Butter is one of the most important ingredients in the Female Foodie kitchen. It’s a staple for baking, cooking, and, of course, smearing on fresh sourdough. And with an overwhelming variety of butter available at nearly every grocery store, we set out to see how different each brand is and find our new go-to.
Joined by Leigh Anne of Your Home Based Mom, we sampled 42 brands of butter and judged each based on texture and flavor. Each butter sample was tasted at room temperature on a piece of sourdough bread, with unsalted and salted butter grouped into separate categories.
The Contenders
Unsalted Butter
- Trader Joe’s Organic
- Kerrygold Irish
- Danish Creamery
- Earth Balance
- Trader Joe’s
- Simple Truth Organic
- Challenge
- Vermont Creamery Cultured
- Plugra Extra Creamy
- Horizon Organic
- Pasture Raised Vital Farms
- Tillamook Extra Creamy
- Kroger
- Kirkland Sweet Cream
- Land O Lakes
- Darigold
Salted Butter
- Organic Valley
- Kirkland
- Trader Joe’s Vegan
- Kerrygold
- Miyoko’s Vegan
- Kroger
- Trader Joe’s Organic
- Trader Joe’s
- Plugra
- Danish Creamery
- Kirkland Grass-Fed
- Challenge
- Simple Truth Organic
- Darigold
- Land O Lakes
- Kirkland Organic
- Lactose-Free Green Valley
- Vermont Creamery
- Private Selection French
- Vital Farms
- Tillamook Extra Creamy
- Horizon Organic
- Trader Joe’s New Zealand Grass Fed
- Moovelous
- Cultured French Trader Joe’s
- Darigold Farmer’s Reserve
The Results
Least Favorite Unsalted Butter
Earth Balance
Unfortunately, this plant-based butter had an off-putting texture, distinctly un-buttery flavor, and was just not what we were looking for.
Simple Truth Organic
With a strange flavor reminiscent of being in the back of the refrigerator for too long, this unsalted butter should be avoided.
Favorite Unsalted Butter
Kerrygold Irish
Kerrygold delivered a pleasantly mild and creamy flavor that continued to develop throughout each bite. It’s exactly what we’re looking for in unsalted butter.
Tillamook Extra Creamy
Tillamook unsalted butter had a surprisingly rich and almost caramelly flavor. This is the butter we want to use in our baked goods or spread on a slice of fresh sourdough bread.
Least Favorite Salted Butter
Organic Valley
This butter completely missed the mark with a strange flavor profile that simply doesn’t belong in butter.
Darigold
While we appreciate a good amount of salt in our salted butter, Darigold butter went too far and was overpoweringly salty. Pass on this one, especially for baked goods.
Cultured French Trader Joe’s
The cute packaging wasn’t enough to redeem this Trader Joe’s cultured salted butter, which had a surprisingly unpleasant flavor.
Favorite Salted Butter
Lactose-Free Green Valley
This lactose-free contender surprised us with its sweet and caramelly flavor.
Moovelous
Moovelous is a well-rounded and mild salted butter with no strange flavor notes or aftertaste. A great middle-of-the-road option.
Trader Joe’s New Zealand Grass Fed
This Trader Joe’s butter was perfectly creamy and had just the right amount of salt. And, unlike other grass-fed butter we sampled, didn’t taste overpoweringly of grass, a good thing in our book.
Land O Lakes
This ubiquitous household staple earned high marks for texture and boasted an unexpectedly complex flavor profile. A hearty spread of Land O Lakes on a thick slice of whole-grain toast would absolutely qualify as a full meal.
Challenge
With the perfect balance of salt to enhance the mild buttery flavor, Challenge butter makes for a great baking and eating butter.
Kerrygold
With its warm yellow color and classic flavor, Kerrygold is the quintessential butter that we don’t want to stop eating.
Plugra
With a slightly higher butter fat content, this salted butter was developed by pastry chefs to yield the ultimate flaky pastries. It has a classic flavor and just the right amount of salt.
Kirkland Grass Fed
A good all-around butter that’s perfect for baking, cooking, or spreading on nearly anything, Kirkland Grass-Fed butter from Costco is simply delicious.
