When you go to the grocery store to buy butter, do you ever wonder why it comes in both salted or unsalted varieties and which one to use in your cooking and baking? 

I sure used to! But after working on hundreds of recipes using Land O Lakes® Butter, I’ve got a deeper understanding of which one to use when I’m in the kitchen. 

The dairy in both salted and unsalted butter leaves a smooth, creamy feeling in the mouth that no oil can match. So what’s the main difference between the two? 

Both butters are made of the very same Grade AA quality butter, but salted butter has salt added to it. That’s it! Both salted and unsalted butter can be used interchangeably in any recipe. You really can’t go wrong with either one, but if the recipe calls specifically for unsalted butter, it’s probably because the recipe has been tested with it and it’s the preferred butter for that particular recipe. 

There are a few reasons why you may want to choose one over the other, so here’s where you’ll want to pay attention: 

Unsalted butter gives you, the cook, 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 (like in butter cookies or pound cakes), or in cooking to let the real, natural flavor of your foods come through. Have you ever noticed that some recipes call for using unsalted butter and then to add salt? Without the added salt in the unsalted butter, the pure sweet cream taste comes through and you can add the exact amount of salt you want in the recipe.

Salted butter is all-purpose, and perfect for spreading on bread, topping veggies and pasta and using in recipes where you are not looking to have so much control over the amount of salt in a recipe. Maybe the salted butter will even add a little something special! Try adding a pat of salted butter to your morning bowl of oatmeal…it really takes it from an ordinary boring breakfast to a delicious treat that’s still healthy. After all, a teaspoon of butter only has 4 grams of fat, and it adds great flavor!