Whether slathered over a piece of toast or enjoyed melted over a jacket potato, the best butter is a sure-fire way to make even the simplest of foods taste absolutely delicious . It’s as versatile as it is tasty, too, belonging everywhere from lunchbox sandwiches to homemade baked treats. No wonder it holds permanent resident in most kitchens.
It doesn’t get quite the same bad rap that it used to, either. While margarine was once considered a healthier alternative, owing to butter’s saturated fat content and links to higher cholesterol, we couldn’t be happier about the fact that now, butter is seen as something that can be enjoyed as part of a varied, healthy diet.
In fact, butter is reprising its role as kitchen stalwart, with Waitroses’ sales of its Essentials salted butter up 16 per cent compared with last year, while flavoured butter have also grown in popularity, with Worldpanel trend data showing a 24 per cent increase in UK sales over the past 12 months.
And, like the queen of cooking Nigella Lawson loves to do, it’s best slathered on toast. I’d always opt for salted butter for toast. But Nigella has her own way of doing it – she uses unsalted butter, and has two ‘layers’, ensuring the second leaves un-melted blobs of butter on the slice. The final step is to sprinkle sea salt flakes on top. So, if salted butter is good enough for Nigella (albeit a more deconstructed approach), it’s good enough for us. (For a quicker and simpler approach, I’ve only tested salted butter here.)
Like many essential ingredients, the cost of butter has risen around 19 per cent in the past year alone, so as it’s something that you’re always going to be buying, it’s worth knowing which brands are worth their salt. These days, it’s rare to find a block of butter (not counting the spreadable tub varieties) for under £2, with most hovering just a few pence shy of £3.
If all this talk of butter has your mouth watering, then keep reading for the best offerings in supermarkets right now. After plenty of tasting and many slices of toast, I’ve rounded the tastiest buys worth adding to your basket.
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The best supermarket butters for 2026 are: Best overall – Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference West Country farmhouse butter: Sainsburys.co.ukBest cheap supermarket butter – M&S British salted butter: Ocado.comBest creamy supermarket butter – Kerrygold pure Irish salted butter: Morrisons.comHow I tested
I got busy slathering the dairy spread on multiseed bread (Emma Henderson/The Independent)
I tested 16 salted butters, first by slathering a decent amount on toast, and then tasting them on their own over a couple of days. I used the same bread (my favourite non-sourdough loaf, the Sainsbury’s multiseeded loaf) throughout the test.
I tested supermarket’s basic own-brand butter, where it was available (as not all supermarkets do it), the more luxurious own-brand butters and well-known brands available at supermarkets. I considered taste and creaminess, texture, and value – but I’ve detailed my full testing methodology at the end of the review. You can trust that these butters are worth adding to your weekly shop.
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Dining and Cooking