The next time you’re craving something chocolatey and decadent, try this healthy homemade Nutella recipe. Made with all simple ingredients and no added sugar, you might just like this as much as the real thing!
OK, this stuff is amazing. There are so many ways that you can give into a good after dinner chocolate craving without actually eating anything unhealthy and I’m pretty excited to have added this newest recipe to my bag of tricks. My three ingredient healthy fudge is also always a winner around here, and something I get requests for at potlucks, but this is maybe even simpler to make because there’s no chilling time and you don’t need to cut it into squares before serving. This recipe is totally plant-based and makes use of dates and a tiny bit of natural maple syrup for sweetness, so there are no bad sugars and you can really control the sweetness. This is something I’ll be making again and again, that’s for sure.
Ingredients for the Homemade Healthy Nutella Recipe
- Cocoa powder
- Hazelnuts
- Coconut oil
- Almond milk
- Dates
- Maple syrup (I used our own syrup that we harvested from our trees this year! Yay!)
- Vanilla
- Salt
I love a recipe full of simple ingredients, most of which you probably have already, that come together to make something spectacular. 🙂 The only things I didn’t have in the house already were the hazelnuts and I was also out of dates, but I usually keep those around these days because they’re just so handy! Now I’m wondering about trying this recipe with some of the other nuts that I always have in our baking cupboard like pecans, pistachios, or cashews. Hmm… so many possibilities!
Process for Making the Homemade Plant-Based Nutella
The first thing you need to do is start out by soaking your dates in warm/hot water for about 30 minutes before you start. This softens them and allows them to blend really well. I didn’t soak my hazelnuts and I did end up with a bit of a crunchier texture, which I didn’t mind, but I might try soaking them next time in warm water for a couple of hours first, just to see if things get smoother overall.
After your soaking time is over, all you need to do is dump all your ingredients into a powerful blender or food processor and blend everything together until it’s smooth!
It should keep in the fridge for up to a week-ish, or about a day total if your family is like ours and finds an excuse to put this spread on just about anything.
Here’s the full printable recipe!

The next time you're craving something chocolatey and decadent, try this healthy homemade Nutella recipe. Made with all simple ingredients and no added sugar, you might just like this as much as the real thing!
- 1 cup Hazelnuts
- 1/3 cup Cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup Almond milk unsweetened
- 1 tbsp Coconut oil
- 8-10 Dates
- 1/4 cup Maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla
- 1/4 tsp Salt
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Soak the dates in hot water for about 30 minutes. Drain the water.
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Combine all the ingredients in a high-powered blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. Add a few more splashes of almond milk if needed to keep everything moving.
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Store covered in the fridge for up to a week. Serve on toast, crusty bread, plant-based ice cream, or as a dip for fruit.
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- The Creek Line House Food and Recipe Archives
Courtenay Hartford is the author of creeklinehouse.com, a blog based on her adventures renovating a 120-year-old farmhouse in rural Ontario, Canada. On her blog, Courtenay shares interior design tips based on her own farmhouse and her work as founder and stylist of the interior photography firm Art & Spaces. She also writes about her farmhouse garden, plant-based recipes, family travel, and homekeeping best practices. Courtenay is the author of the book The Cleaning Ninja and has been featured in numerous magazines including Country Sampler Farmhouse Style, Better Homes and Gardens, Parents Magazine, Real Simple, and Our Homes.