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Peanut Butter Flavor Without The Calories: PB2

July 15, 2014   37 Comments

Snack Girl features peanut butter A LOT. I happen to love the stuff and I use it almost every day.

PB2 Review

My children’s school recently outlawed nuts and I was heart broken. PB&J saves me on mornings when I haven’t had time to shop.

The BEST peanut butter contains roasted and ground peanuts without any extra sugar or oil. The processing of peanuts to make peanut butter is minimal and I consider it a “whole food”.

For the people out there that are trying to slim down, peanut butter is a bit of a problem. Here are the nutritional facts for 2 tablespoons of plain peanut butter:

190 calories, 16 g fat, 7 g carbohydrates, 8 g protein, 3 g fiber, 0 mg sodium, 5 Points+

Ouch.

But, you get 4% of your daily value of iron, and 10% of your daily value of both vitamin E, and folate. This stuff is chocked full of nutrients so these are not EMPTY calories. (those are the worst :)

In my opinion, peanut butter should not be avoided because it is nutritious and inexpensive.

What if you wanted to cut down on your peanut butter consumption?

Enter PB2, a powdered peanut butter that has 85% less fat calories than traditional peanut butter. Here are the nutritional facts for 2 tablespoons of PB2:

45 calories, 1.5 g fat, 5 g carbohydrates, 5 g protein, 2 g fiber, 94 mg sodium, 1 Points+

Yeahhhhh.

So, I was against trying this stuff because I thought it would taste yucky (to use a scientific term). I bought some of it on Amazon.com because so many people told me to give it a try. Here it is what it looks like:

pb2powdered

You mix it with water to make this:

pb2mixed

I got out some spoons and tasted it alongside my regular peanut butter. I am shocked and happy to say that PB2 tastes yummy. I would not have known that the fat was missing. It has a strong peanut flavor and in one swoop I save 145 calories!

There is a major downside to using PB2 instead of regular peanut butter. The nutrients are now missing from the peanut butter. I guess they left with the fat. 0% DV of Iron, etc.

Now, after drying it into a powder, it is no longer a whole food but a processed food (and it has added sugar).

But, I am still a fan because I use it as more of a flavoring agent not as the center of my sandwich. I can add some to a smoothie or mix it with some sauces to make a tasty dip.

Bell Plantation also puts out a PB2 with chocolate (that I haven't tried) - but it gets good reviews on Amazon. It has 45 calories for two tablespoons.

You can find PB2 at Walmart, Target, and a whole bunch of retail stores.

Do you use PB2? What do you use it for?

Other posts you might like:

Make Your Own Peanut Butter With or Without Chocolate

The photo above and peanut butter are not exactly the same things. I got a wee bit carried away with peanut butter making....

yogurtpbdipb

Take Your Apple and Peanut Butter To A Whole New Level

Snack Girl has long advocated for an apple and peanut butter for a perfect snack. Basically, you got your fruit with a another whole food (peanuts) just blended up. Super yum!....

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37 Comments:

In a cocoa - banana - peanut butter refrigerator oatmeal I almost always make the night before for work. Blends easier than peanut butter IMO for the oatmeal. My chocolate fix of the day begins with breakfast!

I had seen this advertised a few times on groupon & amazon, surprisingly I came across it at my local BJ's this week (for a great price), but was still too afraid to try it. Now I think I might give it a try. We eat a lot of PB around here too, I have a husband who's a runner & 2 growing boys, they all love it, I avoid it (even though I love it), because of the extra calories. Thanks for taste testing!!

PB2 really is yummy, and also easy to carry around with you. I'm a long-distance and trail runner, and this powder is simple to put into a small plastic container. I can easily mix it with water from my water bottle to then spread on bread or crackers, or just eat right out of the container! It's a great pick-me-up for the long runs. I can always find it at my local Walmart. Just remember it's not going to taste exactly like the peanut butter you're used to eating from the jar, but it's still a good substitution.

hey lisa,

i have a love affair with peanut butter too. next to chocolate it's right up there. i discovered pb 2 at the grocery store i shop at. finally tried it and i absolutely love it. i think it tastes like the real thing and the consistency is good too. guess we think a like on this one.

Judy

p.s. love your cookbook.

Oh yes! I've been cooking with PB2 for several years now and just love it. I add it to protein bars, chili, and baked goods. I make an African peanut soup with it that just rocks! The Bell Plantation recipes are very good. Try the Thai noodle recipe. Have fun with this stuff.

I like both the chocolate PB2 and the plain. I use them more for flavoring and they do blend better in overnight oats and such. It's really good in plain Greek yogurt with strawberries.

PB2 is the BEST! In a smoothie it masks every other flavor (ie kale!) The chocolate one is good too.

My daughter discovered adding PB2 to a bowl of cereal and now I'm hooked! It's especially good in chocolate Cheerios, chocolate Chex and Kix! Packs a good protein punch to start off the day!

I, too, have a really good African peanut soup recipe I found on allrecipes.com so I'll have to experiment using PB2 in that recipe to save some calories, as Debbie mentioned she does a couple of posts earlier!

I use it in recipes. I often find mixing in regular PB in dips, etc can be difficult due to consistency, but PB2 makes mixing easy and drops some fat and calories too.

In the military they have used dried peanut butter for years! Now it is processed for home use and we have found it quite versatile. It seems to work great as a powdered coating..ie

Cut banana wheels and drop them into a baggie of PB2 to coat, then freeze and maybe a drizzle of chocolate syrup. Or mix with hot cocoa powder (no sugar) and use over sorbet, Greek yogurt, or dip any frozen treat in it! Smoothies are the best! Not exactly Reece's, but pretty good and way way less calories. Of course tou can reconstitute with water and use the traditional ways. Worth a try!

PB2 is good to blend into smoothies and dips, but I just don't think it's taste comes close to replacing actual peanut butter by itself on sandwiches, crackers, etc. I tried to make myself like it on celery, but found I just needed to use the real stuff (but maybe then half a serving!) I wonder if it's just a matter of getting used to it...

Great ideas, I especially like the banana wheels rolled in PB2 and the pb chocolate oatmeal. Will check their website for recipes. My favorite is a light cheat desert - sprinkle a little chocolate pb2 on a couple tbsps of whipped cream for a late night sweet tooth fix (better in points and calories than a bowl of ice cream, or a second bowl of ice cream).

I LOVE pb2 and have been eating it for a few years. I also give it to my dog for weight management. Don't be afraid of trying it, it's delish. I mix it in my vanilla yogurt...use for dips...satay...you name it.

After seeing PB2 on groupon, I was intrigued by the idea of fewer calories for the same great peanut butter taste. When I found it at my local grocery store for a great price I decided to try it. I hated the taste when I mixed it with water and tried it with apple slices. The texture was weird and the flavor wasn't quite right for me. I would rather have almond butter if I couldn't have regular peanut butter. But like some other posters have noted, I don't mind when it is added to smoothies and frozen yogurt because it mixes well. I will definitely try to add it in other things (like oatmeal or to coat bananas) before making my final verdict.

I hear ya, my kids love peanut butter sandwiches but I also have a child who has a severe peanut allergy. Our dietician recommended Wow Butter for our child's school lunches, it is made from Soy. It has;

- 7g SOY PROTEIN per 32g serving

- 1200mg OMEGA-3 essential oils; peanut butter has 0mg

- 4g FIBER per 32g serving

Our kids like it and it tastes a lot like peanut butter. Check it out at http://www.soybutter.com/wowbutter.html

I love PB2 mixed into plain Greek yogurt. It comes out like a PB mousse... really good with sliced bananas and a tbsp or so of peanuts. I agree with others that it can be good in smoothies, too. I've never mixed PB2 with water to make a PB substitute... if I want that, I just eat regular PB or almond butter. But it definitely has its place. The chocolate PB2 is okay but the cocoa isn't very noticeable. You could just add cocoa powder to the regular kind!

BETTER'N peanut butter is like that but is like peanut butter and still has some of the nutrients like peanut butter. It is sold at Amazon, Target, Trader Joe's, and other places.

1 PP per tablespoon

I can understand the convenience and low cal aspect of this product still, call me a food snob, old fashioned, or worse. I just never liked the idea of messing with a time-honored staple such as good old peanut butter! I crave a pbj sandwich with an ice cold glass of milk on occasion but make it real for me, thank you! It is already convenient! And it has been organic in my house since 1973! [when I got married, LOL] I used to even get it fresh-ground at my health food market, self-serve! My kids had mom-made pbj crackers in their school lunches at least 2 times per week, as the treat. I found a Foodbabe.com article on pb2 says it best.

http://foodbabe.com/2012/09/16/the-truth-about-pb2-powdered…

I tried this stuff awhile back. Mixed it with water-------tastes terrible. Maybe mixed with other ingredients it will not be so bad. Still prefer regular peanut butter-----I just use 1 tablespoon not 2.If you watch the portions, the real stuff is always better.

I really like the chocolate too! I sometimes add additional water to use it as a topping on low fat frozen greek yogurt! :-) Happy that its available in stores, however the price is pretty great on Amazon!

WOW soy butter nutrition:
"Fat 15g 23%
Saturated
3.0g 15%
+ Trans 0g
Polyunsaturated 9g
Omega-6 7.5g
Omega-3 1.5g
Monounsaturated 4g
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 100mg 4%
Potassium 240mg
Phosphorus 110mg
Carbohydrate 8g 3%
Fibre 4g 8%
Sugars 4g
Protein 7g
Vitamin A 0%
Vitamin C 0%
Calcium 2%
Iron 6%"

23% fat is about the same as regular peanut butter, but it would be a good substitute for those who cannot have peanuts. So, PB2 wins the day for low fat. I would think this is a great food for diabetics. I believe I will try to convert hubby to it. Great choice Snack Girl!

Any good recipes for PB2?

I LOVE PB. LOVE it. So much, that I can't actually keep the read stuff in the house because a serving for me isn't 2T, it's more like 8T. PB2 doesn't taste anywhere near as good as PB to me, but it's decent. I like to put it in smoothies and it's also really good if you add it to plain greek yogurt. I recently got some PB Fit at Kroger. It's the same deal, but it's cheaper and comes in a larger package. I can't remember the stats exactly, but it's got more fat than PB2 and I've been trying to add healthy fats back into my diet in the theory that I won't be so hungry all the time.

Mix 2 tablespoons of chocolate PB 2 in a tub of fat free or lite Cool Whip. Stir well & freeze! Taste like ice cream.

So good, it sometimes doesn't get to the freezer!

If you really like it, you should buy it in the 1 lb brick form and not the jar. It is a much better value. I only buy the 1 lb bricks on Amazon.com.

I'm a PB2 junky. Especially the chocolate. I buy in by the case.

Not a fan of the Better N Peanut Butter... The taste is nothing like peanut butter...at least to me. I found it very "chemical" tasting.

Love PB2 in my morning oatmeal. Nothing comes close to the flavor, and real PB is too hard to mix in (and measure accurately). I have not tried the chocolate flavor.

I mix it straight into my nonfat vanilla greek yogurt to make a dip for my apples. I LOVE peanut butter and apples - this is a higher protein, low fat variation of it. I find it at my local D&W store and just saw it at another local market. More and more places are carrying it.

LOVE PB2!! Take Fat free Cool Whip and stir in 3 Tblsp of PB2. Freeze in cupcake liners, tastes like PB Fudge!! No guilt!!!

As a Weight Watcher (down about 80lbs so far), I'm always looking for satisfying low-point foods/snacks. PB2 fits the bill, tasty, only 1 pt per serving, and you control the consistency to your preferred thickness! I love PB2, especially chocolate, eaten simply with apples or celery. Buying single 6.5 oz jars is too expensive. Since it stores well, it's more cost-efficient to buy in larger quantities, such as multiple 1-lb jars on eBay or Amazon. =)

I couldn't eat this stuff mixed with water but I use it to make peanut butter chocolate chip protein muffins for my teen on school mornings.

Skip the sugar in PB2 and get peanut flour. I bought a couple POUNDS of peanut flour (much cheaper) a couple months ago and have used almost half of it: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0052OOYOW/ref=wms_ohs_pro…

Also, skip mixing it with water and mix it straight into the jelly for a very easy PBJ in one less step. I use it in PB and banana smoothies and milkshakes, sans the extra fat of regular PB.

I like a big 2tbl serving of peanut butter but found I missed the good ol fat in pb2 so I use 1 table of reg pb and mix with 1 tbl of the pb/water mix. It is a compromise but makes me happy!

It may have lost some nutritional value along with many calories but 2 tbsp has 5 grams of protein.

I get my pb2 at netrition.com in 1 lb. bags and it is cheaper than Amazon.

I have found that this tastes almost identical to peanut butter, but the texture and feeling on your tongue is just wrong. It's not creamy at all (because the fat has been extracted). I think it's best used to put peanut butter flavor into things which have their own good texture. I am surprised to see you advocate for this when you're so hard on processed food in general. This is pretty much the epitome of processed food - reducing what started as real food to a powder and extracting macro nutrients.

Yes, I have tried PB2 mainly to save on WW SP. I've used it in oatmeal and also to make sauces for Chinese inspired dishes. I recently became aware that there is an almond butter made by PB2. I actually prefer the taste of almond butter to peanut butter in oatmeal. I will have to look into their dried almond butter. I do worry, though, about processing that removes nutrients. Been trying to eat real foods. That's what I appreciate about you, Snack Girl. Thank you for your website and blog - ya keep me honest!

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