In a Nutshell
We taste-tested 13 brands of creamy almond butter you’re likely to find at your local grocery store or online. We sampled eight brands of unsalted almond butter and five brands of salted almond butter. To find the very best one in each category, we tasted each without knowing which brand was which. Our winners are Maisie Jane’s Creamy Unsalted Almond Butter and Trader Joe’s Creamy Salted Almond Butter.
Almond butter is a staple of my diet: I slather it on toast and apple slices, add it to my smoothies, and stir it into breakfast bars. And I love it so much that I would—and often do—happily eat it by the spoonful. For that reason, I always keep several jars in my pantry.
Though almond butter is pretty mainstream today, that wasn’t always the case. When I first fell in love with the nutty spread, it was typically only available at health food stores or, if I took the time to make it, in my kitchen. Luckily for me, there are many brands of almond butter available to purchase today. The question is: Which ones are worth stocking in your kitchen?
To find the very best creamy almond butter, our editors taste-tested 13 different brands of creamy almond butters—all made with roasted almonds—you’re likely to find at your local grocery store or online. We sampled nine brands of unsalted almond butter and five brands of salted almond butter. To find the winning one in each category, we tasted them in random order without knowing which was which. We tasted the unsalted and salted varieties in separate batches so we weren’t comparing apples to oranges. After eating many, many spoonfuls of almond butter, we tabulated the results and crowned an overall winner for each category, along with several other worthy contenders, we’d be happy to keep at home or in our office desk drawers.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
The Criteria
Creamy almond butter should be lusciously creamy. It should be thick and spreadable; it should not be chalky or gummy; and it should not be overly loose and saucy, nor so thick that it doesn’t spread. Though tiny chunks of almonds are welcome, almond butter labeled “smooth” should not be so textured that it resembles crunchy nut butter. It should be rich and nutty, with the natural sweetness of almonds. Salted almond butter should be nicely savory and well-seasoned, but should not be so salty that you want a full glass of water after a single bite. Each bite should be earthy, nutty, and balanced.
Overall Winners
The Best Unsalted Creamy Almond Butter: Maisie Jane’s Almond Butter
Almost every single taster made a note of how creamy this almond butter was. Our senior social media editor, Kelli, and I appreciated that it was thick and spreadable but not dry. Kelli also loved the flavor of this almond butter: “Truly tastes like almonds!” Like Kelli, I enjoyed the flavor of this almond butter, though I would have liked it more if it were even nuttier. Though Megan thought it was “pretty good!”
The Best Salted Creamy Almond Butter: Trader Joe’s
Everyone agreed that this almond butter was salty—and, for the most part, we liked it. “Salt is a tad harsh, but I like this one,” our editorial director, Daniel, wrote, describing its flavor as “roasty almond, not unpleasant.” Despite finding it “rather salty,” Megan thought it had a “good nutty flavor.” Kelli and I both thought it was nice and salty, and our associate food editor, Laila, liked the slight crunch she got from the granules of salt. “I enjoy the layered texture and like that it’s salt-forward,” she wrote.
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
Runners-Up
Unsalted
- 365 by Whole Foods Market Creamy Almond Butter
- Good & Gather Creamy Almond Butter
- Trader Joe’s Creamy Almond Butter
Salted
- Bowl & Basket Creamy Almond Butter
- Fix & Fogg Smooth Almond Butter
Though none of the almond butters we tasted were quite as good as the winners, our editors also enjoyed the nut butters from the six brands above. While Megan did not think 365 by Whole Foods Market Creamy Almond Butter was super flavorful, she and I both agreed that it was nutty and, as she put it, “totally fine.” Kelli found it slightly sweet, but in a good way, and liked that it reminded her of natural peanut butter.
Except for Daniel, all of our tasters enjoyed the roasted notes of Trader Joe’s Creamy Almond Butter. “Too roasty and weirdly sweet,” Daniel wrote. Megan, on the other hand, liked its roasted flavor. She described it as “fairly nutty and buttery,” and thought it tasted homemade. Of all the almond butters we sampled, Good & Gather Creamy Almond Butter was the most aromatic. Daniel wasn’t a big fan, but everyone else thought it was nutty and almond-forward, so much so that Kelli thought she could taste the peel of the almond. “This one has that mildly almond extract flavor,” Megan noted, “which I don’t mind.”
Our tasters liked the salty-sweet flavor profile of Bowl & Basket Creamy Almond Butter, but everyone thought its texture was slightly too loose. “The most pourable one out of the line-up,” Laila observed. We also had mixed feelings about the grittiness of the nut butter: Megan liked that it didn’t feel sticky, and Laila thought the granules of salt and almonds “made for a more interesting eating experience,” but Kelli did not care for it. With the exception of Laila, who found it bland, everyone agreed they’d be happy eating Fix & Fogg Smooth Almond Butter. I, very helpfully, jotted down “delicious.” Kelli had a few more thoughts: “Solid. It tastes of almonds and is slightly sweet. No complaints.”
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
One almond butter made with raw (as opposed to roasted) almonds is shown in the photo above. However, because it was the only almond butter in our taste test made with raw almonds, we ultimately removed it from contention.
The Contenders: Unsalted Creamy Almond Butter
- 365 by Whole Foods Market Creamy Almond Butter
- 365 by Whole Foods Market Organic Creamy Almond Butter
- Good & Gather Creamy Almond Butter
- Justin’s Classic Almond Butter
- Kirkland Creamy Almond Butter
- Maisie Jane’s Smooth Almond Butter
- Once Again Creamy Almond Butter
- Trader Joe’s Creamy Almond Butter
Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez
The Contenders: Salted Creamy Almond Butter
- Barney Butter Smooth Almond Butter
- Bowl & Basket Creamy Almond Butter
- Fix & Fogg Smooth Almond Butter
- MaraNatha Natural Creamy Almond Butter
- Trader Joe’s Creamy Almond Butter Salted
- Tierra Farm Organic Salted Creamy Almond Butter
Key Takeaways and Conclusion
Almonds are the main ingredient in all of the nut butters we tasted. Some of them also contain salt, sugar, and palm oil, an ingredient often used to emulsify nut butters. (As I mentioned in my microwave popcorn taste test, it’s worth noting that harvesting and producing palm oil comes with environmental consequences.)
Overall, our editors generally preferred almond butters made with just roasted almonds and, if salted, a touch of salt. Ultimately, we liked almost every single almond butter we tried—it was just a matter of how much—and would be happy to keep most of these jars in our pantry for spreading, snacking, or cooking with.
Our Testing Methodology
All taste tests are conducted with brands completely hidden and without discussion. Tasters taste samples in random order. For example, taster A may taste sample one first, while taster B will taste sample six first. This is to prevent palate fatigue from unfairly giving any one sample an advantage. Tasters are asked to fill out tasting sheets ranking the samples for various criteria. All data is tabulated and results are calculated with no editorial input in order to give us the most impartial representation of actual results possible.