Butter or margarine: which is healthier – and what should you use for what?
Created: 09/20/2022, 08:00
By: Maria Wendel
Which fat is better to use for frying and baking or eat on bread: butter or margarine?
Is one healthier than the other?
When it comes to the question of whether you should use butter or margarine in the kitchen, opinions differ - and unfortunately there is no clear answer either.
Butter is said to provide full-bodied flavors, margarine is said to have healthier fatty acids.
However, various factors can influence the decision, for example health aspects, cooking and baking properties and your personal taste.
What do you put on your bread: butter or margarine?
© Roland Brack/Imago
Butter or margarine: which is healthier?
Important to know: Both fat spreads contain the same number of calories, namely 717 kilocalories per 100 grams. However, there are differences if you look at further nutritional information:
Butter (per 100g) | Margarine (per 100g) | |
|---|---|---|
calories | 717 | 717 |
fat content | 81g | 81g |
Saturated Fatty Acids | 51g | 15g |
trans fats | 3.3g | 15g |
cholesterol | 215 mg | 0mg |
sodium | 11 mg | 2mg |
potassium | 24 mg | 18 mg |
carbohydrates | 0.1g | 0.7g |
protein | 0.9g | 0.2g |
Source: USDA
Because margarine is higher in polyunsaturated fats, which can lower cholesterol, it is healthier than butter for people with high blood fat levels.
However, there are differences from variety to variety – be sure to check the nutritional information when shopping.
Butter gets a bad rap for being higher in saturated fat.
However, a connection between cardiovascular diseases and the consumption of butter has not yet been proven.
But butter can come up with other pro-arguments: It naturally contains vitamins D, A, E as well as potassium, calcium and phosphorus.
Above all, mountain farmers, pasture and alpine butter have a high proportion of omega-3 fatty acids, since the cows from whose milk the butter is made have eaten more pasture grass.
In addition, butter is easier to digest than margarine because of the composition of its fatty acids.
Why margarine was also often criticized: During the manufacturing process, so-called trans fats can arise, which can have a negative effect on cholesterol levels.
However, many manufacturers have been able to reduce the proportion of trans fats in recent years.
In summary, both butter and margarine have their pros and cons.
However, both are only moderately healthy and should therefore only be spread on bread in moderation or used when preparing meals.
Shelf life of margarine and butter
Margarine can be stored in the refrigerator for months, while butter can only be kept for a few weeks.
You can also just freeze both.
Yuck, mold!
You can still eat these foods
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Butter or margarine: which fat for frying?
Although many swear by frying schnitzel and co. in butter, margarine is the better choice.
According to Stiftung Warentest, some components of butter, such as lactose, burn at high temperatures.
Incidentally, olive oil should not be used for frying for a similar reason.
With margarine, on the other hand, frying works very well and is not dangerous because it can be heated to high temperatures.
Another advantage: Margarine has a water content of around 20 percent and can therefore transfer the heat to the fried food particularly gently.
If you still don't want to do without the buttery taste when frying, you can use clarified butter.
And even with gentle steaming, i.e. at lower temperatures, you can continue to use butter.
Would you rather bake with butter or margarine?
Fats such as butter and margarine make the dough supple, they combine with the other ingredients during baking.
They also provide flavor and make cakes and other pastries moist.
Now the good news: When it comes to baking, there are no worries about whether you should use butter or margarine.
This means that you can use both and, above all, decide according to taste.
For example, we recommend using butter for biscuits, Christmas cookies and puff pastry, as the delicate pastries benefit from the buttery taste.
Margarine works just as well for sponge cakes.
Make sure it is full-fat margarine - and not reduced-fat - as this is most similar to butter in its baking properties.
If you also want to decide between vegan and non-vegan, please note that
that margarine is not always purely plant-based.
Financially, margarine is usually cheaper than butter.
