Shortening is a solid fat, typically made from vegetable oil, used in baking to create tender, flaky textures. Its name comes from what it literally does: it “shortens” the strands of gluten that form when flour meets water, producing softer, more crumbly results instead of chewy ones. If a recipe calls for shortening, it usually means the white, shelf-stable product sold in tubs or sticks at the grocery store, with Crisco being the most familiar brand.
How Shortening Works in Baking
When you mix flour with water, proteins in the flour link up to form gluten, the stretchy network that gives bread its chew. Shortening coats those proteins and physically gets in the way of that process. The fat creates barriers between layers of flour and water, keeping gluten strands short and disconnected. That’s why pie crusts and biscuits made with shortening turn out tender and flaky rather than tough.
Because shortening is 100% fat (unlike butter, which contains about 15 to 20% water), it’s extremely effective at this job. It stays solid at higher temperatures than butter does, which means it holds its shape longer as your dough bakes. The longer that solid fat sits between layers of dough in the oven, the more distinct those flaky layers become before the fat finally melts away and steam puffs the layers apart.
Shortening vs. Butter
The shortening-versus-butter debate is one of the oldest in home baking, and the honest answer is that each does something the other can’t. Shortening traps more air bubbles during creaming and holds its shape at higher temperatures, so cookies made with shortening tend to be taller, puffier, and less likely to spread on the baking sheet. Butter, on the other hand, brings flavor and water content that shortening completely lacks.
In pie crust, the difference is interesting and somewhat counterintuitive. Shortening’s higher melting point should, in theory, always produce a flakier crust. But testing by King Arthur Baking found that an all-butter crust actually produced lighter, more defined flakes than a butter-shortening blend. The reason: butter’s water content turns to steam in the oven, inflating the layers of dough like tiny balloons. The trade-off is that an all-shortening crust holds together more reliably, especially for beginners, while an all-butter crust tastes better but can be trickier to handle.
Many experienced bakers split the difference, using a combination of both fats to get shortening’s structural benefits and butter’s flavor.
Types of Shortening
The tub of Crisco on grocery store shelves is all-purpose shortening, and it works for most home recipes. It’s made by processing vegetable oils (usually soybean or palm) into a solid form, then whipping the result into a smooth, white fat. This is what your recipe means unless it specifies otherwise.
High-ratio shortening is a professional product you’ll find at specialty baking supply stores. It contains added emulsifiers that help it absorb more sugar and liquid than regular shortening can. Cake decorators rely on it for frostings that stay smooth, hold their shape, and won’t melt or weep in warm environments. If you’ve ever wondered why a bakery’s buttercream survives a hot display case while yours collapses at a summer birthday party, high-ratio shortening is often the answer.
Butter-flavored shortening also exists and tries to bridge the gap between shortening’s performance and butter’s taste. It works in a pinch but doesn’t fully replicate real butter.
What About Trans Fats?
For decades, shortening got its solid texture through partial hydrogenation, a process that pumped hydrogen gas into liquid vegetable oil to make it firm at room temperature. The problem was that this process created trans fats, which are strongly linked to heart disease. Shortening became almost synonymous with trans fats in the public mind, and for good reason.
That changed in 2015, when the FDA ruled that partially hydrogenated oils are not safe for use in food. Manufacturers had until 2018 (with some extensions running to 2021) to reformulate their products. Today’s shortening is made using full hydrogenation or palm oil blends that achieve the same solid texture without producing trans fats. A small amount of naturally occurring trans fat still exists in meat and dairy products, but the artificial version has been effectively removed from the food supply. If you’re picking up a tub of shortening now, it’s a fundamentally different product from what your grandmother used.
When Recipes Call for Shortening
Shortening shows up most often in recipes where texture matters more than fat flavor. Pie crusts, biscuits, and certain Southern-style cakes are classic examples. It’s also common in recipes for cookies that need to hold a specific shape, like cutout sugar cookies, because the dough won’t spread as much during baking.
If you don’t have shortening and your recipe calls for it, butter is the most common substitute. Use the same amount, but expect slightly different results: more spread in cookies, a richer flavor in crusts, and less structural stability in frostings. Coconut oil in its solid form is another option, though it brings its own flavor. Lard, the original shortening before vegetable versions existed, actually produces exceptionally flaky pie crusts and is worth considering if you’re not avoiding animal products.
Storage and Shelf Life
Shortening is one of the more forgiving pantry staples. Unopened, it keeps at room temperature for about 8 months. Once you open it, you have roughly 3 months of best quality, according to USDA guidelines. There’s no need to refrigerate it. If it develops an off smell, a yellowish tint, or a waxy, stale taste, it has gone rancid and should be tossed. Rancid shortening won’t make you sick in small amounts, but it will absolutely ruin the flavor of whatever you bake with it.