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Just thinking about warm bread fresh out of the oven and topped with a shmear of quality butter can make a person’s mouth water. And it is simply unheard of to skip the pat of butter when enjoying a hot baked potato. In other words, butter makes everything better—and knowing which brands offer the best butter around, is a surefire way to elevate any recipe.
While butter may not be the most nutritious food, it can certainly be enjoyed as a part of an overall balanced and healthy diet. And when choosing your butter of choice, opting for a high-quality option should be your priority.
All kinds of butter in the U.S. must consist of at least 80% butterfat, and they are typically made from a combination of cream and salt, although ingredients can vary. From questionable filler ingredients to artificial flavors to even unhealthy stabilizers, there are some bad players in the butter world that may not be the best choice when you are focused on only including high-quality options of this dairy staple in your diet
Thankfully, there are also many high-quality butter brands on the store shelves. Among the many choices out there, here are 10 of the best butters worth adding to your cart when you see them.
Stick butter can be hard to spread. But spreadable tub butter can be loaded with unhealthy oils, which is something many people don’t want in their diet. Vital Farms created a solution to this dilemma—a spreadable butter made with high quality avocado oil. Also made with cream that comes from pasture-raised cows and sea salt, this three-ingredient butter is a dream come true for butter spreaders everywhere.
What is better than a spread of high quality butter? High quality, flavored butter, of course! All flavored butters from Churn are made with grass-fed, hormone-free, non-GMO, high butterfat, European style butter from California. And the flavorful ingredients include options like garlic confit, fresh shallots, and balsamic instead of anything artificial.
With a name that includes the word “organic,” you can safely assume that Organic Valley offers a quality product. Made with pasture-raised organic milk and a pinch of salt, this churned butter is airy, tangy, and rich. Plus, you won’t find any antibiotics, synthetic hormones, pesticides, or GMOs in this product, either.
READ RELATED: 5 Reasons Avocado Oil Has Serious Benefits for Skin
If you live a lactose-free lifestyle, ghee from 4th & Heart can be a nice option for popcorn and toast. Made by distilling butter to remove water and lactose, ghee can be used just like traditional butter and fits into many dietary practices.
Horizon Organic butter is made with grade-A pasteurized organic cream and milk, leaving no room for anything that is not high quality. Bonus? This butter has a rich taste that is simply heavenly.
Maple Hill‘s cows eat only 100% grass, all year round, resulting in an organic cream that is packed with flavor. This cream is combined with sea salt to create a divine high quality butter that is worth checking out.
Not a cow’s milk lover? No problem. Meyenberg Goat Milk Butter is a high-quality butter option that is made from pasteurized goat milk cream and salt—that’s it! Goat milk butter has a low melting point that makes it easy to spread and it is free from any preservatives or growth hormones.
Another lactose-free option made with high quality ingredients is Lactose Free Green Valley Butter. Unlike ghee, this option is not clarified. Instead, it uses added lactase to break down the lactose sugar, allowing for better tolerance for those who have lactose intolerance.
A classic high-quality butter that is made from cows that graze outdoors on the green pastures of Ireland, Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter is made from pasteurized cream and salt.
This unique butter made by Vermont Creamery is made with the expected cream and salt. But it also has the surprising addition of live bacterial cultures, allowing it to slightly ferment and result in a butter that is slightly tangy.
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Lauren Manaker MS, RDN, LD, CLEC
Lauren Manaker is an award-winning registered dietitian, book author, and recipe developer who has been in practice for almost 20 years. Read more about Lauren
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