Apple Slices with Peanut Butter
Slice an apple into wedges, spread two tablespoons of peanut butter across them, and that is 319 calories with 7 grams of fiber, 11 grams of protein, and a fat-to-carb balance that has been specifically studied in clinical trials on nut butters and blood sugar.
More than half the calories come from peanut butter’s monounsaturated fat. The apple adds pectin, a soluble fiber that gels during digestion and slows everything down. Two ingredients, about a quarter of your daily fiber target, three minutes, zero cooking.
Ingredients
- apple 1
- peanut butter 2 tablespoons
Method
-
Wash the apple and slice it into thin wedges.
-
Spread the peanut butter onto each slice of apple.
-
Enjoy your delicious and healthy snack!
Tart apple varieties like Granny Smith or Honeycrisp hold up better under the weight of the peanut butter and give you a sharper flavor contrast against the richness. Softer varieties like Fuji tend to bend at the edges and lose the crunch that makes this pairing work.
Behind this recipe
Is peanut butter too high in fat for a snack?
More than half of this snack’s 319 calories come from fat, mostly monounsaturated (the same kind found in olive oil and avocados). When researchers tested 42.5 grams of peanut butter alongside a high-carb breakfast in a crossover trial of 15 women, the peanut butter group showed elevated fullness hormones and reduced desire to eat for up to 12 hours compared to the control. The fat is not a problem to work around. It is what researchers found drives the satiety response.
Does the sugar in the apple make this bad for weight loss?
A collection of 169 controlled feeding trials found that fructose (the type of sugar in fruit) does not cause any special fat-gain effect when total calories are matched. The apple in this recipe contributes 24 grams of total carbs, but those carbs come packaged with about 4 grams of pectin fiber that slows how quickly the sugar reaches your bloodstream. The peanut butter’s fat adds another layer of slowing on top.
Read the full evidence reviewCan I make this ahead of time?
The apple starts browning within about 30 minutes once sliced. Spread the peanut butter onto each wedge immediately after cutting, as it acts as a partial barrier against air contact. A few drops of lemon juice over the exposed edges before adding the peanut butter slows browning further. Stored in a sealed container in the fridge, the snack holds well for about four to six hours.
