My Most Controversial Post Ever: Nutella vs Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter

For quite awhile, I held off trying Nutella.  I loved chocolate but wasn’t sure if I would like a chocolate hazelnut spread.  Eventually, I gave in and bought a jar.  I was instantly in love as were my boys.  Around the same time, I also found Peanut Butter & Co’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter.  I guess, it was inevitable that I would decide to put them up to head-to-head competition.  After much thought (meaning a quick brainstorm), I decided to award points on Price, Taste and Nutrition.

Price:

First, we need to buy the spreads, of course.  Taste and Nutrition won’t matter if the product is so expensive that you shy away from buying it.  I purchased a jar of Nutella for about $7.60 and a jar of Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter for $3.  Win for Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter, right?  Well, not so fast.  The Nutella was 26.5oz while the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter was only 16oz.  This might seem like a per-ounce victory for Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter except for the fact that I purchased it in the Christmas Tree Shops where it seems to be heavily discounted.  Other places, it seems to retail for at least dollar more.  Meanwhile, the Nutella was purchased in a store I happened to be in, not the one with the best price.  This narrows down the price difference to be negligible.  Verdict: Draw.

Taste:

I put some Nutella and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter on some bread and gave it to the boys to try.  In the past, they’ve tried (and loved) both spreads.  This time they waffled back and forth between liking one or the other.  Finally, they settled on the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter.  Later, I decided to try it myself.  For me, the taste tied.  Then, I made my patented (not really) Quick S’mores.  I spread Nutella onto one graham cracker, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter onto another one, and marshmallow fluff on two more.  Smooshing them together (a technical term), I had two S’mores, ready to eat.

So how’d they taste?  Great.  Both of them.  I had trouble deciding which one I liked more.  I guess it all boils down to whether you prefer the creamier consistency and milk chocolate flavor of Nutella or the peanut-buttery consistency and dark chocolate flavor of the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter.  Another draw.

Nutrition:

So far, this contest was turning out to be quite boring.  So I turned the jars around and compared nutrition labels.

Nutella comes out ahead in fat, sodium and calcium.  However, as far as calories, saturated fat, carbs, fiber, sugar and protein are concerned, Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter wins.  Once you examine the ingredients, the reason for this becomes apparent:

Nutella: SUGAR, PALM OIL, HAZELNUTS, COCOA, SKIM MILK, REDUCED MINERALS WHEY (MILK), LECITHIN AS EMULSIFIER (SOY), VANILLIN: AN ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR.

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter: PEANUTS, EVAPORATED CANE JUICE, COCOA, COCOA BUTTER, PALM FRUIT OIL, VANILLA, LECITHIN (FROM SUNFLOWERS), SALT.

The first ingredient in Nutella is sugar while the first in Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter is peanuts.  This leads to increased carbs and sugar in the Nutella and slightly increased fat in the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter.  Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter wins this round.

Final Verdict:

I’m not going to lie.  Nutella will still have a place in our cabinet.  However, when my boys are being picky and I want them to eat something healthy, I’ll definitely offer them a Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter sandwich.

Disclaimer: This post was not sponsored by anyone.  I wasn’t paid or encouraged to write this.  This was my own idea, I used my own money to purchase the products above and the opinions above are my own.