Butter Is Better at Room Temperature... But Is It Safe?

There is nothing more annoying than getting out a piece of that homemade bread and then completely ruining it with hard butter.

You know what I'm saying?

I do a lot of cooking, but I never know how long to let the butter sit out on the counter. When we occasionally let it sit out, I generally get too nervous after 24 hours to even consider eating it past then, so I toss it.

Let's get to the bottom of this. No more wasting butter.

This is what it says on the FDA's website:

Butter is safe at room temperature. However, if butter is left out at room temperature for several days, the flavor can turn rancid so it's best to leave out whatever you can use within a day or two.

Well, here's the deal... there's also this butter enthusiast in L.A. called Joelle Mertzel, who's like a "butter evangelist." She decided to do her own experiment and found zero signs of spoilage in butter after leaving it out for a whopping 30 days!

She even cranked up the temperature to 77 degrees Fahrenheit.

It turns out that several experts actually agree with Joelle. They say that butter can totally hang out outside the fridge without any issues. TikTok also seems to be on board with this, according to the kids. Butter-related videos have been viewed a mind-boggling 472 million times.

Unsalted butter is more susceptible to bacteria, so stick with salted butter if you plan on letting it sit on the counter instead of inside the fridge.

Overall, go ahead and keep that butter out. Looks like the absolute MAX would be 30 days (yikes) - but if you're like me and simply just the sound of that stresses you out... rest easy that you can at least keep butter out a week and not die of butter poisoning.

Just remember to store it in a cool spot, away from direct sunlight and stuff.