How to Make Almond Flour

Learn how to easily make almond flour at home. Perfect for making macarons, muffins, cakes, and so much more!

One of my favorite things to bake is a batch of macarons. I love the challenge they present and how beautiful they are. Nothing puts a smile on my face quite like them. Sadly, I don't make them very often because of how expensive it is to buy almond flour.

Then I realized that I could just make my own homemade almond flour. It is so much more cost-effective, and it means I can make my favorite cookie at any time.

What is it?

It is a popular gluten-free ingredient used in baking and cooking. Despite using the term "flour" in its name, it is not a milled grain. It is actually ground almonds. Typically, the almonds are blanched to remove the skins, then the almonds are ground until they resemble a fine powder.

Almond flour vs almond meal

You will often find that almond flour and almond meal are used interchangeably, but they are not the same, and those differences can affect the end result of your final product.

Unlike almond flour, almond meal is typically made with whole almond with the skin left on, which means you are left with a product with dark flecks in it. Almond meal also tends to be less ground, which means it is more coarse than the flour.

You would want to use almond flour for making recipes like macarons and save almond meal for a breadcrumb replacement.

Types of almonds to use

When you are making almond flour at home, you can use just about any almond type you can find as long as you understand that some almonds will require you to do a lot more work than others.

In an ideal situation, you should use raw, whole, blanched almonds. After that, any type of blanched almonds you have will work.

You can use raw or roasted whole almonds that have the skins on, but you will need to blanch them to remove the skins. If the skins do not bother you, then you are free to use them as long as you remember it will affect how your final product looks when you are cooking or baking.

If you want to use something like slivered or sliced almonds that have skins on, you can, but understand it will be near impossible to remove the skins, and I don't recommend attempting to blanch them.

How to blanch almonds

Let's be honest, it is easiest to get your hands on whole almonds with the skins on. Lucky for us, blanching almonds is so easy.

Boil a pot of water. Prep a medium bowl with cold or lightly iced water.
Add your almonds to the pot of boiling water and let them boil for 45 - 60 seconds.
Drain out the water and put the almonds in the bowl of cold water.
Take an almond and squeeze it so that it pops right out of the skin.
Leave the almond on a paper towel-lined surface to dry.
Repeat the with remaining almonds.

That's it! Now, all you need to do after this is wait for the almonds to fully dry before you put them through your food processor.

almond flour and almond meal in jars together

Tips

After the almonds are mostly dry after blanching, I like to place them on a baking sheet and put them in a warm, but not hot oven for about an hour. This is especially good if you plan on using your almond flour for macarons.

Keep a close eye while processing your almond flour. You want to do it in batches so you aren't letting the processor run too long otherwise you may end up accidentally making almond butter.

Once you've ground the almonds in your food processor, you should quickly sift them to separate any large chunks. You can put those chunks back in the processor to get smaller.

If you are using whole almonds and blanching them, I recommend trying to find raw almonds and not the salted kind. You can try to wash off the salt, but I found that even after washing and blanching, the resulting almond flour still had a salty taste to it.

Making other nut flours

You can use the same process using other types of nuts and seeds. This process works especially well with pistachios and pepitas.

I recommend roasting certain nuts like walnuts due to their high oil content which can easily turn your flour into butter in mere moments.

Storage

For the best results, keep your almond flour in an airtight container. Keep it in a cool, dry area.

F.A.Q.s

Can I use it to replace all-purpose flour in recipes?

Sometimes. In certain recipes you can replace the all-purpose flour with a 1:1 ratio, but I highly recommend checking the notes of each individual recipe because not all recipes will work. You cannot replace the flour in yeasted bread. Many cakes also do not work well with almond flour either.

Is making almond flour at home cheaper?

When looking at current costs, it is cheaper to make your own almond flour at home. It is especially beneficial if you need a ton of flour at once, or only need a small amount and will not be using it again for a long time.

Recipes using almond flour

Now that you've made your own flour, let's start using it! You will love this chocolate almond skillet cookie, lemon lavender semonlina cake, grapefruit tart, and healthy chocolate chip cookies. If you want to make macarons, you are in luck, I have a ton you will love! First, you may want to start with my guide, how to make French macarons. You may also like my lemon rhubarb macarons, raspberry macarons, caramelized honey macarons, chocolate peppermint macarons, coffee cardamom macarons, mulled cranberry macarons, and orange blossom macarons.

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