I Heard That Aldi Has “the Best Butter” — So, of Course, I Had to Try It
When asked to name my favorite food, I always say cheese. It’s true … but only because butter isn’t an acceptable answer. Chances are, you’d also like to say that butter is your favorite food. How do I know that? Because you’re here on this post. There’s really no such thing as not-good butter. All butter is great! Except. Except! You know what I’m going to say: butter that’s so cold and hard, it rips up your toast as you’re trying to spread it.
Which is why I was so excited when I saw this post in an Aldi-themed Facebook group. A member posted a picture of a tub of spreadable butter with a short-but-sweet caption: “The. Best. Butter. No others even compare!”
I’m a loyal Aldi shopper and, while I’m pretty sure I’ve noticed these tubs there before, I certainly never paid much attention to them. And I’ve definitely never bought one before. But Facebook can be a convincing place: dozens of group members were quick to comment and agree with the original poster. They called out the super-short ingredient list, the flavor, the price, and, what I’ll call, the spreadability.
So I did what any self-sufficient butter-lover would do: I sent my husband to the store to get a tub. To be fair, I made toast and eggs the next morning, so he benefited from the fruits of his labor.
Find it in stores: Countryside Creamery Spreadable Butter with Olive Oil & Sea Salt, $2.29 for 15 ounces
I’m honestly not sure what I was expecting (surely a much longer ingredient list, for starters), but I was very surprised when I pulled the the tub out of the fridge that morning. The only three things in there: butter, olive oil, and sea salt. That’s it.
I spread some onto a piece of sourdough walnut bread from Wildgrain, and my first note was that it is, indeed, Very Spreadable. (Just as spreadable as, say, Country Crock, which I grew up eating and still believe to be the only acceptable option for a Thomas’ English Muffin.) Onto the flavor: Countryside Creamery isn’t overtly butter-y and that’s why I like it so much. It tastes like pure, churned cream. And it’s perfect for toast. I did add a bit of flakey salt to the toast to make it even better. Since the initial taste, I’ve used some to flavor rice cooked on the stovetop and as a lubricant for grilled cheese. I’m nowhere near the bottom of my 15-ounce tub, but when I finish it, I will certainly be restocking.
Note: A lot of people in the Facebook group have said that their local Aldi stopped carrying this butter and that they can only find a similar tub with a red label. (This stuff, the Facebook group says, is made with canola oil and is not nearly as good as the butter with the blue labels.) So if you see the tub with the blue label, be sure to buy it!
Have you tried this butter? What’d you think?