Choose an unsalted block if you want to season the different parts of a Sunday roast yourself; a salted block can work if you account for its salt elsewhere in the meal. Check a recipe before replacing block butter with a spreadable product or ghee. The stated ‘4 pint’ quantity needs clarifying before you can choose a pack size: the UK butter listings considered here give pack weights in grams.
If you are using butter on potatoes and vegetables or to finish gravy, decide whether it should contribute salt or leave you to season each dish separately. Anchor’s salted and unsalted blocks have different stated salt contents.
A recipe calling for block butter does not automatically call for a spreadable, lighter or plant-based product. Check the exact format and ingredients before making a substitution.
Read the ingredients and nutrition information on the exact pack. GOV.UK identifies milk as an allergen that must be clearly labelled when present in prepacked food, while the NHS lists butter among foods high in saturated fat.
Start with the recipe and the seasoning you want, then check the product format, pack weight and label.
| Priority | What to check | Your needs |
|---|---|---|
| Salt | Check whether the block is salted or unsalted and read its salt value per 100g. Anchor lists 1.7g per 100g for its salted block and 0.02g for its unsalted block. | I want to season each part of the roast separately, or account for the salt already in the butter. |
| Format | Match the recipe’s specified ingredient to a block, spreadable product or ghee. Check the exact ingredients before substituting one format for another. | If I am cooking with butter rather than spreading it on bread, I need the format my recipe calls for. |
| Quantity | Check the required weight in grams and the pack’s net weight. Clarify what ‘4 pint’ is intended to describe before calculating how many packs to buy. | I want enough for the planned dishes without treating a liquid-volume measure as a butter pack weight. |
| Ingredients and nutrition | Read the exact pack’s milk allergen declaration and saturated-fat value per 100g. Do not use ‘unsalted’ as a substitute for either check. | Someone in my household needs to check for milk, or I want to compare the saturated-fat information and planned portions. |
A pint measures liquid volume, while the UK butter listings considered here state pack weights in grams. The phrase cannot identify how much butter the roast requires.
Check whether you mean a number of packs, a target weight or four pints of another ingredient before choosing a quantity.
Anchor lists 1.7g salt per 100g for its salted block and 0.02g per 100g for its unsalted block. Swapping them changes the salt contributed to the dish.
Use the recipe and the exact pack label to decide how much additional salt to add elsewhere in the roast.
Block, spreadable, lighter and plant-based products are distinct formats in the Lurpak range; the format name alone does not establish how a product will work in a roast recipe.
Check the recipe’s ingredient requirement and the substitute’s ingredients before using a tub in place of block butter.
Anchor’s unsalted block lists butter (milk) and 52g saturates per 100g. Removing added salt does not remove milk or establish a lower saturated-fat value.
Check the exact pack’s allergen and nutrition information separately from its salt description.
These ranges show the formats available to compare; a brand name alone does not tell you whether a particular pack fits your recipe.
Lurpak’s UK range includes slightly salted and unsalted 200g blocks alongside spreadable, lighter, plant-based and flavoured products.
Anchor offers salted and unsalted 200g blocks as well as spreadable products in its UK range.
Kerrygold’s UK range includes salted and unsalted 200g butter, a 500g butter pack, spreadable butter and a tub format.
Tesco’s UK butter listings include own-label and other brands, with block choices shown in 200g and 250g packs.
This option is a 500g butter ghee for roast preparation, not a salted or unsalted block. Check whether your recipe calls for ghee or allows that substitution.
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Consider this 500g pack if your roast recipe calls for ghee or permits it as a cooking fat. The product listing describes use for roasting meats, but do not assume it replaces block butter in every recipe. Check the exact ingredients for milk and establish the weight you need before buying.
Choose an unsalted block if you want to control seasoning across the meal; choose a salted block if you will account for its salt in the other dishes. Anchor lists 1.7g salt per 100g for its salted block and 0.02g per 100g for its unsalted block.
Do not assume the two formats are interchangeable. Check what the recipe specifies and read the exact product’s ingredients: UK ranges distinguish blocks from spreadable, lighter and plant-based products.
Read the ingredients on the exact pack. GOV.UK says milk is an allergen that must be clearly labelled in the ingredients list when it is present in prepacked food.
Not in the two Anchor blocks compared here: both the salted and unsalted versions list 52g saturates per 100g. Check saturated fat on the particular pack independently of its salt content.
Anchor says its butter and spreadables can be frozen. It advises defrosting them in the fridge or using a microwave’s defrost or low setting in 15-second intervals; follow the instructions on your particular pack if they differ.