The selective hydrogenation of functionalized olefins is of great importance in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. Here, we report on a nanostructured nickel catalyst that enables the selective hydrogenation of purely aliphatic and functionalized olefins under mild conditions. The earth-abundant metal catalyst allows the selective hydrogenation of sterically pro-tected olefins and further tolerates functional groups such as carbonyls, esters, ethers and nitriles. The characterization of our catalyst revealed the formation of surface oxidized metallic nickel nanoparticles stabilized by a N-doped carbon layer on the active carbon support.