Edible peanuts account for two-thirds of the total peanut use in the united states. Popular confections include salted peanuts, peanut butter, peanut brittle, and shelled nuts (plain/roasted). Salted peanuts are usually roasted in oil and packed in retail size, plastic bags or hermetically sealed cans. Dry roasted, salted peanuts are also marketed in significant quantities. The primary use of peanut butter is in the home, but large quantities are also used in the commercial manufacture of sandwiches, candy, and bakery products. Boiled peanuts are a preparation of raw, unshelled green peanuts boiled in brine and typically eaten as a snack in the southern united states where most peanuts are grown. More recently, peanuts can be fried, where they can be eaten both shell and nut. Also peanuts are used in cosmetics, nitroglycerin, plastics, dyes and paints. Peanuts are also very widely sold for garden bird feeding. Low grade or culled peanuts not suitable for the edible market are used in the production of peanut oil, seed and feed.

Peanuts have a variety of industrial end uses. Paint, varnish, lubricating oil, leather dressings, furniture polish, insecticides, and nitroglycerin are made from peanut oil. Soap is made from saponified oil, and many cosmetics contain peanut oil and its derivatives. The protein portion of the oil is used in the manufacture of some textile fibers. Peanut shells are put to use in the manufacture of plastic, wallboard, abrasives, and fuel. They are also used to make cellulose and mucilage. Peanut plant tops are used to make hay. The protein cake (oilcake meal) residue from oil processing is used as an animal feed and as a soil fertilizer. Peanuts can also be used like other legumes and grains to make a lactose-free milk-like beverage, peanut milk.