Who doesn’t love a spoonful of nut butter straight to the mouth? The real question though, if given the option… both jars are in your pantry staring at you, which one do you reach for first? Aside from the taste, is almond butter better than peanut butter, nutritional wise, or vice verse. Here we are going to settle the debate between almond butter versus peanut butter.
Almond butter and peanut butter both are great creamy (or crunchy) options to add to toast, a smoothie, cookies, celery, an apple dipper, etc. but what is the difference between the two besides just their flavor?
To spit some numbers, here are the nutritional values of 1 TBS of AB and 1 TBS of PB according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA):
Almond butter nutrition:
- Calories: 98.2
- Fat: 8.88 g
- Sodium: 36.3 mg
- Carbohydrates: 3.01 g
- Sugar: 1 g
- Fiber: 1.65 g
- Protein: 3.35 g
- Calcium: 55.5 mg
- Iron: 0.558 mg
- Magnesium: 44.6 mg
- Folate: 8.48 µg
Peanut butter nutrition:
- Calories: 95.7
- Fat: 8.22 g
- Sodium: 68.2 mg
- Carbohydrates: 3.57 g
- Sugar: 1.68 g
- Fiber: 0.8 g
- Protein: 3.55 g
- Calcium: 7.84 mg
- Iron: 0.278 mg
- Magnesium: 26.9 mg
- Folate: 13.9 µg
To start, peanuts are legumes and almonds are tree nuts. Although they both are common allergies, the good news is that if you are allergic to one you can probably enjoy the other.
AB is higher in fiber, vitamin E, magnesium, and lower in sugars. Plus, AB has a better omega 3:6 ratio but not as good of a protein to fat ration as PB. PB, on the other hand, contains more B vitamins than AB.
All in all, if you are a nut butter connoisseur and want to pick the most nutritious option out of almond butter and peanut butter, then your best option is almond butter (but not by much).
Here are some of our favorite almond butter recipes.
