Molly McButter Natural Butter Flavor Sprinkles, often referred to simply as Molly McButter, is a butter-flavored butter substitute manufactured by B&G Foods. It was developed by food chemists as a lower-calorie replacement for butter.
The listed ingredients of Molly McButter Natural Butter Flavor Sprinkles include natural butter flavor, butter, buttermilk, and partially hydrogenated soybean oil. As a result of its partially hydrogenated oil ingredient, Molly McButter contains trans fat.
Consumer Reports had food scientists and taste-testers evaluate Molly McButter, along with two competitor products, in 1989. The team reported that Molly McButter had "a butterlike flavor" and "very slight real dairy notes", but also had a "chemical flavor" and was "somewhat salty". Consumer Reports also noted that Molly McButter was significantly more expensive than butter, and that it had the most sodium per serving of the butter substitutes studied, containing nearly three times as much as one of the competitors' products.
As of 1990, Molly McButter was available in butter, cheese, and sour cream flavors. For each flavor, a half-teaspoon serving — described by the manufacturer as equivalent to three tablespoons of butter — contains four calories compared to the almost 20 calories in a half-teaspoon of butter, but also contains 90 milligrams of sodium. The products can be sprinkled over cooked foods such as rice or vegetables, or used in recipes to replace butter, cheese or sour cream.
In 1993, The Ladies' Home Journal ran a contest in which readers submitted recipes they had created using Molly McButter, with the winner to receive a new kitchen appliance and a cash award.
In 2009, Molly McButter and Mrs. Dash Seasoning Blends (also owned by B&G) worked with the Idaho Potato Commission, an agency of the state of Idaho, to promote retail sales of potatoes to consumers. The partnership sponsored an Idaho Potato Retail Display Contest, scheduled to coincide with Potato Lovers Month, in which retailers competed for prizes including a cash award.
Molly McButter continues to be recommended by some authors as a healthy or low-fat alternative to butter as of 2013.