This Is the Best Way to Use Irish Butter (2024)

The concept of butter has been around for 10,000 years, according to the American Butter Institute. (Yep, that really exists.) It's a staple for topping toast and pancakes, as a sauce, and is also a key ingredient for many of our favorite baking recipes. Here in America, it's common to buy 4-packs of salted or unsalted butter sticks and call it a day.

However, glancing at the dairy case might draw your eye to a gold-wrapped block of butter. That's Irish butter; for those in the know, it flies off supermarket dairy shelves and makes bakers melt. We turned to Lynn Blanchard, Better Homes & Gardens Test Kitchen director, to find out why—and how to use this in-fashion fat.

What Is Irish Butter?

"Irish Butter is imported from Ireland and made from milk produced by primarily grass-fed cows," Blanchard says. She adds that the beta carotene in the grass the cows feed on makes the butter richer in color and flavor. Grass-fed cows produce milk with more omega-3s and other healthy fats than their conventionally-fed counterparts, a study in the journal PLOS ONE found.

Irish Butter vs. Regular Butter

Here's a breakdown of the other butter varieties you might see on your next grocery store trip.

• Traditional butter: Made with butterfat, milk proteins, and water, this solid dairy product contains up to 80% butterfat.
• Clarified butter: This high smoke-point option, or ghee, is melted butter with the milk solids and water strained off.
• Whipped butter: Regular churned butter is whipped with nitrogen gas for a softer, more spreadable texture.

Why Is Kerrygold Butter Having a Moment?

Kerrygold, first produced in 1962, is the most well-known brand of Irish butter. It's most commonly available in 8-ounce blocks rather than 4-ounce sticks.

Irish butter (such as Kerrygold) and European butter contain at least 82% butterfat for a creamier product and are easier to spread than classic butter. The difference between the two lies in a couple of details: Irish butter is salted and uncultured, while European butter is unsalted and cultured.

The popularity of butter-infused bulletproof coffees and high-fat eating plans have amplified the demand for Irish butter to fatter levels than decades past. "The interesting thing about grass-fed butter is that its flavor can change over the course of the year as the grass the cows eat changes," Blanchard says.

What is the Best Way to Use Irish Butter?

Blanchard and her Test Kitchen team stick to traditional butter for almost everything but do enjoy savoring Irish butter one way in particular.

"I treat it as a luxury when I really want to enjoy the taste of butter. I would only use the higher-priced Irish and European-style butters when I want to highlight the butter flavor," Blanchard says. "Rather than using it in cakes or dessert bars and disguising its richness, spread Irish butter on hot whole-grain bread or freshly-baked biscuits."

If you're looking for more ways than one to use your Irish butter, Blanchard recommends experimenting with it in baked goods like shortbread recipes where butter is the star ingredient.