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This easy homemade pistachio cream is the most delicious spread made with just 5 ingredients. A delicious blend of pistachios, white chocolate and milk. Italian Pistachio cream, or Crema al Pistacchio, is not only delicious but it’s incredibly simple to make at home. I think it tastes even better than the stuff you can buy in the shops! It’s simple and delicious.
Use this simple recipe to make pistachio cream to fill decadent French Toast, add to buttercream icing, use it in cheesecakes or simply spread on hot toast.
Pistachio cream is so good in so many ways. I love this pistachio cream French toast or these pistachio croissants. Almost so decadent they could be pudding rather than brunch and they are both delicious recipes. You can kind of use this creamy Italian pistachio spread in the same way you would Nutella.
It would also be incredible swirled into some softly whipped cream and sandwiched between two chocolate cake rounds. I like to use it in a pistachio pavlova too. I add finely chopped pistachio to the meringue and then fold the pistachio cream through whipped double cream to layer it on. Or, of course, you need pistachio cream to make anything inspired by Dubai Chocolate bars
If you haven’t tried Pistachio cream before, or Crema al Pistacchio as it’s known in Italy, you are in for a treat! It’s creamy and sweet with a hint of nuttiness. It’s honestly so so good. And if you haven’t tried making it before, let me show you how simple it is to make at home.
Why you will love this recipe
- It’s like Nutella’s sophisticated older sister, and a perfect addition to so many breakfasts and puddings
- Since it’s real pistachio, it has a great nutty flavour that isn’t overpowered by the other ingredients.
- It means you can make my pistachio cream French toast and pistachio croissants, both show-stopping brunch options.
Ingredients
See recipe card for the exact recipe with a full list of ingredients and measurements
Raw unsalted pistachios: buy shelled if you can, as it will save you shelling yourself. They don’t need to be salted or roasted. Raw pistachios give the best texture and colour.
Whole milk: semi-skimmed would work but I am of the belief in a recipe like this that if you’re going to be making something very indulgent like this, you might as well go the full way and use whole milk.
White chocolate: try to buy good-quality white chocolate with a good amount of cocoa butter rather than just sugar. As this is quite sweet anyway and you don’t want the flavour to be overwhelmingly sweet.
Icing sugar: to the American readers, powdered sugar. You only need 1 tablespoon.
Substitutions and Variations:
Icing sugar: since you only need one tablespoon, I can understand not wanting to buy a whole bag for this purpose. If needed, just add an extra 20g or so of white chocolate. This will add to the sweetness.
Here’s how to make Pistachio Cream
Here’s a step by step guide for what you need to do, but you can find the full recipe below for detailed instructions.
ONE: Boil the pistachios for a few minutes to soften them. Then drain and tip onto a clean kitchen towel (tea towel) to dry.
TWO: Then use the tea towel to rub the pistachios to loosen the skins. You want to separate the pistachios from the skins. Once you’re done, pop the peeled pistachios into a food processor and discard the skins.
THREE: Add icing sugar and just a splash of milk, then blitz well until smooth. Transfer to a blender when it’s a thick paste.
FOUR: Meanwhile, pop the butter, white chocolate and the rest of the milk into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water over a low heat.
FIVE: Once smooth and melted, remove the melted chocolate from heat and add to a blender.
SIX: Blend in the blender until totally glossy and smooth. Done!
Cooking Tips
Making it smooth: You just need a strong food processor and blender. The reason you use both is that the food processor chops the pistachios finely, whereas a blender will get the paste super smooth once you add the melted white chocolate. This means you can achieve the perfect final texture. If you only have one and not both, it will work but you might need to be more patient with the final texture.
Using a food processor/blender: Since your blender/food processor will be working hard here to make the final process smooth, make sure to give the processor breaks in between blending, using a spoon to stir the contents around and scrape down the sides. This is especially important if the blender starts warming up.
Peeling pistachios: It’s important to peel the pistachios using the tea towel trick to avoid little bits in the pistachio cream, which ruins the texture. It also darkens the colour so you don’t get the lovely light green shade.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common in Italy, pistachio cream is a sweetened pistachio paste that you can use in a multitude of ways. I usually can find it in some supermarkets these days in the UK and it’s easy to order online but it’s also surprisingly easy to make too.
Pistachio cream is sweetened, here with sugar and blended with white chocolate. Pistachio butter is more like peanut butter; it is blended nuts with perhaps some oil and some salt. You can find this both sweetened and unsweetened, depending on the brand.
The pistachio cream will keep well in the fridge for 2 weeks in an airtight jar or container.
I haven’t tried freezing it so I can’t be completely sure but it should work. The milk could turn a little grainy once you defrost. If this happens, I think you could fix it by running it through the blender again. If in doubt, add a bit more melted white chocolate mix and that should fix it!
Yes, you can do. It will just lean into the salty, sweet combination. Use unsalted butter in the cream to balance it out. Taste it once done and you can always add a pinch of salt if it needs any more.
Ideally, raw unsalted pistachios are best for making pistachio cream. Persian pistachios tend to be the brightest green if that’s important to you, or even Turkish or Sicilian pistachios. But any work. If you use roasted, salted pistachios, this works too, but won’t be as bright green.
Ideally, both make the best texture. However, if you only have a blender, this will still work. Start by pulsing the blender and then you can blend properly when you add the splash of milk. Just give the blender lots of breaks. You can also do this with only a food processor but the final texture will not be as smooth, it’ll be a bit chunkier.
Other recipes you might like to try
If you love pistachio cream, I also have a recipe for pistachio cream French toast and pistachio croissants. You will also love my pistachio tiramisu and of course, my Dubai chocolate & strawberry dessert.
Easy Dessert Recipes
Mango Pancakes
Breakfast & Brunch
Hong Kong French Toast with Hazelnut Creme
Pancake Recipes
Poffertjes (Dutch Mini Pancakes)
Easy Dessert Recipes
Easy Lemon Curd
If you tried this Pistachio Cream or any other recipe on the site, please do leave a comment and let us know how it went!
Pistachio Cream
Ingredients
- 140 g shelled pistachios, you can shell them yourself but it takes a while so buy shelled if you can!
- 180 ml whole milk
- 25 g salted butter
- 100 g white chocolate
- 1 tablespoon icing sugar, (powdered sugar)
Instructions
- I always start by boiling the shelled pistachios for 3 minutes to soften them. Then drain them and set them on a clean kitchen towel (tea towel) to dry.
- Then use the tea towel to rub the pistachios to loosen the skins. You want to separate the pistachios from the skins. This step does take a little time but I promise it’s worth it. If you don’t remove the skins your pistachio cream won’t be lovely and vibrant green and will taste slightly more bitter, not in a bad way, it’s still good! But this way is really really good. Once you’re done, pop the pistachios into a food processor and discard the skins.
- Add the icing sugar and just a splash of milk.
- Blend for around 5 minutes until the pistachios turn into a smooth pistachio paste, scraping down the sides every minute or so. Be patient – to begin with, it will resemble breadcrumbs but eventually, it will turn into a paste – this is important.
- Meanwhile, pop the butter, white chocolate and the rest of the milk into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water over a low heat. Allow to melt slowly, stirring every now and then. Once melted, remove from the heat.
- Scoop the pistachio paste into a blender and then pour in the melted white chocolate mixture. Blend until extra creamy and silky smooth.
- The video below will help with this recipe.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Absolutely decadent and delicious!!
So pleased! Thank you! x
Delicious!! but how long does it keep and where do I store please
Hi Angela, check the recipe notes or the FAQs, it’s all in there! 🙂
I love this pistachio cream recipe, it’s so simple and turns out so well. I’ve made it twice now!
So delicious and easier than I thought it was going to be
It’s soooo creamy!! can’t wait to use it on EVERYTHING
It’s amazing !!! Que ricoooo
My daughter just made it! Deliciously good !
Really liked the recipe!
This recipe is gorgeous. Would highly recommend for any pistachio fans.
I could only find roasted unsalted pistachios, should I still boil them?
Hi Penny, the boiling is to soften the skins so you can remove them easily so yes do still boil them as you will find it fiddly otherwise. Removing the skins makes sure you get a smooth texture and the bright green colour!
This is 100% the most delicious (and easiest) recipe I’ve tried – i’m obsesssssed and will be making it on the reg
A perfect use of pistachios – my kids loved this recipe and finished the jar so quickly!!
Hi,
I really want to try making this. Just a question… in the blog part with the pics you say to put the milk, butter and chocolate into a saucepan but in the recipe instructions you say pu them into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water. Which is better? Could i even combine them in a bowl in the microwave instead?
Thanks
Hi! This is a good question! I tend to do it in all in a pan as it’s less faff but it does come with the risk of scorching the chocolate if you’re not careful. So then when I was writing the recipe I thought I would suggest the bowl over water as it’s less risky! But yes definitely a bowl in a microwave would work. Just don’t let it get too hot – just 20 second bursts and once it warm enough to stir well to melt it. xx
Easy and delicious
Haven’t tried it yet but looks so good. Haven’t noticed any bad reviews so hoping it turns out good. Just wondering, I was going to make Dubai Chocolate strawberry and wanted to use it for that, will it work? XOXO LOVE U THANKS 4 DA RECIPE! MARGIE!!
If you follow her instructions, it will be exactly how you expect !!!! I love it.
Delicious
Wondering how this will taste if in lieu of milk maybe using pistachio coffee creamer or melted pistachio ice cream ( we are a sweets couple )
Hi Stephanie, I haven’t tried it but I do think that would be VERY sweet, perhaps too sweet! I would try it with the milk as written as the recipe is full of white chocolate and it’s already sweet and well-balanced.
amazing creamy and delicious however i recommend not using all the milk if you need a more creamy and thicker consistency.
Great recipe
This recipe was so good, thank you. I had never made pistachio cream before but was intrigued and it is so delicious!
I just made this and it’s delicious. I doubled the recipe and used half & half instead of whole milk as I didn’t have any. Came out perfect. My question is after it’s been refrigerated, how do you recommend getting it back to a pourable consistency?
Glad you liked the recipe! It should turn back to a pourable consistency once it warms up a little. Try to remove it from the fridge 30 minutes before using or if you’re really in a rush, scoop out some pistachio cream from the jar and add to a small microwaveable. Heat on low in 20 second bursts in the microwave until soft. Don’t heat too much as you don’t want it to separate. Let us know how you get on!
Just wanted to let you know we went through that entire batch in 2 weeks and I’m currently making another right now at 10pm, lol! I used it over my chocolate brownie recipe and topped that with a chocolate ganache, absolutely to die for. And it also went on my English muffin every morning until I ran out. The consistency straight out of the refrigerator was lovely and I ended up never needing to warm it, it stayed very spreadable. Thanks again for the recipe!
Delicious!!!
I haven’t tried the recipe yet but it looks so easy to do.
My query is, can you use this pistachio cream in Dubai Bars? I use Peanut Butter at the moment as I can’t find anywhere in Glasgow that sells it.
Yes, you definitely could! Mix it with the shredded toasted pastry – it’ll be delicious.
This pistachio cream recipe works really well and was so delicious
Could I use this Pistachio cream in Dubai chocolate?
Yes! You could use it to mix with the toasted kataifi for the filling x
Taste good mine came out less thicker than i wanted it too but i can just easily add more melted white chocolate to make it thicker
hi! So pleased you liked it. Remember it will thicken in the fridge as it settles x
This is not about the recipe, but your answer. Pistachio butter CAN also be sweet. I have a 2.2 lb tub of Sweet Gusto Etna Pistachio Butter from Italy (using pistachio’s from Brontë) that I bought on Amazon – took six weeks to arrive, but worth it every penny!
If I can only get roasted & salted pistachios would it still work, but change the butter to unsalted maybe?
I haven’t tried it with roasted & salted pistachios so can’t say 100%, but there is no reason why it shouldn’t work. It will just lean into the salty, sweet combination. Use unsalted butter I agree – taste it once done and you can always add a pinch of salt if it needs any more. Let us know how it goes!
Used roasted/salted pistachios and unsalted butter, added a touch of salt and it’s pretty perfect! First use, I froze a layer (8.5oz / 240g) of it to put in the middle of some brownies
How long will this last in the fridge? Can it be frozen?
Hi Ella, it will last for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container in the fridge. I haven’t tried freezing it so I can’t be 100% sure but I think it should work. The milk could turn a little grainy once you defrost, that’s my only concern. If this happens, I think you could fix it by running it through the blender again. If in doubt, add a bit more melted white chocolate mix and that should fix it!
Have you refrigerated your pistachio cream? Does it solidify in the fridge like a Nutella spread? I personally love the texture of a cold, firmer spread and dollop spoons of it everywhere, on brioche, waffles, ice cream, directly in my mouth etc.
I’ve been making my own Gianduja, mixed variations of milk and dark chocolate, and I’ve only added olive oil to liquefy it down. Perhaps I could try doing that in place of milk in your recipe but only after trying out yours as is 🙂
It does! It goes a little firmer because of the white chocolate solidifying x
This is delicious! Just made it. Not too sweet, perfect on sourdough toast!
How much does this make? It says one large jar but that could mean anything? Looks delicious too!
You’re right! It makes enough to fill a standard Jam Jar that fits about 280ml xx
I made this and it came out delicious. Thank you so much
Gonna use it as a macron filling
I was in a bit of a desperate situation as the store I usually buy pistachio cream from had sold out. Found this recipe and after testing it I don’t think I’ll ever be using store bought again – this recipe was excellent! My advice is to follow it exactly to the word of the instructions, as every step here is key in producing an exquisite end product. Thank you for this recipe!
Can’t wait to make this as pistachio cream on amazon is soooo expensive! Instead of milk, could I use double or single cream?
My little girl is turning 1 next month and having a family party to celebrate. If this receipe goes well, I am hoping to make little treats and maybe a cake with the pistachio cream.
Ooh do you know, I haven’t tested it with cream so I couldn’t say for sure. It’s perfect with the milk, butter, white chocolate and icing sugar combo. If you do want to try using cream I would use single and not double and maybe miss out the butter. But I haven’t tested it so I cant tell you and would hate for it not to work. If you can, do try it as it’s written as it’s really good! xxx
What brand of what chocolate should I use? Are Lindt bars ok?
Yes! I am not very loyal to white chocolate brands so tend to use what I can find. I find a good rule of thumb is if it is nice enough to eat, it’s nice enough to cook with, and vice versa if it doesn’t taste great when you have a bite, try to avoid using it x
Made this pistachio cream recipe, super easy and so delicious.
So pleased, thank you for letting me know x