When I was a child, I loved peanut butter. In college I experimented with almond butter. Cashew butter, which I dabble in every once in a while, is just heavenly. My girls, however, only like peanut butter, which made me curious — are all nut butters created equal? Does it matter which nut butter you choose? Is one more healthy than the other?
To see a side-by-side nutritional comparison of many popular nut butters read more.
This chart compares creamy, organic, all-natural nut butters. Essentially, the ingredients are mostly limited to nuts, just nuts.
| 2 tbsp. | Calories | Total Fat (g) | Saturated Fat (g) | Sodium (mg) | Carbs (g) | Fiber (g) | Protein (g) |
| Peanut Butter (no salt) |
190 | 16 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 8 |
| Peanut Butter (salted) |
190 | 16 | 2 | 80 | 7 | 3 | 8 |
| Almond Butter (no salt) |
190 | 16 | 1.5 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 7 |
| Cashew Butter (no salt) |
190 | 15 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 5 |
| Soy Nut Butter (no salt) |
200 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 10 |
| Soynut Butter (salted) |
200 | 14 | 2 | 150 | 8 | 2 | 10 |
| Macadamia Nut Butter (no salt) |
230 | 24 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
Soynut butter has the most protein, but almond butter has the most fiber and least amount of saturated fat. They're all pretty similar though, except for macadamia nut butter, which tastes so good but should really only be a splurge. So I guess it's all about personal preference when deciding which is better for smearing.
Missoni
Chloe
Aftershock
Very close. I love almond butter for veggie rolls in nori. Other than that I am a PB girl. The fresh grind stuff.
1Smucker's all natural is the only think i'll touch.
2I looooovvvveeeee peanut butter...yum. Almond butter is okay, not something I am really dying to try again. Never had cashew butter.
3Hmmm looks like almond butter wins out as the healthiest. As for soy butter, wow they add a lot of salt when it's salted!
I buy Smucker's or Laura Scudder's natural peanut butter, and jellies that are only fruit juice sweetened. It's funny how they taste so good, but so unlike their sweetened counterparts.
4I am a soy nut butter kinda girl, love it!
My brand is I.M. Healthy, original creamy and the stats are:
170 cal., 11g fat, 1.5g sat. fat, 140mg sodium, 10g carbs (3g sugar), 3g dietary fiber, and 7g protein.
It is goood stuff, and even though the salt content is eh, I need an alternative to nuts.
5O peanut butter--love it! I can't keep it in the house, because I have no self-control when it come to p.b.!
6I eat Better 'n Peanut Butter. It's got 100 calories, 2.5 g of fat, 0g sat. fat, 4 g of protein, and no fiber per 2 tablespoon serving. It doesn't have the texture of peanut butter, and it's kind of expensive, but I like it.
7I loveeee Peanut Butter...I make PB banana honey sandwiches for breakfast...it tastes like dessert...yum!! i usually get the no-salt added PB from Trader Joe's or smuckers all natural
i tried roasted almond butter once and hated it...want to try cashew butter and macadamia nut butter!!
8I love nut butters, but I only eat them every now and then. I read that dry roasted nuts undergo some chemical change during the heating process that makes them not so great for you.
9But I have seen raw almond butter and cashew butter, as well as raw tahini. They're just as tasty!
10I've been sticking to Skippy Natural, but I've been thinking about switching because it's got Palm Oil in it, which is contributing to the destruction of the rainforest.
Sadly the good nut butters are usually expensive and/or difficult to find.
11yuck, almond butter! lol, i love almonds, and i love peanut butter, but something about the ground stuff is just foul! i can't wait to try cashew and soynut butter, though.
12I love raw almond butter, but here at the only place I can get it close by (the nearest Whole Foods is 4 hours away), it is $18 a jar, so I don't get it often. I treat myself occasionally, and eat raw almonds on most days.
We eat only natural nut butters. My 3 yo son loves cashew butter, I eat almond butter, and the hubby likes pb the best, and the macadamia, which we can't get here. The 1 yo won't eat any.
I wish he would - they're good healthy sources of protein.
As far as the nutrition content, I see it as close enough that you should eat the ones you like the best.
And we tried soy nut butter a couple times, but NO ONE in the house liked that!
13Woah. Cashew butter? Yes, please!
14I LOVE crunchy almond butter -- Whole Foods makes a great one -- and it has replaced peanut butter in my diet completely. Try this girls: spread one slice of bread with almond butter, and the other with Nutella. Heaven! For a slightly healthier snack, dip slices of apple into almond butter.
15i love all nut butters i eat them every day sometimes straight off the spoon for a really filling snack. nut butters are so heavy though, i think its pretty rare for me to actually have the standard 2 T serving. 1T is almost always enough.
16I've only had peanut butter up to now, but maybe I'll try almond or cashew someday. Sounds like they are all pretty similar in nutritional facts
17PB and celery, mmmmm.
18I have never really tried anything other then peanut butter...but I would be up for it
19I only eat natural peanut butter - which is just ground peanuts and salt. Teddy's All Natural Crunchy is my favoite! After eating REAL peanut butter I can't stand the commercial brands like Jiff and Skippy-they taste like pure sugar!
20I love love love peanut butter, since it's vegan and I'm allergic to all other nuts
21Costco sells the Almond Butter above and it is a lot cheaper than Whole Foods and Wild Oats.
22I've never tried almond or cashew. What if I hate it? That sh*t is expensive. But Trader Joe's has an awesome return policy, so I think I'll pick up a jar of almond butter next time I'm there.
23Post New Comment
Please share your opinion with our community, but make sure it is on topic and follows our Community Rules. We moderate comments and prohibit personal attacks, threats, spam, lewd images, or the promotion of your personal website.