Clever Uses for a Broken Butter Dish

When the top broke to my orange Fiesta ware butter dish recently, I couldn’t bring myself to throw out the part of the butter dish that was still intact. While a broken butter dish seems like a pretty useless piece of pottery to own, I’ve been amazed at the practical ways that our family has been able to use the base.

If you are searching for clever ways to repurpose a broken butter dish, look no more. Here are some ideas to get you started.

Holding truffles. For serving up bite sized treats such as truffles, cherry cordials, and petit fours, the base of a butter dish is perfectly sized to hold about a dozen treats.

Mini snack plate. If you’ve got the late night in-front-of-the-TV set munchies, a butter dish can hold a dozen crackers and wedges of cheeses, fresh veggies with dip, and other snacks. Its small size and sturdy edge makes it easy to hold and keeps spills to a minimum.

Hot dog plate. For microwaving hotdogs, corndogs, or burritos, a butter dish platter is just the right size.

Organizing coffee needs. At our house, it gets rather busy around the coffee pot at 6:30 am. To keep things like stirring spoons and the cream pitcher organized, I set everything out on the butter dish which keeps the mess confined to one area.

Kitty dish. I already have a food bowl for feeding my tabby, but if I didn’t, the butter dish platter would make a great substitute.

As an asparagus plate. Believe it or not, there’s actually exists a serving platter designed just to hold asparagus spears. Why spend $50 or more for this limited use platter when you’ve got part of a butter dish that will do the job for much less?

For counting out meds and vitamins. The older we get, the more supplements and medication our bodies seem to need. Rather than pouring out the meds onto the counter top or even in a saucer, use the butter dish instead. The high lip prevents pills from rolling away and makes it super easy to see if you’ve accidentally overlooked a pill or so. (A butter dish is also an excellent way to transport meds and a small glass of water to a sick room).

As an open butter dish. Just because the lid is missing doesn’t mean that the dish doesn’t have value for holding butter. For large buffets and holiday dinners, having an open butter dish on the table is perfectly acceptable.

More by this contributor:
What serving pieces should I buy first?
How to clean and declutter your kitchen cabinets
A cleaning checklist for the kitchen.