मूँगफली एक प्रमुख तिलहन फसल है। मूँगफली वानस्पतिक प्रोटीन का एक सस्ता स्रोत हैं। इसमें प्रोटीन की मात्रा मांस की तुलना में 1.5 गुना, अण्डों से 2.5 गुना एवं फलों से ८ गुना अधिक होती है। और इसमें 50% वसा (फैट) होता है ।

The peanut, also known as the groundnut, goober (US), goober pea, pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small and large commercial producers. It is classified as both a grain legume and, due to its high oil content, an oil crop. Atypically among legume crop plants, peanut pods develop underground (geocarpy) rather than above ground. With this characteristic in mind, the botanist Carl Linnaeus gave peanuts the specific epithet hypogaea, which means "under the earth".