Top 10 Favorite Nut Butters

Or SEED butters – whatever is smooth and creamy!

In only a slightly preferential order, here they are. Links provided for information – you can obviously find most of these in your grocery stores!

10) Trader Joe’s Peanut Butter – This is my go-to standard peanuty peanut butter. It’s inexpensive, incredibly drippy and melts into whatever you spread it on. Crunchy for the win!! The ingredients are also very simple: peanuts, salt. It’s a great staple peanut butter, but so are brands like Smucker’s Natural.

9) Artisana Coconut Butter – Check out my post on coconut butter for more information on this guy. It’s pulverized coconut meat and makes a great meltable spread on top of everything from oatmeal to sweet potatoes to cold smoothies to millet. It’s most fun when it’s drippy in the summer – otherwise it requires a little heat to let it loose. If you love coconut, you will love this.

8) Nuttzo Peanut Free – A twist on the original Nuttzo, this one needs a better name. It is indeed peanut free, but why not call it something more exciting like Super Duper Chia Crunch!? The texture of Nuttzo is amazing – sticktotheroofofyourmouth good with little bits of chia seeds and nuts throughout.

7) Justin’s Chocolate Almond Butter – In the chocolate category, this one takes the cake. That would be chocolate cake with dark chocolate ganache frosting. It’s one step away from chocolate ganache in a jar but a little bit healthier. I’d lump this into the “dessert nut butters” category because it has a longer ingredient list and 7 grams of sugar per 2 tbsp serving. Not to say you can’t have it for breakfast, but probably not everyday : )

6) Biscoff Crunchy – Also in the treat category, Biscoff is not a health food. I repeat!!! This is mashed up cookies in a jar blended with sweet oils and crunchy cookie bits. It’s as divine as frosting and melts into a puddle of sweetness. The texture is unlike no other. Enjoy in moderation!

5) Wild Squirrel Chocolate Coconut – All of Wild Squirrel’s nut and seed butters are really fun. I love the blend of chocolate and coconut the best, but I really like the Vanilla Espresso too! They are best known for their texture – incredibly smooth and suuuuuper drippy. You can drizzle these on anything.

4) Homemade Pumpkin Spice Almond Butter – Shout out to the homemade nut butters. This recipe makes – you guessed it – very drippy almond butter. The pumpkin spices are perfect for fall. Homemade it worth the trouble every now and then, and you can get creative with every flavor profile under the sun.

3) Anything Naturally Nutty, particularly the Cinnamon Vanilla Almond Butter and Cinnamon Vanilla Sunflower Butter – Naturally Nuttys are thick and gritty – quite the opposite of Barney Butter. I like them most on toast and sandwiches or spread onto an apple. They aren’t my favorite in oatmeal because they are so thick, but their flavor is out of this world. The vanilla is like frosting and the thick texture makes them a really satisfying snack. Best served on a spoon!

2) Barney Butter – Super creamy, this one wins the award for “best meltability.” It’s a roasted almond butter, and the roastiness is what makes it unlike no other. The first time I had Barney Butter I didn’t get what all the hype was about – and then I polished off the jar and understood. It’s the roast. Barney Butter will form a puddle in your oatmeal.

1) Trader Joe’s Sunflower Butter (and Sunbutter as a close second) – Nothing compares to the texture and flavor of sunflower butter. It’s hard to put into words what I love so much about it, but the texture is hard to beat and it’s so versatile. It goes well on everything. It spreads, it melts, it pools, drips and drizzles. It’s slightly sweet and slightly roasted. It’s the best all-around nut seed butter there is!

Honorable mention {because who can choose just 10}:

Nutty Butters – My friend Sarah here in Cville has started a nut butter business out of a kitchen in Richmond. Her flavor profiles are incredible! Favorites include Lemon Cookie + Gingerbread. Sarah creates two unique flavor each month and you can special order them on her website.

Maranatha Crunchy Almond Butter No Stir Crunchy – I love this one because it’s really meltable and the crunchy bites are big nuggets of almond.

Big Spoon Roasters – Out of Durham, North Carolina, these are pure, simple blends of different nuts that have a classic flare about them. I loved the peanut almond.

Nutty’s Old Fashioned Peanut Butters – A step back in time, I once looooved these. I still do, but they aren’t one to make my staples list. The butterscotch is my favorite – tastes like candy in a jar!

Reginald’s - Out of Richmond, they have some incredible flavors. The CashewNilla is the bomb!

NaturAlmond – A roasted almond butter recipe from the 1970s that tastes just as modern as the rest. Ingredients are just “roasted almonds + salt.” It’s all about the roast!

I am sure I’m missing one – perhaps even a major brand – that I’ve loved throughout the years.

Nutrition Notes

When it comes to the nutrition of nut butters, the biggest pro to using them is their protein and healthy fat content. In this regard, they are fairly comparable. So take your pick! Rather than create my own chart, I found this great one that compiles nutrition information for almond, peanut, cashew, sesame and sunflower butters in 2 tablespoon servings.

Fat ranges from high (almond + sunflower – 17g) to lower (sesame + chunky peanut – 15g)

Protein ranges from high (smooth peanut butter – 8g) to low (sunflower + cashew – 5g)

Fiber ranges from high (almond – 3.3g) to low (cashew – 0.5 g)

I say take your pick – unless you’re eating them by the bucket load, they’re comparable nutritionally. All brands are not created equal, and the above refers to pure blends.

Shopping

As I’m sure many of you know, the biggest factor when shopping for a nut/seed butter is to avoid partially hydrogenated oils on the label, which are code for trans-fat. Companies are coming out with more and more gourmet kinds of nut butters, and they aren’t all health foods (see the chocolate + Biscoff notes in my list). I don’t always have nutrition in my mind when I’m eating a nut butter – sometimes it’s for my taste buds alone – but my staple nut butters have 3 grams or less of sugar per serving (so 1.5g per tablespoon) and simple ingredient lists.

It’s also worth noting that there are environmental concerns about palm oil (read more here) so while I do sometimes buy nut butters that contain it, it should be in the “occasional” rather than “everyday” category. {Barney Butter is the main offender here.}

OK: Less than 5 grams sugar per serving, palm oil

Better: Simple ingredients, minimal added sugar

Best: Just nut/seed + salt

Please add to the list – what undiscovered nut/seed/anything butters are you loving these days?