The Ingredient Swap That Makes Store-Bought Cupcake Mix Taste Richer

If you've ever baked cupcakes from a boxed mix, you know they're quick, easy, and surprisingly tasty. (Well, some are tastier than others, as you can see on Daily Meal's ranking of boxed cake mixes. Spoiler alert! Ghirardelli snagged the top spot.) But with just one simple ingredient swap, you can elevate that store-bought convenience to the next level, giving your cupcakes a homemade richness that rivals from-scratch recipes. The trick? Replace the oil with unsalted butter.

Most store-bought mixes call for vegetable oil, which provides moisture and helps the batter come together. While oil does its job well, it's relatively flavorless – plus, do you really know what vegetable the oil comes from? It could be a mix of soybean, canola, corn, or even peanut.

Butter, on the other hand, has a clearer source and adds a depth of flavor and richness that oil simply can't match. That's because butter contains milk solids and natural fats that enhance the taste and create a tender, more flavorful crumb. You'll want to be sure to use unsalted butter, as the mix already has the right amount of salt in there.

Butter doesn't just bring more flavor, it also affects the texture. When creamed or melted into batter, butter helps create a lighter, fluffier structure while delivering that unmistakable buttery aroma and mouthfeel. This is especially noticeable in vanilla, chocolate, and other rich cupcake flavors, where a buttery base amplifies the overall taste. To take the flavor up more, adding brown butter to boxed cake mix results in an even richer result.

Swapping oil for butter in your cupcake mix is easy (and works the same for brown butter, too). Use the same amount of melted, unsalted butter as the oil listed on the box. For example, if the mix calls for ½ cup of oil, simply melt ½ cup of butter and let it cool slightly before adding it to the batter. Just as you would with the oil, you simply mix the cooled, melted butter with the rest of the ingredients until combined, and bake as directed.

Whether you're baking for a birthday party, a classroom treat, or just a sweet weeknight craving, swapping oil for butter is an easy way to make store-bought cupcake mixes taste richer, more delicious, and a little more homemade. Looking for some other ingredient switcheroos to change your cupcake game? These 11 swaps will make any boxed cake mix taste better, and they include simple ideas like replacing eggs with applesauce and using flavored milk instead of regular. So break out the butter and follow our other tips to help keep your boxed-mix cupcakes more interesting.