Chopping nuts isn’t as uncommon as you might think because these days you can use nuts for almond milk, natural peanut butter, and as additions to your favorite fudge recipe. There are numerous ways to make sure your nuts are chopped to the right size and texture.
If you want to know if you can chop nuts in a blender, the answer is yes, you can. That being said, a blender isn’t always the best way to chop nuts, but if you do use a blender, make sure you use the pulse feature for the best results.
What Kind of Blender Is Best for Chopping Nuts?
When researching a traditional blender, look for two things: power and speed. The power is the blender’s ability to move through all of your ingredients, while the speed is simply how fast the job gets done. For excellent results when chopping nuts in your blender, look for a blender with at least 1,000 watts of power and a minimum of four speed settings so that all different types of nuts are accommodated. These features will help you get a more consistent chopping action in the end.
How To Chop Nuts in a Blender
If you’re going to use a blender to chop nuts, it’s best to use the pulse function, which is available on most blenders. This on-and-off feature helps the nuts get chopped up in a more consistent and even fashion, while reducing the amount of unusable nuts or nuts that turn out way too large in the end. Food processors do a better job of chopping nuts than blenders do, but that doesn’t mean you have to rush out and purchase an expensive food processor just to occasionally chop nuts.
Blenders can chop nuts almost as well as food processors can, so if you only chop nuts every now and then, you can save yourself some money by using a blender instead.
Do You Need to Blanch Nuts Before Blending?
Blanching is a good thing to do if you’ll be adding your chopped nuts to a baking recipe. If you’re merely sprinkling them on top of a hot fudge sundae, they certainly don’t need to be blanched. But certain recipes require that the nuts be peeled first, and blanching them is the easiest way to get that done. Just boil water in a large wide pan, place the whole nuts in there, then let them boil for about 30 seconds. Next, remove the pan and drain the nuts, then run cold water over them to cool them off. Once they’re cooled off, the skins should easily peel right off the nuts.
Blanching your nuts before you blend them isn’t a necessity, but if the recipe calls for nuts that have to be peeled first, blanching is the easiest way to do that.
How Fine Can a Blender Chop Nuts?
This question depends on your blender. For the most part, blenders will only chop nuts coarsely and not in a fine manner. This is yet another reason why a good food processor should be used instead of a blender whenever possible. Food processors tend to have a lot more settings and a more powerful motor than blenders have, which means they can usually chop nuts much more finely than a blender will. That being said, some of the more expensive blenders are able to chop nuts up finely, so you should research blenders before deciding which one to buy.
Blender Versus Food Processor for Chopping Nuts
As a general rule, a blender has only one blade at the bottom, and it is usually a very small blade at that. Your typical food processor has more than one blade, and these powerful blades are quite large. This means your food processor is likely going to be both more powerful and a lot faster than your blender. Of course, its ability to chop nuts finely depends on the type of nuts you use, since some nuts are much harder than others. Depending on the recipe and how often you actually chop nuts, you may or may not need a good food processor instead of a blender.
Other Ways To Chop Nuts
If you have neither a food processor nor a blender, don’t despair. There are other ways to chop nuts:
- Use a knife. It’s time-consuming but it enables you to cut them evenly and precisely.
- Use a nut-chopper. These devices are made just for chopping nuts and nothing else, so they work great.
- Use a bowl. Pour the nuts into a bowl and use the back of a smaller bowl or pastry cutter to clamp down on the nuts and crush them.
- Use an apple corer. Place the nuts on a pan and press down on them with an apple corer to crush them.