Trader Joe’s Nut Butters & Spreads Reviews, how to use them

If you’re a die-heart nut butter lover, don’t miss out on Trader Joe’s nut butter section! Here I share different kinds of nut butter and spread from Trader Joe’s along with my honest taste-test reviews.

I also share some ways to enjoy their nut butter so you can switch things up to not get bored with one large jar of nut butter.

As a sucker for nut butter, I’ve heard a lot about Trader Joe’s nut butter and desperately want to shop there. But I’m in Taiwan, so it’s kind of a dream to shop in Trader Joe’s one day for me. Or, Trader Joe’s opens a branch here in Taiwan.

However, it’s convenient to shop online nowadays. And I’m also blessed with friends who brought some Trader Joe’s nut butters from the States for me. (Thank you so much!) So I got the chance to try their nut butters even though I cannot buy them by myself, yet. Here are some nut butters I’ve tasted:

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Raw Almond Butter (Crunchy, No-salt)

This is the one that I wanted to try the most because it’s raw. I had tried to make raw almond butter by myself one time but it didn’t end up well… And I’ve also read some online reviews talking about how amazing this Raw Almond Butter is, so I’m really excited to finally taste it.

This is Crunchy No-salt Raw Almond Butter, 1 pound (454 g) per jar. The package is simple and easy to read, which I like. However, it’s not in a glass jar though.

The Ingredients: really simple, just “RAW ALMONDS.” There’s no added sugar, salt, or oil, which is often the case with most of common nut butter. And it’s raw! If you’ve read the post I shared about “How to Make Nut Butter”, or you’ve made nut butter yourself, you probably know that it’s really hard to make nut butter with raw nuts.

The Texture: amazingly smooth and pourable! I really didn’t expect raw nut butter can be so runny. And there are small almond pieces inside, which gives it more texture.

The Taste: nutty and really mild. There’s no weird taste, just almonds. And I think the flavor is similar to my homemade almond butter, but it’s raw! I was like, “how do they do this?!”

How to use Almond Butter

Because almond butter is really mild in flavor, it’s really versatile. I like to:

1. drizzle them on apple slices with some crushed walnuts on top.
2. replace peanut butter in baked goods or snacks to make the same recipe taste differently.
3. scoop out and place it into my mouth, as is. I mean, it’s legal, right?

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Recipes using almond butter

• Vegan Almond Butter Banana Blondies
• Vegan Almond Cranberry Biscotti
• Chickpea Cookie Dough (7 ingredients)
• Vegan Caramel Chocolate Bars

Organic Peanut Butter (Crunchy, No-salt)

As an addict to peanut butter, I wanted to try this peanut butter really bad. The size is also 16oz (1 LB / 454 g) in a plastic jar.

The Ingredients: only organic peanuts, just the way how I usually love them.

The Texture: This organic peanut butter from Trader Joe’s is really smooth and runny. You can see small peanut chunks in it. The chunk is a bit smaller than those in Peanut Butter & Co.’s 100% Crunchy Peanut Butter.

The Taste: I’ve tasted a lot of peanut butters from different brands now, including Mother Earth, Peanut Butter & Co., and some Taiwanese brands. I’ll say this jar of peanut butter from Trader Joe’s is milder in flavor. It doesn’t have a strong toasted flavor but still got the sweet peanut-y undertone.

How to use Peanut Butter

1. Drizzle on banana slices.
2. Stir in your oatmeal or overnight oats.
3. Eat it with a spoon, as I often do.

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I also often use peanut butter in my recipes so you can check some of them out.

Recipes Using Peanut Butter

• Umami Peanut Sauce
• Peanut Butter Banana Overnight Oats
• Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola

Sunflower Seed Butter (Smooth)

Because sunflower seed butter is not common in Taiwan, I really want to try store-bought ones even though I make my own sunflower seed butter from time to time.

This is Smooth Sunflower Seed Butter in a plastic jar, also1 pound (454 g) in weight.

The Ingredients: Sunflower seeds, evaporated cane syrup, salt.

Apparently, this one is “seasoned.” I hope to get to taste the plain version one day.

The Texture: also amazingly runny! My homemade sunflower seed butter is not as runny as this jar. I mean, Trader Joe’s really got the know-how to make the texture right!

The Taste: The toasted sunflower seed flavor is quite prominent. Because it’s seasoned with cane juice and salt, it’s kind of heavy on its own, at least for me. So I will eat this with only a spoon.

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How to use Sunflower Seed Butter

1. enjoy them with dark chocolate or fruits you like
2. replace nut butter in recipes for the nut-free version.
3. make my no-bake Vegan Coconut Pumpkin Pie and Vegan Spiced Pumpkin Pie

Speculoos Cookie Butter Spread (Smooth)

I’ve tasted speculoos cookie before, but this is my first time taste its “spread form.”

When I first opened this jar, I’m really excited to try it because it seriously smells like speculoos cookies. The toasty, caramelly flavor really catches my eyes, or nose.

Oh, and this is in a glass jar rather than plastic.

The Ingredients: 57% speculoos (wheat flour, candy sugar, margarine [palm oil, canola oil, coconut oil, rapeseed oil, water, salt, emulsifier {vegetable mono-and diglycerides from fatty acids}, citric acid, alctic acid, color added {beta carotene}, butter flavor (non-dairy)], sugar, soy flour, sugar syrup, raising agent {sodium hydrogen carbonate}, cinnamon, nutmeg), palm oil, canola oil, sugar, emulsifier: rapeseed lecithin.

The ingredient list is a bit long, which is not a surprise for me because store-bought speculoos cookies are usually this case. This cookie butter also contains some flavoring and oil, but all is non-dairy, so let’s high five, my vegan ami(e).

The Texture: this cookie butter is not runny but it has a smooth, easy-to-spread texture. One interesting thing worth mentioning is that “Do Not Refrigerate” on the package. I guess it would be too hard to spread after refrigeration (?)

The Taste: Simply put, it just tastes like speculoos, seriously. But it’s more like a concentrated version of speculoos. The flavor is really strong so I won’t eat this on its own either. But the flavor is really good and goes well with apple and oatmeal.

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That’s why I made a Speculoos Cookie Butter Apple Oatmeal a while ago. And I also enjoy it with raw, sliced apples.

Speculoos Cookie & Cocoa Swirl

Apparently, this is a creative twist from speculoos cookie butter of Trader Joe’s. And as long as there are coca involved (and it’s vegan), count me in!

This jar looks so cool because of the cocoa swirl. It’s been a while since I tasted this kind of spread. Oh, and this is also in a glass jar.

The Ingredients: vegetable oils (canola oil, palm oil), sugar, speculoos 29% (wheat flour, candy sugar, vegetable oils and fats [palm oil and fat, canola oil, coconut oil, and fat, cane sugar, soy flour, invert sugar syrup, raising agent [sodium bicarbonate], cinnamon, nutmeg), fat reduced cocoa powder 8%, emulsifier (lecithin), natural vanilla flavor, hazelnuts, cocoa butter.

The ingredient list is not surprisingly long as well, but no animal product involved. It’s interesting to find that the ratio of speculoos drops down significantly in this cocoa swirl flavor compared to the original cookie butter spread. And it does use cocoa butter in it as well, make the cocoa part real chocolatey.

The Texture: It’s also not runny but still easy to spread. And it’s the swirl is seriously interesting. I’m really curious about how they did it. Is it like a twisting machine or something?

The Taste: The speculoos cookie butter part tastes the same as the original, but the cocoa part is what makes a difference. It really got a chocolate undertone, but on the sweet side.

I think the speculoos flavor is still very prominent that when they mix up, you still find the cookie butter taste very strong.

The overall flavor is a bit too sweet on its own for me, so I will not eat it as-is but it will make a great spread or an interesting nut-butter replacement in recipes. Or match them with some fruit will also be a tasty snack.

The above are my reviews of the spreads and nut butters from Trader Joe’s. My favorite would be almond butter, I’m still amazed by how runny it is considering it’s made from raw almonds. My second favorite is organic peanut butter. The taste is mild, which makes it great for almost everything. And the price is pretty good giving that it’s organic.

Obviously I haven’t taste all their nut butter, yet, but Trader Joe’s seems to be really good at making nut butter and spread. I really wish they can open a branch in Taiwan for us nut lovers. There’re more flavor to try and I’ll update this post if I taste different nut butter in the future.

Last but not the least, if you got any speical recommendation, welcome to leave your comment below to let me know!

Love, Nora

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