Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are a classic American sandwich made using peanut butter, jelly, and bread.
A peanut butter and jelly sandwich typically consists of two slices of bread, a generous serving of fruit preserves, and a good dollop of peanut butter.
For most people, that and how good they taste is all they know about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Today, we’re going to change that by telling you more about this classic sweet-tasting sandwich.
If you’ve ever wondered how healthy a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is or how many calories one contains, you’ve come to the right place.
In this post, we’re going to tell you exactly how many calories are in a PB&J sandwich and how nutritious they are.
If you want to enjoy your PB&J without feeling any guilt, make sure you keep reading!
How Many Calories Does A Peanut Butter And Jelly Sandwich Contain?
Let’s get straight to the point by answering the main question that brought you to this post.
Usually, a peanut butter sandwich made with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter, two slices of white bread, and 1 tablespoon of jelly will contain 376 calories.
However, it is worth noting that this figure can change depending on a number of factors. For example, white bread tends to contain more calories than whole-grain bread.
Therefore, your PB&J sandwich will contain fewer calories if you use whole-grain bread.
Another example of how the calorie count can change is when you use different types of peanut butter. Generally speaking, crunchy peanut butter contains less calories than smooth peanut butter.
Having said all that, the calories in your peanut butter and jelly sandwich won’t change that much. Even if you make a healthier peanut butter and jelly sandwich, you might only reduce the calories by 50 or 60 calories.
Are Peanut Butter And Jelly Sandwiches Healthy?
Most people would consider the classic PB&J to be an unhealthy sandwich.
Whilst there are things that make the sandwich unhealthy, it could be argued that there are plenty of things that make it healthy too.
For example, despite being high in sugars and fats, the combination of peanut butter and bread also provides us with protein, iron, zinc, and B vitamins.
Peanut butter is also a good source of unsaturated fats. Therefore, it could be argued that this type of sandwich is actually quite nutritious.
Nutritional Facts
To give you a better understanding of how nutritious a PB&J sandwich is, let’s take a closer look at its nutritional value.
A standard peanut butter and jelly sandwich will contain approximately 16 grams of sugar. This is a significant amount considering that the recommended intake of sugar is just 20 grams for women and 36 grams for men.
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches also contain 16 grams of fat. However, it’s worth remembering that 80% of this fat is healthier, unsaturated fats with no cholesterol.
After that, things start to look a lot better.
A PB&J sandwich also contains 13 grams of protein, 20 percent off our daily recommended intake of vitamin E, 42 percent of our niacin intake, calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc.
In fact, this type of sandwich can be responsible for 30 percent of our daily iron intake and 13 percent of our zinc intake.
How Can We Make The Classic PB&J Healthier?
If you follow a strict diet that currently prevents you from tucking into a delicious peanut butter and jelly sandwich, you’ll be pleased to hear that there are things we can do to make a healthier PB&J sandwich.
One of the best ways to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich healthier is to use low-sugar jelly.
This will significantly reduce the amount of sugar in your sandwich, which in turn will reduce the total number of calories in the sandwich.
Some people leave the jelly out altogether, but for us, that spoils the sandwich. Simple things like using the healthiest type of bread and the right peanut butter can also make a big difference.
Healthier types of bread and peanut butter contain fewer calories, fewer carbohydrates, and healthier fats.
For the healthiest PB&J sandwich, we recommend using whole-grain bread, low-sugar jelly, and crunchy peanut butter.
Depending on how much of each ingredient you use to make the sandwich, you could easily reduce the number of calories by 60 or 70 calories.
Variations
Another way to cut the calories in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich is to opt for a different variation of the sandwich.
There are simple variations we can use to create a tasty PB&J sandwich but with fewer calories, fats, and sugars.
For example, we can use sliced fruit or honey as a jelly substitute. This will reduce the overall amount of sugar in the sandwich. Marshmallow fluff can also be used instead of jelly.
To reduce the overall amount of fat in the sandwich, some people use almond butter instead of peanut butter. Seed butter is a lot healthier too.
It isn’t uncommon for people to use cream cheese or Nutella instead of peanut butter too.
Can You Eat A Peanut Butter And Jelly Sandwich On A Diet?
Depending on the type of diet you’re following, the answer to this question is yes and no.
However, generally speaking, the nutritional value of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich does allow it to be part of a well-balanced diet.
In fact, it’s widely believed that peanut butter and jelly sandwiches can be part of a weight loss regime.
Final Thoughts
In this post, we’ve looked at how many calories there are in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You should now know roughly how many calories your PB&J sandwich contains.
You can expect the number to be around the 370-calorie mark.
We’ve also told you how healthy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are, how nutritious they are, and what we can do to make them healthier.
As a result, you should have a much better understanding of the PB&J sandwich.
If you want to cut calories, why don’t you try one of the variations we mentioned?
One of the most common things I talk to my clients about is calories, but so few of them actually know anything about them.
Calories is not a dirty word. If you remove emotion from it, it is simply a unit of energy.
We need calories to live and thrive, and knowing how many to consume is important to ensure that you’re living a healthy lifestyle.
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