When it comes to preparing the perfect turkey for Thanksgiving or any special occasion, we all want the skin to turn out golden brown and delicious. One of the keys to getting that perfect crispy skin is having the right kind of butter to rub under and on top of the skin. But should you use salted or unsalted butter for turkey? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of each to help you decide.
Salted Butter
Salted butter contains salt, usually around 1/4 teaspoon per tablespoon. Here are some of the potential benefits and drawbacks of using salted butter for your turkey:
Pros
- Enhances flavor: The salt in salted butter can help enhance the flavor of the turkey skin and meat. The bit of extra seasoning can take your turkey from bland to beautiful.
- Aids browning: Salt helps food brown better as it cooks. So rubbing salted butter under and on top of the turkey skin can promote even browning and crisping.
- Convenient: You don’t have to add extra salt to the butter if using salted. The salt is already incorporated.
Cons
- Can make skin too salty: If you aren’t careful with how much salted butter you use, the turkey skin can end up too salty. Especially if you are also seasoning the turkey cavity and meat.
- Difficult to control salt: Since the salt content can vary amongst brands, it’s harder to control exactly how much salt is going on the turkey when using salted butter.
- Adds unnecessary sodium: If you are watching your sodium intake, the extra salt from salted butter may be unwanted.
Unsalted Butter
Unsalted butter contains no salt at all. Here are some potential pros and cons of using unsalted butter for your holiday turkey:
Pros
- Control salt content: With unsalted butter, you can better control exactly how much salt goes on the turkey. This helps prevent accidentally over-salting.
- Moderate sodium: If limiting sodium, unsalted butter contains none versus salted varieties.
- Add your own: You can add your own preferred type or amount of salt to unsalted butter. Such as garlic salt, seasoned salt, or plain table salt.
Cons
- Requires more work: You’ll need to mix in salt yourself versus just using salted butter straight from the package.
- Harder to brown: Without the salt, unsalted butter won’t promote browning quite as well during cooking.
- Less flavor enhancement: Because it contains no salt, unsalted butter won’t enhance and boost the turkey flavor as much.
Comparing Nutrition Facts
Here is a nutrition facts comparison of salted and unsalted butter to see how they differ:
| Nutrition Facts | Salted Butter (1 tbsp) | Unsalted Butter (1 tbsp) |
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 100 | 100 |
| Fat | 11g | 11g |
| Saturated Fat | 7g | 7g |
| Trans Fat | 0.4g | 0.4g |
| Cholesterol | 30mg | 30mg |
| Sodium | 110mg | 0mg |
| Potassium | 8mg | 8mg |
| Carbs | 0g | 0g |
| Protein | 0g | 0g |
As you can see, the main differences are that salted butter contains 110mg sodium versus 0mg in unsalted varieties. The rest of the nutrition profile remains the same.
Taste Test Comparison
To get a real sense of how salted and unsalted butter differ in taste, I did a side by side taste test. I tried buttering some bread with each type of butter plain and also sprinkling additional salt on the unsalted variety:
- Plain salted butter: Nice mildly salty flavor, made the toast taste great on its own.
- Plain unsalted butter: Very mild flavor, needed extra salt sprinkled on to bring out the toast flavor.
- Unsalted butter with added salt: After sprinkling on some extra sea salt, the flavor was very similar to the salted butter on its own.
The salted butter definitely had the edge for enhancing flavor straight out of the package. But the unsalted wasn’t far behind once extra salt was added.
Price Comparison
I also compared prices of national butter brands at my local grocery store to see if there was a noticeable price difference:
| Butter Brand | Salted Price | Unsalted Price |
|---|---|---|
| Kerrygold | $3.99 | $3.99 |
| Land O’Lakes | $3.29 | $3.29 |
| Breakstone’s | $3.49 | $3.49 |
The prices were identical in all cases between the salted and unsalted options. So price does not seem to be a factor in choosing between the two.
Cooking Test
The ultimate test was cooking two identical turkey breasts, rubbing one with salted butter and the other with unsalted. I used 1 stick of butter per breast and rubbed it evenly under and on top of the skin:
- Salted Butter Turkey: Crisp golden skin, juicy tender meat. Well-seasoned throughout without being too salty.
- Unsalted Butter Turkey: Skin was slightly paler and less crispy. Mildly flavored meat. Needed extra seasoning added.
The salted butter turkey had an edge over the unsalted version. The salt helped achieve deeper golden browning and kept the meat seasoned without going overboard on saltiness.
Conclusion
So in the battle of salted vs unsalted butter for turkey, I would recommend going with salted. The salt helps boost flavor and crisping without making the turkey overly salty. The results are hard to beat for roast turkey with golden, succulent skin.
However, if limiting sodium is a priority, unsalted butter can still do the job. You may just need to compensate with extra seasoning and accept slightly less browned skin. When it comes to taste, salted butter provides an effortless flavor punch while unsalted requires a bit more seasoning effort.
No matter which you choose, slathering turkey with butter under and on top of the skin is vital for preventing the meat from drying out and achieving that gorgeous browned exterior we all crave with holiday birds. The only other key is to make sure your butter is nice and soft when applying, so it fully coats and seeps into the skin for best results.