In this article
Is peanut butter vegan?
The easy answer is yes. Peanut butter is vegan. However, sometimes it’s not that clear, and you have to watch out for additional ingredients!
There are many hidden animal products in the foods we eat. Milk, butter, and honey are so pervasive in creamy sweet foods that sometimes it can feel as if there’s nothing left for those of us who are vegan.
How is peanut butter made?
Let’s go over the notable stages of peanut butter production:
Lose weight
Gain muscles
Eat healthy
Explore new cuisinesPlanting and harvesting
Depending on the climate, peanuts are typically planted in April or May. In September and October, harvesting occurs, and mechanical pickers remove the peanuts from their vines. They’re then transported to a peanut sheller and the drying phase begins.
Shelling and processing
Once the peanuts have dried, they’re graded based on size and meticulously checked for defects, spots, and broken skins. The nuts that pass inspection are either cleaned for sale as in-shell peanuts or shelled for further processing (e.g., for making peanut butter!).
Making (roasting, cooling & blanching)
Once manufacturers receive a shipment, peanuts are roasted in one of two ways: with oil or without oil. The roasting oven often reaches up to 800 degrees Fahrenheit! After cooling, peanuts are usually blanched, meaning they are separated from their heart and skin before moving on to the grinding phase.
Grinding
This is the stage where peanuts become “butter.” The manufacturer uses devices to adjust the texture of the product (simply put, deciding whether the butter will be “smooth” or “chunky”) and how much oil is released from the nuts.
Note: You know how in some jars you see oil floating at the top, while in others it’s seemingly invisible? During grinding, most peanut butter manufacturers add ingredients to achieve that flawless consistency you know and love, and to create specific tastes or special flavors.
Packaging
Lastly, manufacturers typically use vacuum packaging to reduce oxidation (extending shelf life) as the peanut butter is jarred and capped. Jars are then labeled, placed in cartons, and stored until ready to be shipped to retail outlets or directly to customers.
As you can see, there’s a lot of time and effort that goes into every jar of peanut butter on your local grocery store shelves.
Non-vegan ingredients used in peanut butter
Countless peanut butter manufacturers include additives in their products. Each serves a function, from enhancing taste to extending shelf life to preventing oil separation, and these “extras” can total up to 10% of the product!
While common additives in popular peanut butter, such as salt, sugar, and oils, aren’t very healthy or nutritionally dense, they are almost always vegan.
Generally, fancy flavored peanut butter is at the greatest risk of having a “non-vegan” status. Below, we’ve listed the most common non-vegan additives, with a few brands and flavors to watch out for as you peruse aisles and read labels.
- Honey
- Milk
- Chocolate
Is peanut butter made from butter?
Some people might think peanut butter isn’t vegan because of the word “butter.” Traditional butter made from dairy milk is, of course, non-vegan. But peanut butter isn’t just butter with peanuts added; it is one of many nut butters, such as almond and cashew, made more or less from nuts alone.
So, what might we expect to find in a typical jar of peanut butter? The phrase “more or less” suggests there could be exceptions, so a little further examination is needed. The best quality peanut butter is usually made from 100% peanuts. Nut butters are made simply by grinding nuts into a smooth paste, and products made this way are as healthy, wholesome, and vegan as the nuts themselves.
However, as with many mass-produced food items, there are potentially a host of other ingredients that can find their way into the jar. Such unnecessary additions are usually employed to preserve shelf life or stability, reduce cost, simplify production, or improve taste (where “taste nicer” usually means more sugar, salt, or fat—nutrients humans are primed to like by evolution).
Common additions include sugar, oil, and salt, but you might also find E numbers used to stabilize the peanut butter.
Making your own peanut butter
The following recipe takes only 2 minutes to make creamy, delicious peanut butter, using just peanuts and a blender. It’s the healthiest peanut butter you can eat!
Ingredients
- 3 cups peanuts (450 grams)
Instructions
- Place the skinless peanuts in a blender and blend until you get the desired consistency.
- The peanut butter will be ready in 1 to 2 minutes.
- Store the peanut butter in a sealed container in the fridge.
