TikTok's Restaurant Butter Hack Makes Spreading So Much Easier

Dining out can be a special experience on its own. After all, you get to don your finest attire, spend quality time with family and friends, and enjoy some delicious fare. The best part, however, is the freebies that some restaurants tend to give out. Let's be honest — who doesn't love a slice of freshly-baked pillowy bread while you're waiting for your entree to arrive at the table?

Some major restaurants are known for offering free plates of bread. Olive Garden is famous for its breadsticks, Ruby Tuesday and Red Lobster for their biscuits, Texas Roadhouse for its bread rolls, and Cheesecake Factory for its brown bread.

For many, bread is a restaurant staple and an early indicator of the experience one will have. While you may hope your basket of bread and butter will come out straight from the kitchen and still warm, sometimes that isn't the case. Trying to spread cold butter onto lukewarm bread is a recipe for disaster, but using a fork can help make the task mess-free — at least according to one TikTok life hack. 

Nothing can ruin a night out like hard, cold butter. While dining out, it can be a nuisance to try and spread a cold knob on a piece of bread; you might end up with a clumpy mess on what was once a promising, simple pre-meal treat.

Did you know there's an easy way to transfer cold butter onto bread using just a fork? There is — and least according to one viral TikTok video, which as of this writing has garnered a whopping 15 million views and more than 385,000 likes. The video demonstrates how to seamlessly spread butter. in a few easy steps. The gist? Gently stab a fork into a butter packet. Squeeze the packet onto the piece of bread or toast, and voila, spirals of butter will land on your piece of bread. The shape, consistency, and size of these spirals make it easier to spread the butter chunks without a fuss, per the video.

@grantirvine7

Restaurant life hack. #butter #lifehack #restaurant #restaurantfun #fork #butterfork #spreadbutter

♬ Yum Yum Yum – Jurassic Joe

A majority of people who responded to the post seemed to indicate that they were taken in by the hack in a major way, with one going as far as to express that the hack One particular user was so mind-blown, they expressed that the person was living in the future. 

Although the fork hack seemed to take TIkTok by storm, other users brought up a pretty salient point: "45% of the butter wasted," as one commenter observed.

If the idea of squeezing butter makes you squeamish, there are other ways to warm up butter in restaurants. Use natural heat by cupping the butter packet in the palms of your hands. Holding it for about 10 seconds can help soften the butter — which, in turn, makes it spreadable.

Of course, the problem with cold butter isn't necessarily an issue that solely exists for those dining out. It also can be troublesome and time-consuming trying to spread cold butter when you're craving toast in the comfort of your home. In another butter-related post, one TikToker demonstrates another easy butter hack — and much like the aforementioned viral trick, also uses a common kitchen utensil. Instead of a fork, this hack involves a grater, which is used to finely grate a stick of butter on toast.

@krisslovesfood

Don't have a grater? If that's the case, a vegetable peeler should do.