The short answer
Among 63 peanut butters sold in France, sugars range from 2.5 to 9 g per 100 g and salt from 0 to 1.08 g. The key to reading them: roasted peanuts already contain 4.25 g of sugars per 100 g according to Ciqual, so above 6 g, sugar has been added. And seven products contain hydrogenated oils, which is the only real flaw to avoid.
The rule: one ingredient, two at most
A peanut butter only needs peanuts. The best products in the aisle prove it: “100% toasted blanched peanuts”, and that is all. A pinch of salt is defensible. Everything else (sugar, palm oil, emulsifier) answers an industrial problem, not a need for flavour.
Forty-six products out of sixty-three add no oil. That is the good news of this comparison: most of the aisle is fine. The problem comes from a minority that sells very well.
The ranking, by increasing sugars
| Brand and product | Sugars | Salt | Protein | Added oil |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| La Fourche, 100% organic peanut butter | 2.5 g | 0.02 g | 27 g | none |
| La Vie Claire, toasted peanut butter | 2.5 g | 0.02 g | 27 g | none |
| Perl’Amande, peanut butter | 2.5 g | 0.02 g | 27 g | none |
| Moulin des Moines, creamy butter | 3.3 g | 0.12 g | 25 g | none |
| Mandy’s, organic peanut butter | 3.3 g | 0.93 g | 25 g | none |
| Skippy, peanut butter | 3.7 g | 1.00 g | 25 g | rapeseed and cottonseed |
| Alcafé, crunchy peanut butter | 3.8 g | 1.08 g | 27.7 g | palm |
| Lidl, peanut butter | 3.9 g | 0.03 g | 30.4 g | none |
| Monoprix, organic peanut butter | 4.1 g | 0.05 g | 30 g | none |
| U, organic peanut butter 350 g | 5.0 g | 0.04 g | 26 g | none |
| Jardin Bio étic, pure peanut butter | 5.1 g | 0 g | 27 g | none |
| Léa Nature, pure crunchy butter | 5.1 g | 0 g | 29 g | none |
| Meridian, crunchy peanut butter | 5.3 g | 0.02 g | 26 g | none |
| nu3, peanut butter | 5.4 g | 0 g | 30 g | none |
| pcd, peanut paste | 5.4 g | 0.80 g | 26 g | hydrogenated |
| Go Nuts, peanut butter | 5.5 g | 0.02 g | 28.3 g | none |
| Aldi, crunchy peanut butter | 5.5 g | 0.01 g | 27.3 g | none |
| Ethiquable, organic peanut butter | 5.8 g | 0.03 g | 26 g | none |
| Whole Earth, 99% peanuts | 5.9 g | 0.69 g | 29 g | none |
| Jean Hervé, peanut butter | 5.9 g | 0.03 g | 28 g | none |
| Dakatine, peanut paste | 5.9 g | 0.50 g | 27.2 g | hydrogenated |
| Menguy’s, 100% peanut | 6.2 g | 0.05 g | 28 g | none |
| Calvé, peanut butter smooth | 6.4 g | 0.55 g | 21 g | hydrogenated |
| Kraft, crunchy peanut butter | 6.7 g | 0.92 g | 20 g | hydrogenated |
| U, peanut butter 350 g | 7.9 g | 1.00 g | 29 g | none |
| Menguy’s, creamy butter | 8.7 g | 0.86 g | 25 g | none |
| Carrefour, peanut butter creamy | 9.0 g | 1.00 g | 23 g | shea |
Three things this table tells you
Salt varies more than sugar, and nobody looks at it
From 0 g for Jardin Bio étic and Léa Nature to 1.08 g for Alcafé. A 30 g portion of the saltiest provides 0.32 g of salt, against nothing at all for the pure butters. For a product you spread every morning, the gap matters more than the two grams of sugar separating the first lines.
Hydrogenated oils are the real warning sign
Seven products contain them: pcd, Dakatine, Calvé, Kraft, Gina, Grand Frais and Tantie. Hydrogenation is used to stop the peanut oil rising to the top of the jar: a texture problem, solved by a process that generates trans fatty acids. A pure peanut butter simply needs stirring with a spoon.
Our guide to empty calories and foods to avoid returns to this kind of processing.
Own-label brands hold up very well
Lidl comes ninth with 3.9 g of sugars and 30.4 g of protein, the best level in the table, for a single-ingredient list. Monoprix, U organic, Aldi and Carrefour organic are in the same position. The price of a peanut butter says nothing about its composition.
Peanut butter or chocolate spread: not the same products
Sixteen products in the aisle list sugar as the first or second ingredient. They go up to 12 to 15 g of sugars for Andros Be Nuts, against 2.5 g for a pure peanut butter. These are spreads, and they are good; they simply do not replace a peanut butter at breakfast.
What our page says, and why it differs
The site’s peanut butter page shows 10.5 g of sugars and 1.07 g of salt: these are the values of the Ciqual line, which describes an average market product, therefore sweetened and salted. The best products in the aisle have four times less sugar. That is exactly the point of this comparison: the average of a food composition table does not tell you what is best on the shelf.
For the raw food, see our roasted peanuts page: 4.25 g of sugars and 26.2 g of protein per 100 g.
Our sources
- Open Food Facts, a collaborative food product database, viewed on 24/09/2026: ingredient lists, nutrition values, NOVA group and number of additives for 63 peanut butters sold in France.
- Ciqual 2025 table (Anses) for the raw food reference: roasted peanuts, 4.25 g of sugars and 26.2 g of protein per 100 g.
- As the database is collaborative, an entry may be out of date. Outlying values were checked by hand and three products were removed: an ice cream, a filled biscuit and a sweetened protein paste, which are not peanut butters.