Compound Butter Is Made With Whole Butter. What Is Compound Butter and How Do You Make It At Home?

Compound butter is a delicious and easy way to upgrade your cooking. Here’s what you need to know about making and using compound butter:

What is compound butter?

A compound butter (“beurre composé” in French) is simply butter mixed with other ingredients that add sweet or savory flavor, such as honey, herbs or garlic. “Compound butter” sounds like a complicated concept, but it’s actually quite easy to make at home: Softened butter is whipped with other ingredients, reformed into the desired shape, and chilled until firm.

Uses of Compound Butter

So what can you make with compound butter? The real question: what I cannot is it made with compound butter? Here are some ways to use it:

• Spread it on bread, toast, muffins, scones, cookies and more
• Melt it and use it as a flavor enhancer for meat, fish or vegetables
• Use it as an ingredient in baked goods or rich sauces
• Mix it into pasta or rice to add a complex flavor

How to make compound butter

You can buy compound butter at the store, but it couldn’t be easier to make it at home. Just follow these simple steps:

1. Start with unsalted butter so you can easily control the salt level. Remember: you can add salt, but you can’t take it away.
2. Soften the butter by beating it with a hand whisk or a planetary mixer. If you’re short on time or appliances, you can simply mash the butter with a fork, but the results won’t be quite as fluffy.
3. Combine the butter with your favorite sweet or savory ingredients. You can use a fork, spoon or mixer. Just make sure it’s thoroughly mixed!
4. Transfer the flavored butter to a sheet of parchment paper. Form into a log or ball, wrap it and leave it in the refrigerator for at least two hours to cool.

How to store compound butter

Store compound butter in the fridge, just as you would regular butter. The shelf life of compound butter depends on its ingredients. For example, if you use fresh herbs, the compound butter will last about five days. If you’ve only used cinnamon or honey, however, it will stay good a little longer.

Ideas for compound butter

Making compound butter lends itself to creativity. You can keep it simple with an additional ingredient or two, or get as creative as you like with your favorite flavor combinations. Here are just a few of our favorite ideas to get you started:

Garlic butter

Garlic butter is one of the most common savory compound butters, and for good reason. It’s easy to make, goes great with all types of bread, and is a great way to add extra flavor to your favorite meats and veggies.

How to use it:

• Spread it on steaks, fish or corn
• Saute shrimp, vegetables or cooked pasta in butter
• Serve it with bread before dinner

Get the recipe: Garlic Butter

Honey and Cinnamon Butter

Satisfy your sweet tooth with a butter made with honey and cinnamon. This compound butter makes for an inexpensive but thoughtful gift, but we totally understand if you want to keep the whole batch for yourself.

How to use it:

• Spread it on rusks or rusks
• Pour it over a baked sweet potato
• Serve it with waffles or pancakes

Get the recipe: cinnamon butter and honey

Basil Butter

Looking for a delicious way to use up all that basil growing in your garden? Your search ends here. Basil adds an earthy, herbaceous and utterly irresistible flavor to whipped butter. You will use this compound butter all summer long.

How to use it:

• Use it to marinate chicken or fish
• Serve it with dinner rolls
• Spread it on crackers or croutons

Get the recipe: Simple Basil Butter

More compound butter recipes

Hungry for more inspiration? We’ve got you covered! Try one of these popular recipes:

• Brown sugar and cinnamon butter
• Lemon Herb Butter
• Pecan Honey Butter
• Sun Dried Tomato Butter
• Maple butter

Explore our entire collection of compound butter recipes.

Related:

• The 3 types of butter you should know about and how to use them
• How to make clarified butter
• Can you leave the butter on the counter?