Salted vs. Unsalted Butter: Which One Should I Use? (2024)

FAQs

Salted vs. Unsalted Butter: Which One Should I Use? ›

Both salted butter and unsalted butter can be used interchangeably in any recipe, but if the recipe calls specifically for unsalted butter, it's probably because the recipe has been tested with it and is preferred for that particular recipe.

It all comes down to what you're cooking. If you're sauteing vegetables, toasting bread, basting pork chops, scrambling eggs, or making a sauce, chances are you can use salted butter and that added sodium will also add some flavor enhancement to whatever you're making.

The biggest difference in butter is the amount of salt. For baking purposes, the Test Kitchen recommends using unsalted butter so you can better control the amount of salt that goes into the recipe. Salted butter is best for serving at the table with bread or to flavor a dish, like mashed potatoes.

Serious Bakers™ follow every direction to the letter every time they pick up a bowl and a whisk. And they always use unsalted butter, a practice adhered to so strictly that it's rare to find a recipe that calls for the salted variety.

If you're eating unsalted butter, you will taste the natural flavor of butter—less salty, sweeter, and smoother than its salted counterpart. Shelf life: Salted butter has a longer shelf life than unsalted butter since the additional salt acts as a preservative.

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.

Other than that, these two butters are largely the exact same from a nutrition standpoint. If you're watching your sodium intake, we reccomend using unsalted butter because it gives you complete control over the amount of salt in your dish.

Using salted butter can make it harder to control the amount of salt in the recipe. I always recommend using unsalted butter, so you can control the amount of salt. Another big difference between these two types of butter is that salted butter has a longer shelf life.

Baking recipes typically call for unsalted butter because the amount of salt in salted butter varies depending on the brand – there is no “industry standard.” For example, if you use one brand of salted butter in a recipe, and we use another, our baked goods could end up tasting very different from one other.

Yes, it's possible to use both salted and unsalted butter when baking cakes at home. However, it's important to consider how this might affect the overall flavor and texture of the cake.

Should you use salted or unsalted butter for eggs? ›

Salted or unsalted butter both work - unsalted just requires more seasoning. The best salt for scrambled eggs? Sea salts with no additives have the purest flavour (table salt can contain anti-caking agents).

Does Butter Go Bad? Unfortunately, butter does eventually go bad. I spoke to a representative at Kate's Butter (my favorite brand of butter) who told me that butter's best-by date is one you should really pay attention to. Your butter will indeed begin to decrease in quality after the best-by date.

5 and 3% salt. In Brittany, cooks often use salted butter in recipes – even in cakes – no doubt due to the abundance of wonderful sea salt gathered nearby, whereas the majority of French chefs and home cooks tend to use unsalted butter.

Salt is a natural preservative and gives salted butter a longer shelf life. This can actually change how your baked goods turn out. UNSALTED BUTTER has less salt and lower water content. In baking, butter with a low water content is preferred, since excess water can interfere with how the gluten develops.

Challenge Butter has been a quality staple in kitchens since 1911. It's churned daily from two natural ingredients: the freshest 100% real pasteurized sweet cream and salt. That's it. Nothing artificial or synthetic.

Butter and margarine are safe at room temperature. However, if butter is left out at room temperature for several days, the flavor can turn rancid so it's best to leave out whatever you can use within a day or two.

It's fine to leave unsalted butter out on the counter for a few hours if you're planning to bake with it, but if you're going to leave any butter out at room temperature for an extended period of time, make it salted. That's because the salt in salted butter adds extra protection against any sort of bacterial growth.

The “real” ingredients that “I Can't Believe It's Not Butter” is touting are oils and salt.

Substitutes for Unsalted Butter

If you find your fridge empty in the butter department or can't tolerate dairy, you can swap it completely with these butter replacements. For 1 cup unsalted butter, substitute 1 cup shortening, ⅞ cup (that's 14 Tbsp. or ¾ cup plus 2 Tbsp.) vegetable oil, or ⅞ cup lard.

Use unsalted butter so you can add a small amount of salt (¼ teaspoon per stick of butter) to the sugar/liquid mixture. Salt tends to stabilize the mixture and keep it from foaming as much.