Pistachio Paste 101

Popular in Italian desserts (especially pastries in Sicily), pistachio paste should probably more accurately called pistachio butter.

Most pistachio butter is made of 100% ground pistachios and nothing else. It’s used like peanut butter as a spread or in baking and gelato making when you want a more intense pistachio flavor. 

Their is an exception to the above: pistachio cream (often confusingly also called paste). It’s a mix of pistachio paste with sugar and other ingredients like milk powder. The cream version is great in sweets and as a topping. Pistachio cream is a bit like Nutella minus the chocolate.

For this article, we tested both pistachio paste and cream. To keep things fair, we hide the brand info in our tests. That way we just judge the taste! Here are the ones that we thought were best.

About the Authors

Denise & Alan Fields are consumer advocates and best-selling authors. The Fields have authored 12 books with three million copies in print, including the best-selling guide to baby gear, Baby Bargains.

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