The 4 Best Butters To Buy for Every Situation (2024)

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You voted on your favorites and we put the top 11 to the test to find the only ones worth buying.

By

Breana Lai Killeen, M.P.H., RD

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Breana Lai Killeen, MPH, RD is a Chinese and Jewish chef and dietitian that has worked in all facets of the food world. She is a recipe developer, culinary nutritionist, and marketing specialist with 15-plus years of experience creating editorial and digital content for top food and kitchen brands. For 10 years, Breana was a food editor turned test kitchen and editorial operations manager for EatingWell Magazine where she oversaw the development, production, and nutrition analysis of 500-plus recipes per year and helped manage day-to-day operations to keep everything running smoothly.

Allrecipes' editorial guidelines

Published on January 25, 2023

Before going to culinary school, I barely used butter when cooking. But after a full year and mounds of mounds of butter in pastries and sauces, I quickly learned that not all butter is created equal. In Europe, where I went to school, butter is at least 82 percent butterfat, which is a result of churning the butter for longer to remove more water. Whereas butter in the U.S. has a lower minimum of 80 percent butterfat. But which is better and when do you use each?

You voted for which butter is your favorite to buy and it was a tight race. So we took the top 11 picks from our Community Choice Awards and put them to the test both in eating plain and using in baking. Here's what we found.

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How We Tested

To keep it as fair and unbiased as possible, each butter was tasted plain and also used to make pie dough. All butters were unsalted and room temperature when the tasters tried them, and tasting was completed blind, meaning the taster didn't know which butter was which when trying it. Each butter was judged on texture, flavor, color, and ease of use.

Best Budget Butter: Land o' Lakes

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The Land o' Lakes butter was the lightest in color compared to the other butters but had a very pleasant, consistent, and mild taste that made it the best affordable everyday butter. After the labels were unveiled, several testers said they think they liked it because it tasted like their childhood, which would make sense since it's the most widely known of all the butter producers (and the winner of our Community Choice Awards!). I will say that the Kirkland Organic from Costco was a very close second but the nostalgia shone through for the Land o' Lakes, even with a blind tasting.

Best Butter for Standard Baking: Cabot

I separated standard and specialty baking into two categories because if you're simply baking a quick bread or brownies in which case butter isn't the prominent flavor, it's not necessary to spend more money on a higher-fat butter. In those cases, Cabot is the best affordable and slightly more premium butter that's good for spreading on toast and ideal for elevating basic baked goods without breaking the bank.

Best Butter for Specialty Baking: Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter

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The higher fat percentage in European butters, like Kerrygold and Plugra, is ideal if you're working with pastries where the quality of your dough is directly effected by the quality of your butter. Both Kerrygold and Plugra scored high when making pie dough and had a luscious mouthfeel when tasted solo. But overall, the flavor and creaminess of Kerrygold won because of it's (very) slight grassy taste. Chalk it up to the grass-fed cows but the Kerrygold butter's golden hue even made the pie dough look more appealing.

Best Butter for Spreading: Vermont Creamery Cultured Butter

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I'll admit that I never use unsalted when spreading butter on bread so buying the unsalted version of the Vermont Creamery Cultured Butter was a first. But even unsalted, the additional flavor provided by culturing the milk prior to churning into butter is distinct. Much like yogurt is made, cultured butter is made when live bacteria is added to milk, then allowed to sit overnight to ferment and thicken. The resulting butter made from the cultured milk is complex, nutty, and tangy—but not so much that it overwhelms your bread. It doesn't hurt that this butter is also 82% butterfat, meaning it spreads on bread like a dream. Sprinkle a little salt on it before serving or grab the salted version for a real treat.

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The 4 Best Butters To Buy for Every Situation (2024)

FAQs

The 4 Best Butters To Buy for Every Situation? ›

One of our all-time favorite butter brands, Land O'Lakes is a classic for a a reason. It has about an 80% fat content, which means it's perfect for any standard American recipes for baking and cooking. It's known for its consistent taste and texture and is easy to find in most stores.

What butter is best to buy? ›

One of our all-time favorite butter brands, Land O'Lakes is a classic for a a reason. It has about an 80% fat content, which means it's perfect for any standard American recipes for baking and cooking. It's known for its consistent taste and texture and is easy to find in most stores.

What is the world's best butter? ›

Cabot Creamery's salted butter won the top prize in its category with 99.65 points, a near-perfect score. The Vermont company narrowly beat out a French butter that costs two to three times the price. Cabot Creamery is a New England farmer cooperative, making the brand easy to love.

What is the number one selling butter? ›

Land Lakes

What butter is healthiest? ›

Grass-fed butter offers some health benefits to counteract the health risks it poses. It appears to have lower levels of saturated fats and more unsaturated fats than standard butter. This is because grass-fed butter is made from the milk of cows that are allowed to graze instead of being fed high-grain diets.

What butter do chefs prefer? ›

European-style butter

European butters have a higher butterfat percentage than American butters, and have become the butters of choice for many chefs, bakers, and passionate home cooks.

What is the highest grade butter? ›

Grade AA is the highest possible grade; Grade AA butter must achieve a numerical score of 93 out of 100 points based on its aroma, flavour, and texture. Salt (if present) must be completely dissolved and thoroughly distributed. Grade A butter is almost as good, with a score of 92 out of 100 points.

Is Land O Lakes real butter? ›

It's the very first sweet cream butter. Melted, browned, creamed or clarified, Land O Lakes® Salted Butter is the all-purpose butter that improves the taste of everything it touches. It's the original that never lets you, or your taste buds, down.

What brands of butter are 100% grass-fed? ›

In alphabetical order, here are the 15 best grass fed butters:
  • Clover Sonoma.
  • Kalona SuperNatural.
  • Ivy's Reserve.
  • Kerrygold.
  • Lewis Road Creamery.
  • Maple Hill.
  • Minerva Dairy.
  • Nellie's.

What kind of butter do they use in restaurants? ›

Many restaurants buy butter with a higher fat content

One way of doing this is using butter with a higher fat content. It may not be good for you, but butter with more fat tastes delicious. It is richer and creamier, and while it doesn't really affect flavor, it is often more yellow in color.

What is the best butter to bake cookies with? ›

For baking purposes, the Test Kitchen recommends using unsalted butter so you can better control the amount of salt that goes into the recipe.

What type of butter should you always use? ›

For your all-purpose butter needs: unsalted butter

Sometimes called "sweet cream butter," unsalted butter is your best buddy if you want to play it safe. It's made from only milk and/or cream, and contains at least 80% milk fat as a rule.

What is the best butter in America? ›

  • Editor's Choice. Finlandia Unsalted. This creamy, rich butter—both the unsalted and salted versions—is premium in every way, from aroma to flavor. ...
  • Runner-Up. Isigny Ste Mère Unsalted. ...
  • Budget Pick. Breakstone's Unsalted. ...
  • Best for Baking. Land O'Lakes Unsalted. ...
  • Best Salted. Kerrygold Salted. ...
  • Best Cultured. Vermont Creamery Unsalted.
Dec 22, 2023

Why is Kerry Gold butter so much better? ›

Finally, the Kerrygold brand has contributed significantly to the legacy and reputation of Irish butter. Kerrygold has become a symbol of excellence in the business due to its devotion to procuring high-quality milk from grass-fed cows, adherence to traditional production processes, and strong quality control systems.

What grades of butter are the best to buy? ›

Grades AA and A are typically found in grocery stores, while Grade B butter is more often found in industrial settings. Here's the breakdown: Grade AA butter is the highest grade and “possesses a fine and highly pleasing butter flavor.” It's smooth, creamy, easy to spread and made of high-quality cream.

What is the best butter to keep on the counter? ›

Salted butter is better at room temperature than unsalted butter. In general, salt acts as a preservative in food. Unsalted butter will spoil at a faster rate than salted, so it's best to keep the latter at room temperature and leave the former in the fridge.

How can you tell if butter is high-quality? ›

High-quality butter has higher milk fat content, which gives you richer, flakier and more flavourful baked goods that tend to have better shape and structure. A lower-quality butter has more water content, which will produce, for example, a crisper, flatter cookie with more crunch.

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