Butter freezes better than almost anything in your fridge. A year in the freezer, no texture change, and it grates straight from frozen for pastry.
Butter is mostly fat, and fat has very little water in it to form damaging ice crystals. That is why it comes out of the freezer essentially unchanged, which is not true of most dairy. The only real enemy is air, because butter absorbs smells aggressively.
| Keeps for | A year for unsalted, slightly longer for salted |
|---|---|
| Texture after | Unchanged |
| Main risk | Picking up freezer smells through poor wrapping |
| Salt helps | Salted butter keeps longer, because salt is a preservative |
| Best trick | Grate frozen butter straight into pastry and scone dough |
How to freeze it
- Keep it in its original wrapper and add a layer of foil or a freezer bag over the top.
- Freeze it in blocks rather than cut pieces, since less surface area means less chance of absorbing odours.
- Label with the date, because butter looks identical at one month and twelve.
- Thaw in the fridge overnight for spreading, or use it frozen for baking.
- For pastry, grate it frozen straight into the flour. It is the easiest way to get cold butter evenly distributed.
What happens when you get it wrong
- Butter that tastes of the freezer. Poor wrapping. Fat absorbs odours from everything around it.
- Rancid after a long stretch. Unsalted butter goes off sooner than salted, and light and air accelerate it.
- Crumbly when spreading. Thawed too fast or still too cold. Give it time in the fridge, then a few minutes out.
- A thawed and refrozen block. Safe, but the texture suffers each time.
Freeze it in sticks or portions you will actually use, so you are not thawing a pound for one recipe.
Compound butters, with herbs or garlic mixed in, freeze beautifully and are worth making in batches.
Frequently asked questions
Can you freeze butter?
Yes, for up to a year. Butter is mostly fat with little water, so freezing does not damage the texture. Wrap it well, because it readily absorbs freezer odours.
Does frozen butter taste different?
Not if it was wrapped properly. Off flavours come from absorbing smells through poor wrapping, or from unsalted butter kept too long.
Can you bake with frozen butter?
Yes, and for pastry it is better. Grate it frozen into the flour to get cold, evenly distributed pieces, which is exactly what flaky pastry needs.
How do you thaw butter?
In the fridge overnight, then at room temperature for a few minutes before spreading. Microwaving usually gives you half melted and half solid.
Does salted butter freeze better than unsalted?
It keeps longer, because salt acts as a preservative. Unsalted is best used within around six to nine months.