Celebrate National Peanut Month with these 23 recipes

Poached chicken, sweet potatoes, chickpeas, kale, jalapenos, peanut butter, crushed peanuts, and a blend of spices go into this African soup from The Modern Proper. It’s served in chicken stock, crushed tomato, and tomato paste broth, which may actually make it closer to a stew than a soup.

Boiled peanuts are a Southern specialty and something of an acquired taste. Whether it’s your first time trying them or they’re an old favorite, we recommend these Cajun boiled peanuts from A Spicy Perspective, which can be made in the crockpot, instant pot, or stovetop. 

These chocolate-covered balls of peanut butter fudge can be easily made at home with a recipe like this one from Preppy Kitchen. In case you’re wondering about the name, it comes from the dessert’s resemblance to the nuts of the buckeye tree. The most notable difference between the two is that one is a delicious candy treat, and the other is very, very poisonous (if not prepared properly).

Chikki is an Indian version of brittle, but it’s less like a piece of candy and more like a Rice Krispies square, as the nuts or puffed rice or chickpeas are more prominently featured than the sticky coating. Similar to brittle, one of the most popular kinds is made with peanuts, like this version from Swasthi’s Recipes.

The peanut butter frosting is the part that qualifies for this list, so really any type of cupcake can be used. Of course, chocolate and peanut butter are as good of a duo as peanut butter and jelly (in our opinion), so we’re going with these chocolate peanut butter cupcakes from Live Well Bake Often.

If you want a simple dessert that packs some protein but is not loaded with added sugar, try energy bites. This version from Chef Savvy requires only five ingredients—peanut butter, oats, flax seeds, chocolate chips, and honey—and no baking.

Elvis was known to enjoy peanut butter, banana, and bacon grilled between two slices of buttered bread, which are all the ingredients in this recipe from Who Needs a Cape. They call it the “Grilled Fat Elvis Sandwich,” but we tried to be a little nicer to The King.

Unlike Americanized Chinese dishes with murky origins like General Tso’s chicken, Kung Pao chicken is actually a staple of Sichuan cuisine that’s named after a Qing Dynasty governor. The dish combines marinated chicken breast cubes, Sichuan chili peppers, and peanuts in a spicy sauce, but Western recipes—like this one from Tastes Better From Scratch—will often include bell peppers, too.

Did you know peanuts or peanut butter can be used to make a mole sauce? This recipe from Evolving Table calls for 3 tbsp of peanut butter to make the delicious dark sauce, which you can use as a meat marinade, a taco ingredient, or a topping for burritos, enchiladas, rice, and eggs—just to name a few examples.

We’ve seen some good recipes for chicken breast coated in various types of nuts, but this one from At Home With Shay is by far the most inventive. Get this: It’s marinated in coconut milk, sesame oil, and soy sauce; it’s coated in coconut, panko, and peanuts; and it’s drizzled with a sauce made of coconut milk, peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce, sesame oil, and honey.

Pad thai is such an explosion of numerous flavors that sometimes we forget peanuts are involved, especially since they’re often ground or chopped. This recipe from Feasting at Home—which can be used with chicken, shrimp, or tofu—calls for whole roasted peanuts!

A crunchy snack that stars our favorite nut, peanut brittle is not as tricky to make as most types of candy (you will, however, still need a candy thermometer). And this recipe from The Country Cook only requires peanuts and six other common kitchen ingredients. 

A holiday standard and bake-sale staple, peanut butter blossoms are a classic that combines a peanut butter cookie base with a Hershey’s kiss (or whatever the generic term for these are) on top. Try this version via All Recipes, as it’s called the “world’s easiest.” How easy? Five ingredients easy!

Fudgy dark chocolate combined with creamy, salty peanut butter? Oh, Katie Bird Bakes, your peanut butter swirl brownies have our full attention.

If the Cheesecake Factory has taught us anything, it’s that there are no limitations when it comes to menu extensiveness or the type of cheesecake you can make. In fact, peanut butter cheesecake really isn’t a huge stretch of the imagination, and Taste & Tell can show you how it’s done—including tips for the water bath.

Since we already told you about peanut butter blossoms, traditional peanut butter cookies might seem like they’re lacking. That being said, I guess we’ll really need to wow you with the recipe, and thus present this one from the Food Charlatan, which bills itself as “The best, softest peanut butter cookies of your life!”

Homemade peanut butter cups are easier than you’d think and better than you’d think. In the Kitchen with Matt (no, not me!) has a ton of tips for making a version he appropriately calls “Better Than Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.”

We enjoy any recipe that boasts a small number of ingredients, a short prep time, and the word “foolproof,” because sometimes these fools are busy! This peanut butter fudge recipe from Foodtasia checks all the boxes, as it only requires five minutes and four ingredients: peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and confectioners’ sugar.

Chocolate graham cracker crust, creamy peanut butter filling, and toppings that are only limited by your imagination, peanut butter pie is a delicious dessert option that requires just 12 minutes of oven time. As Handle the Heat explains, that’s because only the crust needs to be cooked!

We’ve had every milkshake from classic vanilla to red velvet cake to mint chocolate chip, yet we keep coming back to peanut butter. And with this recipe from Sims Home Kitchen, you can join in on all the fun. The recipe is labeled as “easy” because aside from the garnishes, you only need three ingredients: ice cream, milk, and peanut butter.

Crunchy peanut butter, honey, soy sauce, and sesame oil make up the peanut sauce in this recipe for pork dumplings from Ricardo Cuisine. You can use the sauce for other dishes, but the recipe also includes instructions for making the pork dumplings, which we highly recommend!

Marinated, skewered, and grilled meat with a peanut sauce? Sign us up. No need to fire up the grill for this pork satay recipe from Taste of Home, however, as you can bake it to perfection right in the oven. Don’t forget to save some sauce for dipping!

It’s hard to get simpler than just roasting peanuts, but the flavors of this version from Taste are anything but simple. Sea salt, sweet paprika, chili powder, and caster sugar combine to form the flavor profile of these peanuts, which only require about 15 minutes in the oven.