Choosing a Nutella Alternative: What to Look for in a Chocolate Hazelnut Spread
There's something undeniably nostalgic about chocolate hazelnut spread. Creamy, chocolatey, and sweet, it's the kind of flavor many of us grew up spreading on toast, dipping fruit into or eating straight from the jar.
But if you've looked at the ingredient list on some conventional chocolate hazelnut spreads lately, you may have been surprised by what you found.
For anyone looking for a vegan chocolate hazelnut spread made with simpler ingredients, here are a few things worth paying attention to.
1. How many hazelnuts are actually in it?
You might assume hazelnuts are the main ingredient in a chocolate hazelnut spread—but that's not always the case.
Many conventional spreads contain significantly more sugar and oil than hazelnuts. If you want something that tastes distinctly nutty rather than primarily sweet, check where hazelnuts appear on the ingredient list.
Ingredients are generally listed in descending order by weight, so the first few ingredients tell you a lot about what's actually inside the jar.
At Dazel, we take a different approach: nuts make up more than 70% of our spreads.
2. What is it sweetened with?
Chocolate spread is supposed to be sweet. The question is how that sweetness gets there.
Conventional options commonly rely on refined sugar. Other spreads may use artificial sweeteners, sugar alcohols, or alternatives sweeteners with a strong aftertaste.
Dazel is naturally sweetened with dates. We love dates because they allow us to create the sweet, nostalgic flavors we're after while keeping our ingredient lists remarkably simple and wholesome.
3. Does it contain added oil?
Oil is often added to chocolate hazelnut spreads to help create their smooth, spreadable consistency.
Palm oil is particularly common in conventional products, while some premium alternatives use coconut or other plant oils.
But added oil isn't the only way to make a spread creamy. Nuts naturally contain their own oils, which are released as they're ground.
That's why Dazel contains no palm oil or added oils.
4. How complicated is the ingredient list?
A long ingredient list doesn't automatically make a product bad, and a short one doesn't automatically make it good.
But if simple, recognizable ingredients matter to you, the back of the jar is worth a look.
Our flagship Dazel Hazelnut Cocoa Spread keeps things simple with just four ingredients:
Hazelnuts. Organic Dates. Organic Cacao. Sea Salt.
That's it.
No milk powder. No emulsifiers. No unnecessary fillers.
Reimagining a Nostalgic Favorite
Dazel started with a basic idea: could the nostalgic spreads we grew up loving be reimagined with simple, wholesome ingredients - without losing the indulgent experience that made us love them in the first place?
Our Hazelnut Cocoa Spread is our take on that childhood favorite: rich hazelnuts, cacao and dates blended into a creamy spread with no refined sugar, no palm oil and no unnecessary fillers.
And chocolate hazelnut is just the beginning.
Our Date Cookie Cashew Almond Spread takes inspiration from another nostalgic favorite - the warm, nutty flavor of a freshly baked cookie.
Nostalgic spreads, reimagined.
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We're getting ready to bring Dazel beyond our local Bay Area community and launch nationwide shipping.
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