It’s no secret that butter adds a delicious flavor, texture, and a special oomph to many dishes! That being said, most of us are a little put off by the fat in it, as throwing slabs of the delicious (yet not nutritious) stuff into all our dishes isn’t always the most realistic for our calorie counts OR the recipe.
Enter butter extract, the liquid gold that is the “secret ingredient” for many chefs out there – and now it can be yours too! This stuff boosts whatever you put it in – especially bakes – enriching the flavor in a fat-free package.
Sounds pretty good, right?
Now, there are many butter extracts out there trying to grab your attention – but not just any old butter extract is going to give you what you want! There are many imposters, and ones that are less-than-worthy…
That’s where we come in – we’ve tested many butter extracts, and have made this list ranking the best ones with the highest qualities! So, let’s jump in and talk all things butter extract!
What is butter extract?
So butter extract is quite interesting – it’s basically a mixture of butter and alcohol. The butter is placed in the alcohol and put through a process where the alcohol extracts all the delicious characteristics of the butter over a long period of time. The process also separates the fat from the butter, creating a fat-free liquid!
The end product is a liquid that contains a very concentrated butter flavor – it’s basically a super strong butter in a different texture without all the fat. The alcohol in it (which is usually unflavored vodka) acts as a preservative, giving the butter extract a long shelf-life!
You’ll see us talk about butter emulsions in this article as well, which is quite similar to butter extract except that it’s water-based, not alcohol-based. Emulsions also don’t “bake out” like extracts do, which basically means that more of the emulsion’s flavor is left in after baking – this can be good or bad depending on your preferences, as the flavors are quite strong in extracts already.
And remember: a couple drops go a long way here!
How to use butter extract in recipes
Butter extract can be used in so many ways! It’s especially great for adding a buttery flavor to things, enhancing the butter flavor in bakes especially. For example, add a couple of additional drops in a recipe that calls for butter to really bring that flavor out!
You can also use it to change the texture in your bakes, being especially effective in turning dry bakes to deliciously moist! Butter extract can also easily replace melted butter in several situations, like in frosting, icing, or adding it to your popcorn. That way, you get all the great things about butter without the fat!
Butter extract can also replace butter, although I recommend using butter extract as an ENHANCEMENT to actual butter in recipes. If you do want to substitute, use 2 tablespoons of butter extract for every 1 stick of butter – I told you butter extract is strong!
LorAnn, which is a brand we’ll talk about later, recommends using 1-3 teaspoons of butter extract for any standard baking batch sizes (for cookies and muffins, for example). They refer to an emulsion, but use the high end of that recommendation for extracts to match the same flavor intensity that emulsions have after baking.
Just keep in mind that replacing actual butter can change the texture of the overall recipe, as butter extract doesn’t contain the fat that real butter does. So, again, butter extract is best used in recipes to amplify the taste of butter – or if you just want to add the flavor in things that don’t use butter!
2 great recipes to use your butter extract
While butter extract can be a great replacement in recipes that call for melted butter, I do think that it’s best used as an enhancement for butter as I mentioned. So, definitely try these recipes:
- Almond flour chocolate chip cookies (gluten-free): Combining nutty and chocolate is one of the all-time golden combos! These cookies use almond flour to complement the chocolate chips, creating a beautiful blend of flavors all while being gluten-free! Add a couple drops of butter extract to really bring out some more flavor!
- Almond flour cookies: I wanted to give you an option of the above cookies minus the chocolate, because some people don’t like it – and that’s fair. These cookies are also gluten-free, but will also fit your keto diet! However, unlike the above recipe, these almond flour cookies have NO butter in it! That’s why adding a couple drops of butter extract will give them that buttery taste – without compromising anything else in the cookies’ balance!
How to choose the best butter extract
You need to know exactly what to look for when finding the best butter extracts, which is why we’ve made this list of criteria that ensures the highest-quality products:
- Ingredients: Take away all the artificial ingredients and give us the natural stuff! We love to see brands aiming to use the best quality ingredients when making butter extracts, which is great for the health-conscious and for the taste!
- Consumer feedback: Listening to your fellow bakers can be the difference between using a bad or good product, which is exactly why we comb the reviews for every product we test, gaining a deeper perspective on what people like or don’t like about something.
- Track record: We don’t like supporting brands that use sketchy ingredients or treat their customers poorly, which is why we put a magnifying glass up to every brand, checking if they have any faults!
- Price: Everything is more expensive these days, which is why we’ve included budget-friendly options along with more expensive butter extracts – there’s something for everyone!
So, with all that said, let’s jump into the rankings!
#1 Best Overall: Watkins
At number 1 best overall we have Watkins!
Watkins is no stranger to our “bests” lists, frequently being around the top of the pack for their awesome extracts. Their butter extract is absolutely delicious, with over 2000 reviews backing this awesome product up!
Plus, it comes in at a solid price of $2.16 per fluid ounce! Watkins’ butter extract is a testimony to their 150+ years dedicated to creating the best flavoring agents, and you’ll see why these guys are so great here with a wonderful butter flavor!
A quick note here: this butter extract contains milk, which adds to the buttery flavor but is something to keep in mind if you have any allergies or are looking for something dairy-free (check out number 7 on this list).
You’ll be sure to like this one!
Ingredients: Water, Alcohol, Natural flavors, Extractive of butter. Contains: Milk.
#2 Runner-Up: OliveNation
The runner-up in the best butter extracts is OliveNation!
Their flavoring agents are becoming better and better, which is evident in how they’ve been sticking around the top of our “best” lists leaderboards lately! OliveNation’s butter extract is truly one that you don’t want to miss, as it offers a real “wow” factor to whatever you add it to! It’s a great way to add the delicious butter flavor without any artificial ingredients, and comes in at $1.39, which is one of the most budget-friendly prices on this list! Just keep in mind that this one also has milk in it.
Amazing butter extract for an amazing price, what more can we ask for?
Ingredients: Alcohol, Water, Natural Flavors. Contains: Milk.
#3 Best in Bulk: LorAnn
Coming in hot at number 3 is LorAnn!
Now, this is an emulsion, not an extract, but is still absolutely great and effective in all things that you would use an extract for! Plus, it’s keto-friendly, with the only 16 fluid ounce option on this entire list – that makes it perfect for bulk buying! On top of that, this butter emulsion has 25,000+ reviews for an amazing 4.5 out of 5 stars!
The price is also very impressive, coming in at just $1.41 per fluid ounce! If you need a keto-friendly extract/emulsion, this is the one to try!
Ingredients: Water, propylene glycol, natural flavors, xantham gum, citric acid.
#4 Best Organic: Nature’s Flavors
I love organic products, but I find they often have issues with taste. Well, that’s not an issue at all with Nature’s Flavors’ butter extract!
This stuff has a delicious butter taste in an all-organic package that keeps up in flavor with the best of the best! In fact, the only reason it’s not in the top 3 is because it’s a fair bit more expensive, coming in at $9.73 per fluid ounce…
If you can afford it and want an organic butter extract, Nature’s Flavors is your best bet while providing an amazing flavor!
Ingredients: Organic Cane Alcohol and Natural Flavors.
#5 Trusted Brand: McCormick
One of our consistent trusted brands (along with Watkins) is McCormick, a top dog in the flavoring agents world!
Their butter extract is absolutely wonderful, with a great buttery taste that’ll have you thinking it’s just straight butter! It enhances whatever you add it to perfectly, but is also on the expensive side costing $8.82 per fluid ounce.
I also want to mention that McCormick’s butter extract, like the many others, contains milk, so keep that in mind if you don’t want that!
Otherwise, you definitely can’t go wrong with a company that’s pretty much synonymous with “flavoring agents,” as their butter extract is top-notch!
Ingredients: Alcohol, Water, Natural Flavor, & Extractives of Butter (Milk).
#6 Honorable Mention: Happy Belly
Happy Belly is an Amazon brand that’s been getting more frequent on our “bests” lists lately, and is a great choice for butter extracts!
Now, it’s nothing special compared to the others on this list, but it’s definitely one worth checking out as it has awesome reviews, has a solid taste, and is completely natural – it does contain milk like most others on this list, just to note.
It also costs $7.28, which is quite expensive while it doesn’t offer anything of greater value than the top ones on this list. It’s a solid butter extract however, if you want to try it!
Ingredients: Water, Alcohol, Natural flavors, Extractive of butter. Contains: Milk.
#7 Best Imitation: Happy Home
Rounding out this list is Happy Home, which is an imitation butter extract…
That basically means it uses artificial flavorings and other stuff that’s not just “butter and alcohol” like butter extracts are. I usually don’t like recommending these, but most butter extracts contain milk, which not everyone can digest – so I definitely understand the importance of having alternative options.
So, as far as imitations go, Happy Home’s is definitely the best if you simply don’t want a real butter extract or, more likely, have allergies to milk or want a dairy-free option.
Plus, it’s quite affordable, coming in at $1.03 per fluid ounce, which is the cheapest on this list!
Ingredients: artificial flavor, water, propylene glycol.
Others we reviewed
Having a good butter extract can really bring out some beautiful flavors in your dish, but what about some of the products we tested that we didn’t like?
Well, one of those products is Wilton’s butter flavoring, which is also an imitation butter flavor. I mentioned earlier that we don’t like imitation products, as they use artificial ingredients – and why would you get an imitation if you can get the real thing?
However, as some people have allergies to milk, we understand. We did find that Happy Home offers the best imitation butter flavoring, and Wilton really didn’t bring anything special to the table. It’s fine, but not good enough to make the cut – especially since we don’t need to rank more than one imitation butter flavoring in this case.
Another product that didn’t make the cut is Hobbyland’s butter emulsion. Now, we don’t have anything against emulsions – in fact, we like them in the right cases – but Hobbyland adds artificial flavoring in theirs, which again, we at Coconut Mama don’t like as the natural stuff is always better! Plus, they make them in small batches, so it’s hard to get a hold of!
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