Taste-testing nine jars of peanut butter can get a little sticky, but it sure is delicious. (Lisa Schweitzer/Yahoo)(Lisa Schweitzer/Yahoo)
Nothing satisfies a comfort-food craving quite like a pillowy-soft PB&J sandwich or a spoonful of peanut butter. It's nostalgic and delicious. After testing nine of the most popular peanut butter brands, there was a clear winner. The creamy texture and salty-sweet taste reminded me of childhood in the best possible way.
When I mentioned to friends that I would be testing this pantry staple, they were all quick to offer opinions. (It turns out everyone thinks they know the best store-bought peanut butter!) They also had lots of questions: Would I try creamy peanut butter? Crunchy? Organic? Salted? Because there are so many options, I stuck with creamy only (both conventional and organic) from peanut butter brands that are available in supermarkets across the country. I tasted them by the spoonful without jelly or bread to interfere with the flavor and mouthfeel.
As a culinary school grad who has worked in restaurants and written about food and cooking, I can appreciate the difference between old-school creamy peanut butter and the organic, all-natural version. I bought options across the spectrum from most processed to least, and the one that creamed the competition? Well, let's just say the brand is synonymous with peanut butter.
There's a reason this is the jar that comes to mind when you ask people to name a peanut butter brand — Skippy is a classic. If you're a sucker for anything salty/sweet, this is the pick for you.
It tastes like childhood and everything that's comforting about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or ants on a log. It's creamy and thick yet still fluffy, with just the right balance of salty and sweet flavors. It spreads easily and makes a delicious addition to sandwiches, snacks, oatmeal, cookies and more. Yes, it's processed. In addition to roasted peanuts and salt, it contains sugar and hydrogenated vegetable oil. Like a candy bar or other food that you love but acknowledge isn't the healthiest choice, there's a time and a place for Skippy, forever.
This spread from Santa Cruz was my favorite of the organic, unprocessed options. It's creamy, but not super thick, and has a deeply peanutty flavor. Its ingredients are organic roasted peanuts and salt, which is exactly what you want from a truly natural peanut butter. I will gladly smear this on apples and rice cakes and add it to sesame noodles.
This would make a great addition to peanut sauces or other cooking recipes. (When a baking recipe calls for peanut butter, it usually refers to processed peanut butter, which has a very different texture.)
We didn't know we needed this handy tool until today. But now that we see the perfect knife for stirring, scraping and getting every last bit of peanut butter out of the jar exists, we're hooked.
The 7-inch blade can reach the bottom of a big, bulk-sized jar of peanut butter, up to 80 ounces!
You may need a serrated knife for turkey and Swiss, but PB&J calls for a smoother knife with a wider blade. This little guy is four inches long with a rubber-gripped handle and a blade that lets you easily spread peanut butter and other condiments. It's sharp enough that you can also use it to cut a sandwich in half ... or just cut off the crusts. Bonus: It's dishwasher-safe.
Now's your chance to make custom Uncrustables! Start with peanut butter, jelly and bread of your choice, then place the sandwich between the cutters. Next, crimp the sandwich closed with the sealer.
You can freeze these and toast them up for a satisfying snack whenever the craving hits.
This handy two-part tool fits in 26- to 30-ounce jars of natural peanut butter and helps you stir them so the oil gets incorporated with the solids. Once you use the wavy metal stirrer, use the scraper to clean all the peanut butter off of it with way less mess than if you had stuck a knife in the jar and tried stirring.
An easy way to keep natural peanut butter from separating is to keep it in the fridge after giving it a good stir.
To narrow down the pool, I stuck with smooth peanut butter, ranging from processed to natural. When it came to tasting, I decided the best approach was to be a purist: Just open the jar, breathe in the aroma and dig in with a spoon. No bread, no jelly, no celery sticks.
Jif Creamy Peanut Butter: As close to Skippy as you can get, Jif is a strong runner-up. It's creamy and rich, but the flavor isn't quite as craveable. It contains the same hydrogenated vegetable oil as most other conventional/processed peanut butter and has the same thick and spreadable texture you expect. It was yummy!
Peter Pan Creamy Peanut Butter: This was my first encounter with Peter Pan, but I know the brand has a cult following. Peter Pan has been around since 1920, at first under a different name but then coined "Peter Pan" as a nod to the character and the play. Like the other processed peanut butter, it spreads beautifully and feels lighter, but the intense sweetness was off-puting to me.
Justin's Classic Creamy Peanut Butter: I was so disappointed in Justin's, having tried and enjoyed the brand's almond and cashew butters. This was the worst-tasting natural peanut butter with little flavor to speak of and a hint of bitterness, plus grit. This peanut butter contained peanuts and palm oil.
365 by Whole Foods Market Unsweetened Creamy Peanut Butter: Made from only peanuts and salt, this was the least thick and creamy of the all-natural bunch. It's almost drippy in texture. The flavor was nutty enough and had a good kick of salt, but it's not winning medals.
Good & Gather Organic Peanut Butter: Another organic and all-natural option, Target's house brand spread contains only dry roasted peanuts. When shopping, I didn't realize that this is unsalted, which gave it a real disadvantage. The texture was smoother than others, though.
Skippy Natural Creamy Peanut Butter: This alternate version of the classic Skippy is okay. Like some "natural" peanut butter, it has added palm oil, which keeps the oil and solids from separating and needing to be stirred. For my money, and if I'm going to submit to the sheer heaven that is processed peanut butter, I prefer the original Skippy.
Teddie All Natural Smooth Peanut Butter: This natural option contains only peanuts and salt and is thicker than some of the others. It has an earthy, authentic peanut flavor that would likely make a good addition to dips or sauces.
Now that you know which spread to buy, here's how to take your PB (or PB&J) sandwiches to the next level.
Got some sticky questions? We've got answers!
As far as snacking goes, peanut butter pairs perfectly with crunchy raw veggie sticks (celery, carrots and jicama all work) and sliced apples or banana. It's also delightful on top of rice cakes or as a dip for pretzels.
We recently tested a variety of nut butter to come up with a list of the healthiest nut butter, which included two tasty peanut butter options — Big Spoon Roasters Peanut Crunchy Peanut Butter and One Trick Pony SIlky Smooth Peanut Butter.
Some dogs absolutely love peanut butter as a treat, but dogs don't benefit from the added salt and sugar that humans may enjoy, so choose a peanut butter that's all-natural and unsalted, like Teddie All-Natural Unsalted Smooth Peanut Butter.
