1,534 easy and fully explained recipes, with +66K photos and 78 videos

This site uses only a few technical cookies necessary for its operation. By continuing to browse, you accept their use.
To find out more...

Pistachio powder or paste

Name: Pistachio powder or paste
Prep time: 31 min
Cook time: 17 min
Total time: 48 min
Yield: 400 g
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 200 g pistachios; 200 g caster sugar; 4 tablespoons water; 1 egg white

Pistachio paste has a similar texture to almond paste, but the similarity ends there, as its flavour and colour are quite characteristic.

396 K 15× 3.8/5 (29 reviews)

50 min.

Easy

2.45 €

400 g

4 Ingredients

Last modified on: October 13^th 2010

For 400 g, you will need:

1 200 g pistachios
2 200 g caster sugar
3 4 tablespoons water
4 1 egg white (optional)
Total weight: 460 grams

Times for this recipe

Preparation: 20 min.

Resting: 15 min.

Cooking: 20 min.

All in all: 50 min.

When should you start or finish this recipe?

If you start now, at , you will finish around : ?.Change start time

To finish around 7pm, you'll need to have started before: .Change end time

Step by step recipe

Stage 1

Preheat oven to 170°C (340°F).

You can buy pistachios already blanched with their skins removed (the green ones on the left in the photo), or still in their skins (usually cheaper).

Stage 2 - ⌛ 2 min.

For this recipe the pistachios need to have the skins removed, so if you need to do this, plunge them for 2 minutes into boiling water. Drain, then slip off the skins, which should now be quite easy.

Stage 3 - ⌛ 5 min.

Spread out on a baking sheet, and put in the oven to dry roast for about 5 minutes.

Stage 4 - ⌛ 10 min.

Meanwhile heat 200 g caster sugar and 4 tablespoons water together in a small pan over high heat, and bring up to 120°C (250°F), using an electronic thermometer if possible.

Stage 5 - ⌛ 5 min.

When this temperature has been reached, tip the pistachios all at once into the pan.

Stage 6 - ⌛ 15 min.

Then stir with a wooden spatula. After a few seconds the mixture should become grainy.

If this does not happen immediately it is because the sugar has not reached 120°C (250°F) yet. Don't worry, just keep stirring for a while longer until the change occurs.

When the mixture has turned grainy (like in the photo), stop stirring, remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Stage 7 - ⌛ 1 min.

Tip the cooled contents of the pan into a blender or food processor.

Stage 8 - ⌛ 3 min.

Blend until it becomes evenly ground and green: pistachio powder.

If you wish to use this powder for flavouring biscuits, a cake or a cream for example, use as it is. The powder is quite easy to incorporate.

Stage 9 - ⌛ 2 min.

If you want pistachio paste, to fill chocolates for example, it's useless to blend any longer as, unlike praline, it will not turn into a paste like this.

All that's needed is the addition of a little egg-white (as for marzipan) to bind the powder.

Stage 10 - ⌛ 5 min.

The paste is best kept refrigerated, preferably spread into sort of flat cake, and wrapped in plastic film. Keep the powder at room temperature in an airtight jar.

Remarks

You will note that this recipe, unlike many others, does not contain almonds, just pistachios and sugar.

Keeping: A few days in the fridge, in a closed jar.

Source: Home made.

Nutritional information

	Proteins (gr)	Carbohydrates (gr)	Fats (gr)	Energy value (in k-calories)	Energy value (in k-joules)
Whole recipe	40 RDI=20 %	240 RDI=20 %	110 RDI=20 %	2,100 RDI=110 %	8,780 RDI: 110 %
Per 100 g	9 RDI=4 %	50 RDI=5 %	20 RDI=4 %	460 RDI=20 %	1,910 RDI: 20 %

Possible allergens in this recipe: Nuts, egg

How much will it cost?

For 400 g : 2.35 €

Change currency:

Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.

Some other recipes using this recipeSee them all 13

Paris flan filling

This is how to prepare the custard filling for a classic Parisian "flan". This is not the whole recipe, just the filling mixture, which can be used in lots of other flan-style recipes on this site.
85 K5 45 min.

Pear, grapefruit and pistachio tart

A sweetcrust pastry case filled with pistachio cream, topped with pear and grapefruit slices.
100 K4.3 1 hour 40 min.

Pistachio shortbread biscuits

These melt-in-the-mouth biscuits are "double pistachio", as they contain both pistachio paste and toasted chopped pistachios.
168 K 54.6 2 hours 60 min.

Pistachio madeleines

Firm on the outside, soft in the centre and with a prominent pistachio flavour, these madeleines are truly delicious.
126 K 25 1 hour 40 min.

Pistachio cream

Very similar to almond cream, pistachio cream is ideal for filling or topping all kinds of cakes and tarts. Just like almond cream, it swells during cooking.
317 K 63.9 35 min.

This recipe uses (among others)

Other recipes you may also like

Mouna

Mouna is a delicious citrus-flavoured brioche from the Oran region of Algeria. It origins are much disputed, but it was no doubt inspired by a brioche brought over by Spanish immigrants from the Valencia region: the "Mona de Pascua". However, it is also amusing to remember that the citizens of Oran used to enjoy their Sunday picnics, with brioche as the dessert, near to Fort Lamoune, so...

May 22^th 201980 K1 18 hours 35 min.

Apple paste

Apple paste, like most other fruit pastes, is a simple mixture of apple juice, sugar and a gelling agent - pectin here.

November 6^th 201996 K5 10 days 50 min.

Caramelized pear custard tart

You may well be familiar with the famous French custard tart, with its creamy vanilla egg-custard filling. It can also be made in individual portions, in ramekins, for example. Here is a delicious version with caramelized pears.

July 13^th 202280 K 2 1 hour 3 min.

Quiche filling mixture

The basic mixture for filling quiches is made with seasoned eggs, cream and/or milk. It can be used in many kinds of savoury quiches and tarts, with different ingredients added (lardons, cheese, salmon, etc.).

April 17^th 2022105 K3 4 min.

Clarified butter

This is a way of melting butter to eliminate all the impurities. The clarified butter can then be heated without spoiling, and is more digestible. It is ideal for cooking at high temperatures where small black specks would spoil the appearance, or for emulsified sauces like béarnaise or mousseline.

June 21^th 2017480 K4.2 2 hours 15 min.

News list of cooking-ez.com

Note: We'll never share your e-mail address with anyone else.

The 15 comments already posted on this recipe

Remove from the fridge until an hour (or more), then try to cut it in small pieces.
Posted by jh october 31^th 2020 at 07:47 n° 15
My pistachio paste has hardened in the refrigerator, what can I do to reconstitute it please. Not rock solid but very hard to incorporate evenly into Italian almond biscuits.
Posted by Colette october 31^th 2020 at 02:35 n° 14
By the use of the food processor and his blade.
Posted by jh march 12^th 2015 at 09:23 n° 13
How did you get it that green from step 7 to 8
Posted by shafique march 11^th 2015 at 21:24 n° 12
Thanks very much very easy to understand
Posted by nata february 1^st 2015 at 13:36 n° 11
I think you can try using a blender, it's not gonna be easy, but with a container a little bit bigger than the blender head, it could be possible.
But perhaps if you could ask for a friend with a food processor, it will be much much easier...
Posted by jh december 20^th 2014 at 11:01 n° 10
SO, I really want to make this but i don't have a food processor and probably won't for a while so, can I do this in a blender or perhaps a magic bullet blender? (I just want to make powder, not the paste, for macarons) Please and thank you!
Posted by Sophia december 19^th 2014 at 21:02 n° 9
Read the recipe, step #10
Posted by jh january 21^th 2014 at 09:03 n° 8
How to store this and till how many days we can store in freezer??
Posted by Anonymous january 20^th 2014 at 17:28 n° 7
It will be light green with the powder in a cake, if you want a strong color you should use food coloring.
Posted by jh june 5^th 2011 at 09:20 n° 6
If you use the powder in a cake, will it make the cake green or do you need to add food coloring?
Posted by Anonymous june 4^th 2011 at 23:28 n° 5
Wait for about 15 minutes and it will be OK.
Posted by jh june 3^rd 2011 at 07:37 n° 4
Okay...heated sugar and pistachio and water to 250, how much should I cool before putting into food processor? Do you have an approximate temperature?
Posted by Stacy june 2^nd 2011 at 18:27 n° 3
Thank's Vicky, appreciate.
Posted by jh april 17^th 2011 at 10:58 n° 2
Merci Jean-Hugues! I've just created the most lovely pistachio paste (to use for warm pistachio cupcakes) thanks to your recipe... and I've tried many others before. Very much appreciated. Kind regards, Vicki (Melbourne, Australia)
Posted by Anonymous april 17^th 2011 at 05:18 n° 1

Follow this recipe (as 3 people already do)

If you are interested in this recipe, you can "follow" it, by entering your email address here. You will then receive a notification immediately each time the recipe is modified or a new comment is added. Please note that you will need to confirm this following.