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Best butter brands in Australia

Consumers have selected their favourite butter brands when it comes to taste, texture, packaging and value for money.

Ericka Pingol
Ericka Pingol

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Best Butter

Best Rated Butter Brand: Western Star

A great meal often starts with a great butter, and Western Star can offer you just that. Top rated for texture and packaging design, it also beat out other brands such as Lurpak and Devondale for taste.

The best butter brands in Australia

How did we choose the winners?

The 2020 Finder Retail Awards recognise brand sentiment from customer feedback on different retail product categories. Finder worked with leading data, insights and consulting company, Kantar, to conduct thousands of customer interviews around their product purchasing history and satisfaction with their purchased products.

Check out our full methodology.

Top-rated butter brand: Western Star

Western Star

  • Wide range of options including salted, unsalted, cultured and spreadable butter
  • Available in various sizes from 50g to 500g
  • The brand also offers thickened creams ideal for pouring or whipping
Aussies chose Western Star as the top-rated butter brand, scoring 8.51/10. Other butter brands scored a cumulative 8.47/10, while Devondale scored 8.21/10.

Western Star offers a wide array of butter, including salted, unsalted, cultured, spreadable and low-salt options. For some of its products, the brand sources at least 90% of the ingredients here in Australia. Western Star also has a line of thickened creams, ideal for pouring or whipping.

Founded in the Western Districts of Victoria, the brand has been around for over 93 years. It is owned by Fonterra, which is also the parent company of brands like Mainland and Perfect Italiano.

Best butter brand for value for money: ALDI (Buttersoft)

ALDI (Buttersoft)

  • Wide range of options, including salted, unsalted and spreadable butters
  • ALDI offers great discount prices for a variety of grocery products
  • Most of its exclusive brands are made in Australia
When it comes to value for money, consumers selected ALDI's Buttersoft as the best brand. It scored 4.5/5, beating Western Star, Woolworths and Coles, which have scores of 4.33/5, 4.29/5 and 4.22/5, respectively.

ALDI's Buttersoft has different types of butter such as salted, unsalted and spreadable. In 2001, ALDI opened its first Aussie store in Sydney, offering great discount prices for various grocery staples. Most of its exclusive brands are also made here in the country. ALDI stores also recycle 96% of all the plastic packaging used.

Best butter brand for taste: Western Star

Western Star

  • Less salt butter choices available
  • Spreadable butters can be used right out of the fridge
  • Versatile butter options great for both cooking and baking
Consumers picked Western Star as the brand making the best-tasting butter with a 4.63/5 score. The runners-up were ALDI's Buttersoft at 4.56/5, Lurpak at 4.54/5 and Devondale at 4.48/5.

Western Star offers versatile butter products that you can use whether you're baking the most scrumptious cookies or making a mouth-watering pasta dish. The brand also has butter with lower salt content, compared to regular butter in the market. Spreadable butter that can be used or consumed right out the fridge is also available.

Fonterra, which owns Western Star, has a dairy innovation hub in New Zealand comprising of over 400 experts. The company also has a team of experts here in Australia, committed to providing customers with various products that could meet nutritional needs.

Best butter brand for texture: Western Star

Western Star

  • Made in Australia
  • Different texture and creaminess options available
  • Champion Butter at the 2020 Australian Grand Dairy Awards
For texture, Western Star is the best butter brand chosen by Aussies. It scored 4.67/7, winning over Lurpak, ALDI's Buttersoft and Devondale, which scored 4.50/7, 4.41/7 and 4.40/7, respectively.

The brand has various butter options when it comes to texture and creaminess. You can also get options with 25% less fat. Some Western Star butters contain minimal ingredients, with its Original Salted Butter only containing cream and salt. In 2020, the brand also won the Champion Butter and Grand Dairy Champion at the Australian Grand Dairy Awards.

Best butter brand for packaging design: Western Star

Western Star

  • At least 90% of ingredients used are sourced in Australia
  • Thickened creams are made of premium Australian milk
  • Some butters only contain two ingredients
Western Star won as the butter brand with the best packaging design, according to consumers. It scored 4.43/5, while Devondale and Mainland have scores of 4.38/5 and 4.31/5, respectively. ALDI's Buttersoft came in fourth with a 4.28/5 score.

Western Star's butter is expertly crafted from natural ingredients and comes in various sizes from 50g to 500g. The brand collaborates with local farmers and butter makers to create its products. Western Star's thickened creams are also made of premium Australian milk in the Western District of Victoria.

Methodology

The 2020 Finder Retail Awards recognise brand sentiment from customer feedback on different retail product categories. Finder worked with leading data, insights and consulting company, Kantar, to conduct thousands of customer interviews around their product purchasing history and satisfaction with their purchased products.

Disclaimer: Please refer to our methodology for more information on how we scored and judged Finder Retail Awards candidates. While we endeavour to assess the majority of product providers in the market, this is not always possible and it may be that not every brand in the market was included for judging.

Best rated butter brand award breakdown

Overall rating Value for money Taste Texture Packaging design
ALDI (Buttersoft) 4.43 4.5 4.56 4.41 4.28
Allowrie 4.28 4 4.25 4.17 3.89
Bertolli 4.5 4.08 4.39 4.33 4.22
Coles 4.29 4.22 4.22 4.25 3.96
Devondale 4.5 4.21 4.48 4.4 4.38
Lurpak 4.52 3.82 4.54 4.5 4.18
Mainland 4.41 4.12 4.45 4.35 4.31
Western Star 4.7 4.33 4.63 4.67 4.43
Woolworths 4.25 4.29 4.24 4.24 3.94
Other 4.66 4.48 4.66 4.64 4.28
Data: Finder Retail Brand Survey, 2020, Kantar. Metric out of 5 stars unless indicated. Methodology and more information. Kantar logo

Why use butter?

Butter adds flavour to anything that you bake or cook. It is the best product for baking because it helps create the ideal texture and consistency, especially if you're baking a cake. Butter also enhances any dish's mouthfeel, giving it the richness that most people love.

This dairy product contains saturated fats that help fight bad cholesterol. Butter also contains vitamin A, D and K as well as calcium.

Butter is rich in nutrients and contains butyrate, a fat that fuels the cells and strengthens the gut lining. It also contains conjugated linoleic acid, which helps retain lean muscles. Like other high-fat dairy products, butter has been linked to minimising the risk of diabetes, obesity and heart problems when eaten in moderation.

How to compare butter

Here are some butter-buying tips to help you with your purchasing decision:

  • Select between salted and unsalted butter. If recipes don't specify the kind of butter you need, go for unsalted to be safe – you can always add salt later! Salted butter is perfect as a bread spread, or for making salted caramel or pasta dishes.
  • Consider flavoured butter to shorten your meal prep. Since these are already pre-made and mixed, you also don't have to worry about the ratio of your ingredients.
  • If you’re roasting and high-heat searing, go for clarified butter. This type of butter has a subtle toasty flavour and a high smoking point.
  • Use cultured butter for baking biscuits, scones and other pastries. This has a fuller flavour because it’s treated with cultures, allowed to ferment and then churned.
  • Spreadable butter is perfect if you're looking for a dairy product that is low in saturated fat and calories, compared to other butter types. It is also best used as a bread spread.

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