Butter boards: Is the surprisingly beautiful viral food trend the next charcuterie board?

Concept comes from Joshua McFadden’s 2017 book Six Seasons: A New Way With Vegetables

TikTok has moved onto its newest food craze of the season as butter boards become the ubiquitous new trend on the social media platform.

The concept is simple, with butter boards essentially replacing the idea of a charcuterie board but with butter, according to Justine Doiron, a recipe developer who goes by @justine_snacks on the app, and whose video recipe of the concept sparked the viral trend.

According to Doiron, who acknowledged that butter boards were first created by chef Joshua McFadden in his book Six Seasons: A New Way With Vegetables, she wants to “make them the next charcuterie”.

“Have you ever heard of a butter board? This is what one looks like, and I want to make them the next charcuterie board. Not to usurp charcuterie, but like, maybe, a little. But mostly because I just love the concept,” Doiron explained in a video posted on 15 September. “It’s by Josh McFadden and it’s all about if you’re serving a group of people, spread a bunch of softened butter on a plate, add tons of flakey salt, tons of lemon zest, any herbs or toppings you want.”

As she described the concept, Doiron showed how she makes her own butter board, which saw her spreading butter out on a charcuterie board with a small paring knife. After placing the butter on the board, the TikToker sprinkled flakey salt and zested a lemon. She then added herbs, onions, edible flowers, and a “honey coriander situation” on top of the butter, with the end result a beautiful board of butter, which she then dipped a piece of bread into.

“And serve with warm bread and it just feels really communal,” she said as she swirled her slice of bread into the butter. In the caption, she wrote: “I like this one idk I’m in a silly goofy butter mood.” As of 27 September, the video has been viewed more than 8.3m times, with countless viewers praising the recipe.

“I 100 per cent support this,” one person commented, while another said: “This sounds incredible omg.”

According to another fan of butter, the recipe left them “sobbing”. “I’m sobbing oh my goodness,” they wrote.

The video has since sparked hundreds of recreations on TikTok, where the hashtag #butterboard has more than 93m views, and where users have agreed that butter boards are “the new charcuterie”.

The virality of the trend also made its way back to McFadden, who acknowledged the newfound popularity of his recipe on Instagram last week, where he wrote: “Seems like the secret is out about Butter Boards!?!?!?!?”

In the caption, McFadden then noted that his recipe for a herbed butter board is on page 99 of his book, before telling his followers that the board “has been the way to start a dinner for me for years and years”.

“With always changing flavours, textures and opportunities. It showcases all kinds of fun seasonal surprises. It is also so fun to make breakfast boards, and top with puffed grains you can find those recipes in Grains For Every Season. Thanks for sharing butter boards with the world @justine_snacks,” he continued.

What can you put on butter boards?

As for what you can put on your butter board, the possibilities are endless, as both McFadden and Doiron noted.

According to one TikTok from Sami Schnuer, who goes by The Naughty Fork, she decided to try the trend with sliced figs, goat cheese, fig jam, flake salt, strawberries, honey, red pepper flakes, cinnamon and crushed walnuts. As for the bread, she crisped slices of sourdough in a pan before dipping the bread into the butter.

“There’s so many ways you can make this, and it’s perfect for sharing,” she said.

Kiki, who goes by @kikstarsomers on the platform, also created her own version, with the TikToker “jumping on the butter board train” with a version that included maldon sea salt to start, followed by crispy prosciutto and crispy shallots. She completed the plate of butter with olive oil that was chili-infused “for some spice”.

Others took influence from beloved foods such as everything bagels for their own variations, with Ereka Vetrini, who goes by @erekasfood, making an “everything but the bagel board” for her interpretation of the viral food trend.

To create the butter board, Vetrini began by swapping out the main ingredient for cream cheese, an alternative she said made more sense to her as a New Yorker. Vetrini then topped the cream cheese spread with everything but the bagel seasoning, capers, scallions, shaved red onion and pieces of smoked salmon.

As for the bread, Vetrini said she’d serve the “gorgeous brunch dish” with buttered bagels, before noting that she’d probably offer her guests a butter knife so it’s less “messy”.

In another video shared by Keziah Bollinger, she made a simpler take on the trend, with the TikToker creating a seasoning blend with parmesan and black garlic seasoning, salt and pepper, italian seasoning, and oregano leaves. According to Bollinger, butter boards are going to be a “staple for the holidays”.

What if you don’t want to dip bread into a communal butter but still want to try the trend?

While the majority of TikTok users have been onboard with the newest food trend, others have questioned the double-dipping logistics of butter boards, with one person commenting: “No thank you, I don’t trust double dippers. I’d do this for myself though.”

“Just feel like the risk of people double dipping on this is too high,” someone else wrote.

In response to the concerns, Doiron, like Vetrini, noted that the board can also be served using cheese knives.

“I was not expecting this to blow up but YOU CAN USE A KNIFE JUST LIKE A CHEESEBOARD CALM YOURSELVES. Okay, I love you,” Doiron wrote in the comments under her viral video.