How to Make Homemade Pistachio Paste
Super easy homemade pistachio paste. Sharing my proven tips to get a smooth texture and vibrant green color every time!
To make the most incredibly gorgeous pistachio paste, you only need ONE ingredient! Pistachios!
Would you believe this beautiful nut butter has zero food coloring? True story!
And the color wasn’t even painted in Photoshop. I promise! It’s naturally this vibrant green! And oh my goodness, so deliciously pistachio-y!
WHAT KIND OF PISTACHIOS TO USE FOR PISTACHIO PASTE?
It all starts with the right kind of pistachios! If you want bright green pistachio paste, you need raw pistachios. Raw pistachios = unsalted and not roasted. You can buy either shelled or unshelled. But if you’re like me, you’d appreciate shelled raw pistachios. I bought a bag from Amazon, and I’m very much happy with this brand. (<- affiliate link)
Next, we need to get the skin off of those raw pistachios.
THE SECRET FOR VIBRANT GREEN PISTACHIO PASTE
Here’s the thing… You can skip this step and go right ahead with just raw shelled pistachios, or even with roasted shelled pistachios, but you won’t get that smooth vibrant green paste that you see above!
Look at this photo below…
Roasted shelled pistachios with skin-on yields brown paste, super unappealing, I might say. Frankly, it does taste good. But the beautiful green one is 100% better!
Keep on reading, and I’ll show you super easy trick to remove the skin real easy!
HOW TO REMOVE BROWN SKIN OFF OF PISTACHIOS?
- Bring a pot of water to a boil.
- Remove from heat and add pistachios. Let it sit for 1-2 minutes.
- Drain and transfer the blanched pistachios onto a clean kitchen towel.
- Gently rub and skin will simply separate. You may need to help some stubborn ones.
You see, how the color just becomes so much more vibrant after blanching? And skin practically falls off on its own!
A plate of pure joy!
Now the easy part.
HOW TO MAKE PISTACHIO PASTE?
Add the prepared pistachios into a food processor and process until nice and smooth, adding a little bit of water to get things going smoother. It goes through stages: whole nuts -> crumbs -> powder -> paste. And the entire process takes less than 3 minutes!
Voila!
Cost effective, incredibly delicious, healthy homemade pistachio paste!
HOW TO USE PISTACHIO PASTE?
This flavorful pistachio butter can be used in so many delicious desserts, like my pistachio macarons, pistachio ice cream, pistachio buttercream, and so much more.
I can’t wait to make amazing desserts incorporating this tasty nut butter. What would you like to see first, pistachio cake or pistachio tart?
Pistachio paste also makes an awesome snack! Spread it on a toast, or cracker, or just grab a spoon and dig in.
HOW TO STORE HOMEMADE PISTACHIO PASTE?
Store pistachio paste in an airtight container in the fridge for 1-2 weeks. You can also freeze it for up to 3 months.
Homemade Pistachio Paste
Yield: 3/4 cup
Prep Time:15min
Cook Time:5min
Total Time:20min
Ingredients:
- 1 cup (120gr) raw shelled pistachios
Directions:
- To remove brown skin, bring a pot of water to a boil. Add pistachios and remove from heat. Let sit for 1-2 minutes and drain. Remove the blanched pistachios onto a clean kitchen towel. Rub it gently and peel off the brown skin.
- In a food processor, put cleaned pistachios and process for 2 minutes, until pastey.
- Add ¼ cup of water and continue to process for another minute, or until nice and smooth.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 weeks, or freeze for up to 3 months.
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This recipe was originally published on March 6, 2015.
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Instead of a little water is it ok to use a little pistachio oil, or will that alter the correct texture?
Hi, Francesca. Unfortunately, I’ve never tried adding pistachio oil instead of water and I have no idea how it’ll affect the texture.
I decided to purchase the nuts still in their shell thinking it would be no big deal to remove the shells myself since I only needed one cup to make this recipe. Never has a one cup measuring utensil seemed so deep! It seemed to take forever, but really only 20 minutes. I knew it was worth it, though, to achieve the bright green color. I am using it to make a strawberry tart with a pistachio and almond cream filling for the 4th, today. I sooo appreciate your showing both the green and the brown results of preparing the pistachios – it really sealed the deal to go the extra mile. Thank You!!!!!
Haha, I know exactly what you mean, Debbie! Shelling pistachios seems to take way longer than if we would have been eating them. Your tart sounds fantastic! And I’m so glad my tip was helpful. Thank you for your feedback!
Mine keeps coming into a ball in the food processor and doesn’t look quite as smooth as the pic. But since it keeps coming into a ball I can’t process it further. Asses a little more water but hesitant to add too much.
Hi, Tara. Add water a little at a time, like a teaspoon at a time, until it loosens up a bit.
That’s actually pistachio butter. Pistachio paste is a different thing, made with sugared/caramelized nuts.
Hello! I’m excited to try these this weekend but I need to make more than 20. Is it okay if I just literally double the recipe?
Hi, Sarah. Are you making pistachio macarons? If so, I usually never double macaron recipe. But if you’re experienced and confident with folding technique, you sure can double it.
Hello again. Yes, I was planning on making the pistachio macaron. I’m definitely neither experienced or confident with the folding technique so I will plan on making two batches just to be safe. Thanks for responding!
I also just realized I was switching back and forth between the pistachio macaron recipe and the paste and accidentally posted my original question about macaron here. Sorry for any confusion!!
hello! thank you for the great tip for getting a lovely green paste. Would it taste even better if the skinless pistachios are roasted before they are ground?
Hi, Anna. I haven’t tried that, because I’m afraid they’ll turn a little brown and we may lose that bright green color. You can give it a try though. If you do, please let me know how it turns out.
Thank you
The 1 lb bag of pistachios, how many cups did that equate to?
Hi, James. So, if my math is right, you’ll get about 2.5 cups of pistachio paste from 1lb of shelled pistachios. Hope this helps.