Love Kerrygold? A More Affordable Alternative Has Butter Lovers Talking

If you haven't done your own side-by-side taste test, you may assume that butter is just ... butter. However, when Chowhound ranked 15 brands of store-bought butter, there was a pretty stark difference between Great Value, which ranked last, and Kerrygold, which took the top spot. One was simply miles ahead of the other in terms of flavor — and consumers agree. Of course, the downside to Kerrygold's "pure Irish butter" made with milk from grass-fed cows is the price. When Chowhound conducted the butter ranking, Kerrygold was sold for $5.99 for just 8 ounces. So although it has some loyal fans, finding a similar, more affordable option would be helpful to home cooks on a budget. Enter Plugrà, a European-style butter that clinched the silver medal in our ranking — for a dollar less than Kerrygold. And you don't just have to take our word for it — both consumers and professional bakers place Plugrà among their pantheon of baking essentials.

While Kerrygold is an Irish butter, Plugrà is European-style butter made by an American company. There is a difference among Irish, American, and European butters, mainly owing to the beta carotene-rich grass of Ireland and the fact that European (including Irish) butters contain a higher butterfat percentage. As a European-style butter, Plugrà contains 82% butterfat, compared to standard American-style butters, which contain only 80%. This gives Plugrà the fatty richness associated with European butter at a lower price than Kerrygold.

In a Reddit thread looking for alternatives to Kerrygold, one commenter stated that they switched from Kerrygold to Plugrà, and like it a lot more. Another commenter in the same thread concurred that the taste is notably better, and others agreed. Whether or not you feel the same is, of course, a matter of personal taste. 

Something to keep in mind is that you don't have to use your best butter for every application. Many people save the good stuff — be it Kerrygold, Plugrà, or another Irish or European-style butter — for recipes or uses where the butter is a star ingredient. Think pie crusts, or something as simple as butter on toast. The higher butterfat content in Irish and European butter not only equates to a richer flavor, it can also be helpful in recipes where the butter plays a key role in developing the structure of the pastry, like laminated croissants. 

One Reddit commenter pointed out that a good rule of thumb could be to use American-style butter for American recipes and European butter for recipes with European origins. Because the amount of butterfat or water in your butter can affect a recipe's texture, it makes sense that you'd want to stick with the type of butter the recipe was developed with. However, this isn't necessarily always the best advice, as, for example, some experts say the higher water content in American butter is preferable for pâte à choux, a French pastry that relies on steam to help it rise.