The Easiest Way To Infuse Vodka With Bold Peanut Butter Flavor

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Peanut butter's nuttiness can bring a nice twist to classic cocktails like white Russians, espresso martinis, and even spirit-forward drinks like the old fashioned. The lightly sweet, roasted notes work so well in alcohol that you can use it as a trick to level up mediocre vodka by infusing peanut butter and a little sugar to make it tasty enough to have as shots. Peanut butter-infused vodka is easy to make at home with just a few ingredients, and you can tweak the flavor to give it sweet, savory, or even deeper roasted notes. 

The simplest method calls for just vodka and a defatted (aka powdered) peanut butter, like PBfit classic peanut butter powder. Mix them in a 1:4 ratio (1 cup of peanut butter powder for every 4 cups of vodka) and store in a sealed mason jar for a week or more to let the flavors infuse. Strain out the peanut powder, and you are left with peanut butter-flavored vodka. Use a higher proof vodka for a more intense flavor. For more control over the flavor, you can even make defatted peanut butter at home and use it for an infusion that's perfectly catered to your taste.

While it requires a few additional steps, using homemade defatted peanut butter can be cheaper and may give you a "cleaner" peanut flavor since you avoid any additional ingredients that the store-bought variety may have. Simply roast peanuts in an oven for about 20 minutes (or more for a deeper flavor), grind them in a food processor till fine, and infuse your vodka. Or, if you want to get a little fancy, try fat-washing vodka for a more luxurious mouthfeel.

While fat-washing is often relegated to fatty foods like butter, bacon, and even coconut oil, which gives tequila a flavorful upgrade, peanut butter is a great contender for the process as well. In addition to infusing flavor, fat-washing also adds a richer mouthfeel and more layered notes while reducing the alcohol's sharpness. The process is slightly quickly than regular steeped infusions, taking a few hours or days as opposed to weeks that an infusion requires. For fat-washing, use regular peanut butter (not the dehydrated kind); a small 16-ounce jar is enough for an entire 750-milliliter bottle of vodka. 

Unlike most fat-washing and infusing that's done in a bottle or jar, peanut butter (and other nut butters) requires a baking pan or casserole. This is because peanut butter doesn't solidify when cooled like other fats used in fat-washing so it's hard to skim off. Spread peanut butter on the bottom of the dish, pour the vodka over it, cover tightly with cling film, and let it rest at room temperature overnight or for up to two days. Then strain it using a coffee filter to get smooth peanut butter-infused vodka.

Peanut butter has a prominent taste, so you can add a dash of peanut butter vodka to spirits like rum or bourbon to add flavor without having to repeat the infusion process with another spirit. To make a peanut butter old fashioned, mix the peanut butter vodka with your whiskey of choice, and then use the resulting flavored spirit as you would any other. For a twist on the peanut butter jelly cocktail, use a sweet, cereal-infused vodka mixed with peanut butter-infused vodka to make adult drinks that taste like childhood breakfasts.