Gwynedd Stuart
Peanut butter is like a bag of cotton balls or a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s liquid soap: It’s good for a lot of things. You can smush it between two pieces of bread with grape jelly (duh), slather it on crackers, and make a delicious sauce with it, too. But I need to be clear: Eating peanut butter directly off a spoon, all by itself, while you’re standing in the kitchen, is completely acceptable. The best peanut butter deserves to be eaten this way.
How we conducted our peanut butter taste tests
Over the years, we’ve tasted A LOT of peanut butter. We’ve tasted and retasted all the big brands—right off a spoon, as god intended—to find the best creamy peanut butter, the best crunchy peanut butter, the best reduced fat peanut butter, and the best honey roasted peanut butter, too. We even did a separate taste test to find the best all-natural peanut butter, so you can rest assured you’re eating PB minus the palm oil—no one wants their sandwich to come with a side of orangutan habitat guilt.
What we looked for in the best peanut butter
Well, this is where things get complicated. There are a lot of different types of peanut butter, and I’m not just talking creamy versus crunchy. Some creamy peanut butter has a naturally grainy consistency that makes it seem more like homemade; some people might prefer that to the ultra-smooth kind, but it might be too much like liquid concrete for others. Likewise, some peanut butter is practically liquid while some is stiff. There’s a little something for everyone on our list, but there are a few things we looked for regardless of style:
— A robust peanut flavor. I’m sure it sounds like I’m stating the obvious when I say that peanut butter should taste like peanuts, but a lot of brands just lack that roasty-toasty flavor. Those got the boot.
— A good balance of sugar and salt. Good peanut butter is sweet and salty, but not too salty and certainly not too sweet (a lot of brands we love are very, very low sugar).
— Fresh flavor. Peanut butter is oily and nut oil spoils easily. If the peanut butter had that old oil flavor, we kicked it to the curb.
After our most recent taste test, we ended up with a list of 11 jars of peanut butter we wholeheartedly recommend. Bust out the big spoon. We’re eating peanut butter.
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- Skippy Reduced Fat Creamy
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JIF bests Skippy in a lot of battles, but Skippy wins this one. We tasted JIF Reduced Fat alongside Skippy Reduced Fat, and Skippy is much creamier, which makes it seem a lot less like reduced fat peanut butter. That’s a good thing if I’m correct in assuming that most people who eat reduced fat peanut butter would prefer to be eating full-fat peanut butter. It’s much easier to spread and it has just a little more peanutty flavor than JIF. This is the best peanut butter to buy if you’re looking for PB with around 12g fat per serving, but you want to pretend you’re eating PB with the usual 16g per serving.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Smuckers Natural Peanut Butter Chunky
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A thing we learned during our recent peanut butter taste test (which you can watch above) is that a lot of popular peanut butter brands are actually manufactured by Smuckers. But that doesn’t mean that they all taste the same. We really liked this Smuckers Natural Chunky because it really mimics a homemade feel, from the glass jar to the gravely texture that gives your mouth a lot to do. You have to stir this peanut butter to incorporate the oil, but don’t let the extra effort keep you from trying this if you’re looking for a tasty, low-ingredient peanut butter option. I gotta say: Some no-stir naturals just don’t taste as good as the kinds you have to stir.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Justin’s Honey Peanut Butter Spread
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Could you just buy some honey and drizzle it into the peanut butter you already have in the pantry? Sure. But if you like your PB on the sweeter side, honey roasted peanut butter is a good shortcut. I tried every brand I could find and, I gotta say, most of them don’t taste all that much like honey. TBH, Justin’s doesn’t exactly have a bold honey flavor, but it really nails that balanced sweet-salty flavor we love and it has a great natural texture that makes this good for a sandwich or to drizzle on fruit. This isn’t crunchy peanut butter, but it definitely has some crunch. If you like your peanut butter ultra creamy, try Great Value honey roasted peanut butter instead, but if you’re down with a more natural texture, try this.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Earth Balance Crunchy Peanut & Flaxseed Spread
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Earth Balance’s flaxseed-infused peanut butter definitely has an earthier flavor than your standard PB, but we really like that subtle difference. It’s not a strong flaxseed flavor, but it’s there—why, you ask? Flaxseeds are good for you. They have fiber, antioxidants, and omega-3 fatty acids, and sometimes it’s nice for a PB& J to seem a little more like health food. For the most part, this just tastes like good, creamy peanut butter with a nicely balanced sweetness-to-saltiness ratio.
Credit: Ryan Martin / Instacart
- Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter
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I grew up in a Skippy household, but I gotta admit that Skippy Creamy peanut butter doesn’t have quite the peanutty oomph that JIF has. Still, Skippy is worth your PB bucks. It’s very rich and very creamy, and it comes off as just a little bit sweeter than JIF in a way that makes it seem well suited to kids, especially if you’re packing them peanut butter sandwiches sans jelly. What’s nice is that even though it tastes sweeter (to our palates, anyway), the sugar content isn’t actually higher—it has 3g per serving, same as JIF. Still, it has a dessertier vibe that made my colleague Justine Sterling fantasize about smearing it on chocolate cupcakes in lieu of frosting.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Santa Cruz Organic Dark Roasted Creamy Peanut Butter
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Some peanut butters are just begging to have apple slices dunked into them, and this is one. (And, hey, we even ranked the best apples for ya.) This PB has an oily, chunky consistency and reminded us of something you’d make with an old-timey gadget with a hand crank. We also tried Santa Cruz’s light roast peanut butter and could barely tell the difference, but the slightly richer flavor of the dark roast edged out its counterpart, making it some of the best organic peanut butter. This would also be incredible as a base for peanut sauce. (Note: Don’t confuse this with the no-stir version. The no-stir version is not good!)
Credit: Ryan Martin / Target
- Laura Scudder’s Nutty
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Laura Scudder peanut butter is made by Smuckers, but we like it a little better than Smuckers. If you’re looking for an all-natural crunchy peanut butter, this is the stuff. It has a great roasty-toasty flavor and just the right amount of salt on the finish. As peanut butter goes, we agreed it has a very complex flavor.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Crazy Richards 100% Peanuts
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Crazy Richards peanut butter is loose. Loose as a goose. But if you’re looking for a peanut butter to drizzle (that doesn’t involve palm oil), this is your guy. It’s also the best peanut butter if you’ve been on the hunt for a truly additive free PB: There’s no sugar, no salt, just peanuts. That’s it. This stuff is pretty crazy—in a good way. This was my colleague Jordan Myrick’s personal favorite.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Skippy SuperChunk
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The two big boys of the peanut butter world—JIF and Skippy—make crunchy peanut butters that don’t pull any punches. Skippy SuperChunk is, like, mostly crushed nuts with some PB holding the nut bits together. If you think the best crunchy peanut butter should have serious crunch, you kind of can’t go wrong with either, and while this tastes noticeably different than JIF (just a touch less toasty), this deserves a shout out all the same for tasting great and being absolutely loaded with peanuts.
Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart
- Jif Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter
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Crunchy peanut butter is anathema to people who like it smooth. And this extra crunchy peanut butter from JIF is aggressively chunky, so creamy peanut butter people need not apply. It’s like equal parts peanut butter and peanut, but it still smears nicely onto a warm piece of toast. If you want as much peanut as possible for your peanut butter-buying buck, get JIF Extra Crunchy, the best crunchy peanut butter we tried. Honestly, I probably would have put this in the top spot, but I think the sheer amount of crunch is too controversial for some people.
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
- Jif Creamy Peanut Butter
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During our first peanut butter taste test back in 2022, hand to god, I could not tell the difference between JIF peanut butter and Skippy peanut butter. In subsequent taste tests, though, JIF was the clear winner and the best peanut butter we tasted overall. It has plenty of nutty flavor upon first bite, but I love how it evolves as it settles on your tongue—sweetness rears its head, along with just the right amount of saltiness. It also gets points for being affordable (fancy peanut butter gets pricey!) and available at pretty much every U.S. grocery store, no matter where you are. Truly, a peanut butter for the people.
Credit: Liv Averett / Target
Best Reduced Fat Peanut Butter
Best Grainy Peanut Butter
Best Honey Roasted Peanut Butter
Best Peanut Butter with a Twist
Best Peanut Butter for Kids
Best Organic Creamy Peanut Butter
Best All Natural Crunchy Peanut Butter
Best Low Ingredient Peanut Butter
Best Crunchy Peanut Butter (Runner-Up)
Best Crunchy Peanut Butter
Best of the Best
Other peanut butter brands we tried
Skippy No Sugar Added, Jif No Sugar Added, Skippy Protein Creamy, Laura Scudder’s Old Fashioned Peanut Butter Smooth, Marantha No-Stir Creamy, Peter Pan Creamy, Peter Pan Honey Roasted, Great Value Honey Roasted, Skippy Honey Roasted, Happy Belly Crunchy, 365 Organic Crunchy, Peanut Butter & Co Old Fashioned Crunchy, JIF Reduced Fat, Smuckers Creamy Peanut Butter, Santa Cruz No Stir Creamy, Santa Cruzy No Stir Crunchy, Justin’s Classic, Justin’s Crunchy Classic, Laura Scudder’s Smooth
Jordan Myrick
Vinz Karl
