---
title: "Does Butter expire? Degrades in quality"
description: "It goes rancid rather than dangerous. A month or two in the fridge past the date, and up to a year frozen. What actually changes over time, whether it matters, and h"
url: https://atoneplace.net/does-it-expire/butter/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Does Butter expire?

**Does Butter expire?: It goes rancid rather than dangerous. A month or two in the fridge past the date, and up to a year frozen.**

Fridge: 1-3 months. Freezer: 6-12 months

Butter is around 80% fat and 16% water, and that low water content plus salt in salted butter makes it fairly resistant to bacterial growth. The failure is oxidation of the fat, which produces the sharp, cheesy, sour smell of rancid butter, and it happens fastest at the exposed surface and in light. Salted butter keeps noticeably longer than unsalted for the same reason. Butter also picks up fridge odours through its fat, so it should be wrapped rather than left open in a dish.

## How to store it

- Wrapped or in a lidded dish in the fridge; freeze anything you will not use within a month.
- Keep only a few days worth in a butter dish at room temperature, and less in hot weather.

## How to tell it has gone

- Sharp, sour or cheesy smell and a darker yellow rim on cut surfaces mean rancidity.

> "Use by" and "best before" are legally different. Use-by is a safety date and should be respected; best-before is about quality, and food is usually fine well past it. Where the two diverge matters, the page above says which applies.

## Common questions

### Does Butter expire?

It goes rancid rather than dangerous. A month or two in the fridge past the date, and up to a year frozen.

### How long does Butter last?

Fridge: 1-3 months. Freezer: 6-12 months

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## Sources

- Food Safety and Inspection Service — US Department of Agriculture (https://www.fsis.usda.gov/) [Public domain (US Government)]