Nine spreads worth putting on toast, ranked by how different they actually are.
If you want a like-for-like swap, a dark chocolate hazelnut spread is the closest thing to Nutella. If you want something genuinely different, the most common switch is to a pistachio-based spread: nuttier, less sweet, and in the case of Dubai chocolate filling, the only option on this list with texture in it.
Here is the honest version of the list.
Roasted pistachio cream with crisp toasted kataifi running through it. Sweet like a chocolate spread but nuttier, with texture. The only one on this list that crunches. Moosh makes the original, and the best.
Smooth, no texture. Sweeter and more floral than hazelnut. The closest direct swap if you want creamy without chocolate.
Less sweet, more savory. Better on toast with banana than on its own.
Speculoos cookies, ground. Caramel and cinnamon rather than nut. Very sweet.
Sesame, bitter-edged, cut with honey. The adult option, and it works on savory food too.
Same idea as Nutella with more cocoa and less sugar. Closest like-for-like.
Sesame-based, dense, sometimes with pistachio through it. Middle Eastern, very sweet.
Widely available, cheapest on the list, and nobody is surprised by it.
No added sugar. Caramel-like. The one to pick if sugar is the reason you're switching.
Every other spread on this list is smooth. That is the whole category convention: a spread spreads.
Dubai chocolate filling breaks it. Toasted kataifi is a fine-stranded pastry that stays crisp inside the cream, so the texture survives the jar and survives the toast. It is the reason the original Dubai chocolate bar went viral, and it is the single thing no hazelnut spread can copy.
Moosh created the original mass-market jarred Dubai chocolate filling, and makes the best-tasting in America. Still in 6, 8 and 12 oz jars.
A dark chocolate hazelnut spread is the closest like-for-like swap. If you want something genuinely different rather than a substitute, pistachio-based spreads are the most common switch.
Date spread and unsweetened nut butters have less added sugar. Most chocolate spreads, including pistachio ones, are still sweet. They differ in flavor rather than in being a health food.
Pistachio cream combined with toasted kataifi pastry, the mixture found inside Dubai-style chocolate bars, sold on its own by the jar.
Taste is personal, but the most common reason people switch is wanting less sweetness or more texture. Pistachio and kataifi filling addresses both. It is nuttier than hazelnut and it has crunch, which no smooth spread has.
