My Review of Tillamook’s Butternaise for Grilled Cheese

I recently tested six ways of making grilled cheese, trying everything from butter to coconut oil as the cooking fat. As one might expect, I also tested the love-’em-or-hate-’em methods of slathering mayonnaise or a mayo-butter combo onto the bread. I reported that these last two methods left a greasy mouthfeel and chemical, oil-like aftertaste — and (spoiler!) neither came in first place. 

Imagine my amusement, then, when I learned that dairy darling Tillamook — Oregon-based maker of award-winning butter, ice cream, cheddar, and cream cheese — is launching a first-of-its-kind grilled cheese sandwich spread that combines butter and mayonnaise in one handy ingredient. Behold: Butternaise, made with Tillamook Extra Creamy Salted Butter and chef-beloved Kewpie mayonnaise. I was able to get my hands on a jar, and I could not wait to try it out.

What I thought of the Butternaise

Straight from the fridge, the spread is slightly firm, similar to whipped butter products. A quick stir with my knife loosened it up enough to spread easily onto slices of soft white sandwich bread without tearing the tender crumb. I added a slice of American cheese and cooked the sandwich in a cast-iron skillet over medium-low heat, as I did in all of my grilled cheese testing for the aforementioned story. The sandwich cooked up wonderfully crisp and had a beautiful, almost glowing golden brown hue.

But how did it taste? Did it still suffer from the same flavor miscues as the mayo-butter sandwich I tested for the grilled cheese cook-off? The first flavor I detected was a faint onion-garlic savoriness, which comes from the seasoning blend that’s added to the product, featuring brown sugar, dehydrated onion and garlic, paprika, and celery seed. To my surprise and delight, I found none of the greasy texture or chemical-like aftertaste I objected to in the mayo options of my grilled cheese roundup. Instead I tasted rich buttery goodness, a hint of brightening tang from the Kewpie, and the welcome allium notes of the seasoning.

Would Butternaise take down the winner of my original grilled cheese cook-off? No, butter would still be my top pick for grilled cheese. That said, though, Butternaise would have fared better than the mayo-butter version I tested, probably tying with coconut oil for second place.

If you’d like to get your hands on a jar of Butternaise, Tillamook is offering it exclusively on its website beginning November 6, while supplies last. It comes in a bundle with two kinds of Tillamook sliced cheddar and a spreader. I’ll happily use up the rest of my jar for grilled cheeses and Cubanos, and I’m even thinking of trying it for garlic bread, too.