Compound butter sounds like something reserved for fancy restaurants, as you’ve probably seen those special butters served alongside your proteins when you’ve had a special night out. However, compound butter is nothing more than softened butter blended with garlic and fresh herbs, and it really transforms everything it touches! As I mention in my NEW motivational guide to explore your potential in the kitchen, The Cook’s Mindset, getting inspired by your favourite restaurants can help with your creativity at home! This one tweak to your butter will give you a high quality restaurant experience right at home!
Garlic herb butter is the most versatile compound butter you can make. As we’ll soon see, it works on steak, warm crusty bread, roasted vegetables, grilled fish, and even tossed through pasta. This post covers the base recipe plus several variations so you can adapt it to whatever herbs you have on hand.
Why Room Temperature Butter Is Everything
The single thing that makes or breaks compound butter is starting with truly room-temperature butter. You need to ensure that it’s soft enough that a finger presses in easily. When the butter is properly softened, the minced garlic and chopped herbs blend in smoothly and distribute evenly throughout.
Use cold butter and you will end up fighting it: the herbs clump together in pockets, the garlic does not incorporate, and the finished texture is lumpy rather than silky. Pull your butter out at least an hour before you start.
Pro Tip - Rolling it into a Log
Once the butter is mixed, spoon it onto a sheet of plastic wrap, shape it into a rough log, and roll it up tightly, twisting the ends to seal. Use the ends to roll the log back and forth over your countertop to smooth out the sides of the log and then pat the ends of the log flat before refrigerating.
How to Cut the Butter into Perfect Discs
Make sure to slice the butter once it has chilled sufficiently. Use a sharp knife to slice into 1/2 inch discs.
Tools Needed for Garlic Herb Butter
Ingredients for Garlic Herb Butter
- Butter: Softened butter at room temperature. This will help mixing the ingredients better.
- Chives: Fresh chives finely chopped.
- Garlic: Freshly minced garlic cloves. Garlic cloves will provide a much more subtle flavour compared to the intensity of garlic powder, so I recommend you use garlic cloves instead of the dried spice.
- Lime juice: You can use freshly squeezed lime juice or from a bottle.
- Salt and pepper: Key seasoning that you always add to taste!
How to Make Compound Butter
Add all of the ingredients except salt to a large bowl. Start mixing the ingredients together using a spatula.
Grab a whisk and mix well. Shake off any butter stuck between the spokes of the whisk as needed, keep mixing until the ingredients are well combined. Taste and season for salt as needed.
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