Growing up, we didn’t keep butter in the refrigerator… we liked the spreadable texture of room temperature butter. A stick of salted butter was stored in a covered butter dish on the counter, available to anybody who wanted a smear on toast. It’s the old fashioned way, the way my grandma did it and her grandma before her. I’d spread it on my whole grain toast each morning (the way I usually start my day), watching that gorgeous yellow butter melt into the nooks and crannies of my golden slice of toast. Heaven.
When I got to college, I noticed that my friends all kept their butter in the refrigerator. I was perplexed. Why would you want to do that? Butter won’t spread straight from the fridge. It’s hard and cold, not soft and melty. They cited food safety as a concern– the refrigerator, they claimed, was safer for storing butter. I tried to jump on the chilled butter bandwagon, but it didn’t work for me. It was too hard, wouldn’t melt fast enough, and more often than not left a big chunk of semi-soft butter in the middle of my toast. Blech.
While searching for an alternative I transitioned to margarine, which was spreadable and salty and fine, but not as yummy as butter. I was willing to compromise– the “spreadable” factor was most important for me. Then I learned about the many health concerns attached to most margarines on the market. They’re heavily processed and many contain trans fat, which increases blood cholesterol and the risk of heart disease. Yuck. While butter substitutes are good for certain things, like cooking dairy-free or serving with a kosher meat meal, I vastly prefer the flavor of natural butter. Over time I found some healthier butter substitutes, like Organic Earth Balance Buttery Spread. Trouble is most of them contain soy, which negatively effects my hormones.
I yearned to take my good old fashioned butter back to room temperature for that easy spreading texture… and really, there’s no reason not to have it that way. Butter will last for about 3 weeks in a covered butter dish at room temperature before it turns rancid. Even after it turns rancid, the taste is bad, but it won’t make you sick (though honestly, who wants to eat anything with the adjective “rancid” attached to it?). I bought a covered butter dish from a local vintage market and returned to my roots, keeping my butter at room temperature again. Unfortunately I’m the only butter fan in my house, and sometimes the stick would go rancid before I had a chance to finish it.
My little jade-colored chicken butter dish.
The solution came in the comments section of another website (for the life of me I can’t remember which one), where people were discussing this subject of room temperature butter. A woman claimed that she made her own spreadable chilled butter by combining room temperature butter, olive oil, and salt. The resulting butter was spreadable straight from the fridge. I loved the idea, so I gave it a try. The first batch wasn’t very successful– it tasted way too much like olive oil. I tried again with a smaller quantity of light olive oil (which is less olive-y tasting). The light olive oil was better in terms of flavor, but it’s really just processed olive oil, sometimes mixed with other vegetable oils.
Eventually I settled on avocado oil, which is a healthy oil choice (less processed than seed oils), and has a nice, neutral flavor. This mixture is perfectly textured straight from the fridge. Nutritionally speaking, this Homemade Spreadable Butter is lower in saturated fat and cholesterol than pure butter. You can adjust the saltiness (and thereby the sodium) to taste. Olive oil will work too, but you should try to find one that has a neutral or buttery flavor profile – and even then, it may give the spreadable butter a hint of olive flavor. That doesn’t bother me, but if you’re looking for a traditional butter flavor, stick to avocado oil!
Now my butter dish sits on my kitchen shelf, a reminder of the good old days. Homemade Spreadable Butter for the win! How do you keep your butter– in the fridge, on the countertop, or not at all?
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Homemade Spreadable Butter
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter (I prefer organic)
- 3/4 cup avocado oil (you may substitute a neutral-flavored or buttery-flavored olive oil)
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
NOTES
Instructions
- Let the butter slowly come to room temperature. To speed this process, cut the butter into small chunks and separate them from each other. Do not try to speed things up in the microwave, even at half power... you’ll change the texture of the butter.
- Place the room temperature butter into a food processor along with the oil and sea salt.
- Process the butter, oil and salt for 1-2 minutes, scraping the sides of the processor periodically, till all lumps have disappeared and the mixture is smooth and soft. It will be quite liquid, but don't worry, it will firm up in the fridge.
- Pour the softened butter into a container that can be sealed airtight (like a Tupperware). Refrigerate for 1-2 hours until fully chilled and firm.
- This Homemade Spreadable Butter will last up to 3 months in the refrigerator. It is spreadable straight from the refrigerator. Do not leave the butter at room temperature too long or it will start to separate. If this happens, you can stir the oil back into the butter before refrigerating again.
Nutrition
Hi Tori, I find it’s always more helpful to have measurements in grams (in addition to cups), because it increases the chances of getting the same results/taste that you did. Do you know the weight of the butter and avocado oil used in the recipe?
68 calories in how much spreadable butter? A tablespoon? 2T? It doesnt say. I love this recipe. Its easy, delicious and much healthier than eating pure butter!
Hello, just looking for some clarity. You mentioned grapeseed oil being the jackpot oil to use within the post and then the recipe does not list it at all. Was there an issue with grapeseed oil that you discovered later on?
Yes! Thank you, I’ll change that. Avocado oil is the best choice for health reasons. Grapeseed is highly processed, so I am starting to move away from using it in recipes. It will work here flavor-wise, but avocado oil has a better flavor in my opinion, and it’s much healthier for you.
The oil to butter ratio seems too high to me. I did it with a little less and it turned out just fine. May I suggest making your own butter? I used to think it was complicated until my cousin told me about entertaining her grandkids by making butter just shaking a jar. In 15-20 minutes, you have butter with only the ingredients you want in it, and you can make as much or as little as you’ll use in a certain amount of time. Sadly, I live alone and am a fridge-butter girl, so making it spreadable is huge!
I actually have a post about making your butter on the site! Here it is for those who are interested: https://toriavey.com/homemade-butter/
Haven’t tried it but looks really good. Going to give it a go.
Just a bit confused as you said you use grasped oil but that’s not InThe receipt
I changed recommended oils on this recipe and failed to update the instructions. It’s been corrected. Thank you for letting me know!
What an amazing recipe. I use avocado oil I always double the batch and my family tends to come over and take containers for themselves!! it’s a big hit. Thank you!
Great recipe! Thank you! Note: I guess our house was a little too cold for the butter to be soft at room temperature because it was out 24 hrs and didn’t soften, even chopped up. I finally put it in a glass container and microwaved it on 10% for a 1-1 1/2 min and it finally got soft.
Thanks for this! I tried it with avocado oil and it turned out great!
Thanks so much for the tip. I like soft spreadable butter from the fridge but I grew up the same way with butter on the table at room temperature at all times along with honey and molasses.
great recipe
I’ve been trying to cut down on plastic waste in the kitchen, and all of the plastic butter tubs in the fridge seemed like a good area to tackle. This recipe is great, and it comes together so quickly and easily. It’s also a fair bit cheaper than buying the premade spread. Thank you for sharing!
I am trying to reduce plastic waste, too! I appreciate this recipe.
Can you bake with it?
It really depends on the recipe.
Very happy to discover this recipe and can’t have enough