Butter Boards: The One Thing You Need to Nail This Viral TikTok Trend
This story is part of Home Tips, CNET’s collection of practical advice for getting the most out of your home, inside and out.
Butter makes everything better, especially that beautiful wooden cutting board collecting dust in a cupboard. Butter boards are the latest viral food sensation. If you’re wondering what a butter board is, how much work goes into a butter board or if it’s more fun to just say “butter board” over and over than it is to actually make one, I’m here to answer all your burning butter board questions.
There’s much to cover, so we butter begin.
I happened to be eating my way through Italy, a place where olive oil reigns supreme, when the butter board craze hit so there was little mention of butter boards outside of friends from home posting on social. With feet firmly back on US soil, I’m all caught up on the latest edible TikTok recipe trend and, unlike cooking chicken in Nyquil, this is a viral social media stampede I’m on board with. Is it a little silly?
Yes. And messier than it needs to be? Maybe a bit.
But it’s charming and fun to make a butter board: They look nice and you get to eat butter. Naturally, I’m in.
@cakeshak Butter board meets cheese board #fyp#foryoupage#foryou#butterboards#foodtok#butter#butterboard#cakeshak#charcuterieboard?
CUFF IT – Beyonce
What is a butter board and how do you make one?
A butter board is simple, nearly impossible to screw up and it allows for truly limitless variations. To make a butter board, simply spread softened butter in some aesthetically pleasing way onto a cutting board. From there, you’ll drop on any number of toppings or mix-ins including herbs, nuts, seeds, fruit, radishes, honey, jam or even bits of smoked salmon or diced, cured meats.
Again, try to arrange these butter board toppers in a way that pleases the eye — and the eyes of your online followers — and serve it all up with toasted bread, crackers or any such vessel to help deliver this fancied-up butter to your face. Read more: Got Butter Board Fever? Here’s How to Properly Clean Your Cutting Board After Use
What are the best butter board toppings?
That all depends, but the French have been gussying up butter (known as compound butter) with herbs and honey for centuries, so that might be a good place to start.
If your butter is unsalted, consider some salty toppers such as capers, prosciutto or Parma ham. If it’s an already salted butter board, you might want to balance that flavor with sweet jam, fresh figs or a drizzle of honey or aged sweet balsamic vinegar.
For bonus beauty points, many are adding edible flowers to their butter boards. You could also use regular flowers, but try to keep them from mixing in with the stuff you plan to eat.
If you’ve got a small, sterile paintbrush, you can put your artistic abilities to work swirling jams and vinegar into the butter board foundation. I used fresh parsley, rosemary, radishes and two types of honey in my butter board.
When making my butter board, I took a classic French approach with fresh parsley, rosemary, radishes and two types of honey.
David Watsky/CNET
The one thing you need for a truly great butter board
Besides a modicum of artistic ability, the best thing you can do for your butter board is buy some really good butter. Most butter tastes fine, even the cheap stuff, but if you’re serving this to friends for cocktail hour or before dinner, I suggest springing for some high-quality (in other words, high-fat) French butter or Irish butter You should be able to find some in the market or from a grocery delivery service such as FreshDirect or Amazon Fresh.
It’ll cost a few bucks more but it’s totally worth it.
