Here's a tip over 60,000 people have saved to their Pinterest boards:
That's so easy! Especially when you consider how Alice Medrich recommends you soften butter: Repeatedly whack an unwrapped stick, sandwiched between two pieces of plastic wrap, with a rolling pin to flatten it out, then flip, knead, halve, roll, rest, and continue whacking. (So maybe it's a technique more in line with anger management than kitchen "hacks.")
As someone constantly in need of room temperature butter (and constantly without the foresight to take a stick out of the fridge ahead of time), I tested the "tried and true..." method for "softy soft" butter.
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I filled a glass with nearly-boiling water, poured the hot liquid out, and immediately turned it over onto a vertical stick of wrapped butter that had come straight from the fridge. The glass retains the heat of the water, creating a cloche (look! a DIY cloche!) in which the butter can warm up.
After a couple of minutes, the butter was still cold-ish. After "a few minutes" (as the tip suggests), it was a little softer on the outside, though still firm towards the center—pliable, yes, but definitely not ready to be creamed in a stand mixer (let alone by hand).
I do think the method would work if you were willing to rewarm the glass every five or so minutes (by refilling—then re-emptying—the boiling-hot water), but I fear that the outside of the butter would soften too quickly in relation to the inside, leaving some near-melty, some still-chilled sections. But as written? The tip just doesn't work very well.
(Update! Editor Amanda Sims has had success using thicker glass, like Pyrex, and microwaving water inside the glass—so that the material gets hot, through and through.)
Seems like Alice's technique—where the butter is smashed into an even layer so that it comes to room temperature at a uniform rate—isn't so crazy after all...
(And if you want soft butter for spreading on toast rather than for baking, it just may be time for a butter keeper.)
Have you come across a popular internet cooking tip that just doesn't work? We want to hear about it in the comments!
Written by: Sarah Jampel
Popular on Food52
47 Comments
Christine
May 15, 2017
My method is to place the wrapped stick of butter onto my metal bench scraper & let it sit at room temperature for a half hour or less. Then I can pack the softened salted butter into a butter bell. Best $14 I've ever spent! :D
Caitlin
May 12, 2017
I use a version of this technique. I put a glass bowl filled with water in the microwave until hot. Then cut up the butter into a few chunks to avoid the issue with the center getting no heat. Then dump the water out of the bowl, flip it over and cover the butter. In a few minutes you have butter perfect for creaming. Works every time!
Adam J.
August 4, 2017
Came here to comment that I put 1 inch cubes on a plate with a heavy glass bowl warmed by hot tap water over top; butter softened in about 15 minutes.
SusanR
May 11, 2017
I use the beat it with a rolling pin method if I need it quickly. Oddly satisfying. 😃
donald K.
May 11, 2017
To cream butter and sugars you do not have to bring the butter to room temperature. It creams just as well if it comes right out of the fridge. See Thomas Keller's recipe for CC cookies.
EL
May 11, 2017
This assumes that you are using a mixer and want to soften butter for baking. If you are creaming the butter the old-fashioned way (by hand), you would have a difficult time getting the butter creamed. If you want to spread the butter on some bread (not toast), you will probably end up with holes in the bread. And yes, I do most of my mixing by hand.
jonathan E.
May 8, 2017
maybe just don't keep your butter in the fridge? Don't think they do anywhere except the US.
FS
May 9, 2017
Can't keep it out for several reasons: firstly, even an airconditioned house is too hot here in the South. I once had a rancid butter experience, and it taught me to keep the stuff as cold as possible - i.e. freezer. Secondly, some of my cats like to snack on butter ... ;)
Amanda
May 11, 2017
Even though I live in the tropics, my house has no a/c. So, keeping butter out at room temperature isn't an option.
FS
May 8, 2017
My method is the butter dance: first the stick comes out of the freezer, then it goes back in, then out again and so forth ... until I finally get around to using it!
ABone
May 8, 2017
I put mine on a small plate near the back of my stovetop as my oven is preheating- soft butter and a heated oven! Dual purpose!
EL
May 24, 2016
I love this post. In the winter, I keep my house cold. Of course that is the time when I want to bake, but never have soft butter. I will definitely try some of these ideas. Thank you everyone!
Nicholas
May 22, 2016
I have found that using a blowdryer works pretty well. It gives me more control than a microwave and more even heating
Lisa L.
May 22, 2016
Is there something wrong w/microwaving a stick of butter for 15 seconds on power level 1? I use this "technique" often for spur of the moment baking.
Maureen
May 22, 2016
I just keep a stick of butter (salted) on kitchen counter at all times. It rarely lasts over a week and hasn't killed me or anyone else yet (in 30 years). I've never found a butter bell that works---the butter always falls into the water no matter what I do.
Windischgirl
May 8, 2017
Most of the butter bells out there are glazed inside and are wider at the use surface, which are the problems; there is no friction or geometry to hold in the butter. I got mine at a craft show, and it's hand thrown so the ridges inside the bell create friction, and the opening of the butter part is curved inward to hold the butter in place.
Charles B.
May 22, 2016
I have one of those thawing pans that melts ice cubes in a minute or so. It works quite well without microwaves or boiling water. No moving parts, no power needed.
Chaz B.
May 19, 2016
Just grate it. Easiest thing in the world.
EL
May 24, 2016
I like this. As I keep butter in the freezer when not using it, this is really great (ha ha!).
Millie J.
May 15, 2017
I tried grating frozen butter on a box grater and couldn't do it - my hands just weren't strong enough. How do you do it, Chaz or anyone else who uses this technique?
Crayon
May 18, 2016
Wait did someone just say they microwaved an empty glass????
Smaug
May 19, 2016
Well, not all glass can take a lot of heat, but I've never had any problem warming up coffee cups (mine are glass) and such- I suppose you could get in trouble with a drinking glass if you went too far.
Greg O.
May 22, 2016
Very dangerous to microwave an empty glass (or any other) container.
Microwaves heat water and fats, but not relatively solid substances like glass. If a glass container or plate is being microwaved without something in it it could explode. Water in any container heated in a microwave can become superheated and boil over when touched or moved.
Also, the microwave magnetron could be damaged if there are not enough absorbing materials in the operating oven.
Microwaves heat water and fats, but not relatively solid substances like glass. If a glass container or plate is being microwaved without something in it it could explode. Water in any container heated in a microwave can become superheated and boil over when touched or moved.
Also, the microwave magnetron could be damaged if there are not enough absorbing materials in the operating oven.
Kyle
May 18, 2016
I cut my refrigerated butter into cubes and put them in a bowl of lukewarm water. Softens perfectly, and the few drops of water that do end up in the recipe don't seem to make any significant difference
SophieL
May 11, 2017
I do the same thing but just leave the cut-up pieces on a plate while I gather the rest of the ingredients. Got this tip from a Martha Bakes episode. It was such a "duh" moment!
AntoniaJames
May 18, 2016
Well, common sense tells you that the larger the object to be warmed, the longer it will take to warm it all the way through. I put a salad plate in the microwave for 30 - 45 seconds. It should feel warm but not hot when you take it out. Meanwhile, I open the stick of butter, leave it on the paper (important!), use a sharp knife to halve it lengthwise and then cut crosswise about ten times. Pull the chunks apart. Put the wrapper + butter chunks on the warm plate, and put a bowl over it. Measure a few other ingredients (or do whatever) for a minute or two. Ta da! I started doing it this way when making brioche, which requires tiny blobs of just-soft butter to be worked in one at a time. It's actually better not to take the butter out way ahead of time, because you want to be able to cut neat little cubes, which isn't easy with room temperature butter. This requires almost no additional effort and warms all of the butter, consistently, quickly. ;o) P.S. Of course I do this when making cookies and cakes, as well, if for whatever reason I haven't taken the butter out of the fridge well in advance.
And on warm days I don't even bother putting the bowl over the butter.
And on warm days I don't even bother putting the bowl over the butter.
creamtea
May 8, 2017
I do the same (or similar). Cut it it lengthwise, flip 90º and cut it lengthwise again. Cut crosswise into cubes. I didn't know about the warm plate and bowl, I just put it on a plate. and it warms fast without the edges melting as it might if brought into contact with too-high heat.
Jeremy
May 18, 2016
I have been softening butter in the microwave for years putting it on for one minute and twenty seconds on the lowest power setting. Softens thoroughly and evenly.
Verónica L.
May 18, 2016
Instead of adding hot water to the glass, I just microwaved the glass for 2 min. It was really hot I needed oven mitts to get it out. It did not soften it to the core, but it did soften the outside so that I could then cream it with my KitchenAid.
dinner A.
May 18, 2016
I agree with Smaug and stefica01 -- grating or a powerful mixer does the trick. For frozen butter, I put the stick of butter in a bowl of slightly warm water (around body temperature). The heat transfer is much faster than in air, and the water doesn't mix with the butter to any significant extent. This would work even faster to warm butter from the fridge if necessary.
Smaug
May 18, 2016
My Kitchen Aid mixer has no trouble creaming butter right out of the refrigerator- helps to cut it up a little, but it's really not necessary.
alison
May 18, 2016
I put a stick of butter straight from the fridge in the microwave on full power for 9-10 seconds, then let it sit there for about 20 seconds before I open the door. I don't know why it works but I have perfectly evenly softened butter with no no melted parts every time.
Smaug
May 18, 2016
That sort of technique is good for most microwave uses- they heat more evenly than other cooking methods, but not all that evenly- it's usually a good idea to microwave in spurts, and give the temperature time to even out in between, whether reheating or thawing. I don't cook in the microwave, so don't know about that.
dinner A.
May 18, 2016
I'ver read that this isn't a great idea if you're going to bake something like a cake that has a butter-creaming step. I think the idea is that the microwave melts the butter in tiny patches which re-solidify due to the colder patches, but because re-solidified butter has a different structure, this can affect the texture of what you bake.
elyze
May 9, 2017
did y'all ever test it? i don't even own a microwave (not worth the space) but the premise intrigues me greatly..
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