The Best Peanut Butter to Buy

As I prepared for Food & Wine’s creamy peanut butter taste test, I recalled a moment on CBS’s Big Brother where the show turned peanut butter — one of my favorite foods — into a punishment. If you lost a competition, the “PB&J Penalty” required you to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for every meal for a week. By day three, some contestants chose to forgo the jelly, opting for a generous smear of peanut butter on a piece of bread instead.

While Food & Wine staff members didn’t face reality show–level challenges in our taste test, we did try 15 creamy peanut butters in a row to find the best ones. Why? Try finding a more versatile ingredient than peanut butter: Blend it with soy sauce and rice vinegar and you’ve got a tangy dressing for noodles or veggies. A  dollop of peanut butter lends desserts an extra silky texture. And Oreos dipped in peanut butter are an elite combination. (Thank you, Parent Trap.)

How we tested

Each peanut butter jar was wrapped in paper to conceal the name of the brand. We also tasted each  at room temperature. No pairings like celery or bread: our testers wanted to focus on each peanut butter’s subtle nuances.

We had five different evaluation categories: Mouthfeel, texture, spreadability, and overall flavor. While some other peanut butter taste tests evaluate flavor based on how much a peanut butter tastes like actual peanuts, our bar was much simpler: Find delicious peanut butters. Since texture was one of the evaluation criteria, we only tasted creamy or smooth peanut butters. We also made sure to give a gentle swirl to any peanut butter where the oil had separated, as we didn’t want anyone to end up with a mouthful of oil.

Although regional small-batch peanut butter brands are on the rise, we only included brands found at nationwide grocery stores or easily sourced online at a reasonable price. In a peanut butter–packed afternoon, these five stood out from the rest.

Best overall: Peter Pan Creamy Peanut Butter

“Full-bodied,” “well-seasoned,” “delightfully smooth,” “a perfect amount of sweetness” are some snippets from our testers’ rave reviews. This peanut butter excels in all our categories without ever going overboard. (Trust us, there is such a thing as overly smooth peanut butter.) We’d happily keep Peter Pan in our pantries with its magical flavor that soars. $4 for a 16.3- ounce jar at target.com

Best classic flavor: Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter

Every tester used the same adjective to describe Skippy Creamy Peanut Butter: “classic.” It tasted like comfort — the peanut butter most of us grew up with (unless you were a Jif household). Thick but not earthy, sweet but not cloying, Skippy screams peanut butter and jelly sandwich. $4 for 16.3-ounce jar at target.com

Best for baking: Reese’s Creamy Peanut Butter

Despite the name, this peanut butter tastes nothing like the grainy stuff you find in the middle of Reese’s Cups or Pieces. Most widely available peanut butters contain sugar (including this one), so adding it to desserts can be tricky. But the mild sweetness of Reese’s peanut butter won’t overwhelm your cookies, cakes, or pies. It also spread the best out of all the peanut butters we tried. Grab your best offset spatula to make even peanut butter layers. $4 for  an 18- ounce jar  at walmart.com

Best for dressings and sauces: Santa Cruz Organic Creamy Dark Roasted Peanut Butter

Confession: We tasted a few two-ingredient peanut butters and almost all of them were atrocious. Luckily, Santa Cruz’s peanut butter (made from organic Spanish peanuts and a dash of salt) was a light in the wilderness. Our testers loved its concentrated toasty flavor without any bitter aftertastes. Try it in a peanut sauce drizzled over smoky satay skewers. $7 for an 16-ounce jar at smucker.com

Nuttiest flavor: Teddie All Natural Smooth Peanut Butter

For a fantastic nut-forward flavor, look to Teddie. We found out of all the peanut butters, this one tasted the most like actual peanuts. This jar uplifts peanuts’ best qualities which go to show how complex their flavor can be when treated right. It’s also gluten-free, vegan, kosher, and does not contain any oils, sweeteners, or stabilizers. Since Teddie does not contain any additional sweeteners, it’s also a good option for baking.  As a bonus, Teddie also contributes a portion of its profits to the non-profit Best Buddies International (BBI). $6 for a 26-ounce jar at walmart.com