I like grinding coffee beans with my home coffee grinder.
Because it helps to get coarse and fine grounded coffee that makes my coffee taste delicious with the flavor and texture that I need.
But one day a question crossed my mind and that question was:
“Can you grind nuts in a coffee grinder?”
There is no simple and straight answer to this question.
Yes, you can grind nuts in your coffee grinder to some extent.
But I will not recommend this option to you.
My answer will be “No”, if you ask my opinion about grinding nuts in any type of coffee grinder.
If you want to know why I said no and what other methods you can use to grind nuts to the best of your ability, then kindly read this article to the end.
Table of Contents
- 3 Reasons Why You Should Not Use Coffee Grinder to Grind Nuts
- What is the Best Solution to Grind Nuts Properly?
- 5 Best Methods to Grind Nuts Other Than Your Coffee Grinder
- 3 Ideal Situations When You Can Use Coffee Grinder to Grind Nuts
- What is the Best Coffee Grinder for Grinding Nuts?
- Wrapping Up
3 Reasons Why You Should Not Use Coffee Grinder to Grind Nuts
There are several issues that can arise once you start using your home coffee grinder to grind all types of nuts like almonds, cashews, peanuts, hazelnuts, pistachios, walnuts, etc.
1. Machine Clogging
All types of nuts like peanuts, almonds, walnuts, etc. secret oil when crushed or grounded in the machine.
Now, if you start using your expensive coffee grinder to grind these nuts at home, then slowly your machine could get clogged by oil and small particles of nuts.
All nuts, when crushed in the machine, tend to release oils.
This secreted oil could get deposited in the coffee grinder and slowly it can reduce the performance of your machine.
Similarly, the smaller particles of crushed nuts can cause clogging if you do not clean your machine properly.
2. Problems in Cleaning Coffee Grinder
When you keep using your coffee grinder for grinding not just coffee but also other cooking ingredients like spices and nuts, then it is bound to get dirty gradually.
Minor particles and oil released by crushing nuts can gradually clog your grinder.
Cleaning such grinders becomes a very tedious and challenging task for housewives like us.
Therefore, I usually tend to avoid grinding other substances like spices and nuts in my coffee grinder.
3. Too Fine or Too Coarse Grind
Another major issue with using regular coffee grinder is that it produces either too coarse or too fine grind when I put spices and nuts in it.
May it be manual grinder or electric grinder, it usually does not help much in getting the right grind of nuts like peanuts, hazelnuts or cashews, etc.
You usually do not get uniformly grounded nuts with coffee grinders.
Either you get coarsely grounded and uneven sized nuts in big chunks or you get too fine grounded nuts in the “butter” form.
Getting the right amount of ground sized nuts is pretty difficult when you grind them with any coffee grinder.
Due to these 3 main reasons, I tend to avoid using coffee grinder to grind any types of nuts or spices.
I believe the coffee grinders must be used to get the one thing which it does perfectly i.e. grinding any type of coffee beans to our desired level.
Can You Grind Coffee Beans with Magic Bullet Blender? Here is the True Answer.
What is the Best Solution to Grind Nuts Properly?
Instead of using your precious coffee grinder and spoiling it in the process, I strongly recommend you to use a specially designed nut chopper for this task.
The simple, affordable and one of the best options to grind all types of nuts is to get a reliable nut chopper like Prepworks by Progressive International.
You can chop and grind all types of nuts and seeds in this machine right from pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, peanuts and more.
It has specially designed blades which helps you to get the right amount of fine to coarse grinding level for your nuts.
If you move its handle in clockwise direction, then you will get a coarse grind and for counter clockwise direction, you will obtain finely grounded nuts powder.
Check out the following simple demo video where you will learn how easy it is to grind nuts with this nut chopper product.
Click Here to Get Prepworks Nut Chopper to Start Grinding Nuts Quickly and Effortlessly at Home.
5 Best Methods to Grind Nuts Other Than Your Coffee Grinder
If you are thinking about different options to grind nuts at home other than your precious coffee grinder, then you can use these 5 methods mentioned below.
1. Using A Professional Blender
The best method to grind nuts comfortably at home and the one which most people use without any issues is to make use of a professional blender.
A good quality and reliable blenders such as Magic Bullet Blender or Nutribullet Blender can make your work way easier and more hassle free.
Magic Bullet Blender is very handy to chop nuts.
Its 250 watts motor is sufficient to chop nuts without any issues.
But if you want to make fine powder or nut butter then I would recommend to go for Nutribullet Blender.
It has a more powerful 900 watts motor and it can easily blend and grind all types of nuts without any problems.
Click Here to Get Magic Bullet Blender to Grind Nuts.
Click Here to Check Out Nutribullet Blender to Blend and Grind Nuts Easily.
2. Using A Nut Chopper
I have already mentioned that nut chopper would be the ideal and the most affordable option for you if you are only planning to grind nuts at home.
And according to my experience, the best nut chopper as I mentioned above is Prepworks by Progressive International.
It is very easy to handle and very affordable too.
If you are on a tight budget and don’t want to invest in buying expensive food processors and coffee grinders, then I highly recommend you to use this nut chopper for your daily routine.
Click Here to Get Prepworks Nut Chopper for All Types of Nut Grinding.
3. Using A Food Processor
You can effortlessly grind all types of nuts in your home food processor.
All types of nuts release oil when crushed or grounded.
Therefore, it is important to prevent your food processor parts from becoming oily.
So, you will have to make sure that the nuts you are going to grind are stored in the refrigerator before you grind them in your food processor.
After that, you can just place the nuts inside the food processor jar and pulse in short bursts only.
This will help you get the fine or coarse grind as per your requirement.
One more important step that most people forget here is to avoid grinding for longer period.
If you grind nuts for too long then the nuts start to release oil and then it can clog the food processor parts in the process.
According to my research, the best food processor that can easily grind all types of nuts and dates is Cuisinart DFP-14BCNY 14 Cup Food Processor.
It is very easy and comfortable to chop nuts for cookies and to make nut butter with this food processor.
Click Here to Check Out Cuisinart DFP-14BCNY 14 Cup Food Processor.
4. Using A Spice and Nut Grinder
Another best option to grind nuts effortlessly at home is to make use of a professional spice and nut grinder.
Professional spice and nut grinders such as Cuisinart SG-10 Electric Spice and Nut Grinder, are specially designed to efficiently grind all types of spices and nuts without much annoyances.
The jars that come with these grinders are equipped with highly effective and durable stainless steel blades.
These blades can easily grind all types of nuts such as hazelnuts, walnuts, peanuts, almonds, etc. into a coarse or fine powder.
In case of Cuisinart SG-10 spice and nut grinder, it also comes with extra storage space in the lid which is helpful to store the grounded nut powder once it is done.
Its heavy duty motor is sufficient to grind all types of nuts into the fine powder.
And the best thing is it is dishwasher safe which will keep the machine oil free and clutter free once you use it to grind nuts.
Click Here to Get Cuisinart SG-10 Electric Spice and Nut Grinder to Grind Nuts at Home.
5. Manual by Kitchen Knife
And the final option for you would be a manual chopping.
If you don’t want to spend extra money on buying a food processor or a blender or any other machine just to chop nuts then this is an ideal and most cost efficient method for you.
You will only need a chopping board and a large sharp kitchen knife for chopping your nuts.
Place the nuts on the chopping board and keep chopping them with your knife slowly till you get the required fine level.
3 Ideal Situations When You Can Use Coffee Grinder to Grind Nuts
The coffee grinder that you possess at your home should only be used to grind nuts in 3 situations.
Those situations are as mentioned below.
A. For chopping nuts: If you are looking to sprinkle few chopped nuts on your salad or yogurt, then you can sparingly use a coffee grinder at home.
B. For Well Refrigerated Nuts: If the nuts you are about to grind are not cool or not stored in refrigerator, then I would not recommend you to grind them in your coffee grinder.
To prevent clogging by oil, you need to grind nuts in your coffee grinder only when they are cool or frozen.
C. For Softer Nuts Only: If you want to grind soft nuts like peanuts, pecans, walnuts, etc.; then coffee grinder can be used without any issues.
But if you want to grind hard nuts like almonds, then it is advisable to use either a nut chopper or a blender.
Your coffee grinder may not be sufficient to make uniform powder of these hard nuts.
The best tool to grind hard nuts is usually a food processor or a nut chopper or a blender.
What is the Best Coffee Grinder for Grinding Nuts?
If you are searching for very affordable electric coffee grinder to grind nuts at home, then I will recommend you to use this Hamilton Beach Fresh Grind Electric Coffee Grinder.
Its highly durable stainless steel blades are powerful enough to make fine powder of all types of hard and soft nuts and spices.
However, you will have to pay attention while grinding nuts in this coffee grinder because it could take a little longer to get fine nut powder from the machine.
On the other hand, if you are looking for manual coffee grinder, then I would recommend you to use Javapresse Manual Coffee Grinder.
You can comfortably grind all types of nuts in this manual coffee grinder.
Depending on whether you want coarse or fine powder, you will have to adjust its grind selector option.
Click Here to Get Hamilton Beach Fresh Grind Electric Coffee Grinder.
Click Here to Check Out Javapresse Manual Coffee Grinder.
Wrapping Up
Using a coffee grinder to grind nuts is only recommended when you want to chop soft nuts.
If you want to get finer nut powder, then I highly recommend you to use either a good quality food processor or blender.
If you are on a budget and don’t want to spend too much cash, then buying an affordable nut chopper or even doing it manually with knife is your best option.
References:
https://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=361691
https://www.reddit.com/r/fitmeals/comments/bsa94d/tip_a_coffee_grinder_can_also_be_used_to_grind/
https://www.cakecentral.com/forum/t/48179/what-to-use-to-grind-nuts-finely