Ina Garten's Go-To Butter Brand Surprised Us

If you’re a baker, you know that the ingredients you use can have a massive impact on your final product. Different brands of all-purpose flour can have different protein levels and can give a baked good a slightly different texture even if you follow the recipe to a T; accidentally swapping baking soda for baking powder (or omitting whatever the recipe calls for entirely) will leave you with treats that fall flat; and the butterfat percentage in your butter can make or break a laminated dough. 

When it comes to baking, it’s good to emulate Ina Garten and go for good, high-quality ingredients. Luckily, Ina made it easy for us to know what butter she turns to for most of her cooking and baking because it’s right on her website. 

Ina said she often uses Cabot Unsalted Butter in her kitchen. She notes that there are many good brands and that a key component is to use unsalted butter as opposed to salted butter so that you can control the amount of salt in the recipe. 

What Makes Cabot Butter So Good?

Cabot is a Vermont-based company that’s been around since 1919. It’s responsible for some of our favorite dairy products, from cheese to yogurt to, of course, butter. Cabot’s butter is a sweet cream butter, meaning it’s not fermented like cultured butter. Sweet cream butter is what you most likely buy regularly from the supermarket.

Ina isn’t the only one who happens to be a fan of Cabot. In 2019, the unsalted butter won first place in the U.S. Championship Cheese Contest (the salted version won top marks in the 2023 competition in the salted category). Plus, the editors at Allrecipes chose Cabot as the best butter for standard baking in a butter lineup. 

How Much Butterfat Is in Cabot Butter?

The standard Cabot Unsalted Butter is a solid all-around choice for your cooking and baking. As an American-style butter, it has a lower butterfat percentage than brands such as Plugrá or Kerrygold. American butter must contain at least 80 percent butterfat and Cabot’s clocks in at 80.6 percent. European-style butter like Plugrá and Kerrygold generally have at least 82 percent butterfat.

The higher butterfat percentage means less water in the butter. You likely won’t notice a large difference in most cooking and baking (though the higher butterfat percentage certainly can add richness), it does make a difference in a recipe with a laminated dough such as croissants. The higher butterfat European-style butter creates flakier layers in pastry, which is exactly what you want from a croissant. 

If you love Cabot but you’re looking for something with more butterfat, you’re in luck. The brand also has a premium butter that contains 83 percent butterfat, making it richer and creamier than the standard.