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 cow’s 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 you’re thinking about slathering your butter on a warm baguette, you’ll want to reach for the salted butter. If you’re baking a cobbler, you’ll most definitely want to reach for the unsalted butter.
Here’s 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? It’s 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 (that’s 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 outside… 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 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.
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 didn’t know about the freshness angle, though – you’ve 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. Couldn’t discern any difference so I stopped using it. I did know about the freshness angle.
It’s 4 am and I am laughing out loud because the world will end if I use salted butter!
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.
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!
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.)
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.
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’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.
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.
The reason I NEVER buy unsalted butter is there is natural flavor added and I am MSG sensitive and get headaches from Natural flavor.
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 dripping—but only for cooking chips, roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding; it’s foul for baking.
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.
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.
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.
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.
I have a place in my freezer to keep my butter, salted or not.
Well first of all I want to thank you for all your efforts, you have a cute sence of humor. My question is, what happens if you accidentally dumped the egg whites in the cake batter that should have been beaten to a soft peak then a quarter cup of sugar added slowly, then because you realized it was a big part of the recipe turning out in the cake beat 3 more with the sugar and folded them in. So now I have 3 egg whites extra in the batter. What will happen to the cake? Should have just used a cake mix.
I’ve always wondered about this question (in the blog post title) wile watching baking and cooking videos by the award-winning Stephanie Jaworski of Joy of Baking. She always says, “you can use salted or unsalted, but I use unsalted because I like the flavor better,” implying that it is a personal preference and that it has no impact on the recipe. Your blog post explains the reasons well.
With this said, I still prefer to use salted butter. I like the flavor better when used for my baguette or toasts (just eating it as is); I had tried unsalted long time ago, and I found it tasteless, henceforth have never bothered with it again.
As for baking with salted butter, I happen to enjoy the slight saltiness in my sweets like the pastries I get from the Chinese bakeries. I especially love the mild salt flavor in the cream and icing parts of the cakes and always figure that they probably throw in some salt in the preparation. Now I imagine another possibility . . . they probably use salted butter! ;)
In the U.S., the prices for salted and unsalted butter are the same. I find it illogical and not making sense that unsalted butter is charged more like some commenters revealed.
As for the freshness of the butter, there is always an expiry date in all dairy products, butters included. I simply use my butter before this expiry date, salted and unsalted. The tip on spotting two different colours on bad butter is a good one for me as I did not know this . . . it is time to toss out this Breakstone Spreadable Butter With Canola Oil in my fridge (this is another product I decided to try out but will not buy it again just because I did not like its flavor even while it was fresh.)
BTW, my love and pickiness of butter only permits me to eat/use Kerry Gold and Breakstone whipped butter (second choice for easier spreading), and sometimes Plugra European-Style Butter. :)
hah, never used unsalted butter in my house… only once, way back in the 90’s when I was covering someone on leave in a small business making Russian Fudge. Used unsalted butter and then added salt. While recollection is a little hazy, it wasn’t all that much salt that was added in to the fudge mixture… and I’d hazard a guess at between 1.5-2%
So, what was the point… especially where I live (New Zealand) unsalted butter is quite a bit more expensive?
I think the salted vs. unsalted must make a difference with cookies vs. cakes or cupcakes.
I have a recipie for espresso cookies. They always go flatter than pancakes when I use salted butter. They only turn out properly (with the right texture and puffiness) when I use unsalted butter. How can I modify the ingredients when I only have salted butter (that my hubby buys) on hand? No added salt in recipie; just espresso, cocoa, flour, icing sugar, vanilla and butter.
What about for a recipe that doesn’t call for salt at all? I have a sugar cookie recipe that calls for butter, unspecified, and no salt. Should I use salted butter in that case? I feel like it might need some salt to combine ingredients. Sorry, I don’t usually bake, but I’m trying!
Fabulous post! I’m a little behind, but find myself with salted butter and a recipe that calls for unsalted. Your blog has helped a lot!
I laughed out loud when I read your comment about the world ending if one bakes with salted butter! Thanks for the giggle!
Low-fat *butters are suspicious, at best.
I grew up with fresh and milk butter and feel lucky. When we made butter we added salt to the butter to get more buttermilk (liquid) out of it I believe that the butter I get in the store these days doesn’t have as much flavor as it did then. For that matter neither does the milk. Both are watery tasting to me. Because of the ” Things” the cows are given to produce more milk, they drink lots more water. Milk and butter from that cow will have less flavor. Have you ever looked at the 1% or 2% milk? it’s watery
I am about to make the world end. All I have is salted butter. Going to use 3/4s of a stick instead of a whole stick. I am sure this means doom to all, but if it goes even remotely well, I’ll report back!
Ha ha…. “Unsalted butter lasts about 1 month in the refrigerator.” How would you know? Butter never lasts a WEEK at my house, much less a month! :)
How do you feel about leaving the butter out on the counter instead of refrigerating it? Obviously it would have to be used sooner, but I’ve read that it can be left out for several days.
I never knew butter could go bad! Well, you learn something new everyday. Thanks for the advice!
I’m really glad you posted this. One question I have…when recipes just say butter as an ingredient….should I always assume they mean salted? What is the default butter type to go if the recipe doesn’t specify? Of course, I now know to use unsalted for baking, so that is cleared up :)
Maybe I’m crazy, but I use way too much butter to worry about it going bad in 1 month vs 3. My butter rarely lasts through the week!
oooh, I didn’t realize butter went bad… My mom always kept it forever! Of course if she had a lot she would put some in the freezer… but the stuff in the fridge sat there more than three months. In fact, I have some in my fridge that has been there more than three months… Good bye butter…
Learning so much right now. Thank you!! xo
ps Butter fo life!