The 3 best peanut butter substitutes for your recipes

Is a family member or friend allergic to peanuts? Consider these peanut butter alternatives for everything from sandwiches to your favourite recipes.
While it's a food that many children grow up enjoying, the rise in peanut allergies has a growing number of people searching for peanut butter substitutes. Fortunately, many options exist to help you keep enjoying meals that normally use this spread.

Many people who suffer from peanut allergies can still enjoy other types of nuts without any problems. If you're one of them, you can try nut butters with labels specifying they don't contain peanuts. Options include almond nut butter, cashew nut butter, macadamia nut butter, pecan nut butter, pistachio nut butter and walnut butter.

While almond butter's protein content is closest to peanut butter's, any of these work great as a spread, vegetable dip or in recipes that normally require peanut butter.

Seed butters are similar to nut butters, except the main ingredient is crushed seeds rather than nuts. Pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds and soybeans can be used to create a creamy consistency that rivals that of peanut butter.

Soybean butter, sometimes called soynut butter, is made from roasted soybeans. Sesame butter is often known as "tahini" or "tahini paste." Any of these substitutes can be used on bread or toast in place of margarine and butter, as well as in recipes calling for peanut butter.

Peabutter and hummus are both sandwich spreads similar to peanut butter, but are instead made from legumes. Peabutter consists of brown peas and originated in Canada from the realization that brown peas had similar characteristics to peanuts. In fact, peabutter is so similar to peanut butter in taste, colour and texture that it's sometimes banned from schools to avoid confusion and risk to those who have peanut allergies and may not be able to tell the difference.

Although not everyone likes hummus, it is also a good replacement option if you can't eat peanut butter. Hummus is made out of garbanzo beans, along with tahini. Consider hummus if you're looking for a low-calorie option, as it contains one-third of the calories found in natural peanut butter.

Many peanut butter substitutes offer similar nutritional benefits and consistencies. When used in recipes, you can typically use the same amount of a replacement "butter" as you would peanut butter. Experiment with different alternatives to find the ones you like the best.

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