Land O'Lakes Vs Tillamook: Who Makes The Best Butter?

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Ah, butter. It's a staple part of diets all around the world. You need it for baking decadent desserts like gooey brown butter cake, tasty soups (such as this velvety, butter-forward soup created by Barbara Lynch that really takes matters to the next level), and savory dishes, and as a base component for tons of different sauces. But when it comes to the butter game, which brands are the best and which fall shy? We have a whole list of 12 popular grocery store butter brands that we've ranked before, but today we're going to narrow it down and take a closer look at Land O'Lakes and Tillamook butter in particular.

Both of these brands fell into the middle of our chart, but our taster personally ranked Tillamook one place above Land O'Lakes. The "extra creamy" label really did its work here: Tillamook stood out as one of the creamiest butters we tried, having a rich mouthfeel despite its 81% butterfat. Comparatively, Land O'Lakes, while less expensive, is basically perfectly mid. It does have a nice creamy texture and some good density without being greasy, but the flavors are pretty one-note, heavily leaning on dairy sweetness. Comparatively, Tillamook had some savory umami alongside its own sweetness. We really only dock points for the kind of funky candy-like tang at the very end of the aftertaste.

All you have to do is hit the internet to see that netizens largely agree with our rankings. Tillamook has a solid ranking of 4.8 stars on Walmart's website, with the majority being five stars. The freshness and quality of the ingredients in the butter net a fair share of compliments, and reviewers also love how smoothly it spreads and how well it mixes into other goods. The flavor's lauded, too; it has a complex, savory profile that incorporates many of the different notes a good dairy product is capable of. You won't miss the salt at all — but if you do, Tillamook's Extra Creamy Butter comes in both unsalted and sea-salted varieties.

Meanwhile, Reddit users rank Land O'Lakes as pretty dang mid, too. One poster called it "throat oil," with some comments wondering what makes Land O'Lakes so popular in the first place. An Amazon reviewer also dunks on Land O'Lakes in the one star section, saying there's an unnatural, rubbery aftertaste that makes products made with this butter distinguishable right away. While we personally find it to be a perfectly fine butter that gets the job done (and, per Statista, it was America's top-selling butter brand in 2024), you might as well buy something a little higher rated if you're going to be perusing through your butter options anyway. For more information, here's a breakdown of the different types of butter and what they're used for.