Yes, the following is better than peanut butter.
I know, you’re all rolling your eyes right now, saying, “How can anything (besides chocolate) be better than peanut butter?” Hear me out; this spread has the one-up on regular pb because it:
- is easier to spread
- is lower in calories (more about this at the end of the post)
- tastes sweeter, without any added sugar, and has a serving of fruit
Above, spread on top of Banana Bread for One.
Another bonus: This recipe doesn’t make as much of a mess as trying to smush sliced banana into a sandwich. As usual, the recipe is so simple that I feel a little silly writing it down.
Banana Butter
- 1 medium banana
- 2 to 4 tablespoons peanut butter, depending on how pb-y you like it (or almond, cashew, walnut butter, etc.)
- optional: I like to add a little cinnamon
My favorite ratio is 4 tablespoons peanut butter to 80 grams (without peel) banana (about 1/2 a large banana). And I often use a frozen banana, which makes this spread taste like peanut butter ice cream!
Procedure: Whir the two ingredients in your food processor or blender until smooth. Leftovers can be stored in the fridge. (If possible, it’s best to let the mixture sit for a few hours before enjoying, as the taste becomes more robust with time.)
Above, spread over a Breakfast Pizza Cake.
Other Ideas for Use:
This creation can be used anywhere you’d use regular peanut butter—warmed up and drizzled over oatmeal, as a sandwich spread, dip, or pudding, as a smooth-and-velvety topping for waffles or pancakes, on vegan ice cream, or simply eaten plain off a spoon (or out of the blender, depending on your level of self-restraint!).
As for calories… Ok, so I’m having a bit of a dilemma: Recently I’ve been getting quite a few requests from readers asking if I can add calorie counts to my recipes. I don’t count calories, but I know that a lot of you (readers and fellow bloggers) do count. So, since I really try hard to make my recipes—and my blog in general—suitable for everyone, and since it’s not hard for me to figure out the calorie counts anyway, I thought I’d ask: Do you want me to add calorie info to my recipes? Please vote; either way, I’m interested in hearing your opinion. And until I figure this dilemma out, here are the nutritional stats for the banana butter:
Banana Butter Calories:
Serving Size: 1 tablespoon (based on my favorite combination)
Calories per serving: about 40 calories
(As a reference, regular peanut butter has about 100 calories per tablespoon.)
Variations:
Yes, there is a chocolate version.
🙂
First of all, I looooooooooove your site. For me, calorie counting is really important…not an unhealthy obsession. I’m 180 pounds. When I first started reading your site I was 200 pounds. You have really helped me to lose weight and not feel like my life is over. And while calorie counting is important…I think the best thing is to just have everything in moderation. I’m not on a “diet” to lose weight, just reinventing the way that I eat so that I can be healthy, live longer and enjoy life. I think calorie counting can be really negative (especially when you’re not trying to lose weight.) but it’s important at first when you’re overweight to see just HOW MUCH you eat. I know you already do calorie counting, but if that’s too much work for you, you don’t have to include calories. What you could do is just include the servings per recipe in plain bold letters in each recipe and then make a separate article that explains why you don’t count calories, but gives a link to a recipe calorie counting website. It’s win-win. Not only did you made a healthy recipe, but you’d be giving people a tool to help them with other recipes outside of your blog. It’s your blog…don’t feel pressured to do all the work that people should be doing themselves. Keep being awesome!!!
Dear Katie,
I just got out of the gym and decided to try this because it’s warm today and I like cold things after working out. This is quite possibly the best thing I’ve tasted in a loooong while. Thank you for showing me how to eat vegan and be healthy and cool… thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!
Love,
Leanna
I say yes to adding the calorie counts. I love your website and all of the recipes I have tried from it, however it would be nice to have a general idea of the caloric density of the recipes! Thanks!! 😀
Yes calorie/nutritional info!! Knowledge is power and I think it’s important to be aware of what you’re eating- whether you’re counting calories or not. I think without the info it may also be easy to justify overeating because it’s ” healthy”. Calories are calories regardless of the additional nutritionist and therefore should be taken into consideration.
Quick question: How pronounced is the banana flavor in this?
Depends on if you use an over-ripe one or a green (very unripe) banana. I use overripe because I love the banana flavor.
I think I’m going to make this and just eat the whole thing with a spoon like pudding. Yum.
Hi Katie!
I am a huge nut butter lover so i made the banana butter/ better peanut
butter and I LOVE it!!
I just had a quick question: I could not believe that it’s only 40 calories per tablespoon
and I’m truly stumped about how thats possible. My friend said maybe the banana somehow
spreads it out? I have no idea, but if you have time to respond, that would be great!
By the way, I abolsolutely love all of your recipes! I am a new reader and am really enjoying trying
the recipes out!
Thanks again!
Hi Katie!!
I am a new reader/fan of yours and since I just started my new vegan lifestyle your recipes have been a great kick start, so thank you for that!
I am a huge nut butter lover and so I had to try the Better Peanut Butter/ Banana Butter, it turned out amazing!
I just had a quick question: I noticed that it was only 40 cal/tablespoon! I mean that’s awesome but I was wondering how on earth that’s possible! My friend suggested that maybe the banana spread some of the calories out? Im not sure..and also do you know how many carbs there are in each serving?
Thanks so much!
Sorry, I don’t know.
Hey, how long does this keep in the fridge? Does it go all brown and yucky like a banana would? :S
A few days. Yeah it gets brown, but if you stir it before eating it goes back to normal :).
WOW! i just used 3 oz. of frozen banana and 3 Tbsp of maranatha smooth almond butter and put it in my mini food processor and it was DA BOMB!!! i thought i would just have a Tbsp, then i had 2 tbsp, then i just ate the whole thing and I’ll have salad the rest of the day. It was like frozen yogurt and it was SOOOOOOOO yummy!! thanks, Katie! (that’s my 15 y/o dd’s name, so I’m a little partial to you- she loves to make yummy treats, too :-))
yes, yes, please have a calorie count. Thanks.
Please include calories! I love all of your recipes but I tend to not make them because I am a calorie counter and although they are healthy, I do not have any idea what the calories are like. If the calories were included in the recipes then I would be super excited to make more of your recipes and share them to my other “calorie counter” friends 🙂
To answer your email question, it makes 140 grams for less than 450 calories. So 14 grams (1 tablespoon) is less than 45 calories.
I made this yesterday and had to add a little milk to loosen it up as my hand blender didn’t seem to manage the “smooth blending”. It’s yummy though :))
I know that this is a REALLY, REALLY old post, but I’m just now reading it and wondering if you could use the powdered peanut butter (PB2) and come up with a similar output? It’d be more bananna-y in texture I suppose, but lower in fat…
I’m not a calorie counter, but a point counter (weight watchers) so I’m just trying to figure out which would be better for this diet – this recipe, or the PB2, or a combination of the two. I love my regular peanut butter on a whole wheat english muffin each morning, but the fat in regular peanut butter doesn’t love me back.
If some people are concerned with the high calories of peanut butter, a company makes powdered peanut butter you mix with water with 85% of the fat calories removed. It is called PB2, they also make a chocolate version.
Do you have to use a food processor with this? Or would it work just the same in a blender? Thanks (: