It was a sad, sad day when I realized Luke had an intolerance to peanuts and tree nuts. Peanut butter and almond butter were staples in my diet and giving them up meant a little less joy in my daily eating.
Sunflower seed butter (also known as simply “sun butter”) has replaced my beloved peanut and almond butters, even if it may have been begrudgingly.
The biggest problem with this substitution is the cost. Where I live the cost of a small jar of sunflower seed butter varies from store to store, but the cheapest I’ve found it is just under $6.00 and the most expensive (which happens to also be the most convenient store for me) is $7.50. Outrageous, right?
After months of eating 1-2 jars a week (Yes, I do. My food choices are really limited, and my breastfeeding appetite is voracious and it satisfies me…what can I say?) I decided to finally try making my own.
Let’s take a look at approximate price difference between the popular store-bought brand and a jar of the homemade variety:
Umm…hello? Why didn’t I try this sooner? This seems to be a theme with me. (Remember the homemade almond milk?)
Making homemade sunflower seed butter is super easy, inexpensive, and quick. You’ll need a food processor, which is the most versatile kitchen appliance for a healthy lifestyle. If you don’t have one, get one! Then, it takes about 10 minutes or less to turn the seeds into butter. Here are a few tips and tricks I’ve learned in my experimentation:
- For me, raw sunflower seeds did not work. They would not turn into butter even after 10 consecutive minutes of processing. I had the same result when I tried to toast them myself.
- I have had the best results with roasted, salted sunflower seeds.
- I haven’t needed to add any oil, but the seeds I have used have been roasted in oil. If you get dry roasted seeds, you may need to add oil.
- Longer processing time=creamier butter
- If you are going to use the sunflower seed butter quickly, there is no need to store in the refrigerator. If you want it to last longer, keep it in the fridge.
- I have liked the results in the food processor better than the blender.
There’s no recipe needed for regular, plain sunflower seed butter. You just put the seeds in a food processor and let it run for about 10 minutes. This time will likely vary a lot depending on the size of your machine, how many seeds you use, and how thick vs. thin you like your butter.
In the photos above, I took the pictures at the beginning, 1 minute, 4 minutes, and 8 minutes.
I do like to doctor my homemade sunflower seed butter up a bit. Here is a recipe for a vanilla-cinnamon variety that I just love.
Vanilla-Cinnamon Sunflower Seed Butter
Makes about 12 ounces
3 cups roasted, salted sunflower seeds
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons honey (I use raw honey)
Put the sunflower seeds in a food process and allow the machine to run until the seeds are a smooth, creamy consistency. This should take at least 8 minutes, but possibly even longer depending on the strength of your processor. With the machine running, add the cinnamon, vanilla, and honey. Store in a container at room temperature for about a week, or longer in the refrigerator. Enjoy!
This recipe is so easy you can even do it with an active baby around. See?
Have a great week!
LOVE when you’re able to save some $$ on staples that you eat everyday- and when you can make them yourself so you know exactly what is inside- and you can add your own flavors! Win-Win-Win!!!!
I like that you added some flavor to the sunflower seed butter. The only brand I had was TJ’s, and I wasn’t a fan. I’ll have to try homemade, I’m sure it’s so much better.
In California, the pricing is no different for sunflower butter. I think Trader Joe’s has the lowest price I’ve seen (not their brand but what you’ve listed above), at around the same price. Bummer, except that now that you’ve cracked the sunflower butter-making code, and now we can all rejoice, hah.
And THANK YOU for making note about the results of trying to toast your own vs using the pre-roasted/salted variety. My bf and I banter about this kind of thing, so I’m glad we didn’t attempt it with raw and have poor results! How funny that it didn’t work, huh? I wonder why that is… Goofy little nuts.
I made this myself a few months back too and loved it as well. Friends are requesting that I make it for them now 😉
Just pinned this! If I didn’t already have a jar of chocolate almond butter, TJ’s sunflower seed butter and peanut butter in the fridge, I would definitely make this ASAP. So creamy and delicious!
What do you use for the captions on your pictures? They’re beautiful!
P.S–You have the cutest baby boy ever.
Thank you, Alexis. I just use a free online site for the captions–picmonkey.com. Super easy to use.
i NEED to do this! i love SSB but always hated the addition of sugar. thanks for the ehlpful hints with buying roasted. ive tried making almond butter myself and even after roasting, it was a fail.
and honestly, he is such an handsome little guy. such a cutie!!!
Felicia, my husband and I make almond butter all the time. It is very easy. We just use 2 cups of salted, roasted almonds (they, too, work better than the raw ones for some reason) with about 1/4 c extra virgin olive oil. We pulse ours in our HealthMaster (LivingWell, with Montel) and it works great. Just a few pulses will pulverize it into creamy butter. Delicious spread on a rice cake with a little honey drizzled over it!! Don’t give up on homemade almond butter. It’s the bomb and I can’t wait to try Maryea’s Sunflower Seed Butter Recipe!
I am so excited to hear you had such success! Someone else I know tried it and it didn’t work, so I just kept buying my beloved Trader Joe’s version–my favorite nut butter of all time. I don’t love that it has added sugar though, so I definitely want to try this. Thanks for the tips!
Luke is so darn cute! I love sunflower butter and I like the cinnamon and honey additions to it, yummy!
I have had to cut out many things in my diet too these days, Juliana had/has lots of tummy issues, reflux, and spitting up. First thing I cut was dairy and she seems to be doing better and becoming more regular now that I made that change. 🙂
Looks great! Where did you find nut-free sunflower seeds? I think that’s my biggest barrier to making this right now as I don’t trust any brands I’ve found in the store – all have “may contain” or “processed in same facility” on the packages.
Great idea!
I buy from the bulk section at my local health food store. I didn’t even think about them not being nut-free. I don’t think the processed in the same facility thing is an issue for Luke since I believe he is just intolerant and not truly allergic to nuts. That’s a bummer that you can’t find some sunflower seeds you trust to be nut-free. Have you looked online?
My son has a nut allergy and we asked his doc (who also has a severe nut allergy) about whether we needed to worry about the ‘may contain’ on packaging. He said no-it’s companies protecting themselves. If there is anything nut in the ingredients list, that’s a no-go. But the may contain or processed in the same facility as he doesn’t worry about. And he has severe anaphylactic reactions so I trust him on this one!
Thanks for the info!
David’s brand sunflower seeds are not processed in a factory with peanuts or tree nuts. I saw it on a website and then called the company to confirm. My son had a severe reaction that landed us in the ER the first time he had peanut butter. I am taking no chances.
Wow, a great tip! Thanks so much! This is why I love blogs!
Agreed! 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!
I know this is a little late in the week, but just wanted to let you know that my son who is by far the fussiest kid on the block absolutely adores this sunflower seed butter. He is sitting here licking it off his toast as we speak. Thank you for posting the recipe and your footnotes.
Wow, what a price difference. I’ve been meaning to look into it for the nut butters I eat. I just know I’m wasting money not making them myself!
I made this tonight and it turned out great. I did add just a bit of oil because mine was a tad on the dry side. It didn’t turn out quite as smooth as store-bought, and the smoothness seemed to stop increasing after 8 minutes or so, so I just stopped. But the slightly gritty texture (gritty sounds bad, but I can’t think of a better word) isn’t a problem for me – my 15 month old and I still love it. My seeds had been refridgerated, not sure if that made a difference?
Thanks for the great idea!
You’re right, there is a slight grittiness to it that isn’t there in the store-bought kind. Strangely, I kind of like it.
You’re welcome. 🙂
I love that this seems relatively easy to do. And I also just love the fact that its yet another way to incorporate a fiber-rich food into your day. The vanilla, cinnamon and honey are a bonus too – yum!
You’re wonderful, thank youuuu! I’m so excited to buy sunflower seeds this weekend! I’m almond-buttering out my family. We need to switch things up!
You’re welcome. 🙂
You have motivated me to try to make some home made butter. I am thinking pistachio butter.
Ooh that sounds amazing. Let me know how it turns out! The only thing that would stop me from making it would be having to deshell all the pistachios! Yikes.
Making this right now! I’ve missed PB and almond butter SO much! 🙂 I really hope this works. Maybe I CAN tolerate pumping till 2 🙂
You can do it!! 🙂
Use alcohol free vanilla. Normal alcohol gives it a bit of a funny taste. Trader Joe’s sells sunflower seeds for just $1.99 per pound so that makes this even cheaper (and cheaper than store bought peanut butter also).
Good ol’ Trader Joe’s! I haven’t been there in a while as it’s about a 20-25 minute drive from my house, but I know they have great prices on things like seeds and nuts. Before my second was born I’d go about once a month to stock up on those things. I need to get back into that habit. Thanks for the reminder.
Listen ladies… Love your recipes. Here’s some tips.
Some grocers have a health food aisle where you can buy seeds or nuts in bulk already to put in your blenders. I have the vitamix 750 and just have to throw in my ingredients and turn it on. It heats up and presto. Nut butter of any kind.
Want to thrill your taste buds? Add some sweetened cocoa and you have yourself a cheaper form of Nutella. And if adding it to sun butter then it’s nut free. Enjoy!
Thank you for sharing! Tried this tonight and it was so much better in my smoothie than peanut butter!
Great!!
I want to make sunflower seed butter and this is the first place I looked. Looks great. Only problem is the reason I want to make it is because I just bought a 5 lb. bag of RAW seeds. sigh
I guess I still might try roasting some and see what happens.
You could also add some oil to the mixture to help if you want to try it with the raw seeds. I think that is what makes the roasted seeds create a smoother butter–they are roasted in oil. Good luck!
Thank you. I did try some by roasting some raw seeds first with a little bit of oil. The sunflower butter is great! I’ve made it twice now and it has worked great both times. Love it.
Great!
I love to make my own almond milk, almond butter, sunflower seed butter and pumpkin seed butter. my 2 little boys love nut butter sandwiches with bananas and honey so I always have nut butters in the fridge. It is crazy to buy all this stuff when you can make it at home. I love your blog and everything you relate to real moms living a real life which I love. Congrats on your new move.
Thank you so much! I’ve never tried to make pumpkin seed butter but I’ve seen it in the store and it’s crazy expensive. I’m going to have to try that one!