Healthy Recipes for you and your Family!
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Nutella is one of the most well known condiments in the world. It been around for more than 50 years now, having been first made in Italy in 1964. It is pretty much a cultural icon today with the Nutella brand name used in countless food items around the world.
However, recently Nutella has faced its share of controversy. Nutella uses Palm Oil as one of its main ingredients. Palm Oil is a leading cause of deforestation and habitat destruction of endangered species.
Along with these facts, it is also true that Nutella is not healthy for you. It contains a lot of sugar and regular consumption of Nutella can lead to many health problems.
This does not mean however that you need to deprive yourself of all tasty, sweet, nutty spreads. Our recipe today is a peanut butter based Nutella alternative that has a much better nutrition profile and tastes really really good at the same time.
Nutella is almost mindbogglingly popular and I find it hard to imagine any country in the world where the term is unknown. However, how healthy is this super popular sweet spread really? Lets find out.
For finding out Nutella’s nutrition profile, we went directly to the manufacturers website. The table below is procured directly from the Nutella product page.
[wpdatatable id=2]The ingredients in Nutella are not too many
From the first two ingredients in Nutella, it is clear that this is not a very healthy thing to eat in anything except tiny quantities. About 87% of the entire product is Sugar and Fat with over 50% of the product being Sugar.
In addition, Nutella has very little Protein and Fiber when it comes to other macro nutrients.
In terms of micro-nutrients, the only ones of note in Nutella are Iron and Calcium. However their quantities in one serving of Nutella is about 2% of your daily requirement which makes their levels almost negligible.
One serving of Nutella clocks in at 80 Calories which means that the calorie density of Nutella is around 5.3 Calories/gram. This is quite high and comparable to something like Mayonnaise which comes in even higher at 6.9 Calories/gram
Most of the calories in Nutella however are coming from Sugar whereas in Mayonnaise these calories are coming mostly from fat.
Our alternative to Nutella is based on a very healthy nut butter, the humble yet mighty peanut butter. Our list of ingredients is short and sweeet and it won’t take you very long to whip up this delicious Nutella alternative recipe.
To make this recipe, it should not take you more than 10 minutes, here is the recipe
For the quantities mentioned above (and in the recipe below), the overall nutrition profile per serving (15 grams or 1 tbsp) is
Let’s look at a comparison of branded Nutella with our healthy alternative below
[wpdatatable id=5]As you can see from the table above, our healthy Nutella alternative has a lot of benefits compared to the branded Nutella.
For starters, the calorie load per serving is cut down by 25%. In addition, you have 50% less saturated fat, 50% less Carbohydrates and a whopping 83% less sugar.
And for more goodness, you even have 300% more Protein avaialble too. In almost all aspects this Nutella alternative is insanely healthier for you.
Creamy peanut butter works best for this Nutella alternative spread. Try to find a brand where the only ingredients are Peanuts and Sea Salt. You ideally do not want any brands that have additional oil or other ingredients in there. If you do get a peanut butter that has salt in it, you can skip adding the salt in the recipe.
Yes, any liquid sweetener syrup will work here. Maple Syrup has the best flavor profile for this spread which is why its suggested. However there is no reason you cannot substitute Agave Syrup or Honey in the recipe.
Absolutely you can. The main function of the milk here is to provide more liquid to the mixture so that it can be blended easily. Feel free to substitute any nut milk that you prefer here.
Absolutely, try this recipe with your favorite plant based yogurt. Coconut/Almond/Oat yogurt should all work well with minor differences due to their base flavor profiles.
While Peanut butter can be a part of the Keto diet, this particular recipe would not qualify since it includes a sweetener (Maple Syrup)
Since Peanut Butter is not allowed on Paleo, this recipe is not Paleo friendly
While Peanut butter can be a part of the Slow Carb diet, this particular recipe would not qualify since it includes a sweetener (Maple Syrup)
Since Dairy is considered vegetarian, this recipe is Vegetarian friendly
Since Dairy is an animal product, this recipe is not Vegan friendly. However, you can substitute the milk with your favorite plant based milk to make the recipe vegan. Almond Milk, Cashew Milk or Oat Milk are great choices for this!
Mayonnaise is probably among the top 3 most popular condiments around the world. It is commonly used in a variety of dishes, such as sandwiches, salads, dips, and dressings. According to a 2020 survey, 71 percent of Americans reported using mayonnaise in the past three …