The Jarred Peanut Butter Brand You Should Never Skip At The Grocery Store

Peanut butter is a classic pantry staple. Known for its versatility in both sweet recipes, like soft and chewy peanut butter cookies, or savory dishes like Thai-inspired peanut sauce, this nut-based spread is unmatched. But not all peanut butter is created equally. Some peanut butter brands pride themselves on healthy, high-quality ingredients, while others aim to have the smoothest consistency and great taste. In a taste test conducted by Food Republic where we ranked 12 different jarred peanut butter brands, MaraNatha organic peanut butter came out as number one. This store-bought offering was our top choice because of its somewhat rare mix of top-line ingredients and a delicious taste.

The criteria for our jarred peanut butter taste test were based on texture, flavor, crunch, and the hype surrounding a certain brand. The main thing that we enjoyed about MaraNatha's offering was its perfectly balanced blend of sweet and salty flavors, alongside its smooth consistency that required no stirring, despite it being very high-quality and organic. Most types of natural PB have major oil separation, requiring a bit of muscle before it's ready for spreading. Luckily, this is not true in MaraNatha's case, thanks to the company's signature double-grind peanut process that ensures a creamy, spreadable peanut butter that stood out against the other 11 options on the list. This jar of yummy goodness is a must-buy the next time you hit up the supermarket.

Since MaraNatha's inception in 1982, the company has been focused on making good food in an environmentally sustainable way. MaraNatha were pioneers of the natural organic food movement before it became widely popular, producing high-quality almond and peanut butters. Today, MaraNatha has almost 20 different kinds of almond and peanut butters, including creamy, crunchy, salted, and even vanilla-flavored varieties.

As Food Republic found in our taste test, fewer preservatives or chemicals don't necessarily translate to better taste in all cases. Surprisingly, some of the "natural" options on our taste test, like our number eight pick, GOOD GOOD creamy peanut butter, would have to be stirred constantly because the oil would separate from the spread. What remained was an extremely stiff, inedible substance that we deducted points from — because who wants to do all that work for a sub-par PB&J? 

Number three on our list is Teddie All-Natural peanut butter, and while it tasted great, the jar we ranked was its "super chunky" variety, which was no comparison to the creaminess of our number one pick, MaraNatha. We placed the Earth Balance creamy peanut flaxseed spread at number two, which had great taste and was easier to spread than other natural peanut butters on our list, but its texture was much thicker and stickier than others. Looks like more companies should be adopting MaraNatha's double grind system in order to compete with our top pick.