Peanut butter is significantly healthier than Nutella by nearly every nutritional measure. A two-tablespoon serving of peanut butter delivers 8 grams of protein and just 3 grams of sugar, while the same amount of Nutella contains only 2 grams of protein and a striking 21 grams of sugar. Despite its hazelnut branding, Nutella is closer to a dessert topping than a protein-rich spread.
Calories and Macronutrients Side by Side
The calorie counts are deceptively similar. Two tablespoons of Nutella have 200 calories; peanut butter comes in at 188. But where those calories come from tells a very different story.
- Protein: Peanut butter has 8 grams per serving. Nutella has 2 grams, four times less.
- Sugar: Nutella packs 21 grams of added sugar, roughly the same as five sugar packets. Peanut butter has about 3 grams, and natural varieties with no added sugar can have less than 1 gram.
- Total fat: Peanut butter is slightly higher in total fat (16 grams vs. 12 grams), but the type of fat matters more than the amount.
- Fiber: Peanut butter provides about 1.8 grams of fiber per serving. Nutella has roughly 1 gram.
If you’re spreading either on toast for breakfast, peanut butter gives you a meaningful hit of protein and fiber to start the day. Nutella gives you mostly sugar and fat.
What’s Actually in Nutella
Nutella’s ingredient list reveals why its nutrition profile looks the way it does. The ingredients, listed in order by weight, are: sugar, palm oil, hazelnuts, skim milk, cocoa, lecithin, and artificial vanilla flavoring. Sugar is the single largest ingredient, not hazelnuts. Palm oil is second. The actual nuts come in third.
Peanut butter, by contrast, is mostly peanuts. Natural varieties list just peanuts and sometimes salt. Even conventional brands that include added oils and a small amount of sugar are still overwhelmingly made from ground peanuts. That difference in base ingredients drives the gap in protein, fiber, and sugar content.
Fat Quality Matters More Than Fat Grams
Peanut butter is higher in total fat, but nearly half of that fat is monounsaturated, the same heart-friendly type found in olive oil and avocados. Peanut butter contains about 2 grams of saturated fat per serving, with the rest split between monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.
Nutella’s fat comes largely from palm oil, which is much higher in saturated fat. Palm oil does avoid the hydrogenation process that creates trans fats, which is why Ferrero (Nutella’s manufacturer) uses it. But replacing trans fats with saturated fat is a step in the right direction, not the finish line. The European Food Safety Authority has also flagged a separate concern: when palm oil is refined at high temperatures, it can produce contaminants that have been linked to DNA damage and cancer in animal studies. Ferrero says it processes its palm oil at lower temperatures to keep contaminant levels in line with safety guidelines, but of all vegetable oils, palm oil produces the highest levels of these compounds during processing.
The Sugar Problem
The 21 grams of sugar in a single serving of Nutella deserves extra attention. The World Health Organization recommends keeping added sugar below 10% of your total daily calories, which works out to roughly 50 grams on a 2,000-calorie diet. One serving of Nutella eats up nearly half that budget before you’ve added anything else to your plate. If you’re aiming for the WHO’s stricter 5% target for additional health benefits, a single serving of Nutella nearly maxes you out for the entire day.
Peanut butter’s 3 grams of sugar barely registers. And if you buy a natural variety with no added sweeteners, sugar drops even further.
Satiety and Weight Management
Protein and fiber are the two nutrients most closely tied to feeling full after eating. Peanut butter has a clear advantage in both. Its combination of 8 grams of protein and nearly 2 grams of fiber slows digestion and keeps blood sugar more stable, which helps you feel satisfied longer. This also makes peanut butter a relatively low glycemic index food, meaning it won’t spike your blood sugar the way a high-sugar spread will.
Nutella’s low protein and high sugar content creates the opposite pattern. A sugar-heavy food is digested quickly, can cause a faster rise in blood sugar, and tends to leave you hungry again sooner. If you’re using a spread to get through to lunch without snacking, peanut butter is the better tool for that job.
When Nutella Makes Sense
None of this means Nutella is poison. It’s a chocolate-hazelnut dessert spread, and it’s perfectly fine as an occasional treat if you think of it that way. The problem is the marketing, which leans heavily on the hazelnut angle and once positioned Nutella as part of a balanced breakfast. A class-action lawsuit in 2012 challenged those claims, and Ferrero settled for $3 million.
If you enjoy Nutella, the most practical move is to use less of it, pair it with something that adds protein (like actual nuts or Greek yogurt), and stop comparing it to peanut butter. They fill different roles. Peanut butter is a nutrient-dense food. Nutella is a condiment closer to frosting than to a nut butter, and treating it like one keeps your overall diet in better shape.