Best Gianduja Recipe Collection: 4 Delicious Versions, 3 Simple Methods

What Is Gianduja? Gianduja Recipe Ratios And Textures

Gianduja – pronounced “jan-DOO-yah” – is a smooth mixture of chocolate, ground nuts, and sugar, usually with a high percentage of hazelnuts. It was first developed in Turin, in northern Italy, when chocolatiers began blending chocolate with hazelnut paste.
Today the word gianduja can mean many things – from firm blocks you can cut, to soft, spreadable textures that look almost like a ganache. The classic ratio uses around 30% hazelnut paste, but in practice you can adjust the nut percentage to make your gianduja more or less nutty and more or less sweet.

A Short History Of Gianduja

The story of gianduja goes back to the time of Napoleon and the cocoa shortages in Europe.
Because of blockades and high import taxes, cocoa beans became expensive and hard to obtain, especially for chocolatiers in Turin. To stretch their limited cocoa, some very clever pastry chefs started mixing chocolate with finely ground local hazelnuts. The result was creamy, nutty, and more affordable – and that is how gianduja was born.

The Name, Piedmont, And Those Famous Hazelnuts

The name “gianduja” comes from a traditional carnival and theatre character from the region around Turin, in Piedmont. Over time, that name became associated not just with the character, but also with local chocolate-hazelnut sweets and the little boat-shaped chocolates called gianduiotti. Piedmont is famous for its hazelnuts. Most importantly for gianduja, the PGI Piedmont hazelnuts from the Langhe area are often considered some of the best in the world for their sweet, buttery flavour, and that quality really comes through in the final chocolate.

My First Time Tasting Real Gianduja

The first time I really discovered gianduja was when I was travelling in the north of Italy.
I spent a week in Turin enjoying the city, the culture, and the local food. I had tasted chocolate hazelnut spreads before, but this was different – it was so silky, so nutty, and it just melted on the tongue. Once you try that, it completely changes how you think about chocolate and nuts together. That trip made me want to learn how to make gianduja properly at home, so this post and video are all about giving you the basic techniques to recreate that flavour in your own kitchen.

If you prefer to learn by watching rather than reading, the video below will guide you through the entire gianduja process step by step. You will see the texture at each stage, how the mixture should look when properly emulsified, and how small temperature adjustments affect the final result. Once you have watched the process, you can use the written recipe below as a precise reference for measurements and workflow.

Gianduja Recipe Collection

A collection of four gianduja variations made with different nuts and chocolate bases, designed as smooth, rich praline-style spreads for use in entremets, bonbons, and pastry applications.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine Italian

Servings 20

Calories 190 kcal

Ingredients

  

Traditional Gianduja
 (~750 g)

• 250 g walnuts or hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios, or peanuts
• 250 g icing sugar
• 250 g dark chocolate 60-65% melted, at 32°C (90°F)
• Pinch of salt flakes

Peanut butter Gianduja (~700 g)

• 450 g milk chocolate melted, at 33°C – 91°F
• 250 g peanut butter room temperature
• Pinch of salt flakes

Praline Gianduja (~750 g)

• 450 g hazelnut praline
• 150 g milk chocolate melted, at 31°C (90°F)
• 150 g dark chocolate melted, at 31°C (90°F)

White chocolate Gianduja (~700 g)

• 250 g pistachios
• 225 g icing sugar
• 225 g white chocolate
• 50 g cocoa butter melted
• Pinch of salt flakes

Instructions

 

Traditional Gianduja

• Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F) – fan forced.
• Spread the nuts in a single layer on a tray.
Toast for about 10 minutes – just until lightly roasted.
• Let the nuts cool down until just warm.
Place them in a food processor with the icing sugar and salt.
• Blitz until you have a smooth nut paste.
• Add the melted chocolate and mix with the nut paste until fully combined.
• Alternatively – you can add chocolate to the warm nut paste and keep blitzing until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.
• Pour the gianduja into your desired shape – a silicone mould, a confectionery frame, or a plastic container.

Peanut butter Gianduja

• Combine the melted milk chocolate and the peanut butter in a mixing bowl.
• Mix with a spatula until completely smooth and combined.
• Pour into your chosen shape – silicone mould, frame, or container.

Praline Gianduja

• Melt the chocolate and mix it into the praline until smooth.
• Pour the gianduja into your desired shape – a silicone mould, a confectionery frame, or a plastic container.

White chocolate Gianduja

• Toast the pistachios – until fragrant.
 Let them cool until they are just warm.
• Place the pistachios, melted cocoa butter, icing sugar and salt into a food processor and blitz into a smooth paste.
• Add the white chocolate.
Blitz again just until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.
• Pour the gianduja into your desired shape – a silicone mould, a confectionery frame, or a plastic container.

Video

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General Notes For Any Gianduja Recipe

It is best to use confectioners’ sugar – or icing sugar – because it grinds much faster than granulated sugar and gives a smoother texture. For gianduja, the chocolate usually needs to be melted (unless you are using a powerful food processor that can both grind and gently warm the mixture).

The ideal mixing temperature for the chocolate is about 31°C to 35°C (90°F to 95°F). If the chocolate is too cold or too thick when you mix it with the nut paste, the mass may not bind properly and can crumble.
Consider the temperature of the nut paste or praline too: if it is very cold, it will cool the chocolate quickly and affect the texture in the same way.
If needed, gently warm the nut paste to around 20°C to 25°C (68°F to 77°F) before combining with the chocolate.

Easy Gianduja Recipe: Equipment Tips

For any homemade gianduja or professional gianduja recipe, a good food processor is essential.
Always use a strong, heavy-duty processor when making nut paste or praline.
Some more affordable food processors can handle nut pastes, but they should clearly state this in the manual. If your machine struggles or overheats, work in shorter bursts and smaller batches.

How To Store Homemade Gianduja

Gianduja is actually a very stable product because its water activity is below 0.60, which means it is a low-moisture food and not a good environment for most microbes. Because of this, gianduja usually has a best-before date rather than a strict use-by date and can be safe to consume even after one year, although the flavour will fade over time. To extend shelf life, store gianduja in an airtight container, wrapped in cling film, or vacuum-sealed. Exposure to oxygen and light will make it lose flavour much faster.
As a general guideline, aim to consume it within about three months for the best flavour.
Ideally, store it at around 14°C (57°F).

Tempering, Fat Bloom, And Professional Finish

For this professional gianduja recipe approach, tempering is optional. I have tested gianduja made with both tempered and untempered chocolate and found the texture to be very similar. Instead of tempering, I focus on controlling the temperature of the mixture.
Once the chocolate is mixed with praline or nut butter, the final temperature is usually around 30°C (about 86°F). If it goes higher, you can cool it down on a marble bench to about 25°C (roughly 77°F).
If you pour gianduja when it is around 40°C (104°F), you may see white streaks or patches on the surface once it sets. This is fat migration, or fat bloom – it does not really affect the texture, but it does change the appearance.

Adjusting Texture In An Easy Gianduja Recipe

Because everyone uses different brands of chocolate, different nuts or seed pastes, and stores gianduja at different temperatures, the texture can vary quite a bit.
I keep my chocolate and confectionery at 14°C (57°F) in a fridge and use high quality couverture chocolate, and the recipes here work well under those conditions.
If your chocolate has a slightly different cocoa butter content, or your nut paste is more or less fatty, or your room is warmer or cooler, you may need to tweak the recipe.

Start by making the gianduja recipe as written.
If the texture is not what you are aiming for, gently melt it in a microwave or over a water bath to about 25°C (77°F). To make it firmer, add more chocolate – start with about 10% of the total mass, melt it, mix it in, and let it set at room temperature. You can repeat this if needed. If you want to add firmness without extra sweetness, use cocoa butter instead of chocolate.

If your gianduja is too firm, melt it and mix in more nut paste. Use about 10% praline paste if you want a more spreadable texture.
If you prefer a less sweet option, use 100% nut or seed paste instead.

Using This Best Gianduja Recipe In Other Desserts

In the video and in future posts, I am going to share a few treat ideas using gianduja alongside other basic recipes from the series.
You can use this homemade gianduja for bonbon fillings, layered chocolate bars, spreads, and many other desserts.
It is an easy gianduja recipe that adapts well, whether you are making it at home or applying professional gianduja recipe techniques in a pastry kitchen.

So that is four gianduja recipes and three different methods – traditional, quick nut butter, maximum flavour with praline, and even a white chocolate version.
You can now choose the method that fits your time, your equipment, and the flavour profile you like the most.
If you found this helpful, let me know in the comments which gianduja you are going to try first, and what you would like to see next in the basics series.

If you enjoy this gianduja recipe and want to keep building your basics, you might also like my easy salted caramel recipe, homemade hazelnut praline recipe, raspberry pâte de fruit, and vanilla marshmallows recipe.

Craving more behind-the-scenes moments, step-by-step videos, and sneak peeks of upcoming recipes? Join me on Instagram @andbonbons for a closer look at the process, pastry tips, and plenty of chocolate inspiration.