Do you love peanut butter? This is the post for you! I’ve got peanut butter recipes for any time of the day or night, and most of them are easy too!
It’s National Peanut Butter Day!
Let’s celebrate all day long with peanut butter recipes!
Does every food product need its own day of celebration? No, definitely not. Does peanut butter? Absolutely yes. Not only is peanut butter delicious, it’s also nutritious, so we don’t have to feel too badly about eating and loving it.
What does peanut butter provide in terms of nutrition? Peanut butter gives you a hefty amount of healthy fat, plant-based protein, fiber, antioxidants, and a sprinkling of vitamins and minerals like Vitamin E, Vitamin B3, and magnesium. Of course, some commercial brands of peanut butter can also be high in things like added sugar, so be mindful of which products you’re choosing (we like the Crazy Richard’s brand, even the dog) and the amount of peanut butter you’re eating. Everything in moderation, folks.
If you’re looking to celebrate National Peanut Butter Day or I’ve convinced you in one simple paragraph that you should incorporate peanut butter in your diet, you’re in luck! I’m showing you how you can sneak peanut butter into your day all day long with peanut butter recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and dessert! This is not an exhaustive list, just a few peanut butter recipes that we love and hope you will too!
Peanut Butter Recipes
Breakfast
If you’re looking to start your day off with a protein boost, these peanut butter recipes are a great place to start!
Smoothie
My kids eat smoothies almost every morning. It’s a great way for me to get a little bit of protein and some fruits and vegetables into them to start their days. Of course, there are lots of ways that you can make a smoothie, but we like a peanut butter-based concoction with plenty of berries and some green vegetables. My smoothie non-recipe is below.
What you’ll need
How to make it
Add all ingredients in the order in which they are listed to a blender. Blend until smooth. Enjoy.
Oatmeal
Peanut butter is a great way to bulk up (and add deliciousness) to oatmeal. At its easiest, you can simply stir some peanut butter in plain oatmeal that you make per package instructions. Another easy peanut butter oatmeal option is to make peanut butter overnight oats, but you need to plan ahead a bit for these.
If you don’t mind a bit of prep work and cook time, I suggest that you make my favorite peanut butter baked oatmeal. If you’re on the fence about whether you want to expend the effort to make this, you should at least know that you’ll get a few days’ worth of breakfast out of it. That makes it worth it for me!
Peanut butter toast
A super simple way to use peanut butter is breakfast is to slather it on a piece of toast. If you want to get fancy, you can slice up some bananas and drizzle a little honey over top. It’s really as easy as this to get a delicious breakfast.
In honor of my nephew whose diet consisted almost entirely of peanut butter waffles prior to his tonsillectomy, I have to include the peanut butter waffle variation on this list of peanut butter recipes. If it’s good enough for a kid who has approximately 0% throat clearance, it’s good enough for your kids too.
Muffins
My kids love muffins. I make some variation of muffins almost every weekend, so I’ve made a lot of muffins in my day. Quite a few of the muffins that I have made for my kids contain peanut butter because it’s an easy way to add protein so my kids aren’t asking for a snack 15 minutes after they finish eating breakfast. My favorite (and my kids’ favorite) of these peanut butter muffins are these peanut butter banana muffins. They have peanut butter and Greek yogurt for an extra hit of protein, they don’t require softened butter, and they use up some of the slowly rotting bananas that are always on my kitchen counter. I’m a fan!
Lunch
You probably think of lunch first when you think of peanut butter recipes because you probably had your fair share of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in your lunchbox when you were in elementary school. Of course, the classic sandwich we all know and love will be on the list, but there are other peanut butter recipes for lunchtime too!
Peanut butter & jelly sandwich
OK, so I’m starting off strong with the classic PB&J. Don’t think you’re too old for it, because it’s delicious. My favorite combination is crunchy peanut butter and strawberry preserves on white bread, but the options are endless.
Fluffernutter
If you want to put yourself into a sugar coma, consider a fluffernutter for lunch. This sandwich includes peanut butter and marshmallow fluff on white bread. My 7-year-old self loved these, but my 37-year-old self can’t handle them. If you’re made of stronger stuff than I or if you have a 7-year-old in your life, indulge in this sweet sandwich for lunch every once in a while.
Elvis sandwich
If you want to pay your respects to the King of Rock & Roll, or you just love the peanut butter and banana flavor combination, make yourself an Elvis sandwich for lunch. At it’s most basic, this sandwich contains just peanut butter and banana, but you can also throw on bacon and honey for the true Elvis experience. Uh huh huh, I’m all shook up!
Peanut soup
Want to have peanut butter for lunch, but aren’t in the mood for a sandwich? Maybe you should consider a big, warm bowl of peanut soup! Look, I know if you haven’t had peanut soup before you’re probably turning your nose up at this idea, but stay with me. Peanut soup is good. I was first introduced to peanut soup in Colonial Williamsburg’s Kings Arms Tavern. It’s my mom’s favorite place to eat maybe ever, and we always got the peanut soup. Luckily, you can now find the recipe online, so you don’t need to travel to Colonial Williamsburg to try this soup.
Dinner
As I hope that peanut soup recipe showed you, peanut butter can be used in savory dishes too. Keep that peanut butter jar out for dinnertime too! (Of course, you can totally eat these meals for lunch too – don’t put Baby in a corner.)
Peanut noodles
Don’t sleep on Ramen noodles when you make your own peanut sauce to toss them in! This deceptively simple recipe is one to keep in your normal rotation. Adults like it, kids like it, and it’s easy to pull together on a weeknight. This dinner will make you want to try other savory peanut butter recipes. Good thing I have more to suggest!
Chicken satay
If your kids aren’t on a chicken strike, chicken satay is a fun way to incorporate peanut butter into your dinner menu. All you need to do is whip up a fairly simple marinade, let the chicken take a soak while you prep the peanut dipping sauce, rice, and whatever veggie your kids will tolerate being on their plates, thread the chicken onto skewers, and grill. Just make sure you remove the chicken from the skewers before serving to your little ones who might use them as weapons. Um, now that I think about it, you should probably take your husband’s chicken off the skewers too.
Chicken satay burgers
If your kids are on a chicken strike, but they will eat ground meat, consider making chicken satay burgers. All the flavors of chicken satay, none of the whining. You can follow fancy recipes for satay burgers (ahem, Jamie Oliver, who wants you to start your burgers the day before), but I just make a chicken burger (ground chicken, a handful of breadcrumbs, a few gloves of minced garlic, a dash of soy sauce, salt, and pepper) and top it with cucumbers and the peanut sauce from the peanut noodles I shared above. It’s not authentic, but my kids will eat it, so that’s a win in my book.
Thai chicken pizza
Maybe your kid will eat only pizza? That doesn’t mean peanut butter recipes are off limits to you. You can whip up a Thai chicken pizza! Seriously, this scratches the peanut butter itch and the pizza itch simultaneously. What sort of sorcery is this? As always, I recommend making your own pizza dough if you can swing it.
Snacks
Peanut butter is a great addition to any snack. It gives you that fat and protein boost that makes the snack worth having and really will keep you full until your next meal. But how can you best use peanut butter in your snacks? I’ve got some ideas.
Apple (or banana) with peanut butter
Fruit with peanut butter is a great snack! I’m pretty partial to an apple with peanut butter, but my kids also like banana with peanut butter (I’m a staunch banana-hater so you won’t find me chowing down on this variation). The dog also appreciates when I’m doling out apples with peanut butter. She gets a slice of apple and then gets to lick the bowl when the kids are finished. A happy dog is a happy life, or something like that.
Ants on a log
Nostalgia alert! Do people eat ants on a log anymore? If they don’t, you should totally bring back this snack. If you’re totally confused about why I’m suggesting you eat insects on wood for a snack in the peanut butter recipes post, let me explain. Ants on a log is a cute snack comprised of celery filled with peanut butter (the log) and topped with raisins (the ants). It’s easy, nutritious, and cute. Just be careful if you have a dog. It will want the peanut butter, but the raisins might kill it. Again, a happy dog is a happy life so maybe keep your dog in another room if you choose this snack?
Protein balls
If you find yourself with a few minutes on your hands and you’d like a peanut buttery snack, consider whipping up a quick batch of protein balls. You just mix together oats, peanut butter, flax seed, chocolate chips (I like the mini ones), honey, and vanilla extract and roll them into bite-sized balls. It really does take just a few minutes and you get a batch of protein balls that last in the fridge for a week, if you can keep your mitts (and your kids’ mitts) off of them, that is. I like to measure the ingredients with my heart (in my favorite no recipe way), but if you’d like some guidance, I first started out with Salt & Baker’s recipe. It’s a very good place to start.
Granola bars
A very similar snack to the protein balls above, you can always make homemade granola bars if you have a phobia of round objects, you don’t like chia seeds, or your kids just prefer a bar to a ball. I’ve found that the recipe for protein balls above works OK when in bar shape, but I actually prefer a different recipe when I’m making rectangles. It uses peanut butter, oats, and maple syrup, and I’ve found the freezing step to be crucial. So if you don’t have space in your freezer between all the dino nuggets, the balls might be a better choice for you.
Dessert
Now, I can get behind peanut butter recipes any time of the day, but if I’m being honest, my favorite way to eat peanut butter is in dessert. I really had to narrow down this category to the best of the best. If you want more options, send me a DM on Instagram @sarainseason and I’ll send you some other top-notch peanut butter recipes.
Peanut butter pie
My parents have been going to the same restaurant every Friday night since I was just a little kid. It was owned by my mom’s coworker and birthday buddy and his wife and it’s just a fun place to spend a Friday night. Especially when I was young, my highlight of the meal was a piece of pie for dessert. Although I liked both the key lime pie and the peanut butter pie on the menu, my sister always chose the peanut butter pie (and we split a piece). So I developed a taste for peanut butter pie from a young age.
I don’t live close to my childhood home anymore, so I don’t get to go to the old Friday night standby very often. But I still need to satisfy a peanut butter pie craving every once in a while. Although it’s not as good as the Pineapple Joe’s pie of my childhood, I’ve found that Sally’s recipe makes a mean peanut butter pie that’s a close second place.
Peanut butter bars
I love a Reese’s cup. I mean, who doesn’t? If I want the flavor of a Reese’s cup in a homemade treat, there is only one recipe I’m making – Sally’s no-bake chocolate peanut butter bars. They taste just like a Reese’s cup, take almost no time to throw together, and are an impressive dessert to serve your family and friends. They’re even easy to make gluten-free if you use gluten-free Graham crackers!
Peanut butter blossoms
When you think of classic cookies, peanut butter blossoms are right up there at the top of the list. Everyone’s childhood contained them, whether your mom wanted you to have sweets or not. They are a staple at bake sales, potlucks, and parties. And they’re everywhere for a reason – they’re a pretty darn good cookie. I always use How Sweet Eats’ recipe which is from the back of the Hershey’s kiss bag. It just goes to show, you don’t need to mess with a classic.
Peanut butter brownies
I spent a lot of time thinking about which peanut butter dessert recipe I wanted to share in this last slot. I went back and forth among a few great candidates, but ultimately I settled on simple peanut butter swirl brownies. First of all, brownies could be my all-time favorite dessert. As long as they are fudgy, I’m in. Second of all, these particular brownies are over-the-top decadent in the best possible way. If you like the chocolate and peanut butter combination, you have to try these. Just wait until you have an occasion for which you need to provide dessert. You don’t want a whole pan of these staring at you on your kitchen counter. Trust me.
Other posts
If you like food, you’ve found a kindred spirit. I’m pretty into all things food – cooking it, eating it, and writing about it. Here are just a few of my recent food-related posts you might want to check out:
I hope you celebrate National Peanut Butter Day deliciously! What’s your favorite peanut butter recipe? Share below or over on Instagram @sarainseason!
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