Today’s a good day. Why? Because we’re discussing one of my favorite things in the entire world: PEANUT BUTTER.
I didn’t find out my obsession was this strong until I made the decision to taste test 14 different brands all in one day. Talk about a belly ache that I will never regret. Thanks so much to my assistant, Rose, who helped me taste and decide on which brands to talk to you about today. Her PB obsession is wicked strong.
I do want to mention that while this is a taste test, this is the AK taste test. What does that mean? Well I wanted to provide you with as many peanut butter options along with sharing brands you don’t see everywhere (but can purchase online). Some of your favorites may be missing so if you have any you truly love, please leave a comment and tell us why! We love hearing from you.
Here’s how I decided on these specific peanut butters: I have a few that I continuously buy so those were a given, Rose provided a few that she found, we asked the AK community on Facebook and finally I found some delicious ones online with great reviews.
Note: Saltiness and Sweetness are ranked from 1-5; 5 being the saltiest or sweetest.
1. Earth Balance Coconut Peanut Butter
- Texture: Very creamy and smooth, not a lot of separation
- Saltiness: 2
- Sweetness: 5
- Flavor profile: Strong coconut flavor, for coconut lovers only! Tastes sweet even though there isn’t a ton of sugar.
- Recommended Use: In stir-frys or Thai peanut sauces. On toast, stirred into oatmeal or on a spoon. It can be too sweet to put on fruit.
- To purchase: Off of Amazon or on their website.
2. Justin’s Honey Peanut Butter
- Texture: Smooth. No stirring necessary.
- Saltiness: 2
- Sweetness: 3
- Flavor profile: Just a hint of honey, perfectly sweetened.
- Recommended Use: On a banana, toast or really anything. Would be great in baked recipes. This was a favorite!
- To purchase: Off of Amazon or their website.
3. Buddy’s Cinnamon Raisin Peanut Butter
- Texture: Thicker with little bits of peanuts. A little grainy but still spreadable.
- Saltiness: 3
- Sweetness: 5
- Flavor profile: Sweet with a good amount of cinnamon flavor. Little bits of raisins.
- Recommended Use: Delicious on breakfast items and toast or a bagel.
- To purchase: Website.
4. Buddy’s Chocolate Peanut Butter
- Texture: On thicker side. Not incredibly creamy, but has a unique grainy texture.
- Saltiness: 2
- Sweetness: 5
- Flavor profile: Rich flavor. The chocolate doesn’t overpower the peanut. It’s a nice balance.
- Recommended Use: More of a dessert type of peanut butter. Great for those who love Nutella or anything chocolate. Would be great on a banana!
- To purchase: Website
5. Trader Joe’s Crunchy Chia & Flax Seed Peanut Butter
- Texture: Thick with crunchy peanuts and also little bits of chia and flax. Not overly oily and not much stirring is required.
- Saltiness: 1
- Sweetness: 1
- Flavor profile: Mild peanut taste, most likely due to the combination of seeds and peanuts. We really liked this one though, but think it needs a pinch more salt.
- Recommended Use: Great in oatmeal, on a banana or fruit, on toast.
- To purchase: Off Amazon or in Trader Joe’s stores nation wide.
6. Buff Bake Chocolate Chip Protein Peanut Butter
- Texture: Needs to be stirred. Smooth but fairly thick with a tiny bit of grain as you might expect from a protein peanut butter.
- Saltiness: 1
- Sweetness: 4
- Flavor profile: It tastes sweet even though there isn’t a ton of sugar. A good chocolate peanut butter taste and 11g of protein per serving!
- Recommended Use: If you want a sweeter oatmeal, try stirring this in! Delicious on strawberries or a banana. A solid option if you’re looking for a protein packed nut butter.
- To purchase: Amazon or their Website.
7. Trader Joe’s Salted Creamy Peanut Butter
- Texture: Needs to be stirred. Very creamy and smooth, almost runny. Pourable. Easily spreadable.
- Saltiness: 5
- Sweetness: 1
- Flavor profile: A staple all-natural peanut butter flavor. Wonderful for baking because you don’t need to add salt. Great for those who love a truly salty peanut butter.
- Recommended Use: On anything and everything. Great for breakfast, baking, on bananas, toast, english muffins, etc! Good in smoothies. Anything, really.
- To purchase: Amazon
8. Peanut Butter & Co. Mighty Maple
- Texture: Small amount of stirring required. Almost little crunchy bits of peanuts in it, yet still rather smooth.
- Saltiness: 1
- Sweetness: 5
- Flavor profile: Very sweet and full of maple syrup flavor.
- Recommended Use: On pancakes, waffles french toast, bagels; any type of breakfast food would be amazing.
- To purchase: Amazon or on their website.
9. SantaCruz Dark Roasted Peanut Butter
- Texture: Stirring required! The texture is thick and of what you would expect in a natural peanut butter. Very peanutty.
- Saltiness: 2
- Sweetness: 1
- Flavor profile: Tastes like roasted peanuts from a ballpark, except without all the saltiness. For the true peanut butter lovers out there.
- Recommended Use: Anything you would like to use peanut butter with.
- To purchase: Amazon or their Website.
10. Whole Foods 365 Natural Organic Peanut Butter
- Texture: Very smooth, no stirring required. Thick almost like Jif or Skippy.
- Saltiness: 3
- Sweetness: 2
- Flavor profile: Great peanut flavor, very traditional in taste.
- Recommended Use: Wonderful on a PB&J sandwich. Anything you would classic peanut butter on. Perfect for baking.
- To purchase: Amazon (pack of 2) or in Whole Foods stores.
11. Wild Friends Sesame Cranberry Peanut Butter
- Texture: Needs to be stirred. Thicker. Little bits of seeds with a hint chew from the cranberries.
- Saltiness: 1
- Sweetness: 3
- Flavor profile: A unique combo! A hint of sweetness from the cranberries. Good when salt is added.
- Recommended Use: Good in oatmeal, but don’t expect an overly sweet taste to it.
- To purchase: Amazon (multi-pack) and website isn’t currently working.
12. Nuts N’ More White Chocolate Peanut Butter
- Texture: Very creamy, but with a bit of protein powder aftertaste. Consider if you like protein powder before you purchase.
- Saltiness: 1
- Sweetness: 4
- Flavor profile: Tastes very much like white chocolate and lacks a strong a peanut butter taste. A little bit of protein powder is picked up on, but overall great for a treat.
- Recommended Use: Great in a no bake granola bar or balls, on a banana or any other fruit. Not recommended for use in baked goods.
- To purchase: Amazon or their Website.
13. Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter
- Texture: Needs to be stirred because it is all natural. Creamy, but with very tiny bits of peanuts. A little gritty, but we loved this.
- Saltiness: 3
- Sweetness: 1
- Flavor profile: Roasted mild peanutty taste. Absolutely delicious and what natural peanut butter should taste like. This was our favorite!
- Recommended Use: Baking, on toast, on fruit, celery; basically anything!
- To purchase: Amazon
14. MaraNatha Organic Crunchy Peanut Butter
- Texture: Stirring is required! Smooth yet a nice amount of crunch. Honestly, just a great crunchy peanut butter option.
- Saltiness: 2
- Sweetness: 1
- Flavor profile: Mild peanut butter that’s not overpowering in saltiness or sweetness. Just peanuts and salt!
- Recommended Use: Great on any baked good if you like crunchy texture. Delicious on a toasted bagel.
- To Purchase: Amazon or their website.
I hope you love this peanut butter taste test as much as we enjoyed sampling all this deliciousness. Please feel free to leave a comment letting me know what your favorite peanut butter is! This is meant to be a fun taste test; I realize that not all of these are organic or natural. xo!
Who knew peanut butter would be so easy! I added just as much pure vanilla to mine as I did honey, simply out of curiosity and my addiction to the smell makes a great recipe incredible!
Who knew peanut butter would be so easy! I added just as much pure vanilla to mine as I did honey, simply out of curiosity and my addiction to the smell makes a great recipe incredible!
Thanks so much for this post!
Very cool! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
Great article. Thank you for the info. As a life long JIF lover it’s hard to deviate from my norm. That said I bought the Whole Foods 365 Natural Organic Peanut Butter (#10) and it required a ton of stirring. I could use tips for getting natural pb fully mixed. Because I failed. About 15 min in I started arguing with myself about why I was trying something different. And I’m positive there are still rocks of dry peanut whatever in the bottom of the jar. 🤷♀️
Hi Angie! Sometimes storing the peanut butter jar upside down works for me, otherwise this stirrer is super helpful: (click here)
There are some amazing Dutch peanut butters that use peanuts grown outside the USA. With over 1500 varieties of peanuts it’s a shame that almost all peanut butter made in the USA is just made from one variety. Almost all peanut butter is made from just 5. Imagine how limited wines would be if wine were made from just 5 variety of grapes.
I am on a personal mission to taste the best gourmet peanut butters from around the globe. As a real peanut butter fanatic, this should keep me busy for many years and open my mind to the whole world of peanut butter.
Currently my favorite brand is called VanMax. http://www.vanmax.nl Made in the Netherlands which is one of the few countries in Europe that eats a lot of peanut butter.
Great taste testing blog! Thanks for the tips!
If anyone has any suggestions of what gourmet (I also eat the commercial brands but am focusing on the best gourmet brands that don’t have anything more than peanuts, tiny bit of oil and salts added) I could sure use your advice!
Old Home Peanut Butter is good, no sugar either!
Sorry you didn’t test Crazy Richards cause it’s so delicious and additive free!!
We just got that one not too long ago at our house. My husband hates it because he says it has no flavor, but the kids and I love it!
I keep hearing about Crazy Richard’s. I can’t find it anywhere near me. Might have to order some! 🙂
Every day is a peanut butter taste test with me 😉 lol. Smuckers Natural is my fave too! I love that it doesn’t have a bunch of ingredients and has that good peanut and salt taste to it. Plus it’s runny enough to drip over oatmeal and spread easily on my apple slices. I also really love Peanut Butter and Co. The Bees Knees. That was my favorite for a while and I still love to make a pb and j sandwich with that kind. I also used Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter today to make a dessert hummus that is delicious =)
Trader Joe’s flax + chia butter is my #1, hands down. Amazing crunchy peanut butter with the added health benefit of those super seeds = kind of my heaven. Really any peanut butter is my heaven if we are being honest though…
I love so many of these! Trying new peanut butter is basically a hobby for me 😉 Also, it might be regional, but I adore Crazy Richard’s/Krema. It’s only peanuts and it’s smooth and drippy, with a rich, strong peanut taste. Plain, but tasty!
i love both WFs and TJs peanut butter but the truth is unless they are organic the peanuts are most likely GMOs. Just like with corn and soy almost all peanuts are GMO unless told differently. I’m trying to stay away from that.
Smuckers is my favorite too. In Dayton, Ohio (where I live) you can get fresh ground peanut butter at Krogers and at Fresh Thyme. For some reason I like smuckers better as it is easier to spread, but I use the fresh ground when I am baking. I love peanut butter too. 🙂
Peanut butter taste testing is so much fun! Peanut butter is the best thing in the world <3 I now request an almond butter taste test–be sure to try Justin's maple almond butter!
I’ve tried to like Justin’s peanut butter but to me it just isn’t worth the price and the flavor is SO lacking…I LOVE mighty maple for a sweet treat and an AMAZING nuts and more flavor is their toffee flavor..I always mean to try smuckers but Kelly has got it right, teddies is my all time fav staple here in New England !
My all-time fave is Teddie Natural Peanut Butter! It’s made with just peanuts and salt and its perfect.
I loved seeing Smuckers peanut butter on your list. That is what I grew up with and I love that there is no added sugar to it and natural. Very interesting to see your comparisons. I have tried a handful of them but smuckers is always what I go back to.
Love this!!! Thank you!
Don’t know if you have a Costco by you…but the Kirkland brand Organic Peanut Butter is FANTASTIC (just dry roasted peanuts and salt!) – I stopped making my own because it’s so good! And cost-effective 🙂
The best PB is the grind-your-own at any market! Why buy it in a jar, with most likely old peanuts, when you can make it fresh yourself?!
That’s true. The only place I’ve ever seen it available to grind yourself is at Whole Foods and I live in Chicago. That being said, sometimes it’s fun to buy different flavors/brands depending on what you are making!
You can do it at home too…easy peas with a good processor. Just make sure you buy roasted and not raw peanuts or you have to roast them yourself.
Definitely, love doing that when I have the time! Check out my homemade version here: http://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/2015/01/homemade-salted-vanilla-honey-peanut-butter/
Oh em gee this post is awesome! Such an extensive list! The most recent brand of PB I bought was The Peanut Butter Co White Chocolate Wonderful. A little sweet, but great when incorporating into baked or no-bake goods! And I love the Wild Friends brand almond butters. But I’ve been dying to try Buff Bake and Nuts n’ More!
Crikey! I feel so bad for you, this must have been TORTURE!!! I love Justins, but I always balk at the price. TJ’s with Chia is the bomb diggity. Yummy, yum!
Have you tried the Smucker’s Organic Creamy PB? If so, how does it compare to Smucker’s Natural?
I have! I thought the taste was very similar! 🙂 So good.
Went right down the list to make sure Santa Cruz dark roasted made the list–it did. Once I tasted that, I simply couldn’t go back to any others. A total pain to stir, but worth it! Love the list. I will be trying some now that I know we’re on the same peanut butter page 🙂
I’ve tried quite a few of those and while some of them are really delicious, it was the thick texture that turned me off of making them regulars in my kitchen. I grew up eating Real peanut butter which is super creamy and smooth and that texture has been my go-to for every brand I’ve eaten since. We buy Old Home Natural peanut butter as it’s texture is the closest to Real that I can find, which was discontinued many years ago. Plus it’s available at most markets without making a special trip.
That is a good peanut butter! Also, have you ever had Parker’s? Yum!
Great post, I LOVE Justin’s Honey Peanut Butter, my all time favorite. I’m a PB-addict! I’ll definitely have to try the Smucker’s Natural since it got your top review!
Yum!! This is excellent! Thanks
I’m so glad that you included (and loved) the Smucker’s natural peanut butter – I’ve been buying that for years and it’s by far my favorite! I also like that it comes in a glass jar, so it’s a bit more eco-friendly than ones in plastic (though I find it’s nearly impossible to avoid buying products in plastic). I’m looking forward to trying out some of the other fancy flavors, esp. the cinnamon raisin one!
Enjoyed this post very much! Next time maybe include the size jar/container or a price per ounce as that would be very helpful in comparing costs.
Thanks for this review! I really enjoyed it. However, as we are in a bargain shopping phase, I wish you’d included how big each container was so that it’s easier to compare the price of these items. Also, did any of them contain hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils? I like to be aware of the trans fats that hide in sometimes healthy foods.
Great idea! Most of these contained the same amount of servings. Next time I will add that. 🙂
I can’t believe jif natural is not on here! Have you tried it? I love it so much, but I will have to try some of these others?
We love that one at our house too! Both crunchy and creamy!
Yes, I have! I decided to leave Skippy and Jif out of it because they are the two most popular brands.
Jif Natural is my fav!! I add toasted shredded coconut, chopped 80% cacao and some vanilla stevia to my jar to make a eat-a-spoonful candy bar fix. It does harden up when you store it in the fridge but that helps me to not devour it !!
Justin’s is my love but I usually stick with Trader Joe’s because it’s so inexpensive! The Market Pantry (Target brand) is also inexpensive and tastes great. I love the chunky kind in oatmeal!
My dream is to be a full time peanut butter taste tester. Also- I’ve still never tried Buddy’s. My fav PB is defsssss all things homemade 🙂
Almost all of the co-ops around Minneapolis and St. Paul carry Buddy’s!