When a recipe calls for “blanched almonds,” do you run to the store to buy a bag? No need! You can easily skin a batch of almonds using the simple method outlined below.
Certain dishes require the use of skinless almonds. Removing the skin gives the almonds a smooth texture, which is helpful in making dishes like almond flour, almond butter, or marzipan.
Blanching your own almonds is more cost-effective than buying the skinless kind at the grocery store, and it only takes a minute… literally, just one minute! You’ll never spend the extra money on pre-blanched almonds again.
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How to Blanch Almonds
Ingredients
- Raw unsalted almonds, more or less as needed
- pot for boiling, strainer
NOTES
Instructions
- Bring a small pot of water to a boil.
- Place your raw almonds into the boiling water. Let them boil for exactly one minute. Don't boil for any longer than 60 seconds, or your almonds will start to soften.
- Drain the almonds immediately in a colander or strainer and rinse them with cold water to cool them.
- Blot the almonds dry with a paper towel. You'll notice that the skins will be slightly shriveled.
- Use your fingers to gently squeeze the almonds and loosen the skin from them. Careful, if you squeeze too hard they'll shoot across the room-- which is fun, but not super practical! You can squeeze them from one hand into another to keep them from "launching" too far.
- Once you remove the skins, let the almonds dry off completely. Discard the skins.
- Now the almonds are blanched and ready to use in your recipe!
Nutrition
tried this recipe?
Let us know in the comments!
Note: Nutrition information above is for 1/4 pound blanched almonds.
S. Harris says
Thanks for the awesome and easy tutorial! I’m making almond butter today and I’ll be employing this method. Some readers were wondering about why we might want to skin our almonds. Well, almond skins contain phytic acid (in higher amounts than most nuts) and tannin (in lower amounts than most nuts). Phytic acid is an “anti-nutrient” that removes nutrients like zinc and magnesium from your body. If you eat a lot of nuts, this could be something to be concerned about. Almonds also contain a small amount of tannin, which is a bitter tasting compound and soaking/skinning can help reduce this. Hope this helps!
Linda says
Tori – can seasoned almonds be blanched as well?
Tori Avey says
Hi Linda– I suppose they could, although I’m not sure why you’d want to, since you’d lose the seasoned coating and a lot of the flavor. Are you hoping to repurpose the seasoned almonds for something else? If yes be careful, some of the seasoned flavor may linger after blanching. Also seasoned almonds are generally roasted, not raw, which may make them a bit harder to peel… I’ve only blanched raw so I can’t say for sure.
JoAnne says
I used this today, thanks!
Re: AlissP’s question, my understanding is tht while the skin has minerals in it, it is very hard to absorb them, because the skin also has some anti nutrients like photic acid in it. This is what prevents the almond from sprouting, and deters pests. It also irritates the digestive tract of some people. Including mine. If you really want to keep the nutrition of the skin, you could try soaking the almonds for 18 hours in warm filtered salt water and then drying them in an oven at 170F for several hours or a dehydrator. This also preserves the enzymes present in the almonds that help you digest them (in raw almonds).
Personally, I prefer them peeled. Blanching the almonds probably harms/destroys the enzymes since they are temperature sensitive. But if you peel them, the enzymes may not be as necessary anyway.
I just blanched a bunch of almonds because some bugs got into them, and I couldn’t bear to throw them out. So I sorted out the ones with holes in them, and blanched and peeled the rest. My ick reaction is pretty strong. 🙂
AlissP says
1. Will all these boiling or soaking in hot water kills all the nutrients of the raw almond?
2. By the way, does anyone knows if there is actually any harm in eating almond skin? I heard some says that it contain tannin that is not good to our body & secondly, our body seems not to be able to digest the skin, hence, no point eating it.
Tori Avey says
Hi Aliss– it’s only blanched (boiled for 60 seconds), so I don’t think there would be much time to change anything… and really, I think boiling and losing nutrients is more of an issue with vegetables, not nuts. I have heard something similar about almond skin, but I am not a nutritionist so I’m not sure if it’s true. Perhaps another reader will know.
VYinLA says
I agree it works well but find it somewhat more time consuming; it took me about a half an hour to shell 12 oz. Next time I will prep more raw nuts than my recipe requires because there is loss due to the skins. Keep the nuts moist. I rub them together between my fingers/palms and that starts to loosen the skins. I also find that working with a paper towel provides a bit of “grip” that helps too.
Noreen says
Thanks so much for this really great tutorial. I really knew how to do this, but it’s so long ago that I saw my grandmother doing it, I forgot the little details. I would probably have boiled them too long and they would have been soggy.
John says
I am eating skinned almonds as I read this. Lol.
Tori Avey says
Fabulous! So I’m guessing the tutorial proved helpful… 🙂
Virginia says
Thank you. I tried this for the first time and had pretty good results. I do see that you need to work very quickly as when the almonds begin to dry out, with their skins on, they will not longer peel. I guess the skin reattaches to the nut.
I am using them to make my own almond milk with purified water as a basis for fruit or vegetable smoothies. We drink a lot of these a day as it is much more digestible for my husband who is undergoing some medical issues.
Thanks again!
Heather says
I’m so glad you liked it Teysa! I enjoy peeling; it is very relaxing for me 🙂 And so worth it! I feel so Amish when I make my own flour, lol!
Tori Avey says
Heather thanks for answering Teysa’s questions! I’ve been a little swamped this week. Seems like this might be a topic worth covering as a how-to on the blog. I’ll work on it this week! 🙂
Rosanna says
I didn’t find them so easy to peel so I used a new exfoliating glove for friction. Works wonderfully.
Tori Avey says
Great tip Rosanna.
Teysa says
Heather, the flour/meal turned out great and I made some muffins. Thanks for the info to both of you. The blanching/skinning is good for my fine motor skills and patience….lol….thanks again, Teysa
Heather says
I put them in the food processor until they are all ground up looking. They are still kind of chunky and sticky feeling. It takes only a minute or so.
Then I spread the almonds on a baking sheet and put them in my oven on its lowest setting. I leave the door cracked as the actually temp is supposed to be around 117 or something, but my oven doesn’t go that low. I just keep checking every twenty minutes or so by touching the almonds to see if they’re dry.
After they feel all dried out (after an hour or so) I take the almonds out and put them back in to my food processor. Processing them one more time after they are dry makes the almonds turn into a finer feeling powder/flour. I’ve found that 2 C of almonds basically makes 2 C of almond flour. Good luck. I LOVE it! 🙂 It works great in all my baked good so far.
Teysa says
Heather, I will be making almond flour for the first time ever! First, thanks, Tori, for showing me how to blanch….I have been looking and this will be so much easier and I already have regular almonds.
My question to Heather is put them in the food processor long enuf to get chunky and then dry? for hour or so?….two things: final spin means? and how many cups whole almonds make 2 C almond flour?
thanks so much
Heather says
Thank you for this post. I peel my own almonds to make my own almond flour and didn’t even realized it was called blanching. A new cookbook I called stated that her recipes require blanched almonds and I got nervous until I realized I’d already done that. I do put my almonds in a food processor, then lay them out onto a baking sheet and place them in the oven on the lowest temp to dry out. I leave the oven door open a crack. It takes a little over an hour. Then I put them back into the food processor for a final spin and am left with a very nice almond flour.
Anna says
Thanks so much for this info, I had no idea it was so easy. I do wonder Heather how you make almond flour in the food processor. I make almond milk and am left with wet almond meal which I have squeezed as dry as possible in a jelly strainer. I then dry it in the oven on parchment and cookie sheet on low heat, it takes hours. Then I have dry almond meal, putting it into the food processor breaks it up some but not enough to make a fine powder for use as almond flour. Almond meal and Almond flour are different from e/o. I’ll be interested in knowing how you do it.
Christy says
How do you recommend drying them thoroughly if you don’t have a dehydrator?
Tori Avey says
I don’t usually dry them, since I generally blanch them for immediate use. I suppose you could dry them in a low temp oven, but I’ve never tried it myself.
Sue Funcke says
Fantastic, I just skinned 200g of almonds in 10 minutes. Thank you for the tip 🙂 I just walked all over my shopping centre looking for ground almonds to make Amarreti biscuits and nobody had them it was quicker to do it myself.
Sheri Schneider says
This is such an easy ad simple way to skin almonds, it worked just the way you described! I mentioned it in my post today about making pignoli cookies.
http://100miles100foods.org/2013/02/26/pignoli-cookies-with-a-oregon-twist/
Siri says
Perfect post for Wat am breaking my head right now:) thanks a ton going to try french macaroons
Esse says
Thanks for sharing! What is the recommended storage for these or should they be used right away?
Tori Avey says
Hi Esse, make sure you dry them out completely. They should store fine at room temperature in a sealed plastic bag for a few weeks. If you want to keep them fresher longer, store them in the fridge.
nancy says
i must do this just to launch them, practical and a giggle. thanks.
Tori Avey says
Simple pleasures! Haha
Annette Gendler says
So funny to see this here! My grandma taught me this procedure many years ago, and I showed my daughter a few weeks ago when all we had was a big fat bag of regular almonds from Costco. All I do, BTW, is soak them in the hot water, I don’t even boil them. Squishing them out of their skins is rather fun, and yes, a little dangerous as they can shoot across the kitchen.
Tori Avey says
Great to know hot water works just as well! We had great fun “launching” almonds when I photographed this blog… 🙂
Sarah says
Annette the almonds you used from Costco were they raw? Or just regular store bought almonds. Wondering if using raw is just for health reasons or a must to be able to blanch. This is my first attempt to blanch my own almonds
Rose says
Thank you for sharing! These are exactly the almonds I have in my kitchen right now. I never even knew I needed to blanch almonds before making into flour haha 🙂 You learn everyday!