Softened butter on a white plate.

How to Soften Butter Quickly | One Quick Tip

Need to soften butter fast? Learn an easy trick for how to soften butter quickly with One Quick Tip using a warm glass and hot water!

Softened butter on a white plate.
How to Soften Butter Quickly | One Quick Tip

Need to soften butter fast? Learn how to soften butter quickly with One Quick Tip using a warm glass!

Softened butter on a white plate.

Now that fall baking is upon us, I’ve turned on the oven more times in the last week than I have in all of the summer months combined. I’ve also started a recipe only to realize that I forgot to set out the butter to come to room temperature! I know I’m not the only one, so today I’m sharing my favorite way to soften butter quickly.

Between you and me, I’ll confess that I used to microwave my butter, but after way too many episodes of ending up with butter soup, I was excited when I learned how to soften butter with the warm glass hack.

Here’s how!

Glass being filled with hot water.

Take a heat proof glass and fill it with hot, boiling water. Since I have an electric kettle, this is fast enough, but if you wish, you can also go ahead and heat the water in the microwave. Let the glass sit for a minute so it heats through.

Stick of butter on white plate with a warm glass put over the top to soften it quickly.

Carefully dump out your water (use oven mitts!), dry it with a towel, and quickly turn the glass over on your butter. Let it sit for a couple of minutes and check on your butter. It will be soft to the touch, and the perfect consistency for spreading on toast or creaming with sugar for a batch of cookies!

If you find that your butter is still not the right consistency (it does depend on the quantity of butter), just let it sit under its glass sauna for a little bit more time.

Butter knife with softened butter on it and a stick of butter in the background.

I hope that helps you! I know this is one of many methods out there for softening butter, but so far this is my absolute favorite.

What’s yours?

Softened butter on a white plate.

Learn more One Quick Tips here.

Now, use that softened butter to bake these delicious recipes:

Five-Spice Chocolate Tea Bread
Rhubarb Frangipane Cake
Apple Walnut Delight Cake
White Chocolate Chip and Currant Oatmeal Cookies
Roasted Berry Cupcakes
Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies

Comments

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  1. Lynn

    Is this for butter kept in the fridge?
    Or for butter from the freezer?
    How much long do you think it will take for butter frozen solid?
    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Liren Baker

      This tip is for refrigerated butter, but if you try it with frozen butter, it would take much longer, and I admit that I have not tried it. If it were me, I would try grating the frozen butter first before placing under the warm glass, to speed up the process. Hope that helps.

      Reply
  2. Auntiepatch

    I soften my butter in the microwave; 4 seconds on each side. Perfect.

    Reply
    • Liren Baker

      I’m so glad you found a reliable way to do it in your microwave! I always have a hard time judging timing!

      Reply
  3. Crafty cougar

    Great idea. I don’t have a microwave so this hint is very helpful. I usually slice the desired amount off with a cheese slice.
    Thanks

    Reply
  4. Drisdy Kee

    Great tip! I had used the microwave method, and leaving on the counter method. But this is much better.

    Reply
    • Liren Baker

      Thanks, Drisdy! After misjudging my timing in the microwave so many times, I definitely love this method more!

      Reply
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