The peanut butter aisle used to be simple: Crunchy or Creamy. Now there’s a variety of nut and seed butters to choose from – many with the claim of “natural” – making even tougher to figure out what’s best, so today we’re Getting the Skinny with Molly on the best and worst of “natural” nut & seed butters.
Nut & Seed Butters: What to look for on labels:
- Sugar: Look for brands with little or no added sugar (or honey, cane syrup, etc) in ingredient list
- Nut-free: More & more varieties are allergen-friendly: go peanut-free with almond butter, for example, or entirely nut-free with a seed butter like SunButter or Beyond the Equator 5 Seed Butter
LOVE IT!
COnutButter Pure Sea Salt Almond Butter (LOCAL)
- Per 2 tbsp: 160 calories, 15 grams fat, 5 grams carbs, 2 grams fiber, 1 gram sugar, 5 grams protein
- Ingredients: Roasted almonds, organic cold-pressed coconut oil, sea salt
- Locally at Langenstein’s, Nesbit’s Market, Robert Fresh Market, Dorignac’s, Breaux Mart & more
Beyond the Equator 5 Seed Butter – unsweetened (LOCAL)
- Per 2 tbsp: 200 calories, 17 grams fat, 5 grams carb, 2 grams fiber, <1 gram sugar, 8 grams protein
- Ingredients: Sunflower seeds, chia seed, flax seed, hemp hearts, pumpkin seed, salt
- Peanut-Free, Tree Nut-Free, Soy-Free
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- Locally at Langenstein’s, Nesbit’s Market, Robert Fresh Market, Zara’s, Breaux Mart & more
SunButter Organic – no sugar added
- Per 2 tbsp: 210 calories, 18 grams fat, 5 grams carb, 3 grams fiber, <1 gram sugar, 7 grams protein
- Ingredients: Sunflower seeds and salt
- Peanut-Free, Tree Nut-Free, Soy-Free
Smucker’s Natural
- Per 2 tbsp: 190 calories, 16 grams fat, 7 grams carb, 3 grams fiber, 2 grams sugar, 8 grams protein
- Peanuts; less than 1% salt
Rx Nut Butter Packets
- Per pack: 190 calories, 7 grams carb, 2 grams fiber, 3 grams sugar, 9 grams protein
- Portion controlled; no sugar added, sweetened with dates
- Ingredients include almonds or peanuts, egg whites, dates, coconut oil
Organic Cashew Butter, Walnut Butter, and/or Almond Butter – any variety without added sugar
LIKE IT!
Powdered PB2 – unflavored
- Per 2 tbsp: 50 calories, 1.5 grams fat, 4 grams carbs, 1 gram fiber, 2 grams sugar, 5 grams protein
- 3 ingredients: defatted peanuts, sugar, salt.
- 75% fewer calories than regular nut butter – easy to blend into smoothies
Natural nut butters (e.g. Simply Jif, Natural Jif peanut butter or almond, Natural Peter Pan
- Nearly all are a blend of nuts, sugar, oil, salt – but small amounts of sugar and salt.
HATE IT!
Natural Jif | Honey
- Per 2 tbsp: 190 calories, 15 grams fat, 10 grams carb, 2 grams fiber, 6 grams sugar, 7 grams protein
- Peanuts, palm oil, salt, molasses, honey
Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter | better than Nutella, but not nearly as good as “love” and “like” options
- Per 2 tbsp: 180 calories, 14 grams fat, 12 grams carb, 3 grams fiber, 7 grams sugar, 4 grams protein
- Dry roasted hazelnuts and almonds, cane sugar, cocoa, cocoa butter
Better’n Peanut Butter | low sodium
- Per 2 tbsp: 100 calories, 2 grams fat, 13 rams carb, 2 grams fiber, 2 gram sugar
- Rice syrup is 2nd ingredient after defatted peanut flour, along with tapioca syrup and cane sugar
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