Maybe you received a letter from your child’s school, notifying you it’s nut-free. Maybe your son/daughter has nut allergies. Maybe someone else in your family has severe food allergies. Or maybe you just want to research alternatives, because you’ve heard some of them might offer more vitamins and nutrition than their peanut cousin. You’ve come to the right place, we’ve tried many options and wanted to spread our knowledge! 😂
SunButter
This is basically smashed sunflower seeds. Most folks claim this is the closest in terms of taste and texture, and we agree! It’s 99% close enough, but if you eat peanut butter often, you WILL notice a difference as there’s a slight aftertaste (1%) of toasted sunflower seeds. You know, it’s sorta like that slight taste when you eat a handful of sunflower seeds without the husks? Yes, it’s still very delicious.
Best of all SunButter has 7 grams of protein per serving, and 45% of the US recommended daily allowance for Vitamin E with no trans fat and very low saturated fat. Of course, it’s top 8 allergen free!
WowButter
This spread is pretty darn tasty. It’s made with toasted soy, which is one ofjte top 8 allergens. But many, including myself, believe this to be BETTER tasting than peanut butter. I’ve been eating peanut butter all my life, up until my older son was diagnosed with multiple severe food allergies, and WowButter has quickly become one of my favorites! So if soy isn’t on your “Do Not Eat” list, give this a shot, I promise you’ll say wow.
Other good news, it contains 7g of protein per serving, and is made in a nut/egg/dairy/gluten free kitchen.
SneakyChef No-Nut Butter
Here’s another spread that’s worthy to put between two slices. It’s made from toasted golden peas and won’t have a trace of peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, soy or seeds. No-Nut butter’s texture is simply amazing, and doesn’t get hard-to-spread in the fridge like peanut or almond butter do. I personally think it’s slightly sweeter than some of the other options. It also has less protein and vitamins than the other alternatives in this review, but still delicious nonetheless!
Almond Butter
We usually have four jars of this at any time. Almond butter definitely doesn't taste all that close to peanut butter, but it’s a lighter and less toasted taste that blends well with jelly or jam and is amazing when baked into cookies. We prefer Barney’s, because it’s one of the ONLY brands that doesn't manufacture in the same facility as peanuts.
6g of protein and decent amount of Fiber, Calcium, Iron, Vitamin E and Magnesium make this a very nutritious substitute.
Pecan Butter
Yes, pecan is a tree nut, so why? We’ve come to find that Pecan is low for potential food allergies. In fact, our son was allergic to pecans, and then tested with much lower severity at 4 years old. In fact, we did a food challenge with Pecans and he passed!
One ounce has 10% of the US recommended daily fiber intake. Pecans have over 19 vitamins and minerals. We like Purely Pecans brand, since you can pick the option that’s best for you (with added salt and sugar).
Food allergies aside, I think it’s fantastic that we have so many alternatives. Peanuts are great, but what’s greater is our ability to adapt, evolve and create new foods from materials that were typically only used for one thing in the past. We’re slowly becoming less dependent on one food, like the peanut, that is susceptible to disease, pests, drought and other problems. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just peak at this read about how the bananas we eat today are drastically different than the ones our grandparents used to eat.