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What Brand of Peanut Butter is Best for Keto?

By: Author Jeff Campbell

Posted on  - Last updated:

Categories Keto Diet

We all know that the keto diet is all about limiting carbs. But I wondered if I can eat peanut butter and which brand of peanut butter is best for keto?

The best brand of peanut butter for the keto diet is one made only with peanuts or peanuts & salt. Avoid any with sugar or corn syrup as an ingredient. The easiest brand to find that works great on keto is Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter (crunchy or creamy), but 365 Organic is a great one also.

But there’s a lot more to know about keto and peanut butter, including the 1 brand you must avoid at all costs. So let’s keep reading!

The ketogenic diet is one of the most popular diet plans people use today to lose weight.

In the keto diet, you limit your intake of carbohydrates and consume more fats and a bit of protein to reach ketosis. This is the state when your body gets its energy from burning fats instead of glucose. And this aids a lot in weight loss.

So today, we’re exploring how peanut butter fits into the world of keto.

We’ll look at different brands and what makes one better than the other. Ultimately, we’ll answer the question of what brand of peanut butter is best for keto?

Is peanut butter keto?

Yes, peanut butter is one type of food that perfectly fits the keto diet.

The reason for this is that peanut butter is low in carbs, high in fat, and has a moderate amount of protein. This makes peanut butter one of the best foods you can eat while on a keto diet.

The reality is that there are no foods that are prohibited on a keto diet.

However, you have specific targets for the intake of macronutrients. It is up to you how you are going to hit these targets for your keto diet. This includes consuming foods that are 10 percent carbs, 20 percent protein, and 70 percent fat.

Here are some examples of the carb intakes for the most popular variations of the keto diet:

Type of Keto Diet Net Daily Carbs Allowed What Makes it Different?
Standard Keto Diet (SKD) 20-50 grams The basic keto diet
Targeted Keto Diet (TKD) 25-50 grams You can eat extra carbs before workouts
Cyclical Keto Diet (CKD) 20-50 grams (during the no-carb period) – No limit other days Strict keto 5 or 6 days a week, but 1 or 2 cheat days
High-Protein Keto Diet (HPKD) 20-50 grams More protein and fewer fats than the SKD

Eating high-fat, low-carb foods can provide a way to reach your specific macro-nutritional targets. And peanut butter is one of the foods perfect for keto. However, you should see to it that you only eat the right amount of peanut butter per day since it is very easy to eat too much of it. You should exercise moderation in eating. 2 tablespoons a day is enough.

Peanut butter may be a perfect keto snack but the reality is that there are many types of peanut butter out in the market today. You will soon find out that not all kinds of peanut butter will fit your keto diet. Some peanut butter brands contain ingredients that are unhealthy and some don’t.

If you are going to buy a good peanut butter brand, then it should be high in monounsaturated fats. This can benefit your body by helping decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease and it can also help to lower your blood pressure.

If you buy all-natural peanut butter, then it will contain great amounts of healthy micronutrients which include sodium, magnesium, niacin, potassium, and vitamin E.

Eating peanut butter also helps give your body an energy boost. It contains healthy fats that give your body the needed calories to give it energy throughout the day.

Peanut butter also contains much fiber. Fiber helps our body in digesting food. Aside from this benefit, fibers are also known to help lower the risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, stroke, gastrointestinal diseases, and obesity.

You are kept full if you eat peanut butter. It keeps you satiated so that you don’t crave for food in-between meals. When this happens, you can easily lose weight because you eat fewer calories overall.

Best peanut butter for keto?

Not all brands of peanut butter are appropriate for a ketogenic diet.

Many brands contain unhealthy ingredients like hydrogenated oils and trans-fat. These ingredients can increase the risk of many different health issues.

But the real killer for keto is that most grocery store brands contain sugar or corn syrup.

If you want to include peanut butter in your low-carb keto diet, then you should only stick to all-natural peanut butter which is free from sugars, hydrogenated oils, and trans-fat.

There are three types of peanut butter being sold in the market today:

  • Standard peanut butter (like Jif, Peter Pan, etc)
  • All-natural peanut butter (no hydrogenated oils but can still contain a lot of sugar)
  • Organic peanut butter (no hydrogenated oils but can still contain a lot of sugar)

It is important to check the ingredients in the label of the product.

Don’t simply accept something as natural just because it says “natural” on its label. The FDA actually has no true definition for the word natural, so it’s a marketing hack, not an indicator of quality.

Check the ingredients. It should contain only peanuts or just peanuts and salt. And nothing else.

The popular brands of peanut butter sold in grocery stores belong to the standard peanut butter. These types of peanut butter are those made with hydrogenated oils, monoglycerides, and diglycerides. These ingredients help to prevent oil separation.

Natural peanut butter does naturally separate with the oil rising to the top. That’s OK. Just a quick stir will get it back to a more usable state.

My favorite way to buy peanut butter is at the grinder.

More and more stores have peanut grinders these days. There’s nothing purer, or more keto-friendly than grinding your own peanut butter in front of your eyes where peanuts are the only ingredient. Plus it takes awesome!

Organic peanut butter is simply made from peanuts that haven’t been sprayed with pesticides or had chemical fertilizers added. You can find it with or without salt and sugar. Just don’t assume organic means no sugar.

If there are other ingredients aside from peanuts or salt, then it is best to avoid it.

Another great way to start your day is at Starbucks or your favorite local coffee shop.

But if you’re on keto, it can be hard to know what to order. Luckily, I have a recent article that breaks down everything you need to know about ordering lattes and other coffee drinks without blowing your ketosis.

What really surprised me was how much better for keto almond or coconut milk were than regular milk. Just click that link to read it on my site.

What is the lowest carb peanut butter?

Here are some of the high-quality peanut butter available in the market that is perfect for a healthy keto diet because they have the lowest carb content.

The first is:

1. 365 Everyday Value Organic Creamy Peanut Butter

This is sold at Whole Foods or Amazon.

It has net carbs of only 4 grams per serving. This peanut butter has a taste that people naturally love. Since it is a bit oily, it is good to stir it well and store it in the fridge.

2. Teddie’s All-Natural Peanut Butter Super Chunks

It also has a low carb content of only 4 grams per serving. This is for those who prefer chunky peanut butter. It only has 2 ingredients, peanut, and salt.

3. Crazy Richard’s Creamy Peanut Butter

Another peanut butter with a low net carb content of 4 grams per serving. This peanut butter only contains 100% peanuts. There is no sugar, no salt, no added fats, and no fillers.

4. Spread the Love Naked Organic Peanut Butter

This one completes the list of low carb peanut butter with a net carb content of 4 grams per serving. It has a great flavor and is nice and smooth. It is also only made of dry roasted organic peanuts and nothing else.

Can you eat Jif or Peter Pan peanut butter on a keto diet?

Unfortunately, although JIF and Peter Pan are the most popular peanut butter brands in the country, they do not qualify for the keto diet. Skippy is in the same boat also.

JIF and Peter pan are regular kinds of peanut butter that are made with hydrogenated oils. You will find the highest amount of trans fat in these products. They also contain a great amount of sugar which is a no-no in the keto diet.

These days, they have jumped on the all-natural bandwagon. But even though you might find All-natural Jif, Skippy, or Peter Pan, they still have a lot of sugar which will knock you out of ketosis.

Even the Peter Pan product called “Simply Ground” still has sugar and hydrogenated oils, so you can’t go by the name.

Simply JIF creamy, JIF extra crunchy peanut butter, JIF creamy peanut butter, and JIF creamy reduced-fat peanut butter all contain fully hydrogenated vegetable oils, mono and diglycerides, molasses, sugar, and salt.

The reduced-fat peanut butter also contains corn syrup solids on top of its 4 grams per serving sugar content. These ingredients provide no nutritional value other than calories.

Peter Pan crunchy and Peter Pan creamy, cheaper brands of peanut butter, are nutritionally worst. They contain 3 grams of sugar per serving and contain hydrogenated vegetable oil.

If you love peanut butter for breakfast, you might also be wondering about yogurt and keto.

I have a recent article that covers all you need to know about keto and yogurt, including the absolute best brands of yogurt to help you stay in ketosis.

Just click that link to read it on my site.

Is almond butter better than peanut butter for Keto?

Almond butter and peanut butter are two of the most popular and widely consumed nut butter.

Peanut butter has been a staple for a long time and almond butter has just recently become common. But a lot of people on a keto diet wonder which is better; almond or peanut butter?

Nuts are allowed on a keto diet and nut butter is made largely from nuts. So in theory, most nut butter is allowed on a keto diet.

As we’ve gotten into above, though, added sugar is the culprit if you’re on keto.

There are benefits and disadvantages to eating both peanut butter and almond butter. For keto, both almond butter and peanut butter are okay if you get one with no sugar added.

Their nutritional values are almost the same as each other. But when it comes to total sugars, peanut butter is slightly lower than almond butter.

And peanut butter is also higher in protein than almond butter.

On the other hand, almond butter is higher in fiber and micronutrients than peanut butter. But since in a keto diet, every gram of carb matters, peanut butter is better than almond butter by a slight margin.

However, you will soon find out that these differences are very small. So, it doesn’t matter if you take almond butter or peanut butter. You should buy based on flavor preference and cost (peanut is always cheaper).

Here is a comparison between 365 Organic unsweetened no salt peanut and almond butter:

Per 2 TBS serving (32 g) Peanut Butter Almond Butter
Calories 200 190
Total fat 17 g 17 g
Total carbs 7 g 7 g
Total protein 8 g 7 g
Total Fiber 3 g 3 g
Total Sugars 1 g 2 g

Peanut butter keto benefits

Unsweetened and natural peanut butter is the best for a keto diet.

These kinds are those whose oil separate and could use a good stir. They are also the runny kind. It can have a different taste from commercial peanut butter but this all depends on the brand that you buy.

If you take 2 tablespoons of peanut butter daily it can provide you with a net of 7 grams of carbs per serving. But it is also perfect for a keto diet since you get 17 grams of fat from the same servicing size.

Peanut butter also provides you other micronutrients and fiber besides providing a good macros ratio.

The micron-nutrients you can find in peanut butter include thiamine, folate, iron, vitamin E, magnesium, manganese, copper, and zinc. You get 2 grams of fiber for every 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. This makes up a small percentage of your daily fiber needs.

Peanut butter is also rich in protein. This is a very essential nutrient and it can help satisfy your hunger and be a great support for weight loss.

Aside from nutritional benefits, peanut butter has other benefits. Nut butters are also beneficial to cardiovascular health and anti-inflammatory according to a recent study by Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Almond butter keto benefits

Roasted or raw almonds can be made into a paste to make almond butter.

When you purchase almond butter brands in the market, you will find that most only contain almonds for ingredients. But stores with grinders also often have an almond grinder too, which is a great way to get almond butter.

Almond butter tends to separate into oil and solids. If you stir it quickly, then the oil would soon be incorporated in the solid. It is also runny compared to most commercial peanut butter brands.

If you are allergic to peanuts, then almond butter can be a great alternative.

The taste of almond butter is very different from the taste of peanut butter. It has a strong almond flavor but is mild and slightly sweet. It has a sticky and runny consistency.

The calorie content of almond butter is slightly lower than that of peanut butter. The protein content is also slightly lower than peanut butter. But different brands may have slightly different numbers than the 365 Organic Peanut and Almond butter I used for comparison.

Almond butter is superior to peanut butter as far as macronutrients are concerned. You get a higher value of calcium, vitamin E, iron, niacin, magnesium, zinc, and copper. It also has the same level of potassium and less selenium and folate than what you have in peanut butter.

Since almonds are very low in carbs, people on a keto diet can freely take it. If you take 2 servings of almond butter, you get 7 grams net carbs.

That’s not a ton of carbs, but on a keto diet, every carb matters if you’re only doing 50 a day.

Almond butter is also very dense when it comes to nutrients. Almonds are a nutritional powerhouse since they provide a lot of nutrients in a relatively small serving. Your daily protein requirements can be satisfied if you take almond butter. This is especially true if you take it with other protein-rich foods.

So which is best for keto?

With the same carbs and fat, I give the nod to peanut butter since it has more protein. But peanut is higher in calories, so just be aware of that too.

Ultimately, both are so close nutritionally, you’ll be fine adding a little bit to your daily intake of either one.

How much peanut butter can I eat on keto?

The serving size of 2 tablespoons of peanut butter a day can fit keto macronutrients well. The composition of 2 tablespoons of all-natural peanut butter is 200 calories, 17 grams of fat, 7 grams of carbs, and 8 grams of protein.

Again, though, different brands may have slightly different nutritional labeling.

If you are taking peanut butter as part of your keto diet plan, then you should take note of the amount you are consuming because it is very easy to overeat. To keep it safe, monitor your intake of peanut butter. Measure your intake of peanut butter by the tablespoon.

You are required to keep your carb consumption to under 50 grams daily in the standard ketogenic diet.

So as long as you are still under 50 grams, then you can safely take peanut butter as long as you are taking the low carb ones.

If you are someone who lacks self-control, like me, you should be careful about how you consume peanut butter.

It would be way easy for me to sit down on the couch with a jar of peanut butter and eat several tablespoons of peanut butter. Before you know it, I could easily go through 8 tablespoons and that would be 56 grams of carbs; ketosis blown since it’s very unlikely those would be my only carbs for the day.

If you eat it in moderation, then peanut butter continues to be a keto-friendly food.

If you fear that you are going to overeat peanut butter, save it for the end of the day. That way, you can keep track of your carb intake throughout the day. So if you find that you haven’t reached your limit at the end of the day, then you are free to take a tablespoon or two.

As long as you stick to all-natural, sugar-free brands, peanut butter is perfect on the keto diet.

What is the best peanut butter for the keto diet?

We have seen the peanut butter with the lowest calories above, but the best peanut butter for the keto diet is Smucker’s Natural Peanut Butter, either creamy or chunky.

I say that not necessarily because it’s better than some of the brands listed above in the low carb peanut butter section. Instead, I list it because you can likely find it on any grocery store shelf.

And in our busy lives, easily being able to find something is a winner!

This brand does not use hydrogenated oils and its ingredients are only peanuts and a trace amount of salt. It is the best brand of peanut butter that is easily accessible on the market. It is great for your morning toast or an evening snack.

Final Thoughts

In this article, we took a deep dive into the world of peanut butter and how it fits into the keto diet.

We explored why some brands are terrible for keto. But also which brands are best and have the lowest carbs. We even compared peanut and almond butter to see if one is better for keto than the other.

Ultimately, we answered the question of what brand of peanut butter is best for keto?

How is your keto diet going?

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Jeff Campbell
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By Author Jeff Campbell

Posted on  - Last updated:

Categories Keto Diet