Let’s talk about butter! It’s my go-to. It’s my boo. It’s my sweetheart.
I’m not shy about sharing my affection for butter, but you may have noticed in the recipes here that I’m very specific about how I like my butter. Sometimes melted and browned. Sometimes cold and cubed. Sometimes beaten with sugar and egg. Always though… most almost always.. UNSALTED! Yea, I get opinionated about my butter. We should talk about why.
Butter is my go-to fat in the kitchen. Olive oil is nice. Coconut oil is lovely. Butter gets the job done!
Butter is typically made from cowโs milk and consists of mostly butterfats. Low-fat buttes are suspicious, at best. Butter is generally about 80% fat, with the remaining 20% consisting of water and milk solids.
You have a choice when you go to the grocery: salted or unsalted butter. If youโre thinking about slathering your butter on a warm baguette, you’ll want to reach for the salted butter. If youโre baking a cobbler, you’ll most definitely want to reach for the unsalted butter.
Hereโs why:
Most importantly: unsalted butter ensures that you can control the amount of salt you add to your cakes, cookies and Fig and Almond Breakfast Cake. Different companies add different amounts of salt to their butter. How are we to know how salty our butter is, and how we should adjust the salt in the recipe? Itโs too much of a guessing game. Removing the salt from the butter equation puts us in control of salting. Control is very important when it comes to flavor.
When a recipe calls for unsalted butter, that means that the salt levels in the recipe account for no other salt source. If all you have salted butter, try cutting the instructed salt amount in half.
Also, salt is a preservative. Salted butter has a longer shelf life than unsalted butter. That means that unsalted butter is typically fresher.
Salt can mask flavors! We may not be able to taste or smell if our butter is off because clever clever salt can mask funky taste and odors. Tricky.
Does butter really go bad? Heck yes it does! Unsalted butter lasts about 1 month in the refrigerator. Salted butter lasts for just over 3 months in the refrigerator (thatโs so long, right?). If you think your butter might be off, give it a good sniff. The nose always knows. Also, slice your butter. Is the inside the same color as the outsideโฆ or is the outside a darker casing around the butter? Bad butter is two different colors.
What happens if I use salted butter in baked goods?
Well… the world will end, and that’s that.
137 Responses
I have a place in my freezer to keep my butter, salted or not.
The author of this article honestly makes me wonder if they realize that sodium content is specified on every food label. There is no guessing game, you can read on the side of the package the amount of salt each company decides to add to their salted butter!
Also the idea that unsalted butter will be ‘fresher’ than unsalted butter is frankly asinine. Unsalted butter does not keep as long so will tend to be less fresh than the salted variety.
The fact that the author does not seem to know that sodium content is listed on food labels coupled with apparent misunderstanding that unsalted butter does not stay fresh longer than salted butter causes me to doubt the veracity of the entire article.
The only reason I put butter in the fridge is to keep it firm until I am ready to use it. When I put on a butter dish it stays in the dish on the table or counter. It NEVER goes back into the fridge. My wife learned this from her cousins who are farmers and ranchers on the eastern Colorado plains. I tossed all my soft spread margarine after I began to do this. Butter is so much better and better for you.
THIS IS ABOUT THE 4TH REVIEW I’VE RED ON SALT. I ALWAYS TOLD HUBBY TO BUY SALTED AND THEN I PICKED UP UNSALTED BY MISTAKE. HAVEN’T USED YET. I’M A GOOD BAKER, HOPE THIS WILL MAKE ME A SUPER ONE. I HAVE A RECIPE FOR GREEN TOMATO CHOCOLATE CAKE. IT’S TO DIE FOR.
In Ireland unsalted butter is pretty uncommon. I really only ever use salted butter, and it works perfectly fine… although I do understand we have a luxury on our hands very accessible and affordable.
You can’t beat butter. But I would use unsalted butter only if the recipe didn’t call for salt. I’ve never had any problems baking with salted butter. That is, I have never landed up with my cakes/cookies (whatever) tasting too salty. Now I’m off to put unsalted butter on my shopping list (as long as it costs no more than salted butter; that’s an important issue) so I can judge for myself. Coconut oil is great too, though it’s far too expensive for me to use. It’s a bit like cooking with gold! I also like drippingโbut only for cooking chips, roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding; it’s foul for baking.
The reason I NEVER buy unsalted butter is there is natural flavor added and I am MSG sensitive and get headaches from Natural flavor.
Butter goes bad?!! How did I not know this! My world has crumbled a little bit. I think basically all my butter must be bad then; I get the pack of four boxes from Costco and it takes a long time to go through all that. :( I guess now I will know to buy only one box at a time.
Also, yay butter love! Butter is my friend.
I’ve bought nothing but unsalted butter for decades, simply because I like to eat less salt. I also prefer to salt my food to taste after it’s finished cooking. I use butter almost exclusively for fats because I love the flavor. I don’t buy very much at a time & I tend to use it up long before it can go bad. I bought some salted butter one time, because it was from a local farm. I hated it & I gave it all away. So I guess that it’s what one is used to using.
Joy, it is a true pleasure to read your posts. As a young, aspiring baker I feel so lucky to have you and your wisdom as a resource! Questions about butter, flour, measuring cups, etc. Thank you so much!
You are REALLY good at what you do, so keep up the excellent work! And thanks for being fun and funny along the way :).
I grew up with unsalted butter. We just did not have salted one at a time. Long story. When I crossed Atlantic and landed in North America I was shocked first then repulsed with salted butter. I suppose it was a case of (non)acquired taste. I stuck with unsalted one even though it is hard to come by sometimes (!!!) I suppose salted variety was introduced only because of salt preservative capabilities and way back in a day there was no refrigeration. Now, with ubiquitous refrigeration reason for salted butter disappeared but I suppose forces of inertia in acquired taste for salted variety rule the market. My take is use unsalted everywhere, even on toasted bagel :), you feel taste of bread and butter better, salt suppresses/overpowers and generally sodium is not good for you. When I need salt as part of recipe seasoning I’d rather add my own so that way I can control salt volume. I find salted butter salt content being to high for me even in recipes that call for salt.
We in Wisconsin thank you. Salted, unsalted . . . it’s butter, therefore it’s good. (Though from now on I’ll know to buy unsalted butter for baking! I mean, I’m just not ready for the apocalypse.)
Just yesterday I baked a batch of my Cinnamon Shortbread cookies to kick of the Christmas Season. Those of us that had tasted them before were a tad disappointed and I was confused as I pretty much know this recipe from heart and I know I didn’t miss anything. Lo and behold when I checked the bricks of butter my son had bought for me they were Unsalted. I always cook and bake with salted butter and the difference was quite significant. I found this post because I had to find out how much salt I need to add to compensate for what was missing. I don’t ever adjust a recipe even if it calls for unsalted butter…I use the salted butter and add the recommended amount of salt in the recipe. I’m told by whomever tastes my creations that I’m a very accomplished baker and cook and I think I have to give credit to my love of salted butter.
I do exactly the same and no one complains. I am caterer and am no exploring baking my own breads, desserts, etc…the world, it seems, is still intact. Funny tho!
Preservative? Ha ha ha ha ha…butter doesn’t sit in my house long enough to care!
We have been eating unsalted butter for so long, that we don’t really like the taste of salted, so I only buy unsalted. If a recipe calls for salted, I add a little salt with the butter.
It’s 4 am and I am laughing out loud because the world will end if I use salted butter!
Most people look at me blankly when I tell them about salted vs. unsalted. I always bake with unsalted and I think it makes a big difference in the quality of my baked goods. I didnโt know about the freshness angle, though โ youโve taught me something today
I use salted butter exclusively. No one has complained about anything I have made. In the past I tried unsalted butter several times. Couldnโt discern any difference so I stopped using it. I did know about the freshness angle.
I am dairy free so I cannot use butter. Thus I have to use margarine or other oil. All margarines I have found have salt in them. When a recipe calls for unsalted butter, I am up the creek without a paddle. If I want to make the recipe, I use margarine.
Hi Carolyn! I totally hear you on that margarine. If you’re using margarine, consider reducing reducing the amount of salt in a recipe by half.