Buttercrunch lettuce is a gourmet butterhead cultivar known for its smooth and tender green leaves. It has a truly butter-like mild sweet flavor and satisfying crisp, crunchy green leaves. The plants form soft heads with an open bunched rosette of leaves. Buttercrunch is easy to grow, heat-tolerant, and tends not to go bitter unless temperatures rise significantly. Baby leaves are ready to harvest in under a month while full-size heads take about 45-50 days to reach maturity.
Buttercrunch lettuce basics
Buttercrunch lettuce is a cultivar of butterhead-type lettuce that’s an old favorite in the vegetable garden. Developed at Cornell over 50 years ago, its leaves are soft, smooth, and have a subtly sweet flavor – just like real butter. This popular variety of lettuce grows into what looks like a massive rose but instead of petals, the outer leaves are made of light, green leaves.
While butterheads like ‘Buttercrunch’ are not the most popular type of lettuce at the grocery store, they are sought-after by gourmet chefs and foodies alike. While cultivars like ‘Iceberg’ are most common at the supermarket, gardeners are much more likely to search out seeds for ‘Buttercrunch’ (or its mini version ‘Tom Thumb‘). In the home garden, ‘Buttercrunch’ is one of the most popular lettuce varieties around.
Seeds and Seedlings
Buying seeds to grow Buttercrunch Lettuce is typically quite easy as they are sold in most garden centers that carry seeds. Buttercrunch is a black-seeded cultivar with dark brown colored seeds. And if you prefer starter seedlings, the ‘Buttercrunch’ variety is popular enough that finding seedlings at the garden center shouldn’t be a problem in most areas.
Planting Buttercrunch lettuce
Now that you have your seeds, you can plant them either indoors (for later transplanting outside) or directly outdoors. In general, transplanting is best for gardeners wishing to harvest proper heads with lettuce leaves that grow to be about 3” to 6” long. However, direct seeding into your outdoor garden is best for baby lettuce greens.
Planting seeds directly outdoors is easiest but it will be harder to control plant spacing. Also, these tiny plants will then have to compete with weeds which makes things more difficult for them.
If you choose to go the outdoor route, it’s best to know that lettuce seeds can germinate in outdoor soil with soil temperatures in the range of 40°-75°F (4°-24°C). You can check the temperature using a special soil thermometer.
Planting lettuce seeds indoors for later transplanting
Planting your seeds indoors is labor-intensive but is the best cost-saving way to start heads of lettuce. You will want to sow your seeds in seedling trays with soil barely covering the seeds. Keep the seed trays warm with heating mats (or a heated floor) and place them under a plant light to germinate and grow into seedlings.
Once the seeds have sprouted and the tiny seedlings are visible, move the tray to a mild area. A fan can help with air circulation around the tiny seedlings.
Transplanting lettuce seedlings outdoors
After letting your little seedlings grow indoors for roughly four weeks, you should expect your young plants to have grown at least two to three inches. You’re also going to need to allow your little seedlings about a week to harden off and transition to the new outdoor climate.
Seedlings can be planted outside as long as the ground isn’t frozen. Covering the plants with a row cover can be helpful if frost is forecast.
Planting lettuce seeds outdoors
For baby greens, you will then need to space the seeds quite closely to get a thick row of baby greens, with 4–6 seeds/inch in rows that are 2″-4″ apart. For full-grown Buttercrunch lettuce plants, space the lettuce seeds 8″ apart.
Plant them quite shallow at a depth of 1/8″-1/4″ deep (barely covered with soil). The soil should then be kept moist and cool for good lettuce seed germination. The ideal season to plant Buttercrunch is in the early spring/early fall.
Growing Buttercrunch lettuce
Once seedlings are established, Buttercrunch lettuce grows quickly if soil stays evenly moist. Shallow roots dry fast. Water often enough to keep the top few inches of soil cool and damp, especially during warm or windy weather. Irregular watering leads to slow growth and bitter leaves. Drip irrigation or a gentle hose flow at the base of the plant works better than overhead watering, which can splash soil onto leaves and encourage disease.
Space plants far enough apart to allow air movement and full leaf expansion. Crowded plants stay small and hold moisture at the crown, which increases rot risk. Remove weeds promptly so roots do not compete for water.
Soil fertility matters early. If the bed was amended before planting, additional fertilizer is rarely needed. If growth stalls or leaves turn pale, a light application of nitrogen-rich compost brings plants back into balance. Avoid heavy feeding late in the cycle. Excess nitrogen produces loose heads and weak flavor.
‘Buttercrunch’ performs best in cool conditions. Daytime temperatures in the 60s produce the soft texture the cultivar is known for. As temperatures rise, growth speeds up but leaf quality declines. Light shade in the afternoon helps extend the harvest in late spring or early fall. Plants exposed to prolonged heat will bolt and turn bitter, even with good care otherwise.
If they are directly in sunlight you will want to consider getting a shade cloth to help keep them just cool enough but still getting just enough sun. Companion plants like sunflowers can provide shade if they have long stems and large heads.
How to harvest Buttercrunch lettuce
Harvest begins when leaves reach usable size. Outer leaves can be cut first, allowing the center to keep growing. For full heads, cut at the base when the rosette feels firm but before the core elongates. Quality drops quickly once plants show signs of bolting, so timely harvest matters more than size.
A common method to harvest this specific lettuce is to harvest alternating plants to allow the remaining plants to grow larger. This is particularly important if you’d like to save lettuce seeds from the final dozen plants, as they’ll each need about a square foot to flower and set seed.
You will want to use or cool the head of lettuce immediately after harvesting for an optimal outcome. Otherwise, it can easily wilt if left without access to its nurturing soil. If you’re going to use it immediately, you can also cut the leaves off individually from the outside of the plant at a height of about 1″ above the soil.
Recipes for Buttercrunch lettuce
One of our favorite ways to enjoy buttercrunch lettuce is with buttermilk ranch dressing! Wash and toss the leaves with some buttermilk ranch dressing and top with fried chicken or your own home-fried chicken if you are a home chef.
Martha Stewart recommends using Buttercrunch leaves to make colorful spring vegetable salad. You’re going to need carrot strips, sliced radishes, and alfalfa sprouts. Then toss it with white balsamic vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil. Put it in your favorite salad bowl and top it off with some light salt and ground pepper—and voila! You’ve got yourself a light spring salad, perfect for a quick lunch, or to pair with the main dish at your next family dinner.
Buttercrunch is also famously known for being what holds lettuce wraps together. Grill up some chicken and wrap it in your fresh lettuce. Then add a little parmesan cheese, pour just a small bit of caesar salad dressing down the line, and you’ve got yourself a delicious Caesar-style lettuce wrap. The crunchy leaves will provide a satisfying crunch with the best flavor!
Leave a Reply