6 Best Nutella Alternatives, And 3 To Skip

Despite the fact that people around the globe consume hundreds of thousands of tons of Nutella annually, there's something about the perfectly creamy, chocolatey, roasty spread that always feels like a bit of a secret. At least to me, okay! Whenever it's stocked in my pantry, rediscovering it feels like unearthing a hidden treasure, a scoopable delight that's better than chocolate, frosting, and peanut butter combined. It's endlessly riffable, bringing a little sophistication to any treat you add it to. 

But what's a Nutella lover to do when there's no Nutella in sight? I lived it. Stalking the aisles of a New York bodega specifically in search of the hazelnut treat years ago, brand-name Nutella was nowhere to be found. Luckily, I found the next best thing — or dare I say it? — an even better-than-Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread.

I was surprised to find there were many affordable chocolate-hazelnut Nutella alternatives out there, and tried nine of the most widely available and customer-approved versions to find the best one. It was hard, but someone had to do it. My criteria was simple: spreads that were closest to Nutella in flavor and texture (or even better). Easily found at a handful of national grocery store chains, here are six of our favorites, and a few that just didn't bring make the cut.

Billed as a "no sugar added", "low GI [glycemic index]," and "keto friendly" food, Nucolato is a surprisingly nice alternative to Nutella and other hazelnut chocolate spreads high in sugar, additives, and vaguely scary-sounding saturated fats. Nucolato is made with sunflower and coconut oils, along with the standard hazelnuts, cocoa, milk products, and soy lecithin. There is – wait for it – a whole 1 gram of sugar per serving of Nucolato. How, you might ask? An artificial sweetener called maltitol. 

Maltitol is a sugar alcohol that has fewer calories than sugar, doesn't mess with your teeth, and yes, has less of an effect on blood glucose. And before you dismiss it along with certain other artificial sweeteners –- it really does taste like sugar. As in, I had no idea it wasn't sugar before I studied the label. If anything, this hazelnut spread tastes a little lighter than other Nutella alternatives, almost like it was made with powdered sugar that melts away on your tongue. The consistency is more liquid than solid, and compared to all our other alternatives, needed a thorough mix, but the hazelnut comes through and so does milky chocolate.

This Nutella alternative is also marketed as a "better for you" chocolate hazelnut spread, albeit somewhat subtly. As with Nucolato, the draw here is no added sugar, but even with a paltry 3 grams of sugar per serving, the spread is sweet as can be. You can thank our friend maltitol, once again, for this food science wizardry. Good Good is the perfect consistency: thick, glossy, and smooth with no need to mix. It's also delicious –- probably worth the markup, if you're into consuming less sugar. The hazelnut flavor is strong, but so is the milk chocolate, and there's the same warm richness here as Nutella itself, and in the Great Value and Signature Select versions, as well as my upgrade picks. Bonus points: This packaging is cute as can be, with a compact jar and a cheery print on the label — smiley face included. 

One teensy downside of maltitol, though: It's also a laxative. Just don't go eating the whole tub in one go (which might be more difficult than it sounds).

Straight from Walmart's Great Value brand, this knockoff Nutella was both affordable –- it costs even less than Nutella itself –- and surprisingly delicious. This may have been the closest to Nutella itself. It was a thick, creamy, spreadable consistency and tastes like milk chocolate with a distinct hazelnut flavor (surprisingly, a few of the contenders were short on this). It's a touch sweeter than some of our sweet spreads at 19 grams of sugar per serving. There was no separation, thanks to lecithins, modified palm oil, and regular palm oil. 

Unfortunately, this knockoff and others, along with the original Nutella, rely on the noted rainforest-destroyer and environment degrader palm oil for their consistency, but we have it on good authority that most commodity crops (not just palm) cause a great deal of damage to the earth. But if what you're looking for is an affordable Nutella doppelganger as an occasional treat, Great Value is a solid option on merit alone.

Albertson's brand of hazelnut chocolate spread was also a pretty good copycat for the one and only Nutella. With 23 grams of sugar per serving — a whopping 44% of your daily value — it's not anyone's idea of a health food, but when was Nutella ever healthy? Its consistency isn't quite as spot-on as Great Value's, but it's still quite smooth, and very thick and shiny. The hazelnut flavor is there, and so is the milk chocolate. Palm oil here again, which might turn some away, but this brand is quite affordable compared to many other options I tried. 

One small gripe: It had a small layer of oil on top and had to be mixed in the tub, but it's a small price to pay for a hazelnut spread that's fairly close to the original, and smells great to boot. Nothing complicated here, just straightforward hazelnut chocolate. 

I knew this French Nutella alternative was bound to be good – I mean, just look at the glass jar, with its elegant cursive and sweet gingham lid. I feel fancy every time I buy one of Bonne Maman's jams, and this Hazelnut Chocolate Spread is no exception. This spread was a little more liquid than most others, but it didn't detract at all from the experience. It is still very well blended –- almost silky –- with no need for mixing. It tastes rich, creamy, and oh-so-hazelnutty, without a trace of artificial flavor. The sugar content is about on par with our other picks — sweeter than the health-conscious Nucolato and Good Good, but not as sweet as two of the chain store generic brands. 

Bonus: Bonne Maman skips the palm oil, though it does use another standard emulsifier, lecithin, along with sunflower and rapeseed oils. At a few dollars more than Nutella for a bigger jar, this smooth French sweet isn't too steep.

This Italian hazelnut spread was the clear and undisputed winner, though it's quite a splurge at almost three times the cost of a standard jar of Nutella. Let me tell you though, this luxe upgrade might just be worth it (and yes, this was the hazelnut spread I found one night while desperate for Nutella and coming up empty-handed). Nocciolata's spread is oh-so-creamy and smooth, with a rich milk chocolate taste and above all, a deep, roasted hazelnut flavor. The taste of toasty hazelnuts here makes every other alternative almost pale in comparison –- do they grow them in Italy with some kind of magic potion? This is like the essence of hazelnut gelato, slurped along the Northern coast of Italy, captured in a jar. It even smells incredible. 

Notably, Nocciolata is also the only fully organic product of the bunch. Go figure that this Italian import outshines them all –- Italians really do, in fact, do it better.

I enjoyed every chocolate hazelnut spread in the bunch — it's impossible not to love a dollop of toasty, nutty, chocolate spread on a spoon. But as far as actually resembling classic Nutella, these three were the least similar.

Peanut Butter & Co's Milk Chocolatey Hazelnut was darker than the other contenders and a little more cocoa-powdery. The label notes "real dairy" and "certified sustainable palm oil," designations that may not mean much in the grand scheme of things except to justify a hefty markup. Ultimately, it tasted more like lightly sweetened cocoa mixed with hazelnuts, and missed some of the creamy richness of Nutella.

Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut & Almond Butter is the only alternative that incorporated another nut besides hazel. Unsurprisingly, the predominant taste here is almond butter. And don't get me wrong, it's delicious: grainy, thick, with just a hint of salt. There's something very satisfying about this hefty, wholesome spread that's only lightly sweetened at 8 grams per serving. But Justin's is quite different from Nutella, and much more expensive. Another quibble: The jar was noticeably not filled to the top – what gives, Justin?

Good & Gather Hazelnut Spread with Cocoa from Target hit a few of the right notes: It was the right consistency, with no separation and plenty of creamy milk chocolate. But there was something just the slightest bit artificial -– not to mention, it was one of the sweetest of the bunch with a whopping 23 grams of sugar per serving. Hazelnuts were present, but not as assertive as in my other picks. It tasted a tiny bit more like frosting than the others, but was still delicious and very affordable.