1,569 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.

403 K 15× 3.8/5 (29 reviews)693678

Duration

50 min.

Difficulty

Easy

Last modified on: October 13^th 2010

Step by step recipe Ingredients Duration Nutritional facts Cost Comments

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.

Preparation 20 min.

Resting 15 min.

Cooking 20 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	43 RDI=67 %	238 RDI=90 %	108 RDI=148 %	2,098 RDI=105 %	8,784 RDI: 105 %
Per 100 g	9 RDI=15 %	51 RDI=20 %	23 RDI=32 %	456 RDI=23 %	1,910 RDI: 23 %

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

Pistachio confectioner's custard

This is very similar to the classic confectioner's custard (crème pâtissière, or french pastry cream), but its marked pistachio taste brings a distinctive flavour to a whole range of desserts.
242 K4.7 35 min.

Pistachio "Financiers"

This version of the traditional French financiers is just as moist as the original but with a delicious pistachio flavour.
94 K3.9 35 min.

Pistachio ice cream

Rediscover the real, delicate taste of pistachio in this ice cream with its very definite flavour.
128 K 13.8 55 min.

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.
90 K5 45 min.

Sicilian Epiphany Pie

This is a Sicilian version of the French Epiphany dessert, the "galette des rois". The puff pastry has a pistachio cream and ricotta filling with diced candied fruit.
91 K3 1 hour 1 min.

This recipe uses (among others)

Other recipes you may also like

Bouquet garni

Used very frequently in French cuisine, a secret of French chefs, it adds flavour to a lot of recipes, and it's easy to prepare. The basic principle is to make a small bundle of herbs, bind them in green leek leaves and to tie it up, so that the whole thing can be removed and discarded easily after cooking.

March 21^th 2017441 K3.5 15 min.

Don't add a stock cube whole

If you add a stock cube to a recipe, it's much better to not add it whole, because it will take a long time to dissolve.

February 21^th 2011149 K5 2 min.

How to choose an avocado well

It is not so easy to choose a good avocado, tasty and well ripe. Here are some tips to help you.

June 28^th 2011202 K4.4 1 min.

Fresh spinach with cream

Fresh spinach, simply wilted, reheated in a sauce of thickened cream with shallot, and served with quarters of hard-boiled egg.

September 29^th 2012379 K3.8 1 hour 45 min.

Toasted flaked almonds

Toasted flaked almonds are the perfect finishing touch for desserts, ice creams in particular, because of their delightful crunch.

March 9^th 2020353 K4.8 30 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

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° 15
Remove from the fridge until an hour (or more), then try to cut it in small pieces.
Posted by jh Auteur october 31^th 2020 at 07:47 n° 14
How did you get it that green from step 7 to 8
Posted by shafique march 11^th 2015 at 21:24 n° 13
By the use of the food processor and his blade.
Posted by jh Auteur march 12^th 2015 at 09:23 n° 12
Thanks very much very easy to understand
Posted by nata february 1^st 2015 at 13:36 n° 11
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° 10
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 Auteur december 20^th 2014 at 11:01 n° 9
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° 8
Read the recipe, step #10
Posted by jh Auteur january 21^th 2014 at 09:03 n° 7
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° 6
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 Auteur june 5^th 2011 at 09:20 n° 5
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° 4
Wait for about 15 minutes and it will be OK.
Posted by jh Auteur june 3^rd 2011 at 07:37 n° 3
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° 2
Thank's Vicky, appreciate.
Posted by jh Auteur april 17^th 2011 at 10:58 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.