If you ask the average person “do carrots go with peanut butter?”, chances are they’ll take a few minutes to decide. After all, food preferences are pretty unique to individuals. That said, there are definitely some pros and cons here, as well as certain combos that work better than others.
Well, Do Carrots Go with Peanut Butter or Not?
That really depends on your own personal preferences.
Most people would likely assume that carrots would go well with peanut butter. After all, they have a similar crunchy sweetness to apples, which are amazing with PB. But carrots also have an interesting sharp flavor that sweeter fruits and vegetables don’t have.
Apples and pears go well with peanut butter because the flavors and textures are complimentary. PB is salty and creamy with just a hint of sweetness. This goes really well with sweet-tart, crunchy fruits.
You May Also Enjoy: 8 Fruits that Go with Peanut Butter
Of course, that’s just one perspective. Other people absolutely hate this combination.
Alternatively, some people only like crunchy peanut butter on these items rather than smooth. For them, there just isn’t enough of a texture contrast between smooth peanut butter and the fruits’ flesh. They need the extra crunchiness with peanut bits or else the mouthfeel is just… wrong.
Some people really like peanut butter on celery, while others hate it. It really depends on whether you prefer savory flavor combinations, or sweet ones. Additionally, some folks dislike celery with an immense passion, and others adore it. Chances are that if you like celery + PB, you’ll enjoy carrots with this spread as well.
How to Eat Carrots and Peanut Butter
This may sound like a silly question, but people ask for recipes for avocado toast too. So, here we go.
Are you going to be eating this combination as a snack? Or are you preparing it for kids? If you’re making these for yourself and/or an adult partner, you can probably just cut the carrots into half-inch thick, long slices. Then dip them into some peanut butter (smooth or crunchy!) that you’ve spooned into a little bowl. Try not to cram carrots (or anything else) right into the PB jar. You really don’t want to contaminate the contents with other bio ingredients.
If you’re making these as snacks for kids, consider slicing large carrots into rounds instead. Spread a bit of peanut butter on the slices for smaller kids. Older children would probably enjoy dipping them instead.
To emphasize PB’s sweetness, you can plop some raisins into the butter after spreading it on the carrot slices. Alternatively, if your kids prefer salty or savory flavors, some salted sesame seeds or chopped salted almonds can work well as a topping too.
Further Reading: Which Carrots are Best for Juicing?
Try Peanut Sauce on Cooked Carrots as an Alternative
If you find the texture combination of raw carrots + peanut butter to be off-putting, try cooking them instead. Then, you can drizzle them with a spicy (or non-spicy, if you’re not into that) peanut sauce. Adding ingredients like soy sauce, miso, and sesame oil to peanut butter cuts its sweetness. Instead, these additions emphasize its more savory aspects.
Carrot noodles are a delicious, low-carb alternative to pasta. To make them, all you need is a spiralizer kitchen tool. Alternatively, if you don’t have a spiralizer, you can make long noodles with a standard potato peeler. Then, you can stir-fry the noodles in a large frying pan with a bit of water or vegetable broth, for about five minutes. You want to cook them until they’re just fork tender, not falling apart.
Then, follow the steps for ginger peanut “zoodles”, like in our recipe here.
Read Next: 10 Veggie Noodle Makers and Spiralizers
As an alternative, if you really prefer raw carrots to cooked, you can try dipping raw carrots into a spicy Thai peanut dip. Remember that you can add all kinds of different spices and additives to peanut butter to suit your palate. Experiment with different ingredients and peanut textures, and see which make you happiest!
The Thrive Cuisine Team is dedicated to bringing you the best information on kitchen gadgets, food, garden veganism and much more. We’re a group of passionate food lovers that are dedicated to providing actionable guides and resources for our readers.
