Best Peanut Butter Powder for Long Term Food Storage

Peanut butter powder is a great way to add some low-fat protein to the pantry. Peanut butter has plenty of uses, and adding the powdered form to your food storage can make sense. Powdered peanuts aren’t always made the same way, so you’ll run into a variety of tastes, nutrition profiles, and shelf lives between the various brands. The best peanut butter powder is the one that maximizes these qualities without breaking any budgets.

This is where we come in. We got our hands on a variety of peanut powder, compared them, taste-tested them, and now the results are in: the overall best, an option from plain peanuts, and a great choice for stockpiling. If you want the best peanut butter powder, one of our picks will pack some protein in your pantry.

Also available to buy at Augason Farms Direct.

Augason Farms consistently provides great #10 can food options at competitive prices, and this peanut butter powder exceeds their standard. Its subtle, sweet and salty taste doesn’t overpower the peanut flavor,

Specs

• Weight: 32 ounces
• Servings: 60 servings of 2 tbsp
• Ingredients: Peanuts, sugar, salt
• Preserved: Freeze-dried
• Packaging: #10 can with oxygen absorber
• Shelf-Life: 5 years
• Manufactured: USA

This peanut butter powder has about as simple an ingredient list as you can get for peanut butter: just peanuts, sugar, and salt. The freeze-drying preservation process gives it a fresh taste when it is reconstituted into butter form. I did add more water than instructed to reconstitute, but found this was needed for all peanut butter powders and peanut flour I tried.

The peanut butter was tough to reconstitute using Augason’s instructions: 4 tablespoons of powder to 2 tablespoons of water. Even after stirring for several minutes, there was still some powder left reconstituted leaving a gritty texture. As I reconstituted all of the peanut powders, I found more water was needed for all of them to achieve the consistency I wanted. I’m a smooth peanut butter fan over chunky, but I’m pretty sure everyone would avoid gritty.

Anyways, I ended up with a 4:3 powder to water ratio for reconstitution, and it turned out perfectly, with a taste and texture just like smooth peanut butter out of a jar.

For great-tasting peanut butter powder that keeps well in the pantry, pick up Augason Farms Peanut Butter Powder.

PBfit has a slew of offerings now in the peanut powder arena, but the ‘Simply Peanut’ outclasses the rest. It has higher calories and protein than the ‘Classic’, and has fewer carbs since it skips the coconut sugar and salt.

Specs

• Weight: 24 ounces
• Servings: 42 servings of 2 tbsp
• Ingredients: Roasted peanuts
• Preservation: Ground and pressed
• Packaging: Screw lid plastic jar
• Shelf Life: 18 months
• Manufactured: USA

You can always add sugar and salt if you want them. That’s why I prefer basic, simple ingredients- they can be much more versatile. I’ve found that food powders are best stored in as simple a form as you can find them- whether it’s powdered milk or cheese powder, simple is often best.

I used a 4:3 powder to water ratio to reconstitute this into a peanut ‘paste’, or slightly more nutty peanut butter, since it doesn’t have the sugar and salt. When I tried it in a shake, it was blended with other powders (protein, milk) with a much higher reconstitution ratio.

If you want some high-protein peanut powder with just one ingredient, get PBfit Simply Peanut Powder.

Legacy Food Storage proves they still have what it takes with their powdered peanut flour. Their freeze-dried peanut powder solution for preppers has an unbeatable shelf life, maxing out at 10 years. The taste isn’t bad either.

Specs

• Weight: 28.5-ounce pouch
• Servings: 81 servings of 2 tbsp
• Ingredients: Roasted peanuts
• Preservation: Freeze-dried
• Packaging: Resealable mylar pouch w/ oxygen absorber
• Shelf Life: 10 years
• Manufactured: USA

Legacy is more known for its long-term emergency food kits, ranging from 30-day buckets to their pallet of over 1,100 pounds of food meant to feed a family of four for an entire year.

The protein flour has a lean nutrient profile, with the lowest protein/carb/fat amounts per tablespoon that I tested. This is due to the freeze-drying preservation process rather than the traditional ground and pressed peanut powder method. It has a strong roasted peanut taste and no other additives, so it tastes pretty much as I expected: like a peanut paste when reconstituted. Like the others I tested, I added more water (4:3 powder to water) than recommended when I reconstituted the flour to give it a more palatable texture.

If you need to stockpile some peanut powder, load up on Legacy Food Storage Peanut Flour.

Comparison Table

How I Tested the Peanut Powder

My research narrowed the field to a few peanut butter powder brands that we tested: Augason Farms, PBfit, Naked PB, PB2, SunWarrior, Legacy, and more.

You can see the full list of review criteria below in the What to Look For section, with an explanation for each.

First, I compared calories, serving count, cost, nutrition information, shelf life, and other packaging notes (see nutritional content). After comparing the numbers, we got to the nitty-gritty of taste-testing them. For the first round of taste tests, I simply tried spoonfuls of powder, which were very dry but still effective. Next, I reconstituted the powders into a butter spread or paste by following the exact mixing instructions on the packages and trying spoonfuls. I found the reconstitution directions to be low for each brand, and added 50% more water to all of them.

We’re always looking for new and better vittles for food storage, so if you have some peanut powder that you swear by, let us know in the comments. We review most of our tested reviews annually, so I can always get it in the next roundup and see if it will beat out our top picks.

The powdered form of peanut butter lets you push the shelf life even further, or do even more with peanut powder, like add it to shakes, baking recipes, or dishes. Unlike peanut butter, peanut powder is not oily since the preservation process has reduced and removed the peanut oil.

What to Look For

The best peanut powder has several important features to look for:

1. Value
2. Taste
3. Nutritional Content
4. Preservation & Packaging
5. Shelf-Life

Powdered peanuts can pack some protein in the pantry when you get the right combination of these features. Below, we break down how each of them matters for the different brands of peanut powders that rise above the rest.

Value: Cost vs. Benefit

The amount of money you spend on something like peanut butter shouldn’t blow out your entire budget. Peanut butter isn’t essential for long-term food storage plans or survival in general. While it’s worthwhile to have on hand for reconstituting, baking, and elevating meals and dishes, you can get by without it.

Still, it’s nice to have on hand, but you don’t want to get the wrong thing. I encountered a few brands that had a very bitter taste, clumping issues in the packaging, or extremely low shelf life.

Taste

I look forward to taste tests- long-term food storage options tend to always taste better than their reputation. Taste is subjective, so I gather more than one tester for these reviews so I can make sure we’re not picking an outlier. We tried the peanut powders in their powder form for starters and then reconstituted the powders into butter spreads for test for the second half of the taste test. I wouldn’t advise eating the powder straight up as it was very dry, and we’ll probably switch to a baking recipe for future peanut butter powder taste tests.

We did not use the powder in any baking recipes, but the two taste tests we conducted had enough consensus between them that I’m confident we have chosen the best performers overall.

Nutritional Content

Peanut butter powder inherently has fat, protein, and carbs, but not all powder is created equal. Some powders lose nutrients (and taste) through the drying process. Others have additives added for preservation or for taste.

Peanut butter is typically a topping, sandwich layer, or baking ingredient- but the powder form can be so much more. Many people like that peanut powder has a high concentration of protein, ranging from 2 grams to 4.5 grams per tablespoon. This lets it be used in bulking recipes where useful protein and calories are turned into energy and muscle.

The nutrient profile can help when picking out which powder to store. Many brands see a drop in fat content, protein, and calories after processing due to the reduction of peanut oil. Because of this, you can see a variation in macronutrient content across the board based on the preservation or processing method.

Preservation & Packaging

The two main ways to produce powdered peanut butter include compression and freeze-drying. Here are the main differences in these methods:

• Ground and Pressed – Peanuts are ground into a paste and then repeatedly pressed to remove the oils.
• Freeze-drying – This time-consuming and less common method involves spreading peanut butter on a tray and then placing the tray in a freeze dryer. Compared to pressed peanuts, this slightly improves taste and shelf life. It can be done at home with your own freeze-drying equipment if you heavily dilute peanut butter with water (4:1 water to peanut butter) before adding it to the tray.

Most brands package the dehydrated powder into mylar bags or screw-lid jars. Some include oxygen absorbers to increase shelf life further. Others use metal cans with a one-time seal under the lid for an airtight container (usually #10 can size).

Shelf-Life

Mylar bags and #10 cans displayed the best shelf life of all the options due to their airtight seals. Once you open any of the containers, the shelf life is shortened from the moisture and oxygen exposure.

A few of the brands I checked out had a significantly low shelf life, probably due to poor FIFO (first in, first out) warehouse management.

Peanut Butter Powder vs. Peanut Butter

Peanut butter powder is peanut butter further processed to remove the oils or processed peanuts with additives to resemble peanut butter when it is reconstituted with water.

Because the oil from the peanuts is removed, the powder has a very different macronutrient breakdown.

Compare our top peanut butter powder pick to Jif (the market leader in the US):

You can see the large reduction in calories and fat when the peanut butter is processed into powder form.

Taste Comparison

Despite the difference in the oil content, reconstituted peanut butter powder tastes very similar to Jif out of the jar. Peanuts have a strong flavor, and removing most of the oil doesn’t affect taste much.

Reconstituting the powder into a proper buttery-like texture has a larger effect- if you don’t use enough water, you can end up with a gritty texture that isn’t ideal.

Homemade DIY Peanut Butter Powder

Many people assume that if you just mash peanuts up, you get a powder- but that’s not the case. Peanuts are oily and need to have the oil removed somehow if you truly want a dry powder.

Compressing peanuts into peanut powder by removing the oil is difficult, so there are two main methods to get it done at home: sun roasting and freeze drying.

Sun Roasting Peanut Powder

Sun-roasting peanut flour doesn’t require expensive kitchen appliances, except a blender. It can be time-intensive, though, and it requires good sun exposure to draw the oils out of the blended paste. Adjeley does a great job of showing how it is done with common kitchen tools:

Freeze-Dryer Peanut Powder

Whether you start with plain peanuts or peanut butter itself, you can make a paste and then further dilute it to be able to use the mixture in your freeze dryer. Freeze-dryers typically don’t do well with oily foods, but Ann Marie proves that it’s possible in her video:

Who Needs Peanut Flour?

Powdered peanut butter isn’t essential for your food storage plan, but it’s nice to have on hand to add some protein or peanut taste to any snack or dish.

Powdered peanut butter can be considered for these kits:

Peanut butter and condiments can be the little additions that make a huge difference in your meals and your morale. The peanut butter packets in MREs were always a favorite of mine in the military, and everyone liked finding them in their menu when the MRE bags were handed out.

Sources and References

My experience and the testing I did to find the best peanut butter powder are useless without listing my research sources and references. I leaned on these for the book knowledge that we paired with my hands-on testing and practical prepping experience:

Liu, Y., et al. (2022). Recent Advances for the Developing of Instant Flavor Peanut Powder: Generation and Challenges. Foods. Volume 11. Issue 11. (Source)

Rozalli, N., et al. (2015). Quality changes of stabilizer-free natural peanut butter during storage. Journal of Food Science and Technology. Volume 53. Pages 694 – 702. (Source)

Tanti, R., et al. (2016). Oil stabilization of natural peanut butter using food grade polymers. Food Hydrocolloids. Volume 61. Pages 399 – 408. (Source)

The Final Word

Peanut butter powder is a versatile way to add protein to your dry long-term food storage or your pantry. Reconstituted peanut powder can be a nutritious spread or you can add the powder directly into a recipe for some strong peanut flavor.

If you’re interested in more prepper pantry guides and reviews, our readers have found these helpful:

We presented quite a lot of information, but as always: if you have any questions, let us know and we would be happy to help. Our research, comparison, and taste-testing found Augason Farms Peanut Butter Powder to be the best option given its value, taste, nutritional content, preservation method, packaging, shelf-life, and quality.

Keep exploring, stay prepared, and be safe.

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