This homemade Dairy-free Pistachio Cream recipe is made with 5 ingredients. Thick, creamy, and flavorful, this pistachio cream is delicious in and on cakes and other desserts and slathered on muffin tops and breakfast breads.

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Made with only 5 ingredients, this delicious homemade pistachio cream is a dairy-free, healthy-ish spin on traditional pistachio cream.

However, before you read on, let me just say that making this pistachio cream was not an easy endeavour ~ like making this 2-ingredient pistachio butter was. For this recipe, I chose to remove the skins from the pistachios so the resulting pistachio cream would be a vibrant green color and super smooth texture. And that was not easy. But, so totally worth it!

What is pistachio cream?

Traditional Pistachio cream is a creamy and delicious spread usually made with skinned pistachios, oil, and a sweetener. Sometimes, milk or cream, and white chocolate are added for sweetness and texture.

Speaking of texture, traditional pistachio cream has a smooth and creamy texture and is often compared to Nutella. It’s a green goop while Nutella is a brown one.

Like Nutella, it can be slathered on toast, muffin tops, waffles, pancakes, and crepes. And, like Nutella, it can be stuffed into cookies, drizzled onto cakes, layered onto cheesecakes, and even eaten with a spoon.

And this dairy-free spin on traditional pistachio cream is no different in its usage and enjoyment from its counterpart. However, it does differ in texture and taste from pistachio butter.

delicious 4 ingredient dairy-free pistachio cream

What is the difference between pistachio cream and pistachio butter?

Pistachio cream and pistachio nut butter are packed with pistachio flavor. But, pistachio butter (like this homemade one) is usually made with only roasted and ground pistachios and salt.

Pistachio cream, because of the added ingredients such as oil, milk, and sweetener, tends to be sweet. Pistachio cream also tends to have a consistency that is smoother than pistachio butter due to the added oil, milk, and/or white chocolate.

Ingredients to make dairy-free pistachio cream

What is this dairy-free pistachio cream made of?

The five ingredients used to make this deliciousness are:

Pistachios
These unsalted pistachios I found on Amazon are what I used in this recipe.
Avocado Oil
Or any other mild-tasting oil, like grapeseed oil or vegetable oil, could be used. Refined coconut oil could be used as well. However, virgin coconut oil is more flavorful and would not be a good substitute. However, if you don’t have these, then melted vegan butter could also be used.
Powdered Sugar
Powdered sugar was my choice as a sweetener because of its texture. However, granulated sugar could also be used. I would not suggest maple syrup or honey as they would change the taste of this pistachio cream recipe.
Almond Milk
As I wanted to keep this dairy-free, I used almond milk. However, cashew milk, oat milk, pistachio milk, or any other non-dairy milk could be used. I prefer a thick pistachio cream; however, to make it more spreadable, more almond milk should be used.
Salt

Instructions

I chose to remove the skins from the pistachios. However, this is not a mandatory step. You can still make pistachio cream with pistachios that have their skins intact. Just keep in mind that the resulting pistachio cream might be a bit more gritty and taste slightly different.

Now, onto the skin removal process.

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Add a couple of cups of water to a small saucepan and place it over a stovetop set to high heat. When the water starts to boil, add in the pistachios.

Let pistachios simmer for 3-4 minutes.

Then, drain them (using a colander) and place them on a clean kitchen towel. While they are hot, using part of the kitchen towel folded over or another clean kitchen towel, rub the pistachios vigorously. The skins will start to separate. The ones that don’t, the skins can be easily peeled off while they are warm.

Make sure the pistachios are dry. Then, place the pistachios on a baking tray and roast them for about 9 minutes.

Remove from the oven and place the skinned and roasted pistachios into a food processor (or high-speed blender) along with the powdered sugar, avocado oil, salt, and almond milk.

Blend until the mixture is smooth.

Spoon the pistachio cream into a mason jar or container with a lid. Wait until the pistachio cream has completely cooled down before securing the lid on.

Tips when making this recipe:

Use pistachios that are raw and unsalted.
Removing the skins of the pistachios results in a pistachio cream that is more vibrant in color and smoother in texture.
After pistachios are blanched and skins have been removed, roasting them helps remove excess moisture. Make sure that pistachios are completely dry before blending with the other ingredients.
In order to get a thin, more spreadable pistachio cream, add a couple more tablespoons of almond milk to this recipe.

Storage of this Dairy-free Pistachio Cream

This dairy-free pistachio cream is best stored in an airtight jar or container in the refrigerator. This should last about 2 weeks stored this way.

Usage

This dairy-free pistachio cream can be slathered on toast or a muffin top. It can be added to a bowl with yogurt, granola, and fresh fruit.

It can be mixed with toasted kataifi and used (instead of pistachio butter) to make these Dubai Chocolate Cups. Or, make a dairy-free version of the viral Dubai Chocolate bar with this pistachio cream.

This pistachio cream can be used as a filling in a log cake or layered on cake. It can also be used as a topping for some pistachio ice cream or vegan chocolate ice cream.

Thanks so much for stopping by. If you make this recipe, please let me know in the comments below what you think of it, or tag your creation on social media with @savoryspin or #savoryspin.
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