You'd Be So Much Happier If There Were More Kinds of Butter in Your Kitchen (2024)

I used to tell myself that one box of salted butter and one box of unsalted butter was all the butter I needed at any one time. That was before I became a staff writer and pro eater at Food & Wine. Now, my fridge is crammed with no fewer than 20 different butters. Granted, they're all for a formal taste test—I normally keep around three to four butters on hand—but still, my days of butter minimalism are definitely over.

You'd Be So Much Happier If There Were More Kinds of Butter in Your Kitchen (1)

How to Freeze and Thaw Butter

In my time here, I've conducted countless taste tests. I've eaten nine different packaged stuffings in one sitting to find the best option for holiday meals. I've sampled more than 30 frozen appetizers all in the name of party snacking (a very noble cause, if you ask me). It was high time to turn my deep, undying love of butter into something more scientific. For this test, I picked up various butters from local stores and tried them at room temperature with the same loaf of La Brea Bakery's organic rustic French bread, which has a crisp exterior and chewy, soft center.

My days of butter minimalism are definitively over.

1. Finlandia Salted Butter

Made in—you guessed it—Finland, this salted butter is light yellow in color and very smooth, and it has a nice, balanced flavor—salty, but not too salty. I'd be perfectly happy eating this straight-up on a piece of toast, but I've also used it to make a next-level crisp, savory grilled cheese. (For the record, I'm equally on team mayo and team butter.)

Finlandia Salted Butter, from $4 at finlandiacheese.com

2. Isigny Sainte-Mère Beurre Demi-Sel Gros Grains

This French butter is the ideal middle ground for folks who like their butter on the sweeter side and those who prefer a pronounced salty flavor. It's made with coarse salt grains (the butter sparkles as you cut into it) that provide bursts of salinity in each creamy bite, balancing out the natural sweetness. This is definitely an eating butter—in addition to being wonderful on a baguette, it would also add a luxurious touch to warm, freshly-baked biscuits and dinner rolls, sandwiches, and appetizers where butter really shines.

Isigny Sainte-Mère Beurre Demi-Sel Gros Grain, from $6 at instacart.com

3. Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter (Salted and Unsalted)

Several F&W staffers (myself included) use Kerrygold as their go-to, all-purpose butter. The salted version is perfect for spreading on toast, melting over pancakes, and enriching a potato mash, while the unsalted butter can be used to make creamy polenta, chocolate chip cookies, or piecrust. As someone who typically doesn't love eating unsalted butter plain, I found this version particularly pleasant because it still leans savory and isn't very sweet.

Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter Variety Pack - 1 Salted (8 ounce) and 1 Unsalted (8 ounce), $20 at amazon.com

4. Tipperary Pure Irish Butter (Salted)

Another butter I reach for again and again is Tipperary's ultra-creamy Irish butter. It has a subtle, salty flavor that becomes more pronounced as you eat it, and the silky texture is incredible—out of all 20 butters I tried, this one was among the best for spreading right onto bread and enjoying as is.

Tipperary Pure Irish Butter (Salted), from $4 at instacart.com

5. Vermont Creamery Cultured Butter (Salted and Unsalted)

Thanks to the fermentation process after pasteurization (and before churning) in which a bacterial culture is added to the cream, Vermont Creamery's cultured butter packs in big flavor. The sea salt butter was one of my favorites—creamy, with the perfect balance of salt. It's perfect for mashed potatoes; the tanginess reminds me of when my mom used to bolster them with buttermilk when I was growing up. The unsalted version also won me over with its clean flavor. Use it to make a crust for a rustic fruit galette.

Vermont Creamery Unsalted Chef Roll 16oz, $15 at murrayscheese.com

6. Wegmans Truffle Finishing Butter

Truffle butter can be pricey. Truffle finishing butter? Not nearly as much. When I need to boost quick dishes like boxed macaroni and cheese and scrambled eggs, I reach for this tub from Wegmans. It's a finishing butter for a reason (i.e., don't eat this plain on bread), but it brings a pleasantly earthy, extra-savory flavor with minimal effort.

Wegmans Truffle Finishing Butter, wegmans.com

Honorable Mentions

Échiré Unsalted

Coming in at 82% butterfat, Échiré is produced in teak wood churns, giving the butter a rich hazelnut flavor and a firm yet malleable texture perfect for pastries." —Paige Grandjean, Recipe Developer

Échiré Unsalted Butter, $56 for four 8.8 ounce bars at amazon.com

Minerva Dairy Sea Salt Butter

"One of the advantages of being a Pennsylvania transplant? Amish butter! You can buy enormous rolls of it in Pennsylvania Dutch delis; thankfully, Minerva's is available online. At 85% butterfat, it's richer than most (and, I would argue, better). The taste is very salt-forward, with an acidic tang and sweet, floral notes: excellent for a toasted cheese." —Melanie Hansche, Deputy Editor

Minerva Dairy Sea Salt Butter, $49 for three 1-pound rolls at goldbelly.com

How to Store Butter

On the Counter

If you're going to store your butter on the countertop at room temperature, your best bet is salted butter because salt is a natural preservative. Keep it in a covered dish for three weeks to a month—if your kitchen is unusually warm, move it to the fridge to be safe.

In the Fridge

Your butter can keep in the refrigerator for three months or more. Store it in a dish, in the container it came in, or a wrapper of your choice.

In the Freezer

To freeze your butter, make sure it's well wrapped—whether in plastic wrap or the wrapper it came in—and keep it in there for a year or more. —Margaret Eby