Peanut Butter vs Almond Butter vs Sunflower Seed Butter vs Tahini

Peanut Butter, Almond Butter, Sunflower Seed Butter, and Tahini by The Allergy Chef

Today we’ll be comparing peanut butter to peanut butter alternatives. You may have a peanut allergy, or need to create peanut free lunches for work and/or school. When you’re new to going peanut free, you’ll probably wonder WHAT all of the alternatives taste like. Today, we’ll be letting you know.

I’d also like to thank our friends at Once Again who sent us four jars of their spreads to help make this video happen.

As the tasters go through the options, I’ll also be asking them to directly compare the options to peanut butter so you know what might interest you the most. Be sure to read below the video as well. Kids Three and Four had to sample separately and we’ve included their notes. FYI, K4 is the Peanut Butter Queen around here, but K3 really came through with the descriptions.

If you’d like to know about WowButter, click here for the review. Now, (Said in the voice of Michael Buffer) Let’s get ready to rumble!!!

Video player not working? Click here for the direct video link.

Kid Four Peanut Butter and Peanut Butter Alternative Comparisons

Once Again Creamy Peanut Butter Review: It tastes like peanut butter. Once Again is a little more powdery than Costco peanut butter as a texture. Costco is also smoother. This is almost watery? But it tastes like peanut butter, and it’s what I expect when I eat peanut butter.

Once Again Crunchy Peanut Butter Review: Mmmmmm. Yeah, this one is crunchy. I love it. I LOVE crunchy peanut butter. It’s also not powdery like the Once Again creamy peanut butter.

Kirkland/Costco Creamy Peanut Butter Review: This one is more sticky in the mouth when compared to the Once Again. (I asked if this was good or bad and she said it was fun). I might like the Once Again creamy peanut butter a bit better because this one has an after taste. It’s a “high pitched” aftertaste in the back of the tongue.

If I were to eat as a spoon of peanut butter, it’d be crunchy. On a sandwich, I want smooth peanut butter. Though, once it’s on a sandwich, they kind of taste the same.

Once Again Creamy Almond Butter Review: Ugh. I don’t really like almonds so this is bad to me. Disagrees with The Papa and Kid Two: That it is NOT AT ALL like peanut butter. There’s a grainy element here that peanut butter doesn’t have. This is also not as sticky as peanut butter. There’s some stickiness, but not as much.

Once Again Unsweetened Sunflower Seed Butter: This burns and hurts my tongue. Also, it’s rather oily.

Once Again Sweetened Sunflower Seed Butter: This one tastes a lot less oily. It’s SO MUCH BETTER than the unsweetened version. This makes me want to eat our snack mix recipe.

Once Again Tahini Review: DISGUSTING! She made the face and everything. That’s nasty. Why can people even buy this? It’s horrid.

Kid Three Peanut Butter and Peanut Butter Alternative Comparisons

Once Again Creamy Peanut Butter Review: This is what peanut butter tastes like. It’s creamy, and it’s really hard to explain. It’s like any other nut or seed butter, except it has the distinct taste of peanut butter. I can say it’s earthy, but that’s all I’ve got. It’s also a little salty.

Once Again Crunchy Peanut Butter Review: I generally prefer crunchy. This brand didn’t disappoint. It has more of a peanut taste to me, and then there’s the crunch. The whole peanuts really bring in the extra flavour.

Once Again Creamy Almond Butter Review: Almond butter is more sweet than peanut butter to me. Slightly less creamy, it has a bit of fleck from the skin of the almond which adds to the texture and not in a bad way. I’m happy with both peanut butter and almond butter.

Once Again Unsweetened Sunflower Seed Butter: That one burns my tongue. He declined to sample the crunchy.

He did say that it’s like eating nuts or seeds without salt or anything else on it. Imagine eating a plain sunflower, it’s not that good. Both peanut butter and almond butter seem sweeter to me.

Once Again Tahini Review: I wish you all could have seen his face!! He then spat out the sample. Shook his head and said ugh!

It’s very bitter. It’s like unsweetened sunflower seed butter, but worse. Yeah, that one wasn’t very good.

Kid Three, which is closest to peanut butter?

Kid Three says peanut butter. LOL! He then said almond butter is the next best thing. Peanut butter doesn’t need to really be substituted in that you can just swap the almond butter where you needed the peanut butter. The flavour of peanut butter isn’t SO unbelievably delicious that you can’t swap it. Yes, it’s distinct, but it’s replaceable.

It’s kind of like dairy free cheese. It doesn’t taste like cow’s milk cheese, but you can substitute it. Honestly, I could go my whole life without eating peanut butter and I’d be fine. If I only knew almond butter, I’d be totally fine with that.