Why All Restaurants Use Unsalted Butter (2024)

FAQs

What is the reason for using unsalted butter? ›

Unsalted butter gives you complete control of the overall flavor of your recipe. This is especially important in certain baked goods where the pure, sweet cream flavor of butter is key (butter cookies or pound cakes). As it pertains to cooking, unsalted butter lets the real, natural flavor of your foods come through.

Unlike novice home cooks, restaurant chefs recognize the difference between salted and unsalted butter and use both kinds to ensure they get the best of both worlds. If you think restaurant butter tastes better, this could be one of the many reasons why.

Chefs cook with unsalted and salted butter

The regular butter you use every day, to spread on your bread, is probably salted. However, it'll be rare to find a restaurant kitchen that doesn't also stock unsalted butter.

Well, the answer may be more simple than you imagined. The decadent maxim of "Butter makes everything better," is entrenched in restaurant cooking, to the point that it may shock you at how much butter the chefs are ladling onto your freshly tossed pasta, seared steaks, and poached fish.

Unsalted butter has a very neutral, creamy flavor—a great base for many baked goods. In baking, precise measurements are key for achieving the right flavor and texture. This even extends to small amounts of ingredients like salt.

But if you only have unsalted butter when the recipe calls for regular butter, you can add a ¼ teaspoon of salt for every stick or ½ cup of Challenge Unsalted Butter required.

Yes! Just like how you butter toast at home, we use real butter on our English muffins, biscuits and bagels used for some of our breakfast menu items, making mornings extra special.

Cabot Extra Creamy barely edged out the salted butter by Isigny Sainte-Mère, a storied brand out of Normandy, France. That butter scored 99.6 from the judges. Nevertheless, please note: A half-pound of Cabot Extra Creamy Sea Salted butter rings up at about $4.

Chefs, cookbook authors, Instagram baking influencers, even our Test Kitchen Professionals are always espousing the necessity of unsalted butter. It gives you more control over the flavor profile, they say.

It's brimming with butterfat

“I think restaurant butter often tastes better because it has a higher butterfat percentage,” says Luke Ilardo, head baker and owner of Doppio Pasticceria in Baltimore. “Most grocery stores offer 80% butterfat, but through our distributors, we can pretty easily find up to 86% butterfat.

Why does butter taste better at a restaurant? ›

Another way that restaurants ensure freshness is by utilizing small, individual packets of butter, which are often given to diners with rolls of bread or something similar. Because these small packets of butter are unopened until the consumer is ready to use it, it stays fresher for longer.

Nope, the most butter consumption in the world doesn't happen in France. While Europe (and France in particular) has historically taken the top spot, the 2022 crown went to none other than New Zealand, according to Statista. The nation's consumption for the year was a whopping average of 13.6 pounds per person!

"Butter is safe to eat after being out at room temperature," says Bri Bell, a registered dietitian, and food safety expert. "One reason it doesn't go bad as quickly as other dairy products at room temperature is because it's low in carbohydrates and proteins, which are mold and bacteria's preferred food sources."

Studies have shown that butter has a shelf life of many months, even when stored at room temperature ( 6 , 10 ). However, it will stay fresh longer if it is kept in the refrigerator. Refrigeration slows down the process of oxidation, which will eventually cause butter to go rancid.

If you're baking and swapping in salted butter, the excess water from salted butter may make more of an impact. This is because extra water can have an effect on how gluten reacts and forms within dough. Consider slightly lessening any additional water the recipe may call for.

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.