PB&J will have our hearts forever, but between peanut allergies and people going Paleo, it seems like the OG nut butter is slowly being phased out.
But it’s hard to get too down about that when there’s an alternative like sunflower seed butter around. Creamy and with a mild flavor, this stuff is as easy to use as its nut-based counterparts, but even higher in healthy fats, magnesium, and vitamin E. If you aren’t acquainted yet, these 19 sunflower butter recipes (stretching from breakfast to dessert) will convince you that you need a jar in your kitchen, stat.
1. “Peanut” Butter and Jelly Chia Pudding
This sandwich-inspired breakfast takes the classic PB&J flavors into 2018, swapping out the peanut butter for its allergy-friendly cousin. With a parfait-like layering of the seed butter chia pudding and cooked raspberries, it might be your new favorite way to enjoy a classic combo.
2. Pineapple Sunbutter Oatmeal
Never thought of adding pineapple to your oatmeal? Try this recipe and you’ll wonder why you didn’t sooner. Juicy chunks of the fruit are a perfect contrast to the creamier, richer sunflower seed butter.
3. Dried Cherry, Sunflower Butter, and Buckwheat Granola
With buckwheat groats, gluten-free oats, coconut oil, and sunflower butter, this nut-free and vegan granola is safe to serve to just about anyone. Forget the yogurt; you’ll be eating this by the handful.
4. Sunbutter, Honey, and Banana Muffins
Whether you’ve got a peanut-free school to deal with or your colleague at work starts sneezing at the mere thought of tree nuts, these allergen-, gluten- and dairy-free sunflower butter treats work for any hungry breakfast or bake sale crowd. That’s if you’re sharing—we don’t blame you if you keep the entire batch for yourself.
5. Gluten-Free Sunbutter Breakfast Cookies
If your inner cookie monster is so fierce that you even wake up craving the baked goods, you’ll be glad to know that these are perfectly acceptable to reach for first thing in the morning. Regular butter is replaced with the sunflower-based stuff, which adds a subtle sweetness to the lower-sugar treats.
6. Grain-Free Sunbutter Banana Bread
You don’t usually find nut or seed butter in banana bread, but you may not make it any other way after tasting this. The sunflower butter is unmistakable without being overpowering and adds lots of filling fat to the grain-free recipe.
7. Collard Green Spring Rolls + Sunbutter Dipping Sauce
Not in the mood for a typical salad? Roll with these. The rich sunflower seed butter dipping sauce is a fantastic creamy contrast to these fresh, crunchy veggie bundles and makes getting your produce for the day so much fun.
8. Sriracha Hemp Noodles
These aren’t your regular Asian noodles, but every twist on tradition has delicious results, from the sunflower seed butter stepping in for the peanut kind to coconut aminos replacing soy and the hemp rather than sesame seed garnish.Add some veggies for a well-rounded, easy weeknight meal.
9. Crunchy Veggie Quinoa Salad
Meet the salad you should eat when you don’t feel like eating salad. Bursting with chewy quinoa, all sorts of produce, edamame, and a silky sunflower butter dressing, this is so much more than just a pile of veggies.
10. Spring Roll Bowls With Sunflower Butter Sauce
Do away with the fried exterior (who needs that grease, anyway?) and make it all about the spring roll filling in these hearty grain bowls. Unlike with regular rolls, you don’t need to worry about double-dipping on the sauce here, either—it’s mixed right into the rice, shrimp, and veggies, so you get plenty of sunbuttery goodness in each bite.
11. Allergy-Friendly “Peanut” Tempeh
Plain old tempeh can taste pretty bland, but a coating of sunflower seed butter, soy, and maple syrup fixes that right up. Baked to crispy, sweet, and nutty perfection, these protein-rich bites are best in a grain bowl or a salad.
12. Sunflower Seed Butter Sauce Drenched Carrot Noodles With Black Bean “Meatballs”
Get your vegan protein fix in this hearty, inventive take on spaghetti and meatballs. Each vegan ball is a bite-size nutritional powerhouse of flaxseeds, black beans, oats, and sunflower seed butter, only to be kicked up a nutritional notch with the accompanying seed butter sauce and fiber-rich carrot noodles.
13. Sunflower Butter Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
Thumbprint cookies are cute, but they’re also usually a lot of white flour, sugar, and shortening. This lower-carb recipe opts for coconut flour, and if you’re using no-sugar-added jam and sunflower butter, these are also entirely naturally sweetened. It’s even somewhat acceptable to eat the entire seven-cookie batch at once.
14. Fudgy Sunbutter Brownies With Sea Salt
Anyone who believes that brownies should be chewy, not cakey, should make these. This recipe includes an entire cup of sunflower seed butter and coconut oil, and there’s no flour in sight, so you know the end results are as fudgy as the name promises.
15. Sunflower Cacao Balls
Packed with dates, sunflower butter, and cocoa powder, these pretty and portable treats work as well for post-exercise fuel as they do for dessert. And artificial coloring has nothing to do with that pop of red color—it’s all from freeze-dried raspberries.
16. Maple Walnut Vegan Fudge
These melt-in-your-mouth squares may be called fudge, but they don’t contain a hint of refined sugar, butter, or milk. Instead, it’s all about the sunflower butter and maple syrup flavors, with chopped walnuts sprinkled on top for a fun texture contrast.
17. Sunbutter Sweet Potato Brownies
There’s a lot going on in here that you wouldn’t expect in traditional brownies: sunflower butter, puréed sweet potatoes, coconut flour, and maple syrup. But don’t knock ’em til you try ’em; with all the cocoa powder and chocolate chips, plus that sweet sunflower butter swirl, they’ll meet all of your expectations.
18. Chocolate Banana Sunflower Butter Truffles
With a crackly outer dark chocolate shell and a smooth sunflower butter center, these truffles are as rich as anything Godiva can come up with but have a leg up for being vegan and Paleo-friendly. Don’t expect them to last long.
19. No-Bake Sunbutter Crunch Bars
The peanut- and grain-free answer to the classic Little Debbie crunch bars, these silky chocolate-topped squares feature sunflower butter, maple syrup, and pecans, with a touch of sea salt for an irresistible sweet and savory combo. Make ’em when you want to win at dessert without having to turn on the oven.
