Salted vs Unsalted Butter: Same 744 Calories, One Real Difference
Here is the shortest comparison on this site: salted and unsalted butter both have 744 kcal per 100 g and 52 in a thin scrape, identical to the decimal place. Anyone choosing unsalted to save calories is saving none. The entire difference between the two blocks is 1.8 g of salt per 100 g, and that difference decides jobs, not waistlines.
The numbers side by side
| Nutrient | Salted butter, per scrape (~7 g) | Salted, per 100 g | Unsalted butter, per scrape (~7 g) | Unsalted, per 100 g |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 52 kcal / 218 kJ | 744 kcal / 3,113 kJ | 52 kcal / 218 kJ | 744 kcal / 3,113 kJ |
| Protein | 0 g (trace) | 0.6 g | 0 g (trace) | 0.6 g |
| Carbohydrate | 0 g (trace) | 0.6 g | 0 g (trace) | 0.6 g |
| of which sugars | 0 g (trace) | 0.6 g | 0 g (trace) | 0.6 g |
| Fat | 5.8 g | 82.2 g | 5.8 g | 82.2 g |
| of which saturates | 3.6 g | 52.1 g | 3.6 g | 52.1 g |
| Fibre | 0 g | 0 g | 0 g | 0 g |
| Salt | 0.13 g | 1.8 g | 0.00 g | 0.02 g |
Verified nutrition data
Numbers on this page come from CoFID, the UK government’s Composition of Foods Integrated Dataset, and from manufacturer labels where a branded product is named. Last verified August 2026. How we verify our data →
Seven rows of the table are a mirror. The eighth is the product: salt added at the churn for flavour and shelf life, 1.8 g per 100 g, against a trace 0.02 g when nothing is added. Everything below follows from that one row.
Scale matters here. A scrape of salted butter carries 0.13 g of salt, about 2% of the 6 g daily limit the NHS advises for adults. Butter a lot of bread, four slices a day, and the spread contributes half a gram, noticeable but hardly the main event next to bread itself, bacon or cheese.
When salted butter is the right block
On anything you eat as-is. Toast, crumpets, a jacket potato, new potatoes, corn: the salt is doing the seasoning for you at a dose small enough to fit almost any day. This is also why salted keeps longer in a butter dish; salt is a preservative doing quiet work.
If you are actively cutting salt on medical advice, this is the one context where the swap to unsalted earns its keep at the table, since it removes the spread's contribution entirely without touching flavour from anything else on the plate.
When unsalted butter is the right block
Whenever the butter is an ingredient. A sponge or shortbread built on a 250 g block of salted butter arrives with 4.5 g of salt already inside, three quarters of a day's limit distributed through the bake before the recipe's own pinch goes in. Unsalted hands that control back: the same 250 g contributes 0.05 g, effectively nothing, and the baker decides the seasoning.
The same logic covers buttercream, pastry and anything reduced in a pan, where salt concentrates as water cooks off. Recipes written by professionals assume unsalted for exactly this reason. Full nutrition for the block itself, portions included, lives on our butter page.
Most popular salted and unsalted butter brands in the United Kingdom
Ranked by how widely each product appears among foods sold in the United Kingdom, from the BodyPal food database of over 3.3 million products. Calories are the figures printed on each label. Unsalted labels reading slightly higher than salted is the salt maths in action: whatever weight salt takes up, fat takes back.
| Product | Calories (per 100 g) |
|---|---|
| Lurpak Unsalted Butter | 749 kcal |
| Lurpak Spreadable Unsalted Butter | 747 kcal |
| Country Life Salted Butter | 737 kcal |
| Anchor Salted Butter | 727 kcal |
| Lurpak Butter | 706 kcal |
Brand popularity: BodyPal food database. Nutrition: manufacturer labels.
Frequently asked questions
Do salted and unsalted butter have the same calories?
Yes, exactly: 744 kcal per 100 g for both, with identical fat at 82.2 g and saturates at 52.1 g. A thin scrape of either is 52 kcal. Salt contributes no energy, so adding or omitting it cannot change the calorie count.
How much salt is in salted butter?
About 1.8 g per 100 g, which is 0.13 g in a 7 g scrape, or roughly 2% of the 6 g daily reference intake. Unsalted butter shows 0.02 g per 100 g, a natural trace rather than an addition. Four buttered slices a day add about half a gram of salt.
Is unsalted butter healthier than salted?
Only on the salt line. Calories, fat and saturates are identical at 744 kcal and 82.2 g of fat per 100 g. If you are watching salt, unsalted removes 1.8 g per 100 g from the equation; if you are watching calories, the two blocks are the same food.
Why do baking recipes call for unsalted butter?
Control. A 250 g block of salted butter carries about 4.5 g of salt into the mix, most of a day's 6 g limit and enough to taste in a sponge. Unsalted contributes almost none, so the recipe's own measured pinch is the only salt in the bake.
Can I swap salted for unsalted in a recipe?
Yes, gram for gram, since the calories and fat are identical. Swapping salted into a bake, reduce or skip the recipe's added salt to compensate for the 1.8 g per 100 g the butter brings. Swapping unsalted onto toast, expect to miss the seasoning and add a pinch.
More comparisons
- Almond vs peanut butter — 103 vs 97 kcal a spoon
- Butter vs ghee — 744 vs 898 kcal per 100 g
- Butter vs margarine — 4 kcal apart on toast
- Caster vs granulated sugar — the same 394 kcal
- Quinoa vs rice — 111 vs 131 kcal cooked
Count it without the maths
BodyPal reads the buttered plate from one photo, and 744 kcal per 100 g is 744 whichever block you keep.
