Can You Freeze Butter?

Yes, butter freezes very well, so feel free to fill your freezer! It’s not unusual behavior to stock up on butter, as running out of butter can be a hassle. Freezing butter is a very good way to avoid this inconvenience. 

How to freeze butter?

Both salted and unsalted butter freeze very well. When freezing butter, keep it in its original carton and place it inside a resealable freezer storage bag to protect its delicate flavor.

Can I freeze spreadable butter products?

In addition to our butter, we often get asked if Land O Lakes® Butter with Canola Oil, Butter with Olive Oil or any of the Land O Lakes® butter spreads can be frozen. Unfortunately, they cannot be frozen in their original packaging, as it is not freezer-grade. The original packaging may crack or break if frozen. If you choose to freeze any of these products, we recommend removing the product from the original container and placing it in a freeze-grade container. Once in a freeze-grade container, they can be frozen for up to four months if frozen prior to the USE BY date on the package.

How long can you freeze butter?

Properly stored butter can be frozen for up to four months if frozen prior to the USE BY date on the package. Butter may begin to lose its fresh butter taste and pick up flavors and odors from the freezer if stored for longer than four months. Once the butter is removed from the freezer, use it within 30 days.

Does frozen butter have to be thawed to use it?

It’s generally easier to thaw frozen butter before you use it, though there are techniques and recipes that use frozen butter. Achieving room temperature butter requires some advanced planning, so be sure to plan time for thawing when removing it from the freezer.

How to thaw frozen butter

Butter can be thawed in the refrigerator. It can take about 6 to 7 hours or even overnight to thaw, depending on the temperature of your refrigerator.

How to quickly soften frozen butter by grating:

Softened butter is a key ingredient for many baking recipes — it needs to be soft enough to be able to cream into the batter or dough. There are times that the need to bake comes without much advanced planning. In those instances, grating butter is one of the ways you can get to thawed butter quickly.

• Grate frozen butter using the large holes of a box grater

  • Tip: Grating the butter onto a piece of waxed paper makes for easy transferring to a mixing bowl for use.

• Let it sit at room temperature for just a few minutes and the shreds will warm up and soften quickly

We do not recommend defrosting frozen butter in the microwave to soften, as it will not defrost evenly and will usually melt. Melted butter will not work for baking or in any recipe that calls for softened butter. If you find yourself with melted butter, we suggest using it for something else, like drizzling over vegetables or sautéing chicken breasts.

How to use frozen butter?

Grating butter is a useful and regularly used technique for incorporating cold butter easier and quicker into recipes. Grating frozen butter over flour and then tossing the flour and butter together only takes a few seconds and coats the shreds of butter with the flour. Because the butter is still frozen, it keeps your dough nice and cold and will melt perfectly in the oven. And who doesn't want beautiful biscuits and flaky pie crust?

What recipes use frozen butter?

Certain recipes (e.g., biscuits and pie crusts) call for cold butter because it creates steam as it melts in the oven, which helps lift and form flaky layers. The two recipes below can easily be made starting with frozen butter. Instead of incorporating cold butter into the flour with a pastry blender, just grate frozen butter into the flour and toss!

Perfect Flaky Butter Biscuits

Butter Pie Crust