Learn how to make creamy homemade butter that can be easily customised with herbs, salts and other flavourings.

Making Butter

Making butter is quite simple to make, even if you don’t have many tools.

I like to use my stand mixer with the whip attachment, though a blender, a food processor, or even a glass jar with a tight lid (and lots of muscle) can be used.

Homemade Butter Variations

There are many variations or additions that can be added to create lovely flavoured butters:

Garlic
Fresh herbs such as thyme
Honey
Crushed peppers or chilli flakes
Salt or cracked black pepper
Cinnamon
Orange zest
Smoked paprika
A dash of hot sauce
A little olive oil can help to make it easy to spread

What to do with the leftover buttermilk?

The leftover buttermilk can be used to make:

Pancakes
Waffles
Scones
bread and muffins
Soaking chicken or lamb in before cooking
To make a tangy salad dressing
Used in soups
Mix into scrambled eggs
Add a splash to mashed potatoes

Making Butter from Raw Milk

For those that have access to raw milk, you can use this to make butter too!

First, allow the cream to rise to the top by placing the raw milk in the fridge for at 24 hours.

Then, scrape the cream off the top of the milk and use this to make butter, by following the same directions.

You may find that butter made from raw butter doesn’t last as long as butter made from cream. If you place the butter in the freezer and take out when needed, you can extend the life of it.

How much will you get?

When you use 500ml or 2 cups of cream, you will get around 200-250g of butter and around the same amount of buttermilk. This will all depend on the cream that is used. Full fat cream will yield more butter.

Ingredients for Making Butter

To make butter, you will need:

Cream
Salt if you want salted butter
Herbs or other flavourings if you want to make flavoured butter
For those in hot, humid climates, a large bowl of ice water will help to keep the butter from melting while working with it

Making Homemade Butter

Pour the cream into your the bowl of the stand mixer, or blender / food processor or into the jar and add the lid.

If using a machine, turn it onto low speed for a few minutes, then increase the speed to medium.

First, the cream will turn into whipped cream with soft, then stiff peaks.

Keep going until the cream breaks and you hear sloshing.You will then hear and feel something solid hitting the sides of the bowl. If using a stand mixer, the butter will start clinging to the whisk. This can usually take 5 to 10 minutes.

If you are using a jar, you will need to add the lid and start shaking – this is where you are going to need some serious elbow grease. Take turns with others in your house if needed. Even the kids can have a go at shaking. This will usually take longer than 10 minutes, depending on your strength. In the jar, you will see buttermilk sloshing around and solid lumps of butter when it is done.

Once the butter is solidified, strain off the buttermilk. Save this buttermilk for drinking or baking.

Scoop out the butter and rinse it under the tap or if in a hot climate, use the bowl of ice water. Squeeze out the excess buttermilk with your hands. Keep repeating this process of rinseng and squishing until the water runs clear.

If adding any salt or flavourings, add them now and mix through.

Place the butter into a glass jar or container and store in the fridge for up to one week. Salted butter will last a little longer as salt is a natural preservative.

Butter will last longer if frozen – up to six months. If you freeze in ice cube trays, you will have small bite-sized pieces of butter or freeze in a silicone muffin tray until frozen, then remove and store in a freezer-safe bag.

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