If you are like me, on more than one occasion, you have probably been ready to make a batch of cookies, or slather some soft butter onto onto French bread, but you forgot to let butter sit out at room temperature to soften. So you pop it into the microwave on a low setting, but no matter how closely you watch it, the butter ends up with a pool of melted butter in the middle of the stick and hard cold butter on the ends!
I have found a way to melt the butter perfectly and uniformly so that it can be used immediately to spread or use in recipes calling for softened butter. And, it takes less than 25 seconds of your time.
Stand the wrapped stick of butter on it’s end on a small plate and into the microwave. (If you have a turntable in your microwave, turn off the rotation feature.)
Microwave on high-power for 5 seconds. Turn the butter onto it’s other end and microwave for another 5 seconds on high-power. (Keep in mind that you may have to deactivate the turntable each time.)
Now lay the stick of butter down and microwave 4 seconds. Turn the stick of butter over and microwave another 4 seconds (again, with the turntable off.)
Check the butter by pressing on the stick of butter to see if it is uniformly soft. Because microwave ovens vary, it may be necessary to add up to an additional 3 – 4 seconds, but be careful not to over-do it or you will end up with that same pool of melted butter in the middle of the stick – which is what you were trying to avoid!
Your butter will now be soft, not melted, and ready to either pop into your mixer to make cookies, or to spread onto soft bread.
Best tip ever, I use it all the time. If I only have frozen butter I just do it twice and it comes out great. Thanks Ladies.
I use the defrost setting on the microwave and let a full stick go for one minute. Works perfectly!
I always use the defrost setting for a minute too, but I’m going to try standing it on end & I’ll bet it’ll work even better.
Thank you a million ! I always have that problem when it comes to baking cookies or cakes the butter is in the refrigerator and I dont have patience for it to melt. very helpful keep up always inform good tip! two thumbs up!
Is there a way to get perfectly softened butter without a microwave? I unfortunately dont have enough space in my kitchen to buy one… Thanks for the help!
I have heard that if you grate cold butter (using a cheese grater) it will be able to soften quicker since the pieces are tiny. I have not tried this method myself, but it might be worth a try! If you do try this, let us know how it works for you!
I use the grating method all the time and wrist great.
My aunt used to quickly soften butter by cutting the stick into pats, laying them down in a single layer on a ceramic plate and putting them in direct sunlight for a few minutes and they come out perfect every time.
shred butter with a hand grater. Just takes a few minutes! I only do this with frozen though 🙂
Put unwrapped butter stick in between 2 sheets wax paper and use rolling pin to roll out to 1 inch thick
I like to open up the butter paper, slice my butter into about tablespoon sized slices and let it sit for about 10-15 minutes to soften. Never have had much luck in the microwave and now we dont own one. Thanks for this idea though!
Tried this tip today – fantastic. I got soft butter for the grilled cheese without a puddle of butter. I don’t think I’ll have trouble remembering this one. Simple and worked perfectly.
This tip worked perfectly in my microwave! Thank you SO much. I hate waiting for butter to soften because when I am in the mood to bake, I want to do it RIGHT NOW! 🙂
It has been a life saver for me too!
I put the stick in the wrapper in the microwave on power level 2 (that’s one below defrost) for 1 minute. Sometimes I end up flipping it over and putting it in for another 30 seconds. Also works like a charm.
Omg! This is the best tip. Worked like a charm. My butter comes wrapped in foil wrappers so I just took them off and put the butter in “naked”. Worked fine. Thank you for the tip!!
Or how about this: microwave the fully wrapped stick of butter for 30 seconds on power level 3. Bam! Soft butter without all the steps mentioned.