The Best Ways to Soften Butter, According to a Baking Pro

To a home baker who needed frosting 15 minutes ago, there is no enemy more fierce than a cold stick of butter. Faced with this dilemma, many of us—including myself, a former professional baker—have asked, “How can I soften this butter, like, immediately?”

When you’re making flaky pastries (like pie crust and scones), the goal is to keep the butter as cold as possible (pro tip: frozen butter is best). But many cake and cookie recipes call for softened butter—not too warm, not too cold, just right. If you had all the time in the world, you’d allow the butter to soften slowly, evenly, by letting it sit at room temperature for a few hours (even up to overnight). But you need softened butter now.

The internet is full of proclaimed butter-softening hacks (some involve submerging a ziptop bag of butter in a hot water bath; others, sandwiching unwrapped sticks between wax paper and whacking them repeatedly with a rolling pin). And while these methods might work (I’ve never tried them), there is a simpler way. Below are three foolproof butter-softening techniques I used while working in pastry kitchens, guaranteed to yield perfectly soft butter in a matter of minutes. But before we get into that, a primer on what exactly you’re looking for in a softened stick.

How to tell when butter is soft:

Butter is considered softened or at room temperature when it’s between 60°–68°F. The most scientific way to tell if your butter is softened is to insert the probe of an instant-read thermometer into the center of the butter block and look for a temperature within that range. But you don’t have to check your butter’s temperature every time you want to bake a batch of cupcakes: There are some visual cues you can look for too.

To tell if butter is softened properly, press into the center with your finger—it should leave an indent with little to no resistance. Keep in mind that the surface of the stick will soften faster than the core, so it might be soft on the outside but still hard in the center—we’re looking for room-temperature butter throughout the entire stick.

Butter can also be too soft, which can lead to flat cookies and dense cakes. If your butter has gotten too warm, it will be extra slick and shiny-looking and maybe even melty or puddly. It also won’t hold its shape when poked. If this happens, pop the butter back into the fridge briefly to help it firm up, or melt it and use it for another project like Our Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies.

The best way to soften butter is to plan ahead. If you know you want to bake a cake tomorrow, take the amount of butter your recipe calls for out of the fridge and set it on the counter overnight to soften (or if it’s a hot day and your kitchen tends to get stuffy, wait until just a few hours in advance). Go ahead and set out your eggs and any measured liquids that you’ll need at room temperature too. We promise they’ll also be fine for the next 8 hours—just drape a kitchen towel over them if you have curious pets or prying eyes about the house.

How to soften butter quickly:

Our favorite way to soften butter doesn’t use any gadgets or gimmicks. The butter reaches the perfect consistency quickly, and avoids any issues using your microwave, warm water, or a hot oven might introduce.

Here’s how to do it: Using a knife or bench scraper, cut cold butter into small cubes (about ½–inch pieces). Alternatively, grate the butter with the large holes of a box grater. Exposing more of the butter’s surface area to ambient temperatures will speed up its warming process. Place the cubed or grated butter into a bowl and set it in a warm place (but not too warm!). Use the light from a window, or, if you keep your kitchen at frigid temperatures, set the bowl on top of the stove or a radiator—or even inside the oven (turned off!) with the oven light switched on. Use that softening time as prep time: Measure any other ingredients needed for your recipe. After 15–30 minutes, the butter should be soft enough to proceed—if you’ve used a grater, the time may be as little as 10 minutes. (That being said, this method depends on the ambient temperature of the room.)

Need softened butter even faster? Keep reading.

How to soften butter in an instant:

I call this method “pre-creaming” because it involves paddling the butter in the stand mixer to get it nice and soft, just like creaming butter for cakes or cookies. Be mindful that by paddling the butter, you’re incorporating air into the equation, so you might want to reduce the creaming time later on in the recipe.

Here’s how to do it: Cut cold butter into ½–inch increments and place them in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium-low for 2–3 minutes. If you have a kitchen torch, use it to gently warm the outside of the bowl during the first minute of beating—just be sure not to let it linger in one spot too long, which will cause hot spots of melted butter. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then increase speed to medium and beat for another 2–3 minutes. The butter should be soft enough to proceed now—and it's already in the mixer!

How to soften butter in the microwave (if you must):

Softening butter in a microwave is a dangerous game. A few seconds on that radiating turntable won’t make much of a dent in hard butter…but zap it for a few seconds too long and you’ll end up with a popping, puttering puddle. If this happens to you, add the melted butter to cheesecake crust or muffin batter. But, for daredevils, this is also the method with potentially the greatest rewards (a.k.a. softening butter faster than the time it takes to boil water).

Here’s how to do it: Cut the butter into ½-inch increments and place in a microwave-safe bowl. On 30% power (or the microwave’s defrost setting), microwave the butter in 5-second intervals, checking at each interval until the butter reaches the desired consistency (this should take around 30 seconds, but could take up to 1 minute depending on your microwave’s output).

So you’ve got perfectly soft butter. What’re you baking?

Need to fill the cookie tins? Go for classic molasses cookies. Attending a housewarming party? Elvis Presley’s favorite pound cake makes a lovely gift. And if you’re celebrating a birthday, this reverse-creamed yellow cake is meant for the occasion—just don’t forget to soften an extra stick for some buttercream.