What are the Health Benefits of Vegan Nutella?

If you, like so many, love the velvety, chocolatey, boldly sweet flavor of Nutella, you might also have bemoaned the undeniably large amount of sugar and overall caloric value of even one recommended serving.

Store-bought Nutella has many fans, eliciting the same association that has everyone asking for a "Q-tip" or a "Kleenex," that industry-wide brand name dominance.

But there are alternatives, and the continuing trend in healthy eating has encouraged countless recipes for homemade Nutella or store-bought versions, exploring low-sugar, dairy-free, gluten-free, and vegan options.

This post will cover how vegan chocolate hazelnut spread differs and why it's healthier than store-bought Nutella.

What is hazelnut spread?

Despite being popularly known as Nutella, the product is in fact hazelnut spread, which has existed in various forms in some cultures for a very long time.

The essential ingredients of most Nutella-style hazelnut spreads are simple, as they usually appear  -

• raw hazelnuts; crushed and blended
• dark chocolate or cocoa powder (with milk)
• sugar
• oil or another binding ingredient (Nutella uses palm oil)

With only a few steps to combine, making homemade hazelnut spread is fairly simple. You'll just want a good food processor (or access to hazelnut butter). Or you can purchase a healthier hazelnut spread online. 

Thankfully, it's very easy to change these ingredients and make something that suits your dietary restrictions or preferences.

FAQ's

• Is there a vegan version of Nutella?
  Yes, it's absolutely possible to make a vegan version of Nutella, or hazelnut spread generically. Or you can buy a vegan version of Nutella online or in store like Gooey.
  
  You can change the recipe in degrees, tweaking the elements you want to change. By improving the quality of ingredients, vegan Nutella or hazelnut spread can be far healthier. By eliminating palm oil and reducing/replacing the sugar, you can avoid the negative health effects of these two ingredients.

• Is there a dairy-free Nutella?

Nutella has skim milk in it, so Nutella is not dairy-free. Consider this along with the high amount of sugar used and all the palm oil, and the ingredients of Nutella leave a lot to be desired.

• Is Nutella hazelnut butter?

No, It's not quite hazelnut butter, which is simpler.

With the added chocolate, palm oil, and sugar, Nutella is a hazelnut spread.  Since creating the perfect creamy nut butter with an at-home food processor can be difficult, store-bought hazelnut butter is commonly used as the base for a hazelnut spread.

What can I use instead of Nutella?

There are plenty of healthier and sustainable alternatives to Nutella.

If you want to choose a healthier option, try Gooey Snack's Hazelnut Cocoa Spread. Not only is there no palm oil or dairy, but there's over 70% less sugar compared to Nutella. Plus, Gooey uses natural agave and no cane sugar.

It's gluten-free, all-natural, and uses agave syrup to bring about that sweetness.

Variations on chocolate hazelnut spread

• Dairy-free, if lactose is what you're avoiding. This will also make your spread vegan. If wanted, you could substitute coconut milk.
• Low-sugar or sugar-free. Substitute the cane sugar to drastically improve the nutritional quality of your spread.
• While melted chocolate spread certainly sounds good, it can be full of sugar! Try maple syrup or another sweetener, instead of reaching for the chocolate chips or powdered sugar.
• Change the oil. Palm oil extraction damages the planet and is plainly unhealthy. In its pure form, it seems to be fine for you, but as soon as it's processed, palm oil becomes very unhealthy. Gooey Snacks never uses palm oil.
• Different choices like coconut oil can be much healthier.

Health effects of Nutella

With gobs of sugar and palm oil, Nutella is sure to negatively affect your health. Sugar raises your blood sugar and can cause weight gain. Over the long term, overconsumption of sugar is associated with heart disease, obesity and many other terrible conditions.

Vegan chocolate hazelnut spread

For those of us who don't have time or the desire to make homemade vegan Nutella, there are great products like Gooey Snacks.

Gooey's vegan "Nutella" recipe is made of all-natural ingredients, is dairy and gluten-free, and has no cane sugar and no palm oil.

By cutting out these unhealthy ingredients, Gooey has cut the guilt out of their Hazelnut Cocoa Spread.

Slather it on toast or a slice of banana bread, top it on your fresh fruit, or use it any other way you can think of. Gooey is the best vegan chocolate hazelnut spread you can find.