The best butter substitutes

From cooking to baking and everything in between, shortening is a pantry staple that we all use at one point or another.

Or maybe you don’t often have shortening on hand and then scramble to find alternatives when you’re in the middle of a recipe that explicitly lists shortening among the ingredients (and doesn’t offer any substitutes).

Fortunately, shortening is one ingredient that really does have some alternatives when you need a good substitute.

Whether you want to substitute it because you just don’t like shortening or need a quick alternative because you didn’t realize you needed it for this recipe, there are plenty of options available to you.

What are the best butter substitutes? One of the best substitutes for butter is margarine, since it has a similar fat content and melting point. However, margarine has a stronger butter flavor than shortening. Other usable options are lard, butter, and coconut oil.

In this guide, we will go into detail about the best shortening substitutes.

We’ll cover your options, including what kind of effects those particular options might have on your recipe, and whether everything will work out the same when you substitute another ingredient for shortening.

Read on for the best butter replacement ideas in your kitchen.

Your guide to butter and the use of substitutes

Shortening is the most used for baking.  It’s the secret ingredient for flaky pie crusts and the best cookies.

It is used in many pastry recipes because it is the best finishing touch.

It will give you the right texture, flavor, and finish when combined with the other ingredients.

Butter is fat.  In fact, it can be almost any type of fat. The key is that this particular fat creation turns into a solid when it is at room temperature.

Shortening is similar to butter, and actually more like margarine. 

If you consider sticks of butter or margarine, a stick of shortening would look almost the same. Butter is usually lighter in color.

It may have a pale yellow or even white color when you buy it. Its texture is slightly thicker than butter or margarine, which makes it slightly different.

Lard and butter are almost identical, but they’re not exactly the same either . Ultimately, the differences come down to things like hydrogenation, water, and fat content, as well as the overall process of making the ingredient.

Uses of butter

To give you a better understanding of shortening, let’s talk about some common uses.

Butter is mainly used in various types of confectionery. It makes pie crusts flakier and cookies softer. It is very popular for cakes and cookies, but you can also find it in other types of pastries.

Here are other uses of butter that you may not know. 

• make popcorn
• Grease hinges, locks and other objects
• Grease pans before cooking or baking
• Use to hydrate dry skin
• Remove gum from hair or clothing
• Use to fry food
• Use it as an oil substitute
• use in waffles
• pie crusts
• Skip any type of food, rice or vegetables

There are many uses for butter, both in the kitchen and in the household, as you can see in the list above.

Don’t feel limited to just being able to bake some random cookies or cakes with your shortening, there are so many options for it!

The best butter substitutes

Not everyone likes to use shortening because there are usually healthier alternatives on the market. If you prefer something lower in fat, feel free to substitute other alternatives for the butter. 

What you need to know is that no matter what you use as a butter substitute, the end result is likely to be different than what you would get if you just used butter.

This is something to keep in mind. There are almost always side effects when using substitutions .

With that said, let’s dig a little deeper into the best shortening substitution options and what you can expect.

1. Lard

Lard is, by definition, the closest substitute for lard that you can find. Lard is very similar to lard in terms of overall fat content.

However, lard is often made specifically from animal fat, while lard can be made from oil or vegetable fats. 

Lard is usually pork fat, more so than any other type of animal fat, but you may hear of other types or even blends when it comes to lard. Lard is very high in cholesterol, especially when it comes from pork fat.

Lard can have a very characteristic meaty flavor.  For this reason, it is very popular for frying.

If you’ve ever used lard to make fried chicken, you’ll find that the flavor is simply amazing compared to using vegetable oil or something similar.

If you substitute vegetable shortening for the lard, you will most likely notice that the flavor is different.

This will be especially true if you use lard in your baked goods, because of the porky or meaty flavor it carries.

The end result, texture-wise, will be mostly the same, but the lard doesn’t have much flavor, and the lard has that distinctive meaty flavor, because they come from different sources.

The meat origin of the lard slightly alters the flavor.

You may or may not notice a taste difference. The amount used in baking is usually quite minimal and therefore the changes will be subtle. 

One more note, shortening can prevent the growth of gluten in wheat products. Lard can’t do it.

Lard is also of animal origin, so it is not an option for vegan and vegetarian lifestyles.  Lard may also be a poor choice for those who do not consume pork products.

2. Margarine

Margarine falls along the lines of being shortening-like and butter-like at the same time.

Margarine is perhaps one of the best substitutes for butter, because you won’t notice any difference in flavor and the difference in pie or cookie crusts will be marginal as well.

Both margarine and shortening are made from hydrogenated vegetable oils. Shortening has quite a bit more fat as it is 100% fat whereas margarine only has a fat content level of 80%.

Both margarine and shortening are made with oil, but since margarine is only 80% fat, it has other additives to make it what it is.

It typically includes water and milk solids, and may have additional flavoring ingredients.

One of the most important things to notice if you decide to use margarine as a substitute is the taste. Remember that shortening has little to no flavor.

Shortening is used primarily for what it can do to the product and not because it adds any flavor to the product.

Margarine is not as thick as shortening, but it is thicker than butter. Margarine also tastes more like butter, so the flavor may be more buttery than shortening.

This is a pretty minuscule difference and you may not notice it at all when using margarine as a butter substitute. However, one thing you may notice is that the pie crust will not be as flaky as it is with shortening. 

Margarine is a great substitute in baking , you will hardly notice the difference. However, when it comes to frying foods, you might notice a difference if you use margarine instead of shortening.

This is because margarine is not 100% fat like butter and you are subjecting it to very high temperatures.

Your food will most likely still taste good, but with margarine fried foods are more likely to taste burnt because the non-fat additives in margarine can burn when cooked at such high heat.

As we have said before, margarine is an optimal substitute for butter when it comes to baking. You may notice a slight difference in the pie crusts, but nothing to spoil the pie crusts or make them taste off.

There is a little trick to using margarine as a substitute: You must add a little more margarine when you use it instead of shortening.

The general rule of thumb is to use an extra 2 tablespoons of margarine for every cup of shortening called for.

Here’s an example: If your recipe calls for 1 cup of butter, you should use 1 cup and 2 tablespoons of margarine. You can do this in any cup increment.

If your recipe calls for 1/2 cup shortening, you can substitute 1/2 cup and 1 tablespoon margarine.

It’s quite simple, just remember to add a little more margarine to get the most similar results.

If you are going to bake, using margarine as a substitute is our closest recommendation. 

3. Butter

Using butter is another great shortening substitution option, although it’s certainly not high on the list of substitutes.  It is much finer than shortening and also has a significantly lower fat content. 

Butter has a very high melting temperature. This is why your cookies can appear much thicker when you make them with shortening, because it doesn’t melt as quickly when baked.

You will notice some differences if you decide to use butter instead of shortening. For starters, your cookies will most likely be flatter than if you used shortening.

However, they will still taste delicious and may even be tastier due to the flavor of the butter.

As a reminder, shortening has little to no flavor. However, butter does taste like butter, if that even makes sense.

Butter certainly has a flavor and the flavor could make a difference in the end result of whatever you substitute for it. 

Butter , like margarine , is about 80% fat. Butter also tends to have a high water content, which can be as high as 16%, making the texture of the butter much finer, but also much easier to melt.

If you think about it, you can microwave the butter for a few seconds and you’ll have completely melted butter.  Butter takes much longer to melt because it requires much higher heat.

This affects above all the final texture of the product because, in the cooking process, the butter melts almost immediately. At the same time, butter will give any food a “melt-in-your-mouth” quality that is irresistible to most people.

The best thing about butter is that it adds extra flavor, but without overpowering the intended flavors . Also, butter is usually all-natural. Although it has water, it is also made with dairy cream, milk, and protein components.

Baking with butter can be more of a challenge to perfect what you’re making, simply because you have the added side effect of butter melting much more easily.

As with margarine, if you choose to substitute butter, we recommend adding an extra 2 tablespoons of butter for each cup of shortening called for in the recipe.

Here’s a great video from Andrew Rea of The Babish Culinary Universe with an explanatory video on butter cakes.

4. Coconut oil

Last but not least, you can use coconut oil as a butter substitute. Coconut oil has a much higher fat content than lard or butter.

You can substitute coconut oil to the same extent that you would substitute butter or margarine.

The consistency of the coconut oil will also be much more like butter . In fact, we have a coconut oil sugar cookie recipe that we think you will love.

Although coconut oil is higher in fat than butter, it has many health benefits, and the fats are considered healthy fats, making them a healthier substitute.

In general, your end results will be very similar to what you get with butter.  One more thing, coconut oil is sometimes flavored with coconut, so be aware that you may feel a hint of coconut if you decide to go this route.

Related questions

We hope you find this guide to identifying butter substitutes a valuable and informative resource.

There are many options for substituting shortening, you just have to be aware of how they can affect your final results.

We invite you to review the following question and answer section for additional information.

Is butter healthier than lard?

Butter is lower in fat than shortening, but is high in saturated fat. For its part, butter can sometimes be high in trans fat, although there are options that contain less trans fat.

In this sense, they are just as bad.

However, butter contains more nutrients and minerals, making it a better overall choice from a health standpoint.

Can I use shortening instead of butter or margarine?

Yes, the substitution factor works both ways. However, shortening does not contain water, while butter and margarine do.

If you are substituting shortening for butter or margarine, you may consider adding some water to make up the difference. 

Does the butter need to be refrigerated?

Shortening does not need refrigeration, even after opening. You can store it in a cool, dry place in your pantry or closet and it will keep well there.

You can store it in the fridge or even in the freezer if you prefer, but it’s not really necessary to preserve the shortening.