Ah butter, what do we say about our dear butter. It’s not only one of the most loved foods in the world, but it’s also one of the most commonly used ingredients in baking.
The moistness of a cake, the flakiness of a pie, and the smoothness of a caramel sauce all come from butter. Safe to say, using butter the right way is a very important factor in creating a good dessert.
One of the most common confusion and question people have about butter is the difference between salted and unsalted butter, and if they can be substituted for each other.
All my recipes use unsalted butter, and I always get these questions – can we use salted butter instead? Or for recipes that mention salted butter, can you use unsalted butter instead? Does the type of butter matter to your final recipe?
So, can you substitute unsalted butter with salted butter or the other way round?
The answer is yes, yes you can. But should you? That’s another question.
Technically, there is no difference between salted and unsalted butter except for the salt, of course.
However, it’s always better to use unsalted butter in recipes, especially when it’s a dessert. Here’s why:
The amount of salt in salted butter differs from brand to brand. So when you add salted butter into a recipe, you don’t really know how much salt you are adding. When using unsalted butter, you can control the amount of salt you are adding to your food. Given that the right amount of salt is key to a delicious dish (sweet or savory), this one point makes a lot of difference.
I have noticed that most recipes mention using unsalted butter. However, if a recipe asks for salted butter and has only unsalted, here’s how you can substitute salted butter for unsalted.
How to substitute salted butter with unsalted butter
As I mentioned earlier, there is no difference between salted and unsalted butter other than the addition of salt. This means that to substitute one for the other, you just need to add some extra salt to your dish.
But how much salt do you add to unsalted butter to make it work? Although each brand of butter has a different amount of salt in it, here’s the general rule.
For every 1 stick/1/2 cup/113gs of unsalted butter, add an extra 1/4th teaspoon of salt to correctly substitute the salted butter.
Let’s say a recipe class for 1/2 cup/113 gs of salted butter. To correctly substitute the salted butter with unsalted, add 1/4th tsp of salt over what’s already mentioned in the recipe. So if the recipe asks for 1 tsp of salt, you will add 1 + 1/4th tsp of salt when substituting the salted butter with unsalted butter.
If you want to add the salt directly into the butter instead of your final dish, bring the butter to room temperature, then add the extra salt and whisk it until it’s well combined. You wanna mix sure it’s mixed properly so that there is no graininess in the butter.
How to substitute unsalted butter with salted butter
Now if you’re making a recipe that calls for unsalted butter but you only have salted, here’s how you can substitute it.
It’s simple, just do the opposite.
For every 1 stick/1/2 cup/113gs of salted butter, remove 1/4th teaspoon of salt to correctly substitute the unsalted butter.
This will help you balance the amount of salt in your dish.
At the end of the day, having the right amount of saltiness in a dish is a balancing act. Make sure you keep tasting your dish and add salt accordingly, especially if it’s a savory dish.
But, don’t forget about the salt in your desserts, it really is a key ingredient that helps in bringing out the sweet flavors of your dish.
Hope this clears out any confusion you have about salted and unsalted butter and helps you with your next recipe!
Have anymore butter related questions? Drop them in the comments!
See you next time!
