For many of us, peanut butter is one of our first favorite foods. PB&Js are about as simple and solid a brown-bag lunch as we can imagine. The tasty, economical spread is an everyday staple in many households. And it’s also a favorite ingredient among chefs. We wanted to find out how chefs use peanut butter and what their go-to brand is, so we reached out to three noted culinarians. We were surprised that all three, from Texas to Washington, D.C., picked the same brand: Skippy. But their uses for the classic spread are as varied as their geography and cooking styles.

Why Chefs Love Skippy

Though a couple of the chefs we talked to said they were also fans of local brands, they all had to admit that nostalgia has a way of winning out when they’re selecting a peanut butter, whether it’s for their own enjoyment or to serve guests.

Laura Calderone is the chef and owner of Relish Catering, based in North Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Relish is known for customizing events for some of the capital’s biggest movers and shakers. If Calderone had to choose a mainstream peanut butter, she would go with Skippy’s no-sugar-added spread. “It tastes mostly like roasted peanuts and has no added sugar with a touch of salt,” she says. Her uses for it run the gamut from gourmet to quotidian. “I love to put it on toasted sourdough bread or make homemade Chinese-style peanut noodles,” Calderone says. “Ants on a log and what I call peanut butter banana bites (sliced banana with crunchy PB and a drizzle of honey) are crowd-pleasers with my kids.”

“Although I don’t eat peanut butter regularly, I tend to prefer Skippy crunchy peanut butter,” says Nate Anda of Hi/Fi Tex Mex BBQ, which has two locations in Northern Virginia and one in Washington, D.C.’s The Roost, which bills itself as a “dining and drinking consortium.” He’s also responsible for B-Side in Fairfax, Virginia, and Red Apron Butcher in The Roost. Anda says that at Hi/Fi, he uses Skippy Super Chunk in his El-Vez taco, “a play on Elvis’ favorite sandwich.” That taco features the chef’s smoked pork belly in place of crispy bacon, paired with fried plantain, which stands in for banana; sweet-and-sour habanero jelly; and crunchy peanut butter. “I prefer the Skippy crunchy because it doesn’t separate when it hits the warm tortilla,” Anda explains, a great tip if you’re using peanut butter in a hot application like a taco.

Terry Wong is one of Houston’s most diverse restaurateurs. He opened Asian-influenced Blood Bros BBQ in 2018 and now includes LuLoo’s Day & Night, known for its fabulous desserts and smoke-inflected sandwiches, and a role as culinary director at modern Malaysian restaurant Phat Eatery among his bragging rights. He says that he likes Skippy peanut butter best but will use Smucker’s, too, if the craving arises. “I’m super basic,” he admits. “I put it in banana smoothies, on pancakes, dates, PB&J and, of course, on our Sticky Ribs.” Blood Bros BBQ is famous for that particular recipe, a regular special on Thai Day Friday at the restaurant. It features a portion of ribs lightly coated in Thai-inspired peanut butter glaze, crushed peanuts and flamingly hot Thai chiles. 

The Bottom Line

Skippy peanut butter, with its in-your-face peanut flavor, has stolen chefs’ hearts for reasons beyond its childhood nostalgia. While chances are Skippy is nothing new in your pantry, these three chefs prove that there are plenty of novel ways to use it. Once you’ve grazed your way through their ideas, we’ve got plenty more, including more than 40 recipes that range from West African sweet potato-peanut soup to a refreshing Peanut Zucchini Noodle Salad with Chicken.