Your Peanut Butter Sandwich Is Missing This Staple Ingredient

Peanut butter doesn't just go well with jelly on a sandwich. There are dozens of peanut butter sandwich combinations, and they can get pretty involved. You can elevate this plain sandwich to gourmet by making a goat cheese PB&J, or turn it into dessert and deep-fry your peanut butter and jelly. Having survived off plain peanut butter and white bread sandwiches during childhood (a can of Coke always washed it down!), this writer is certainly thankful for options in the world of peanut butter sandwiches. And no matter how you make them, there is one ingredient that will make your PB&J that much better: butter.

Adding butter to your peanut butter sandwich makes it creamier, less sticky, and easier to eat. The fats in the butter also amplify the natural salty and nutty flavors in the peanut butter, making the whole sandwich taste that much better. At first glance it might seem redundant; after all, both spreads have the word "butter" in them. But adding a thin layer of high-quality butter or ghee brings a whole different dimension to your sandwich.

Adding butter to a PB sandwich is very straightforward — just spread a thin layer of it on two slices of bread before you add your peanut butter and other ingredients. It'll get even better if you toast the buttered bread before building the rest of your sandwich. Butter also adds an extra layer of nutrients, like fat, to your meal. That makes it an easy way to sneak in some extra nutrition if you're dealing with picky eaters. If nobody sees you add the butter, it's very likely they won't even notice the extra ingredient — just the amped up flavor and the enhanced creamy texture.

The best thing about PB&J is that you can tailor it to your unique tastes — people are constantly inventing their own version of the classic lunchtime staple. Elvis Presley famously loved his banana and bacon. Others add lemon curd to their PB&J for a refreshing and zesty twist, or pickles, strawberries and honey, apples and raisins, and even protein, like spicy pork. No matter how you build you peanut butter sandwich creation, butter will deepen the flavors, bringing the whole sandwich to the next level.