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What Is Vegan Peanut Butter?

C. K. Lanz
C. K. Lanz

Vegan peanut butter is peanut butter made without animal byproducts or other ingredients prohibited by the vegan diet, like honey and some refined sugars. Most peanut butter is technically vegan because it does not contain any animal-derived ingredients, but because many vegans also avoid honey and sugars refined with bone char, some peanut butters do not conform to their dietary preferences. If a peanut butter contains sugar, it can be difficult to determine if it was refined with bone char. As a result, vegans will seek out peanut butter without sugar or a brand that is explicitly labeled as vegan.

Traditional peanut butter is a simple food product made with few ingredients. Roasted peanuts are mashed into a paste with salt, a sweetener, and oil. Major commercial brands often contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oil to prevent separation. Natural and organic varieties will omit the sugar, substitute palm oil for the partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, or reduce salt.

A jar of vegan peanut butter.
A jar of vegan peanut butter.

Vegans do not consume animal products or byproducts, including honey, eggs, and dairy milk. As a result, most traditional peanut butter is also technically vegan peanut butter if the term vegan is defined strictly by the absence of animal products. Peanut butters that use sweeteners like honey and refined sugar can still run afoul of the vegan diet nonetheless, although for many vegans, consuming or avoiding these products is a matter of personal choice.

Although most peanut butter is technically vegan, some brands are made with refined sugar filtered through animal bone char.
Although most peanut butter is technically vegan, some brands are made with refined sugar filtered through animal bone char.

Honey is avoided by many vegans because it is a product made by bees. As an insect, a bee is a living being, so its products are not traditionally considered to be vegan. Some vegans are not against using insect products like honey or silk because they do not think that insects are conscious of pain. Additionally, such vegans argue that producing honey does not cause bees any more pain than the collateral insect deaths that result from harvesting and transporting fruits and vegetables. Agave nectar is a common vegan substitute for honey.

Some less strict vegans may eat peanut butter that contains honey.
Some less strict vegans may eat peanut butter that contains honey.

Many commercial brands of peanut butter contain refined sugar. Although refined sugar is not an animal product or byproduct, some brands are processed using animal bone char. Bone char is a filter that removes impurities, color, and minerals from sugar. As bone char is made of charred animal bones, some vegans will not eat refined sugar because it was made with an animal product. Vegans who eschew refined sugar will use an alternative like raw, turbinado, or beet sugar.

Natural, which peanut butter contains only ground up peanuts, is vegan friendly.
Natural, which peanut butter contains only ground up peanuts, is vegan friendly.

If a brand of peanut butter contains refined sugar or honey, it may not be suitable for all vegans. Most labels do not specify what type of sugar the product contains, making it difficult to determine if a peanut butter is truly vegan. To avoid this dilemma, many vegans will make their own peanut butter or purchase a brand without sugar or one that is explicitly labeled as vegan peanut butter. Vegan peanut butter can be served and consumed just like any other kind without any detectable difference in taste or texture.

Like most peanut butters, vegan peanut butter offers health benefits as well as potentially negative effects if consumed in large quantities. Two tablespoons (32 grams) of smooth peanut butter without salt contains 188 total calories, 135 derived from fat. A good source of niacin and manganese, peanut butter also provides protein. Some peanut butters contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils that keep the peanut oil from separating and rising to the top of the jar. These oils are trans fats that can have adverse health effects, including increased inflammation and low-density lipoprotein, or bad cholesterol levels.

Discussion Comments

Wisedly33

Some grocery stores have make-it-yourself peanut butter machines now. All you do is hit the button and the grinder starts grinding the nuts into a container. And it's just nuts. Nothing else. You want anything else, you add it yourself when you get it home.

I'm sure that would be considered vegan.

More and more people are going vegetarian and vegan, so it's getting a lot easier to find foods that are veggie friendly. There are whole sections of the grocery store shelves that are devoted to veggie eating, so that makes it easier to consider switching to a largely vegetarian diet.

Scrbblchick

I don't particularly like any sweetening in my peanut butter. I have made my own and I suppose it's vegan because the only ingredients I use are peanuts, peanut oil (or vegetable oil) and salt. So I guess it's vegan peanut butter anyway.

I am diabetic, so I don't want sugar in my peanut butter. I've never liked sweet peanut butter, anyway, so I make my own. It's not difficult. Just get a food processor, look up some instructions and start whirring away! It's not tough to do. In fact, it's probably one of the easier vegan or clean eating foods to make from scratch.

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    • A jar of vegan peanut butter.
      By: Sander
      A jar of vegan peanut butter.
    • Although most peanut butter is technically vegan, some brands are made with refined sugar filtered through animal bone char.
      By: WimL
      Although most peanut butter is technically vegan, some brands are made with refined sugar filtered through animal bone char.
    • Some less strict vegans may eat peanut butter that contains honey.
      By: Nitr
      Some less strict vegans may eat peanut butter that contains honey.
    • Natural, which peanut butter contains only ground up peanuts, is vegan friendly.
      By: photka
      Natural, which peanut butter contains only ground up peanuts, is vegan friendly.