Salted vs. Unsalted Butter: Which Should I Use?
A reader asks:
I notice that a lot of recipes specifically call for unsalted butter. Why should I be using this instead of salted, which I usually buy?
Salted butter exists for the same reason that other mouthwatering ingredients like ham, beef jerky, gravlax, and cheese do–salting is a time-tested method of culinary preservation.
These days, with omnipresent refrigeration, there’s less of a need to worry about whether you, Ma, and Pa will have enough dairy products to make it through the winter on the prairie.
Salted vs. Unsalted Butter: What to Choose?
The choice between using salted butter vs. unsalted butter is no longer a question of preservation, but mainly of taste preference.
The other important factor in choosing unsalted butter over salted butter is the ability to maintain control over the level of saltiness in the food you’re cooking.
At the store, you’ll notice that butter may be labeled “sweet cream” or simply “sweet” butter. This doesn’t mean that this butter might be sweeter than any other unsalted butter.
It’s simply a designation that the butter hasn’t been cultured–that is, made with cream that’s slightly soured to give it a tangier flavor.
Regardless of whether the butter is made with sweet cream or cultured cream, it will clearly note whether it is salted or unsalted on the label.
When to use unsalted butter
In case it’s not yet clear, I strongly feel that unsalted butter should be your go-to choice in all recipes.
With unsalted butter, you’re working with a neutral palate and you have the option to tweak the flavor to your specifications.
This is especially important in desserts and baked goods, where there can be a vast difference between caramels with a hint of sea salt and caramels that taste like they were made with seawater.
In Good. Food. Stories. recipes, any time you see the word “butter” with no qualifier, it’s referring to unsalted butter.
This is also generally the case for most chefs’ recipes.
Thomas Keller indicates in the introductory notes to The French Laundry Cookbook that “all butter is unsalted,” as does Alice Waters (“with the exception of a few pastry recipes, we use unsalted butter exclusively at Chez Panisse”).
Lauded pastry chef Gale Gand specifies “cool unsalted butter” in all her recipes.
An interesting exception, incidentally, was Julia Child, who wrote in Mastering the Art of French Cooking, “Except for cake frostings and certain desserts for which we have specified unsalted butter, American salted butter and French butter are interchangeable in cooking.”
Julia, you’re wonderful, but that just doesn’t hold water.
Ways to use salted butter
Though I prefer to use unsalted butter in most recipes, I like to keep some salted butter on hand as a finishing touch for some dishes.
Think of it this way: if you would be sprinkling Maldon or other flaky sea salt over a dish for garnish, this might be a good spot to add extra flavor by melting on some salted butter instead.
I like to use salted butter:
- poured over buttered popcorn
- spread on breakfast toast
- tossed with roasted vegetables
- slathered on corn on the cob
If you would like to use salted butter in other dishes, by all means, give it a go. But remember that various brands of butter can taste saltier than others.
My recommendation is to use the same brand you know and love as much as possible, so you have a good sense of how salty the finished recipe will be.
How can I keep butter fresh?
Whether salted or not, butter freezes well, so feel free to buy a few boxes at once and replenish your fridge stock one or two sticks at a time.
Because unsalted butter will grow “stale” and take on odors more easily (those fat molecules love to suck in flavor), you can maintain the flavor and quality of your butter in perpetuity.
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Casey Barber
Casey Barber is the owner and founder of Good Food Stories LLC and a visual storyteller whose work often focuses on the intersection of food and culture. She is also the author of the cookbooks Pierogi Love: New Takes on an Old-World Comfort Food and Classic Snacks Made from Scratch: 70 Homemade Versions of Your Favorite Brand-Name Treats, and she couldn’t get anything done without the help of her executive assistant cats, Bixby and Lenny. Her favorite color is obviously orange.
Great explanation! I always buy unsalted butter reflexively and think it’s funny that I add salt anyway. The quality of the salt is an aspect I didn’t think of before.
Hey, I’m glad you’re talking about butter! I’ve got a butter themed post coming soon. All I have to say is: eat this butter, and you’re welcome. ;) http://www.vermontcreamery.com/cultured-butter/
Nice dish!!
In that picture, are those little mice spreaders? I would love to know what they are and where they are from :)
Yes, that’s a mouse-themed cheese board and spreader! They’re made by Mariposa – my set is three or four years old and I’m having a hard time finding them on the site, but there are a lot of other cute animal-oriented pieces here.