How Long Can You Leave Butter Out of the Fridge?

I grew up in a family that was strict about food safety, and it took me some time after I moved to learn the difference between what was sensible precaution (wash your hands after touching raw meat) and what wasn’t. was (you should throw away the yogurt that has expired by one day). When I first heard that some people keep butter on the countertop, I was outraged. It sounded deadly.

But it’s not uncommon for people to leave their oil unattended 24/7 and live to tell the story. Ask around and you’ll find plenty of people, especially older people, who keep a stick of butter out of the fridge all day or all week. Some just have an oil dish that lives on the counter, not in the fridge.

The risk of bacterial growth is minimal.

The main reason we keep food in the refrigerator is to slow down the growth of bacteria and the growth of other microbes such as fungi. But bacteria cannot grow in a piece of butter. They just don’t have enough water to grow since the oil is mostly fatty. What little water is contained in a piece of butter exists in the form of drops scattered throughout the piece of butter, and if the butter is salty, then this water becomes salty and even more inhospitable to microbes.

We even included butter in the list of foods not to be refrigerated , along with honey, oils and hot sauce.

Although butter is best stored in the refrigerator

If, inspired by this information, you decide to just keep the oil on the countertop, you may notice something: where the oil comes into contact with air, it becomes darker, and over time, the taste and smell may change slightly. . It’s from fat oxidation. Another phrase for this is “rancid”.

So, going rancid is not the same as going bad . The taste of many of our foods changes over time as the fats in them oxidize. That’s why old nuts taste weird, and why a bag of whole wheat flour you always had in your pantry might not make as good a loaf of bread as if you went out and bought a fresh bag. Rancid foods aren’t unsafe, but if you’re picky, they can be unappetizing.

If you want the oil to retain its fresh taste longer, it makes sense to store it in the refrigerator. The USDA confirms that oil stored at room temperature is safe, but you’ll probably want to use it “within a day or two” to avoid a rancid taste.

How to get the best of both worlds

If you like soft butter but want it to stay fresh for as long as possible, you have a few options.

First, what the USDA is hinting at is that you can calculate how much oil you’re likely to use in about two days and leave that amount in a butter dish on the counter. The rest stays in the fridge while it waits its turn.

Another option is to use a room temperature container designed to keep the air out of the oil so it lasts longer. This is the idea of ​​old fashioned butter bells . The bell holds a ball of butter upside down in a bowl attached to the lid, and then you fill the base with water to make an airtight seal. If that sounds too much of a hassle, you can use any sealed container and still get most of the benefits. Just make sure to finish it early too long.