Have you ever had Sunflower seed butter? Who ever thought of this is a genius!
My kids’ school offers this delightful spread instead of peanut butter since it seems so many kids are allergic these days. My kids love sunflower seed butter and will often choose it for their lunches at school and have requested that we buy some to have at home as well.
I thought it may be difficult to find in our local grocery store since we live in a very small town, but lo and behold, I was able to find it. But holy cow, is it expensive! I took a peek at the ingredients list and thought to myself that I could probably make sunflower seed butter at home easily and for much cheaper!
I could not find any unsalted or un-roasted seeds in this particular store so I went ahead and bought the roasted and salted kind. All this means is that I won’t be adding any salt when combining the ingredients. I also happened to find small packets of vanilla sugar and picked those up as well. You could just as easily use plain sugar and vanilla extract. Two ingredients and I was well on my way to homemade sunflower seed butter!
Ingredients: Makes about 1/2 cup sunflower butter
- 1 cup sunflower seeds (I used roasted and salted)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
**Notes: You can use plain sunflower seeds and simply add salt to taste. You can also use 1-2 teaspoons cane sugar and 1 teaspoons vanilla extract in place of the vanilla sugar.**
Method:
- Add 1 cup sunflower seeds into a food processor and blend. Scrape down sides from time to time to ensure all the seeds get blended. This will take some time, mine took about 5-10 minutes, however, I have a very small food processor so if you have a larger more powerful one, this will likely go much quicker.
- Once a smooth buttery consistency is reached add up to 2 teaspoons of vanilla sugar (or cane sugar plus vanilla extract). Blend until well combined.
- Transfer sunflower seed butter to a glass jar with a lid.
- Enjoy on toast or straight from a spoon!
**Store sunflower butter in fridge for up to 2 months. Do not freeze!**
Herbivore Triathlete 
Always wanted to make my own nut butters but I’ve never tried. Great to find the blog of another plant-powered athlete. I’m a runner 🙂
This was my first home made nut/seed butter! I will definitely be making more in the future. Yay for running!
So glad you’ve found the joy of sunflower seed butter. I’ve been making my own since buying my first jar and discovering that I could not fund the habit. Homemade is so much more wonderful. I love your addition of vanilla sugar. I’ll have to try that next time I make a batch!
I agree, sunbutter is expensive and I am so glad that it is easy to make at home. I am going to try adding chocolate to mine next time like you do with yours. Thanks for stopping by!
Sunflower seeds are so underrated- They’re fantastically inexpensive, and so savory! It always surprises me just how much I love them after going a while without any. I would love to experiment with using this instead of tahini on top falafel someday… It just seems like it would pair really well.
I definitely think that you could use this instead of tahini in a variety of recipes, great idea!
I love sunflower seed butter. I’ve never made it myself before. My favorite way to eat it in on top of toasted bagels and with apple slices. 🙂 SO good.
Sounds good to me! I’m pretty much a nut/seed butter addict.
I’ve always wanted to try sunbutter, but the cost has kept me from impulse buying. Excited to try this out!
Me too, it’s so expensive! I’ve never had store bought sunbutter, just homemade.
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I’ve got to do this. I make my own almond butter and walnut butter in the Vitamix, but have never tried sunflower seed butter. Seems like a natural; sunflower seeds are inexpensive and they are pretty soft so they ought to blend up easily. I’ve never seen sunbutter in the store.
We just started getting sunbutter in the stores around here but it is super expensive! I think close to $10 for a smallish jar. Make your own for sure, especially if you have a Vitamix, you will make sunflower butter in no time flat.