Many years ago, back when I was selling muesli out the back of a sharehouse like a health store drug dealer, I made my own Nutella – sorry, choc-hazelnut spread. I used organic hazelnuts (roasted myself), fancy single-origin cocoa and either demerara sugar or maple syrup. I blended it all in my barely functioning dollar-store blender, causing it to overheat and cook the mixture. I was left with a goopy cake batter that looked like the excrement of a cosmic reptile. But I’ve never been one for beauty over substance, so I ate it. It was phenomenal.
I spent the rest of the day sourcing (I was a student, so I wasn’t about to buy one) a better blender to give it another go. The spread I made that afternoon was, to this day, one of the best things I have ever made.
So when my editor suggested taste testing supermarket Nutellas (sorry, choc-hazelnut spreads), I thought about that spread, and how after 20 years it’s time I tasted paradise again. I know what Nutella tastes like – you probably do too. But I know it can be much better and that’s what I wanted to find.
Joining me for the taste test were six friends plus my partner, who once told me she hated Nutella, only to eat an entire tub of it while I wasn’t watching the next day. We blind-tested 11 brands straight and on toast. Each spread was judged on taste and texture, and all the reviews were aggregated to give each product a score out of 10.
Sadly, I didn’t find my unicorn; I didn’t find anything even close to it. What I did find were five brands trying to taste exactly like Nutella, five mostly horrendous products trying to provide a “healthy” or allergen-free alternative – and one that just confused everyone.
Best overall
Nutella Hazelnut Chocolate Spread, 220g, $4.50 ($2.05 per 100g), available at major supermarkets
Score: 8.5/10
I’ve included two winners here because, although Nutella got the highest score on the day (101 out of 120), it only beat No Nasties by two points. There is also the complication that all the reviewers recognised Nutella as soon as they tasted it (predictably, no one guessed any of the other brands). Nostalgia is a powerful tool and I have no doubt it contributed extra points. (Many reviewers criticised other brands for being too sweet, but Nutella, at 56g of sugar per 100g, had the second-highest sugar content of the products we tasted.) If I’d never tasted Nutella before, what would I say? Who knows, maybe I’d obsess over how homogenised it is – it’s one perfect, shiny, spreadable mass of sugar, palm oil, hazelnuts, milk powder and cocoa. Or maybe I’d say it’s quite sweet, not particularly hazelnutty and lacking any unpleasant aftertaste – not something I can say about many of its competitors. But I have eaten a lot of Nutella in my life, so I just think it tastes good.
The No Nasties Project 50% Less Sugar Choc Hazelnut Spread, 350g, $6.20 ($1.77 per 100g), available at Woolworths
Score: 8.5/10
No Nasties is so close to being what I want in a chocolate hazelnut spread. It has a strong cocoa flavour, it’s easily the least sweet option (several reviewers described it as “adult Nutella”) and, unlike other “healthy” alternatives, it hasn’t compromised on the glossy spreadability that I love about other mass-produced spreads (if anything, this is too liquidy). As one reviewer wrote: “These guys actually care about their product.” Like Nutella and many of its competitors, this is only 13% nuts, which is only enough to give a faint hazelnut flavour. It begs the question: what is it made of? The label says “zero palm oil”, and there is 22g of sugar per 100g – substantially less than Nutella at 56g – but ironically for a brand called No Nasties, the main ingredient is still oil – plain-old refined vegetable oil. Luckily, vegetable oil is flavourless so the only way you’ll notice is if you eat it off the spoon and see it leaking out the side of your dollop.
Best value
Leo Coco Belgian Milk Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread, 325g, $4.50 ($1.38 per 100g), available at Coles
Score: 8/10
The most common note about Leo Coco was how similar it was to Nutella. But as one reviewer wrote, it’s “the older uncle of the Nutella family tree, a reliable provider but not quite the centre of the family”. The recurring criticism was it’s a bit too sweet to challenge the OG, Nutella, which is confusing, considering this has slightly lower sugar content (53g per 100g).
Note: while we’re on the topic of best value, I want to flag that the Aldi chocolate hazelnut spread, Bramwells, was unavailable when we did this taste test – but I did nab some from my neighbour the next day. At 87c per 100g it is significantly cheaper than any of the other brands we tried and, like Leo Coco, is astoundingly similar to Nutella in ingredients, nutritional profile and flavour. The only reason to buy Leo Coco over Bramwell is because the jar looks fancier in your pantry.
The rest
Pana Organic Smooth Hazelnut Chocolate Spread, 200g, $7.60 ($3.80 per 100g), available at major supermarkets
Score: 8/10
Pana is the Benjamin Button of flavour experiences: it starts as an adult – complex, nutty and even slightly bitter. But, as one reviewer wrote, that flavour “fades quickly to Nestlé Easter eggs”. That can be easily explained by the 24% hazelnuts and 9% cocoa, which makes this the most nutty and third-most chocolatey spread of the day. But like almost every product we tried, the nutrition panel shows an astounding amount of sugars, more than 50g per 100g. But if sweetness were a problem, we wouldn’t be eating Nutella at all. Like the OG this is delicious, just a little nuttier.
Vego Organic Fine Hazelnut Chocolate Spread Crunchy, 200g, $8.99 ($4.50 per 100g), available at Harris Farm
Score: 7.5/10
Many of the reviewers, including my partner who openly covets Ferrero Rochers, described this as the Ferrero Rocher of chocolate spreads. That’s thanks to a high cocoa content (10%, equal highest with Natvia) and all the hazelnut chunks. Only one reviewer (confusingly, also a Ferrero Rocher fan) scored it less than seven out of 10, and said aside from the “fun nut bits”, it was “monotone sweet”.
Bonne Maman Hazelnut Chocolate Spread, 250g, $8 ($3.20 per 100g), available at major supermarkets
Score: 7/10
One reviewer wrote “like a cheap idea of Nutella, no depth”, two reviewers said it tasted like the OG but sweeter, and one incorrectly guessed it was the Aldi brand, describing it as the “white picket fence option”. Another wrote it was like a “boring” ex. The weird thing was its sweetness – like honey, but honey from a horde of bees with terminal illnesses. It’s not bad but it’s not quite right. I’m guessing that’s from the “natural vanilla flavour” in the ingredients list which, judging by the price of real vanilla, is probably as natural as the small talk I trotted out at a work event two weeks ago.
Leo Coco Belgian White Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread, 325g, $4.50 ($1.38 per 100g), available at Coles
Score: 7/10
Unsurprisingly, a white chocolate spread with the lowest percentage of hazelnuts (4%) but the highest sugar content (59g per 100g) divided the reviewers. My partner, who gave it a 3.5 out of 10, wrote: “Tastes like what you’d eat on an ultra marathon, pure sugar.” Another, who scored it a five, wrote only: “Veto, not Nutella.” My favourite comment, from a reviewer who gave it an almost perfect score, was “maybe my love for this means I have a child’s [palate]”. If you have a child’s palate, are an actual child or just love white chocolate, then this is an exceptional product.
Nutino Hazelnut Spread, 220g, $4.20 ($1.91 per 100g), available at Harris Farm and Woolworths
Score: 6.5/10
Extremely similar to Nutella but slightly worse. The texture is grainy, it’s not completely homogenised, it’s very sweet but not particularly nutty or chocolatey. It is a little milkier in taste but I don’t think that is going to sway anyone either way. This summary from one reviewer is all you need to know: “I would eat this over Nutella if it’s healthier or cheaper, otherwise [there’s] no point to this.” It has slightly less sugar and is fractionally cheaper than Nutella, but I don’t think your doctor or bank account is going to notice the difference.
Buddee Chocolate Spread, 270g, $4.50 ($1.67 per 100g), available at major supermarkets
Score: 4.5/10
Instead of hazelnuts, Buddee uses chickpeas. “Hey, I’m school safe,” the jar, website and Instagram say, inferring every other product on the shelf is school unsafe. Some reviewers didn’t mind the substitution, describing the overall experience as eating salty cake batter. “I am confused but I don’t hate it,” one wrote. I did not agree. It smells like confectionery, has a huge hit of sweetness which turns into a stale flour taste. It’s also oily, grainy and a bit claggy (I felt as though I was eating straight tahini). Like one reviewer said, “I respect it for being different” but picking a jar of Nutella off the shelf is the decision-making equivalent of going to the new-release section of the video store: you’re not in the mood for a wacky arthouse experience.
Natvia Hazelnut Spread, 350g, $7.20 ($2.06 per 100g), available at Coles
Score: 4.5/10
After smelling this, one reviewer said: “This is made of ingredients that do not exist in nature.” After tasting it, he wrote down the same thing and underlined “do not” for emphasis. While the main ingredient for most of the spreads we tried is sugar, Natvia’s main ingredient is maltitol, a sweetener that gives a menthol-like slight cooling effect to your mouth. When it’s the primary ingredient of a product, it’s not going to taste subtle. It smells and tastes, more than anything else, like the worst kind of artificial sweetener. Many reviewers thought it had a playdough flavour; one said it “tastes like soy milk from 2006”. The only reason this didn’t come last is because, texturally, it’s fine.
VGood Hazel-not Choc Chickpea Butter, 310g, $5.99 ($1.93 per 100g), available at Harris Farm
Score: 3/10
This tastes like under-seasoned legumes (literally what it’s made of) but with the texture of thick tahini, so powerfully claggy it made my shoulders curl into my chest. One reviewer said it was the only “chewable” spread; eating it, they said, felt like they were jousting wet cement. Another wrote “it tastes like a phoned-in vegan alternative”. One reviewer applied a bit of the spread to a plate and stuck her spoon to it so the handle hung off the side of the plate like a pirate ship plank. For the next 15 minutes, the spoon did not move. “Invincible engineering properties,” they wrote.
