Hazelnut butter is a genuinely healthy food. A two-tablespoon serving delivers 160 calories, 5 grams of protein, and a rich supply of heart-protective fats, minerals, and antioxidants. The catch is that you need to buy the right kind: 100% ground hazelnuts, not the chocolate-hazelnut spreads that are mostly sugar.
What’s in a Serving
Two tablespoons of plain hazelnut butter contain about 160 calories, 5 grams of protein, and 1 gram of fiber. Most of the calories come from fat, but it’s predominantly monounsaturated fat, the same type that makes olive oil a cornerstone of heart-healthy diets. Hazelnuts are also one of the richest food sources of two trace minerals most people don’t get enough of: a single ounce of hazelnuts provides 76% of your daily manganese and 54% of your daily copper. These minerals play roles in bone health, energy metabolism, and immune function.
Hazelnuts are also a strong source of vitamin E, with raw hazelnuts averaging around 28 mg per 100 grams. Vitamin E is a fat-soluble antioxidant that protects cell membranes from damage, and getting it from whole food sources (rather than supplements) is consistently linked to better health outcomes.
Heart Health Benefits
The strongest evidence for hazelnuts involves cardiovascular health. A systematic review published through the National Institutes of Health found that hazelnut consumption improves several markers of cardiometabolic health, likely driven by the nuts’ high unsaturated fat content, fiber, vitamin E, and potassium. People who added hazelnuts to their diet also tended to eat less carbohydrate and sodium overall, which compounds the benefit.
The cholesterol numbers are striking. In one clinical trial published in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology, people with high cholesterol who ate a hazelnut-enriched diet saw their LDL (“bad”) cholesterol drop by about 6%, total cholesterol fall by nearly 8%, and triglycerides decrease by over 7%. Their HDL (“good”) cholesterol rose by about 6%. The study also measured blood vessel function and found a 57% improvement in how well arteries dilated, a key marker of vascular health. These results came from adding hazelnuts to an otherwise normal diet, not from any other intervention.
A diet rich in plant-based antioxidants, including the flavonoids found in hazelnuts, reduces inflammation and increases vascular elasticity. The hazelnut’s thin brown skin is particularly potent: lab studies show it can inhibit oxidation of LDL cholesterol by up to 99% at tested concentrations. Oxidized LDL is what actually drives plaque buildup in arteries, so preventing that oxidation matters.
How It Compares to Almond Butter
Almond butter is the more popular choice, and it does have some nutritional edges. Per two tablespoons, almond butter provides 7 grams of protein versus hazelnut butter’s 5 grams, 7.7 mg of vitamin E versus 4.3 mg, and 90 mg of magnesium (hazelnut butter has less). If you’re specifically trying to maximize protein or magnesium intake, almond butter wins.
Hazelnut butter holds its own in other areas. It delivers significantly more manganese and copper per serving, and its antioxidant profile is distinct, with higher levels of certain protective plant compounds like catechin and quercetin. The flavor is also richer and more complex, which can matter for sticking with a healthy eating pattern. Neither is clearly “better.” They offer overlapping but slightly different nutrient packages, and rotating between them is a perfectly reasonable strategy.
The Sugar Problem With Hazelnut Spreads
This is where most people go wrong. When you see “hazelnut spread” on a grocery shelf, you’re almost certainly looking at a product where sugar is the first ingredient. A typical chocolate-hazelnut spread contains about 43% sugar by weight, 19.5% palm oil, and only around 15% actual hazelnut paste. The rest is milk powder, cocoa, and emulsifiers. That means roughly three-quarters of the jar has nothing to do with hazelnuts.
These spreads are closer to frosting than to nut butter. They won’t give you the cardiovascular benefits described above because the dose of actual hazelnut per serving is too small, and the added sugar works against heart health. If you’re buying hazelnut butter for its health benefits, read the ingredient list. It should say “hazelnuts” and possibly salt. Nothing else.
How Much to Eat
Most research on nut health benefits uses a serving size of about 28 grams (one ounce), which translates to roughly two tablespoons of nut butter. A large Mediterranean diet trial that included hazelnuts used 30 grams of mixed nuts daily, and population studies showing reduced heart disease risk involve at least five servings of nuts per week.
Two tablespoons a day is a reasonable target. At 160 calories per serving, it fits comfortably into most diets without causing weight gain. This is a consistent finding in hazelnut research: despite being calorie-dense, regular nut consumption does not lead to weight gain for most people. The likely reasons include the satiating effect of fat and protein, the fact that some of the fat in nuts passes through unabsorbed due to intact cell walls, and a slight increase in metabolic rate from diets higher in unsaturated fat.
You can spread it on toast, stir it into oatmeal, blend it into smoothies, or eat it straight off a spoon. The health benefits come from consistency over time, not from any single serving.