Garlic & Herb Compound Butter in 3 Easy Steps
Today I’m going to show you how to make delicious Garlic & Herb Compound Butter in 3 easy steps!
Compound butter is one of those recipes that you can customize a thousand different ways, tweaking it to suit the dish you’re preparing. You can use different ingredient combinations to elicit unique flavor profiles, you can change the ratios of ingredients, create sweet or savory butters, the sky is honestly the limit.
Maybe try a cinnamon-sugar butter to put on your toast in the morning? How about a lemon-parsley butter for your seafood dishes? It all works! Today, I’m going to show you one of my personal favorites. A simple yet powerful garlic & herb compound butter with some of the herbs I have growing in my kitchen windowsill.
Watch our Garlic & Herb Compound Butter video on YouTube!
Compound Butter Ingredients
Fresh herbs of your choice (I used rosemary, thyme, and basil)
One clove of garlic
One stick of extra creamy butter*
*Any butter will work just fine for this recipe, but I get the best results using either European butter, which has a higher fat content, or Extra Creamy American butter, which is what I used for this recipe.
Step 1- Prepare Ingredients
The first thing you’ll do is take the butter out of the fridge and allow it to get to room temp. This will take about an hour. Allowing the butter to get to room temp will make incorporating everything much easier.
While you allow the butter to warm up, it’s a good time to prepare your garlic and herbs. Finely chop the basil, rosemary, and garlic. For the thyme, gently strip the leaves from the long stems. I kept the leaves whole and it worked just fine, but you can also chop them up if you’d like them finer.
Step 2- Combine Ingredients
Once all your ingredients are chopped and your butter has had sufficient time to warm up, it’s time to combine everything together. In a small bowl, combine the butter with the herbs and garlic. Incorporate it well with a spoon so all of the ingredients are even mixed throughout the butter.
Step 3- Roll & Refrigerate
After you’ve thoroughly mixed your compound butter, scoop it onto a piece of parchment paper and carefully roll it into a log. Place it in the refrigerator for an hour to allow it to re-harden.
Bonus Step- ENJOY!
The work is done and now it’s time to dig into your compound butter and enjoy the fruits of your “labor”. Throw a bit into your next sauté, finish steaks, put it in potatoes, butter your biscuits, do whatever else you wanna do with it but ENJOY IT!
Serving Suggestion
I recommend searing and finishing NY strip steaks in the cast-iron skillet with this garlic & herb compound butter. Use a coarse, savory rub on all sides of your steaks, like Montreal Steak Seasoning, and allow them to rest at room temperature for about an hour. (Warming them up will allow them to cook more evenly on the skillet.)
Heat your skillet on med-high heat with a high smoke point oil like avocado or canola oil until it’s sizzling hot. Add your NY strips no more than 2 at a time. Give them about 2 minutes per side in the oil (for about 1 inch thick cut), then add a tablespoon or two of the herb compound butter.
Once your internal temp is about 115F, remove the skillet from the burner but keep the steaks in the skillet. The heat will continue cooking them as you spoon melted butter over the steaks liberally. You can also throw a couple fresh sprigs of thyme and rosemary in there for another little flavor boost. The intense and savory flavor profile really takes the sear to another level. The smell alone will make your mouth water, but the taste will make you a believer!
Conclusion
Believe it or not guys, it really is that simple to up your culinary game in a BIG way! With very minimal effort, this garlic & herb compound butter will definitely impress at your next dinner party.
I’d love to see the different compound butters that you come up with, so make sure to reach out and let me know how it goes! If you have any questions or comments about this recipe, feel free hit me up below, or visit our contact page. Also if you haven’t yet, head on over to our YouTube channel and hit SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss any of our new videos.
Happy Cooking!
Cody,
Thistle Downs Farm