What Does ‘Room Temperature’ Mean, Exactly?

Whether you’re sifting through Mom’s recipe box or tasty eats on Pinterest, you’ll often find that recipes call for room-temperature ingredients. So what is room temperature and why is it important to your cooking and baking? We’ll fill you in!

What is considered room temperature?

Room temperature isn’t a precise number. Rather, it’s a range that spans about 68º to 72ºF. Because this is a general term, there’s some wiggle room here, so if your house is a little chilly at 65º, it’s still OK to call that butter room temp.

Now, why is it important for certain ingredients to be used at room temperature? Well, room-temperature butter, cream cheese and eggs incorporate into batters, doughs, buttercreams and other recipes more readily. They also create a smoother end product, especially when it comes to frosting.

How to Bring Ingredients to Room Temperature

As important as room-temperature ingredients are in baking, it’s easy to forget about taking eggs or a few sticks of butter out of the fridge before you want to make cookies. The good news is that there are a few tricks to bringing all sorts of ingredients up to temperature in a flash.

How to Get Eggs to Room Temperature

TMB STUDIO

Eggs that have warmed up a bit after being in the fridge blend into doughs and batters more easily. Room-temperature eggs also create loftier meringues.

If you need to bring your eggs up to temp, place them in a bowl of warm (not hot) water for 10 to 15 minutes. This will remove the chill.

How to Make Butter Room Temperature

Taste of Home

It’s always a bummer when you have the urge to make a batch of chocolate chip cookies and you remember that all your butter is still in the fridge. Don’t fret, though. There are a few tricks to soften butter quickly.

The first technique is simple: Use a box grater to break down the butter into even smaller pieces. This works for butter from the fridge or right out of the freezer.

You can also cube the butter into smaller pieces. The more surface area and the smaller the portions of butter are, the more quickly it’ll warm up.

Lastly, you can make a mini heat dome, a viral trick for softening butter. Fill a tall glass or bowl with hot water and let it sit. Then empty the vessel and place it upside-down over the butter. The heat will gently warm up the butter in 10 minutes or less.

How to Bring Cream Cheese to Room Temperature

TMB Studio

Soft cream cheese is a must whether you’re stirring up a batch of cream cheese frosting or making a creamy dip to enjoy at a party.

If you need to soften cream cheese, cube it and let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Like with butter, the smaller the pieces, the more quickly this ingredient will soften.

If you’re really in a rush, you can also soften cream cheese in the microwave. Remove the cream cheese from its foil wrapper and zap in five-second increments until it’s pliable—about 20 seconds total.

Is room-temperature dairy safe?

Room-temperature dairy products are safe to use if enjoyed within a specific span of time, which varies by product. Here’s how quickly you should use these room-temp foods:

• Butter: According to the USDA, it is safe to leave butter at room temperature for several days. During warm months, though, it’s best to use butter within a day or two so it doesn’t get rancid. (Did you let it go too long? Your nose will know.)
• Milk, cream, cream cheese, sour cream, yogurt and more: Other dairy products can be left out at room temperature for up to two hours, per the USDA. If temperatures are higher than 90º (at a summer cookout, for example), use those products within an hour.
• Eggs: The two-hour rule also applies to eggs.