The Best And Worst Butter Brands To Buy From The Grocery Store

It's hard to tell different brands of butter apart, especially when you have little experience experimenting with them. The selction of butter in the grocery store aisles all look different, and what's inside their packaging is also slightly different. 

Though you may expect all butter to be the same, slight differences make for a different taste or texture. Qualities like saltiness, extra additives, or how the butter was prepared impair the color and softness of the final product. Nothing, though, affects the quality of butter more than the amount of butterfat. Butter is a fat, of course, and the more butterfat a butter contains — the creamier the butter will ultimately be. 

We thought of all of this — as well as appearance, taste, and price points — while ranking the best and worst grocery store butters. Take the guesswork out of shopping and baking by familiarizing yourself with some of the most common butters in grocery stores around the United States.

This grocery store brand butter secured the bottom spot on our list the second the tub was opened. Kroger's spreadable butter with olive oil and sea salt is an unappetizing pasty pale color. The kind of off-white, stained look that makes you wonder if this should even be considered a color at all. Nevertheless, fearlessly diving into the calcified block, this butter lacks any depth of flavor and has a texture that is remarkably similar to a butter alternative such as margarine. 

The touch of sea salt flavor is nice and probably necessary to cover an otherwise unredeemable butter. Ultimately, it lacks the creamy texture and pillowy softness that comes with a great butter. At $4.79, the price for a tub of Kroger's butter is comparable to other brands worth that price point. While Kroger butter is fine to use in a pinch for simple cooking tasks like sautéing vegetables, it shouldn't be the highlight of any meal or dessert. 

The Simple Truth brand butter, the organic alternative to Kroger's standard private-label, isn't exceptionally buttery. While certainly a step in the right direction, the organic spreadable butter with sunflower oil and sea salt solidifies in the tub and leaves a slightly greasy layer of sunflower oil on top. 

Once mixed in, the sunflower oil and sea salt do add a very subtly nutty and hearty flavor to the butter. Though the flavor overall still lacks that rich, buttery taste we were looking for. While not as offensive as the Kroger brand, the color is more of a pale white than a classic yellow. At $5.49, this butter is the same price or even more expensive than some of the superior butters on this list.

Simple Truth's organic butter does contain slightly less fat and cholesterol than other butters on this list, but just barely. With just 90 calories per serving and no preservatives, Simple Truth markets itself as a healthy butter alternative while still being butter. The lack of preservatives is a plus, and the added sea salt still works as a natural preservative to keep this butter intact for longer. Because of it's almost-savory flavor and the lack of richness, Simple Truth butter is likely best used as a cooking butter instead of baking.

The most popular butter brand in the United States, Land O Lakes, is a decent but not spectacular butter. When you think of the typical American sweet cream buttery flavor, you're most likely thinking of the Land O Lakes signature. Less salty than its competitors, this brand is also noticeably sweeter. At $5, it's not the cheapest butter of the lot. However, the larger size and extra sweet flavor give you more bang for your buck — a little bit of this butter goes a long way.

Like the two American-style butters that placed lower on this list, Land O Lakes also weighs in at the minimum 80% legal butterfat limit. It's certainly not the richest, but the added canola oil makes this a versatile butter on and off the stove. Canola oil has a much higher burn point than butter, allowing this brand to sit on a hot pan for longer before adding meats or vegetables to cook. The spreadable Land O Lakes butters also work well on toast, where you want a particularly sweet butter to contrast the dryness of the bread. Land O Lakes also makes a great butter for melting over a bowl of hot popcorn, just as Uncle Sam intended. 

Even though this plant butter comes later in the list, it is still an impressive choice for a non-dairy option. Made of soybean, palm fruit, and olive oils with salt, pea protein, and vitamin E, the Country Crock plant butter with olive oil is any vegan's dream come true.

Country Crock looks and spreads incredibly similar to the Challenge and Land O Lakes brands. The taste is not that far off either, easily mimicking the flavor of an 80% butterfat butter. Though this plant butter is an alternative, it's not necessarily that much of a healthier alternative. It has the same calories and saturated fat as the Land O Lakes butter. It also contains much more sodium than Land O Lakes at 105 milligrams compared to 85 milligrams. Though Country Crock does, however, contain much less cholesterol. 

For $5, the tub of Country Crock plant butter is worth the cost. It's a versatile butter that can be used for cooking or spreading on bread. Try throwing a dollop of this plant butter into your next batch of steamed vegetables. While the added oils in this butter make for a nice additive, certain desserts will probably turn out too oily if this product is used for baking. 

Challenge salted butter is typically at the cheaper end of grocery store butters, and you'll almost always be able to find it on the shelves. At around $3.50 for a whole pound of butter, it's a safe option — one that is inoffensive in taste and price. 

The butter, in the bright blue or yellow packages, is a bit dense at first but softens as it naturally warms in your hand or on the counter. This brand's spread isn't as nice as some of the others, but it does have a nice smooth taste. 

Unsalted Challenge butter is ideal when baking treats like brownies or other simple desserts where you don't want the butter to play a huge role in the flavor profile. It's not the butter you'll grab if you're making butter cookies or homemade croissants, but it works for pretty much anything else. 

Vital Farms butter falls right in the middle of the pack. It's not particularly impressive in either flavor or appearance, but it is one of the cheapest butters on this list and works in a pinch.

Costing around $5.50 for half a pound, Vital Farms provides decent butter that works well in both savory and sweet recipes. The flavor is not too overwhelming and adds a little bit of sweetness to foods like grilled potato (which should always be in foil). Vital Farms butter is rather pale, but with a slight yellow hue that gives life to the rather hefty sticks. 

This butter claims to have up to 85% butterfat but is noticeably less soft than some other brands with a similar percentage. Conversely, it is softer than the low-end 80% butterfat butter. Vital Farms is also one of the only certified humane brands on this list, meaning it follows guidelines for ethical animal welfare. All in all, this butter is a good one to have in your back pocket, but isn't worth searching for if there are any options higher up on this list available. 

The name Danish Creamery implies that this butter is made and packaged somewhere in Europe — particularly Denmark. This butter, though, is actually made in Dublin. Dublin, California.

The name comes from the European style of butter, which is typically cultured and has a higher percentage of butterfat than its American counterpart. Danish Creamery butter does have the highest amount of butterfat of any butters on this list at a whopping 85% — and also has the softness to prove it. That makes this butter as creamy as butter can get. 

That distinction comes with its pros and cons. For one, this is probably the best baking butter of the bunch. It's perfect for sweet loaves, soft cookies, or tart tarts. Danish Creamery would also make a good option for amping up your pancakes. Though it wouldn't be the option to grab for cooking meats or vegetables. While most European style butter comes unsalted, the added sea salt in Danish Creamery makes for a nice extra kick to your desserts. Though owned by Challenge Dairy, Danish Creamery is a step up in taste and price point ($4.99) compared to alternative brands.

Tillamook promises an "extra creamy" butter, and that's exactly what they deliver. With 81% butterfat, Tillamook offers an American-style butter with a little more spreadability and a lot more flavor.

This salted butter from the Oregon-based dairy cooperative is salty but not too much so. It makes this butter a versatile option in the kitchen — from spreading on muffins to pouring over seafood — and could stop you from a mistake everyone makes with sautéed scallops. 

At $6.50 for a box, Tillamook is the most expensive butter on the list when it comes to the price point. However, their packages contain a whole pound of butter — more than most of the other brands on this list — for only about a dollar and a half more. This butter will last a long time if you're not using copious amounts for baking. 

While it may not be the absolute tastiest butter on this list, Tillamook's versatility, flavor, and portioning make it the most consumer-friendly. Tillamook might have disappointed us as a ranked frozen pizza you can find at the grocery store, but they more than make up for it in the butter department.

When you think of France, you probably think of the country's grapes, crepes, or croissants. The latter of which would be impossible without impeccable French butter. The Président brand delivers a smooth butter that you'll fall in love with. J'adore!

Gently squeezing a case of Président butter, you can feel just how soft it is through its foil wrapper. Cutting in is like taking a knife to a cloud or a block of silk. The blade sinks through the bright yellow block with ease, and the butter spreads like a dream. 

This is the butter you want to save for those decadent desserts and could be one of the secrets to a juicy sirloin steak. Président is the smallest package of butter on the list at just 7 ounces, but it proves that good things come in small packages. At $5.29, it's certainly not the cheapest, but it does come at a lower price point than some of its very inferior competitors. 

Kerrygold's pure Irish butter is as good and gold as the name claims it is. Kerrygold was the butter to beat.

The first thing you'll notice about Kerrygold is the deep yellow coloring of their butter fresh out of the package. The second thing you'll notice is how gently and smoothly your knife cuts through the rich and creamy gold block. Kerrygold is an Irish butter with 82% butterfat. That 2% difference from the low end of the spectrum may not seem like much, but it makes a big difference in the texture and creaminess of this butter. 

This is the kind of butter you want to eat as-is, or melt over a decadent grilled lobster tail to enhance the unbeatable flavor. This butter doesn't play second fiddle in a meal — it is the meal. It's also reasonably priced at $3.99 compared to other brands on this list, but even if it was the most expensive, Kerrygold pure Irish butter would be worth it.