NFL players love Uncrustables. How does the classic stack up against higher protein PB&J dupes?

The NFL season has begun, which means the return of Fantasy Football leagues, Sundays by the TV and … Uncrustables peanut butter and jelly sandwiches flying off the shelves.

Smucker’s Uncrustables are the convenient, crustless and prepackaged version of PB&J that’s popular with kindergartners — but an ever bigger hit with football stars. According to the Athletic, NFL players eat at least 80,000 of the defrostable sandwiches a year, with San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle religiously eating a couple on flights to away games and Kansas City Chiefs defensive end Mike Danna relying on the snack both at the team facility and at home. Travis Kelce even claims that they’re his favorite food. “I eat an Uncrustables probably more than I eat anything else in the world,” he said in an episode of his podcast, New Heights.

That isn’t surprising to nutritionists who say that Uncrustables make sense as a go-to snack for professional athletes. “NFL players likely eat them for quick energy before, during or after training practices,” Rachel Ozut, a registered dietitian, tells Yahoo. “They are balanced snacks with moderate fat and protein, but higher in carbohydrate in the form of quick, easily digestible carbs such as jelly and bread with no prep time needed.”

But are Uncrustables due for an update? With protein being king — and popping up in things like coffee — right now, other brands are releasing their own protein-packed takes on the crustless PB&J. The OG Smuckers Uncrustables has 6 grams of protein per sandwich, while the Trader Joe’s version has 7 grams. Then there’s the newbie backed by star athletes like Alex Morgan and Micah Parsons: Jams, sold exclusively at Walmart, which has a whopping 10 grams of protein.

There are other nutritional differences among the three brands, like fiber, added sugar and fat, but we wanted to know: Does the protein count affect the taste? It was time for a taste test. Here’s how it went down.

How we tested

I was among three testers from the Yahoo News team in New York, alongside Senior Home and Garden Editor Jessica Dodell-Feder and Senior Social Editor Angel Mendoza. Each of us was blindfolded and given three unidentified PB&J sandwiches to sample. We took bites of each one, describing the flavors and textures along the way, and ultimately made guesses about which was the high-protein option. (You can watch the video here.) Only one of us (me!) got it right.

What we found

The Trader Joe’s version was initially the most deceptive because of its shape. Like Uncrustables, the snack is round with a crimped edge. But with the first bite, each of us had a similar takeaway about the experience. I described it as “sticky and chewy,” while Dodell-Feder said the bread was “so doughy.” Mendoza put it best when he said, “Definitely needs some milk.”

Both Dodell-Feder and Mendoza later guessed that this version was the highest in protein. To their surprise, this TJ’s brand is actually 3 grams lower in protein, 2 grams lower in fiber and 2 grams higher in added sugar than Jams.

Jams, which touts higher protein without the addition of dyes, seed oils or high-fructose corn syrup, was an immediate outlier because of its rectangular shape; it also seemed more substantial than the other two sandwiches being tested. Its bread was “a lot softer” than the TJ’s version, Mendoza pointed out.

Dodell-Feder noted the sweetness of the jelly, which was less obvious to me. “I tasted a lot more peanut butter than jelly,” I said. “But I’m a peanut butter girlie, so that ratio is fine for me.” All in all, everyone was content with sandwich No. 2.

Finally, we moved on to the Uncrustables. Despite our blindfolds, Dodell-Feder and Mendoza instantly clocked it as the classic. “No. 3 felt most like childhood to me,” said Mendoza.

Because I’d never had an Uncrustables before, my feedback was only that it tasted “immediately sweeter” than the others. Smuckers Uncrustables does have the most sugar, at 10 grams (9 of which are added). Still, Dodell-Feder thought it tasted “healthier than the others.”

When it came time to guess which was the highest in protein, she and Mendoza both stated that it was sandwich No. 1 from Trader Joe’s. I was the only one to correctly point to option 2 (humblebrag), which was Jams, simply because I could tell it had more peanut butter. What we all agreed on was that Jams was the one we’d eat again.

What an expert says

“PB&J is a popular snack because it is quick, filling, relatively affordable, nonperishable and nostalgic,” says Ozut. “The savory, nutty flavor of peanut butter mixed with sweet jelly is a classic and pleasurable combination, and the ingredients are typically all relatively cheap and can last awhile.”

Prepackaged PB&J sandwiches, like the ones that we tested, make for ultimate convenience. And although Ozut says that the nutritional differences between the three are marginal for the average person, there’s still reason to go for one over the others.

“If it is for an athlete needing quick energy and less fat pre-workout, Uncrustables may be a better choice. For those looking for a high-fiber, higher protein snack for sustained energy, Walmart’s Jams may be the better choice,” she says. “Price may also play a role. Uncrustables is the cheapest, then TJ’s, then Jam’s.”

The higher protein, fiber and calorie count of Jams might make it more satiating than the other options, while the Uncrustables and Trader Joe’s sandwiches are more beneficial to athletes because of the added sugar for energy and lower fiber, which makes them easier to digest.

Ozut recommends pairing any of the PB&J snacks with fresh fruit or a vegetable to make it a more balanced meal, and ultimately going for the option that you enjoy most. “At the end of the day, we are likely going to reach for the things that we enjoy eating,” she says. “A healthy lifestyle and healthy eating habits are about bridging the gap between taste, pleasure and nutritional impact.”