4 Creative Ways to Incorporate Peanut Butter into Your Cocktails

The mouth-watering world of cocktails is ever-expanding. Beyond time-tested classics like an old-fashioned or margarita, there’s a wild realm of drinks featuring everything from turmeric and coconut water to beef bullion cubes. So if a stiff drink with peanut butter calls your name, don’t find it too outlandish; there are multiple ways to make such a flavored cocktail a reality.

If you’re not feeling like playing mixologist, you could turn to pre-bottled peanut butter-flavored spirits like a peanut butter moonshine or whiskey. They’ll both certainly deliver nutty notes, and you could even pair a peanut butter whiskey with a berry liqueur if you love PB&Js. Yet, there’s something extra rewarding to imbue the drink with the nut butter yourself. Not only can you tinker with flavors to your liking, but the taste and texture translate more naturally into the drink, too.

The main issue is the consistency: Nut butter is thick yet still slightly liquid and high in fat, making it a tricky ingredient to uniformly dissolve. While fat and water-based molecules are both soluble in alcohol, they take some time to seep in. And as you may encounter while scraping at an almost-empty peanut butter jar, this substance tends to conglomerate into chunky globs. So if you simply throw peanut butter in a shaker alongside ice, don’t expect a desirable consistency. However, with the right technique — and a bit of patience — it is possible to integrate the nut butter’s aromatic essence into a drink.

For the easiest approach to integrating peanut butter into a cocktail, reach for the trusty blender. A nut butter makes a perfectly thick smoothie, so why not craft such a consistency with a boozy twist? Simply combine the peanut butter with other cocktail ingredients in a blender, and after a few minutes of high speed blending, the components meld together.

Although you could technically blend peanut butter with any liquid in a blender, the results turn especially creamy when mixed with milk (or a plant-based alternative of your choice). And if incorporating dairy into your tipple feels strange, keep in mind that there are a variety of cocktails that involve such a combination (including eggnog and mudslide). So alongside milk, throw in some aromatics like cinnamon and nutmeg, a sweetener of your choice, and a spirit like rum, and you’ll have a warm, spiced, and delightfully nutty drink. Alternatively, you could riff on a martini and use vodka instead, combined with crème de cacao for a truly decadent dessert-like build.

Meanwhile, milkshake fans might also like the creamy Mexican cocktail that is torito. Made with evaporated milk, condensed milk, vanilla, and rum (as well as peanut butter, of course), the drink really plays to the nut butter’s thick consistency. With any blended peanut butter cocktail, you’ll certainly need a straw — as well as some sipping strength — but you’ll be rewarded with a boozy, thick, and intriguingly textured drink.

If you’re feeling a more sophisticated — and intricately flavored — peanut butter integration, then turn to a fat wash. Although it may sound like a fancy term reserved for mixology bars, the technique itself is fairly straightforward. You’ll just need to evenly spread a slim layer of peanut butter on a tray and pour a liquor of your choice on top. Let it sit overnight, and then strain out the spirit using a filter. From there on out, the peanut butter booze is ready for mixing, and you can even reserve the nutty solids for baking applications

Fat-washing works like an infusion; certain peanut butter compounds dissolve in the spirit. Not only is the flavor altered, but the mouthfeel gains a silkier, fattier tinge. And while the peanut butter imbues a noticeable richness, it doesn’t dissolve completely, making it a more complex option for a bit of texture in your cocktails. As a result, you can try fat-washing peanut butter with more robustly flavored spirits like bourbon, cognac, and other barrel-aged liquors.

Furthermore, this method of integrating peanut butter enables extraordinarily malleable mixing. You can readily use the spirit in any build, stirring it into an old-fashioned, martini, and boulevardier, or shaking up a peanut-butter tinged bourbon sour or Brandy Alexander. So, to experiment with peanut butter cocktails in the most unconstrained manner, this technique is for you.

If you’re seeking to incorporate just a hint of peanut butter in a drink, then extended agitation will dissolve the foodstuff. For this technique, add the nut butter alongside other cocktail ingredients into a tightly-sealed shaker or even mason jar. Then, vigorously shake and shake; eventually the nut butter will mostly dissolve. As the butter isn’t a uniform substance, you’ll still have a few peanut bits remaining, but they’ll be small sediment rather than thick and chunky globs. And most importantly, remember to only add the ice afterward as it’ll impede the dissolving process otherwise.

Additionally, stick to incorporating only around a tablespoon of peanut butter per drink; you don’t want to create an overly thick cocktail. And to match such a texture, pair with flavored liqueurs and even heavy cream — this is destined to be a decadent drink. Consider cocktails like the peanut butter cup, which employs crème de cacao, vodka, maple syrup, and milk. Or, for a more uncommon combination, try mixing fruit juices, cinnamon liqueur, and coconut rum liqueur into a complex, sweet, and nutty cocktail.

With its strong flavor and thick texture, peanut butter is destined to be in a cocktail. Yet, perhaps you’d like it to take more of a backseat role, adding only a measured tinge of its nutty notes to the drink. Well, for such applications, consider crafting a peanut butter simple syrup. All you’ll need to do is fill a jar with hot water, peanut butter, and sugar. Then, shake vigorously until the components dissolve. Pass through a strainer to remove nut solids, but if you want a perfect syrup consistency, you can even squeeze it through a cheesecloth.

Making a simple syrup for cocktails is a fixture of bartending. And especially in recent years, handcrafted flavored syrups have increasingly appeared in cocktail recipes. So don’t rule out the creative possibilities of a peanut butter syrup. Stir it alongside bourbon into an old-fashioned, or meld with cognac into a Brandy Alexander. You can easily use this syrup in a mocktail as well, perhaps adding nutty complexity to a coffee-based beverage. There’s also the option of splitting peanut butter syrup with an unflavored simple syrup for an even more subtle layer of peanut butter flavor in any drink of your choosing.