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You might wonder how to bring butter and eggs to room temperature for your next recipe. I’ve got just what you need to find the right method for you!

A simple guide on how to bring butter and eggs to room temperature.

If you’ve ever wondered how to bring butter and eggs to room temperature, the easiest and best way is to simply allow them to sit – at room temperature. That’s pretty much a no-brainer, right?

But this method usually means that you have a bit of a plan in place. If I know that I am going to be baking a batch of M&M Cookies or my Easy Sugar Cookies recipe early in the morning, I always take my items out of the fridge and allow them to sit on the counter overnight.

How to bring butter and eggs to room temperature using a variety of methods.

However, if you’re at all like me, sometimes ya just get the urge to bake something without a plan in place. I often find myself in this situation and it can be a real bummer if the recipe you’re using calls for room temperature items such as butter, eggs, or even cream cheese.

But no worries, I’ve got ya covered – so the next time you find yourself staring at ice cold butter and eggs, you’ll know exactly how to bring butter and eggs to room temperature in no time!

I usually bake with room temperature eggs because they seem to disperse much better through batters when they aren’t fresh out of the fridge. Typically if the recipe calls for room temperature butter, it’s a good idea to use room temperature eggs too.

An easy way to bring eggs to room temperature when you're in a hurry.

HOW TO BRING EGGS TO ROOM TEMPERATURE

Place eggs in a bowl and cover them with warm (not hot) tap water.

Allow the eggs to sit in the water for about 5 minutes or until they are no longer cool to the touch.

HOW TO BRING BUTTER TO ROOM TEMPERATURE

Clearly, bringing eggs to room temperature is pretty straightforward. But there are a few ways to soften butter – some of them are faster than others.

A quick and simple guide to bringing butter and eggs to room temperature.

THE QUICK METHOD:
If you bake a lot, I’m betting you’ve attempted to soften butter in the microwave, right? I know some microwaves have a fancy schmancy feature that allows you to soften butter at the press of a button, but unfortunately, my microwave is not rocking that feature. Softening butter in the microwave can can be tricky because if you get distracted, you’ll end up with a pool of butter instead of a beautifully softened stick.

You know you’ve done it – and I’ll attest to the fact that cleaning up melted butter from the inside of the microwave is a pain in the booty. After some trial and error, I’ve pretty much perfected my microwave softening technique, here’s what I do:

HOW TO SOFTEN BUTTER IN THE MICROWAVE

1. Place stick(s) of butter on a microwave safe plate. Leave the paper wrapper on.
2. Place the plate into the microwave and heat on high power for 5 seconds.
Open microwave, give the stick 1/4 turn (meaning, pick it up and flip it over onto its side) and heat again for 5 seconds.
Do this on all four long sides of the stick(s) of butter. Typically after about 20-25 seconds my butter is perfect. This time will vary depending on your microwave – simply watch it closely and keep flipping it. The flipping action will help the butter to evenly soften.

How to bring butter to room temperature using the cubing method.

HOW TO SOFTEN BUTTER BY CUBING

If you have a little bit of time on your hands, you can cut the stick(s) of butter into fourths lengthwise and then cube into small pieces. The smaller the cubes, the quicker the butter will soften. Just leave them at room temperature for about an hour or until soft to the touch.

How to quickly bring butter to room by using the grating method.

HOW TO SOFTEN BUTTER BY GRATING

I always have a lot of butter on hand and when it’s on sale I stock up and store it in the freezer. But sometimes I forget to move some to the fridge when I’m running low, and then find myself with pounds of only frozen butter. The easiest way to bring frozen butter to room temperature is to take out your handy box grater and grate the butter into a bowl.

Within no time, your butter will be soft and ready to be added to your favorite recipe. This grating method also works wonders when a recipe calls for frozen butter such as scones and pie doughs.

How to quickly bring eggs to room temperature.

DO EGGS NEED TO BE REFRIGERATED?

All of this talk of room temperature butter might have you wondering – do baking ingredients really need to be refrigerated at all?

Here in the U.S., eggs need to be refrigerated. This is because of the way they are washed and then refrigerated before selling. In Europe, where eggs are processed differently and not refrigerated from the start, eggs do not need to be refrigerated.

Rule of thumb for ya: If the eggs are refrigerated from the start, they need to stay refrigerated.

A quick and easy guide to quickly bringing butter and eggs to room temperature.

DOES BUTTER NEED TO BE REFRIGERATED?

All unsalted butter should be kept refrigerated. Salted butter can be kept at room temperature but will go bad much faster (about a week). Using an airtight container like a butter crock can make it last longer (about 2 weeks) – and looks cute, too.

And there you have it, my not-so-technical methods of how to bring butter and eggs to room temperature. I hope it helps you out the next time you feel the urge to bake up something in a hurry! (Try my Cookies and Cream Cookies or my Graham Cracker Cookies.)

NOTES
The Microwave and Cube Methods will also work for softening cream cheese. If you use the microwave method, be sure to unwrap the cream cheese before placing it into the microwave.

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133 Comments

  1. Rachel @ Baked by Rachel says:

    I do my best to try and pull butter out before going to bed and let it sit out overnight. Maybe that’s a bad method but it works for me… WHEN I remember! I’ve been known on occasion in warmer months to put butter in containers and set them outside for a short time – works like a charm when you’re in a rush.

    1. Memoria says:

      Ina Garten does the same thing with her eggs and butter. When I know I’m going to bake the next day, I take them out before going to bed too. Otherwise, I place the butter on top of the oven as it preheats (as others have mentioned here), and I place the eggs in warm water for a few mins (sometimes fewer than 5 mins).

  2. Twyla says:

    No joke, I deal with this dilhemma every weekend when I decide at the last minute to bake chocolate chip cookies or brownies. Thanks for the tips!! I use the microwave one all the time!! Another good question is; If you forget about the butter sitting out on the counter or don’t get the time to bake what you planned. How long can that butter sit out? And can you put it back in the fridge?

    1. Christine says:

      We never put our butter back in the fridge (except during summer); we use it straight out of the cupboard. If I set butter out to soften in the wrapper and don’t use it, I’ll put it back in the fridge to harden up a bit so I can remove the wrapper easily.

  3. Katherine Martinelli says:

    This is great. So simple but something we ALL need sometimes. I’ve never frozen butter – do you just put it, wrapper and all in the freezer? Then transfer to fridge when you want to use? The water and egg trick is just brilliant. Thanks!

  4. kristina says:

    Yup. I melt my butter every single time I try. Even using defrost it ends up melting! Thanks – I’ll definitely try your method!

  5. Sarah @TheExPatBride says:

    I never saw a recipe with room temperature eggs, but it makes sense!

  6. The Sweet Cupcaker says:

    this was so helpful! I have already been doing the heat and turn method for a while but I love your idea for frozen butter–I always forget to put it in the fridge! thank you!

  7. Rachel @ Not Rachael Ray says:

    Great tips, thanks Jamie!

  8. Karen@Mignardise says:

    All great ideas for someone like me who is bad at planning ahead and often wants to bake at the spur of the moment. Thanks – and the photo is gorgeous.

  9. Chow Bella says:

    I use the egg method and the microwave method all the time, but I never thought of freezing and then grating butter, thanks so much!

  10. Helen says:

    Oooh good tips! Whenever I have the sudden urge to bake I am always dissapointed I have to wait for butter to soften etc…
    I will definitely try this! Thanks.