Salt Questions · Cooking & kitchen

Why do recipes say to use unsalted butter and add salt later?

By The Salt AlmanacUpdated November 8, 20261 source cited

Short answer

Because the salt in salted butter varies from brand to brand and the recipe writer can't know how much you're adding. Using unsalted butter and adding salt separately lets you control the total exactly. One tablespoon of salted butter has about 90 mg of sodium; unsalted has almost none.

The Salt Almanac

Sodium in one tablespoon (14 g) of butter

Salted butterUnsalted butter

SodiumSalted butter: ≈ 90 mgUnsalted butter: ≈ 2 mg

Salt contentSalted butter: About 1.5–2%Unsalted butter: None added

Keeps longer?Salted butter: YesUnsalted butter: Less long

Best forSalted butter: Spreading, cookingUnsalted butter: Baking, pastry

Graphic: The Salt Almanac, drawn from the sources listed below.

Control and consistency

Salted butter is roughly 1.5–2% salt, but brands differ. In baking, where you can't taste and adjust, a recipe built on unsalted butter plus a measured amount of salt gives the same result in every kitchen.

Freshness

Salt is a preservative, so salted butter keeps longer. Unsalted butter also shows its freshness more clearly, which is one reason pastry cooks prefer it.

Can I use salted butter anyway?

Yes. For each 115 g (½ cup, 1 stick) of salted butter, cut the recipe's added salt by roughly ¼ teaspoon of table salt. In savoury cooking, simply taste before seasoning.

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For school projects and reports. Teachers often prefer the original sources too: see the list below.

The Salt Almanac. (2026, November 8). Why do recipes say to use unsalted butter and add salt later. https://saltalmanac.com/answers/why-do-recipes-say-to-use-unsalted-butter-and-add-salt-later

Original sources

Wikipedia. Butter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butter