Butter Vs Oil: Which Should You Use To Grease Your Pans?

Butter and oil are types of fat, which means they're great for turning difficult pans into non-stick cookware. When the fat interacts with a metal baking pan, it creates what's called a patina — a coating between the food and the pan that prevents the food from sticking. It's a life saver when baking because it helps those baked goods, such as muffins or cakes, to easily lift from the baking pan and hold their shape. But how do you know whether to use butter or oil to grease a pan?

There are a few reasons why you might choose one or the other, but it mostly comes down to the details around what you're baking. Butter is going to give you the most flavor of any fat because of its rich dairy taste, but it doesn't make the pan quite as non-stick as something like oil or cooking spray. If you're making a cake with complex edges, such as a bundt cake, and want to get it out of the pan in one piece, you're better off going for oil than butter. This will give your pan the best non-stick coating, even though oil can absorb some of the flour in your baked goods. 

If you don't want to use oil because of the absorption, shortening is another effective option to ensure your greased pans don't hold any remnants of your baked goods. This pure fat doesn't gather at the bottom of the pan or absorb any flour, the way that oil can, and it is more effective at creating a non-stick environment than butter.

While oil or shortening are the best options for avoiding a sticky mess in your pan, there are advantages to butter, too. If you're going for flavor and aren't so concerned about the edges sticking, then you can grease your pan with butter (butter wrappers especially are a great baking trick for helping your cakes and muffins to lift easily). However, there is one major caveat: Butter contains milk, which can actually act as a baking adhesive as the ingredients cook, meaning that the cake could actually stick to the edges a little more. While it's an option, it won't give you the absolute cleanest removal from the pan that oil and shortening tends to. But if you're using a non-stick muffin tin and just want to add an extra layer of non-stick coating, then you can certainly go with butter.

In most cases, oil or shortening will be the most effective at greasing pans. They don't contain milk the way butter does, so that greasy coating will ensure nothing sticks to the pan. Since the oil you choose can emit some flavor into your food, choose a neutral oil with as little flavor as possible, such as canola oil. It also helps that canola has a high smoke point and won't burn.