Great news! Most Jif peanut butter is vegan (as long as you’re okay with sugar + palm oil). But not all are vegan so I’ve broken down each and every Jif peanut butter product for you.
All of these contain sugar, and I’ve noted which ones contain palm oil. Why do those two ingredients matter? Keep reading to find out!
Jif’s vegan-friendly products:
- Traditional Jif Peanut Butter Creamy
- Traditional Jif Peanut Butter Extra Crunchy
- Natural Jif Peanut Butter Creamy (contains palm oil)
- Natural Jif Peanut Butter Crunchy (contains palm oil)
- Simply Jif Peanut Butter
- Reduced-Fat Jif Peanut Butter
- Jif Whipped Creamy Peanut Butter
- Jif Whipped Peanut Butter & Chocolate Spread
- Jif Peanut Butter and Naturally Flavored Maple Spread
- Jif Peanut Butter and Naturally Flavored Cinnamon Spread
The non-vegan varieties include:
- Omega-3 Jif Peanut Butter
- Natural Jif Peanut Butter Ingredients Honey Creamy (contains palm oil)
- Natural Jif Peanut Butter Ingredients Honey Crunchy (contains palm oil)
These are all the Jif products as of November 2021 and the information is correct at the time of writing. But keep in mind that companies can change the formulation from one week to the next!
That means you need to check the label of every processed product you buy, every time you buy it. Is it likely that Jif will suddenly change their recipe?
I highly doubt they’d change their traditional peanut butter recipe. But you never know with the newer and less-established products.
Cross-contamination
Note that Jif’s other products (which do not contain any non-vegan ingredients) are at risk of cross-contamination because their omega-3 and honey peanut butters are made and packaged at the same place as the other peanut butters. It’s all a question of how strict you are!
It’s often the case that naturally vegan products like peanut butter are packed in a facility that packages non-vegan products. Or it could even be processed using the same equipment as the non-vegan products.
That equipment may or may not be cleaned when they switch from product to product. This could lead to cross-contamination.
Some manufacturers are careful with this when switching between products, but some aren’t.
Another issue is that food processing equipment isn’t easy to properly clean unless the manufacturer dismantles absolutely everything. I think we can assume that very few companies do that.
What about the sugar?
All of Jif’s peanut butters contain sugar. Some vegans choose not to eat processed sugar because it’s often processed with what’s called a bone char filtration process.
To remove impurities from the sugar and to make it bright white, animal bones are used. There aren’t any bone particles in the actual sugar, but for some people, they consider that the contact with the bones means that the sugar isn’t vegan.
If you’re worried about that, why not make your own peanut butter? Here’s an easy how-to guide on how to make peanut butter.
You just blend roasted, salted peanuts in a high-speed blender (like a Blendtec or Vitamix) or a food processor until creamy).
Or you can buy organic peanut butter! If sugar is organic, it’s not allowed to be filtered through bone char. So if you find a brand of organic peanut butter that uses sugar, you should be good to go!
What’s wrong with palm oil?
In its raw form, palm oil is technically vegan. There aren’t any animal products or by-products in there.
It’s a bit of a controversial ingredient in the vegan world, though, as many species of animals are facing extinction as a direct result of palm oil production.
Huge parts of the rainforest are being destroyed in order to make more palm oil plantations. Palm oil is really, really bad for the environment and for the animals.
WWF has an interesting article on why boycotting or replacing palm oil is not a solution.
This led me to googling if Jif uses sustainable sources. I was quite surprised to read this tweet from Jif that says that 100% of their purchased palm oil indeed comes from sustainable sources.
So they’re definitely trying to not be part of the problem. Kudos to Jif!
Want to get baking?
If you decide Jif is vegan according to your standards, why not give it a try in my amazing Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies?
I love Jif but try to stick to natural peanut butter in my peanut butter recipes. That recipe is a really old one on my other blog, but it’s of course still so delicious. :)
I have loads of other vegan recipes made with peanut butter that might interest you, should you have some natural peanut butter on your hands. ;)
- Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies – these cookies are flourless and have the most amazing texture! And added chocolate chips are never a bad thing.
- Vegan Peanut Butter Fudge – this is kind of like a cross between fudge and caramel and extremely addictive.
- Healthy Peanut Butter Ice Cream – this ice cream is so insanely decadent. It’s better than any store-bought peanut butter ice cream I’ve had!
- Vegan No-bake Peanut Butter Pies – a healthier take on peanut butter pie. It has somewhat of an unusual ingredient to sweeten them and form the base!
I hope I’ve answered your question. :) If you have any others, leave a comment below and I’ll be happy to help answer them.
