Can You Substitute Butter for Oil? How & When To Do | Blue Apron (2024)

FAQs

Can You Substitute Butter for Oil? How & When To Do | Blue Apron? ›

Here's everything you need to know to substitute butter for oil in baking or cooking. In all cases, butter and oil should be substituted with a 1:1 ratio. Melting the butter before measuring can help you get an accurate measurement.

Replacing Oil with Butter

It couldn't be easier to substitute butter for oil using a 1:1 ratio. This should work with olive, canola, vegetable, and coconut oils. Simply melt and cool the butter to room temperature, then continue with your recipe. (If the recipe calls for ½ cup oil, use ½ cup melted and cooled butter.)

You can also use vegetable oil in place of the butter if you prefer it. I make it both ways depending how much butter I have on hand. Of course using butter, you get a more buttery flavor.

Chefs love to make savory dishes with butter, but at home, you may want to stick to oil when preparing your pan for sautéeing and cooking. Butter can easily brown and even burn if you're cooking at high heat, which may be the case when searing a piece of meat, sautéeing vegetables, or cooking down leafy greens.

For quick-breads like banana bread or muffins, you can more easily swap in oil for the butter. As discussed above, butter is only about 80% fat whereas oil is 100% fat.

It is possible to replace oil with butter in a muffin recipe as generally most muffin recipes are quite forgiving and you may find that butter gives a better flavour.

How do I substitute olive oil for butter in cakes and other baked good? As a general rule of thumb, substitute three-quarters of the butter in a recipe with olive oil. In other words: If a baking recipe calls for a stick of butter (8 tablespoons), for example, use 6 tablespoons of olive oil.

The milk solids in butter create a flavor that's hard to beat. It brings a little extra deliciousness to almost any recipe. If you don't eat dairy, or you're just looking for a different flavor, you can also substitute oil for butter in most recipes, but it's important to keep flavor in mind.

Oil has less saturated fat than butter does which makes it a healthier choice if you are looking for something lower in calories and fat content. Additionally, oils such as olive oil contain heart-healthy monounsaturated fats that help reduce inflammation in your body.

Use Butter Instead of Oil

My favorite swap and also the easiest: add melted butter instead of canola or vegetable oil, which most boxed cake mixes call for. Butter adds moisture and fat just like any oil, but it also has that unmistakable butter flavor that we all know and love.

Are cakes better with oil or butter? ›

Despite some widespread beliefs, oil cakes are not inferior to butter cakes. Here's why. The texture of cakes made with oil is—in general—superior to the texture of cakes made with butter. Oil cakes tend to bake up loftier with a more even crumb and stay moist and tender far longer than cakes made with butter.

Best Oils for Baking

Choosing vegetable oil is the best option for baking moist, delicious baked goods. Canola oil, the most common vegetable oil used in baking, doesn't add a strong flavor. It allows your cake's flavor will shine through while still achieving a moist texture.

To convert butter to oil, you'll want to use a 3:4 ratio instead — this means one equal part of oil equates to ¾ butter. Example: If a recipe calls for 2/3 cup of butter, use 1/2 cup of oil instead.

Melted, unsalted butter is the perfect substitute for oil, and can even add a richer flavor to baked recipes. Swap in butter for oil in a 1:1 ratio, melting butter in the microwave or on the stovetop. Vegan butter or ghee can also work in this instance.

Simply use an oil to butter ratio of 3 : 4. This means that for every three parts of oil (e.g., three tablespoons), you need to take four exact parts of butter (4 tablespoons in our example). That's it!

Butter is considered a solid fat because it is solid at room temperature and oil is considered a liquid fat because it's liquid at room temperature. Because of this, you can't rely on oil to provide any leavening help in baked goods, which can result in a denser texture.