warm toast.
It's a flexible recipe too because you could substitute the homemade cashew butter with organic store-bought cashew butter, or even another type of nut butter.
And, you can substitute the maple syrup for your favorite sweetener.
This is a healthy option to plain cashew butter or even peanut butter and it's vegan, gluten-free, paleo-friendly and has no refined sugar.
Expert Tips + Ingredient Substitutions for Maple Vanilla Cashew Butter
Here are some expert tips to make this recipe perfectly:
Cashews. I used homemade cashew butter as the base, but you could also use an organic store-bought cashew butter (or even substitute with your favorite nut butter, ex. almond butter, etc). If you do use store-bought nut butter, you would only need (1) cup to replace the (3) cups of cashews.
Vanilla Extract. I used (2) teaspoons organic pure vanilla extract but feel free to add more if you want more vanilla flavor. In addition, you can also use organic vanilla bean powder in the same amount. Keep in mind it may make the nut butter a darker color.
Maple Syrup: I used maple syrup as the sweetener, but feel free to use your favorite liquid sweetener as a substitution.
Coconut Oil. If you don't like the taste or smell of coconut oil, you can use organic refined coconut oil which has zero coconut taste or smell.
Want More Healthy Plant-Based Staple Recipes?
Check out these:
- Whipped Coconut Cream Topping
- Homemade Tahini
- Raw Chocolate Sauce
- or my CLEAN EATING Cookbook with 75+ plant-based vegan + gluten-free recipes made with clean, real food ingredients just like this one that you will love!
Gluten-Free Vegan Vanilla Maple Cashew Butter
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 cups organic raw cashews
For the add-ins:
- 2 teaspoons organic pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons organic maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon organic coconut oil
Instructions
- Add the cashews to a food processor and process until creamy and smooth. This may take up to 5-7 minutes for it to change from a nut to flour to nut butter, but stop every minute or so to scrape the sides.
- Add the remaining add-in ingredients and process again until everything is well blended and creamy.
- Store in an air-tight BPA-free container at room temperature.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition Information
Copyright Notice
The instructions, notes, and photographs for this recipe by Karielyn Tillman of The Healthy Family and Home™ website are copyrighted material. This copyrighted work is protected and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International License and the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) and cannot be legally used without my written permission.
Marie says
This looks heavenly, love the combinations of flavors and great nutrition info included in the post as well!!
Karielyn says
Hi there Marie! Thanks so much and I appreciate you stopping by 😉
Carrie says
I love this! So much better than dipping apples in caramel!
Karielyn says
Hi there Carrie! You know, I never thought about it until you mentioned it but it ~does~ taste a lot like caramel! And it's probably much healthier than a caramel dip too!
Thanks so much for stopping by, I appreciate it 😉
Sarah Grace says
Can I just say I've made maple cashew butter and I think I ate the whole jar in one day? Cashew butter is my favorite! This looks awesome Karielyn!
xoxo Sarah Grace
Karielyn says
Hi there Sarah Grace! Yes, I can definitely believe it because I almost did the same...it's so good!
Thanks so much and I appreciate you stopping by 😉
Anne says
I love cashew butter , can't wait to try this!
Karielyn says
Hi there Anne! Hope you enjoy it and thanks so much for stopping by 😉
Kelly @ hidden fruits and veggies says
I've never made a nut butter at home *gasp* and instead pay outrageous prices at the grocery store -- crazy, right? I think this extra flavorful version would be a good recipe to get my feet wet with. Also, I never knew that maple syrup had calcium -- nice!
Karielyn says
Hi there Kelly! It's so very easy to make too! If you want just plain cashew butter, just use the same (3) cups raw cashews and process them in a food processor, which will take about 5 - 7 minutes for it to become super creamy...yum!
Thanks so much for stopping by 😉
Betsy Ramirez, MEd, RDN says
I love this! I need a new blender so I can make it. Cashew butter is the best and you can do so much with it! Pretty pics too!
Karielyn says
Hi there Betsy! Thanks so much and I appreciate you stopping by 😉