The 7 Best Peanut Butters In The UK, Ranked From Best To Less-Than-The-Best

How so many different flavours and textures can be made from one humble legume is mind-boggling.

It's time to discover the UK's best offerings in my opinion,= and some tasty pairings to inspire your next breakfast (or lunch, or dinner...I'm not judging 😉).

1. Pip & Nut Maple Peanut Butter

Pip and Nut

I’m not usually a fan of flavoured peanut butter, but this stuff is ridiculously, scrumptiously, lusciously good. The maple syrup’s understated, and a candid sweetness and hint of burnt caramel flavour lends warmth to this default-crunchy-but-still-gooey style. It tastes beautiful on toast with melted butter (as described above) or on porridge or toasted bagels. I like to keep this one as a rare treat. If you are lucky enough to live in Newcastle, or get the chance to visit, I recommend you pop in to Greggs and get some Stotties. A toasted quarter of this delicious round traditional bread topped with melted butter, banana, and Pip & Nut Maple is absolutely heavenly.

2. Lidl Maribel Smooth Peanut Butter

annaqueenofscots/Author's own image

The Holy Church of Lidl has only gone and done it again. This is a peanut butter so smooth, I’m committing blasphemy just to tell you about it. No grittiness. It slides off the spoon like runny honey and it stays true till the end — no hard, dry mass at the bottom of the jar to contend with. The flavour indicates a lightly roasted nut and is naturally a little sweet, despite containing nothing but 100% peanuts. I particularly like it spread on rice cakes and topped with Lidl’s Alesto Tropical Fruit Mix.

3. Marks and Spencer Crunchy Peanut Butter

M&S Food

This one surprised me. For a peanut butter aficionado like me, for a supermarket’s standard own-brand offering to actually be up to scratch was enlightening, and a rather glorious achievement on M&S’s part. This is my favourite of the spready, non-gloopy peanut butters. The texture is creamier and less dry than the classic Sun-Pat, but without the oiliness of many own-brand offerings like those of the Co-op or Asda. It packs a salty, tasty, moreish punch that goes great with oatcakes or melted in your porridge. And believe it or not, at £1.50 for a big jar, it’s perhaps the best value item in M&S.

4. Meridian Crunchy or Smooth Peanut Butter

Meridian Foods / Via justnatural.co.uk

Of the “natural,” whole-nut peanut butters, I find this is the most fresh-tasting and flavourful. The caveat, though, is that it’s got to be Meridian (not the Aldi knock-off), and it’s got to come from a jar, not a tub. I find that there is a slight mustiness to these alternative versions that spoils the flavour and indicates a little too much air is getting in there or it’s spent too long in a warehouse. When you find it fresh and jarred, its refreshingly nutty flavour and dark and handsome appearance makes it a deliciously wholesome change if you’ve been hoovering up the salty stuff like it’s going out of fashion. Both smooth and crunchy are pretty banging. I like it with butter on a toasted slice of Sainsbury’s stonebaked baton.

5. #5 Pip & Nut Crunchy Peanut Butter

Pip & Nut / Via pipandnut.com

Pip & Nut’s standard offering is blooming amazing, and could probably have "pipped" the 2nd spot, but I didn’t want it to feel too special in case I jinx it. This is creamy, gloopy, and roasted to perfection. It’s really good on Greek yoghurt with a dash of honey and some berries and granola.

6. Whole Earth Crunchy or Smooth (but NOT Organic)

Whole Earth

All of the above peanut butters are in the “exceedingly good” category. But having grown up on an island with limited options, I know not everyone has access to them, so I’m going to include a couple less mind-blowing, but still very tasty, options. Whole Earth has a mild, slightly salty flavour and thick, stiff texture that’s good on flavoursome, well-toasted brown bread. I find the organic one, unfortunately, has an unpleasant oily flavour that I just couldn’t enjoy, so I ended up blending it into peanut satays and curries instead.

7. Manilife Peanut Butter

Amazon/Manilife Original / Via amazon.co.uk, Disney/Sad Kylo Ren on Twitter / Via Twitter: @kyloissad

Now, I know this is regarded in some circles as the best. It’s certainly flavoursome and has a beautiful creaminess that is balanced nicely by the big chunks of peanut. However, I find it a little too heavily roasted, to the point that the claggy feeling in my mouth and richness of flavour become a bit too intense. But maybe I’m vanilla — maybe you like the intensity and have an insatiable desire for more, more, MORE when it comes to roastiness. So if that’s you, make like Kylo Ren and demand the richness you deserve, my fellow fiend.