Make delicious compound butter with your end-of-season garden herbs. It’s simple and delicious. You’ll want to put it on everything! Make bigger batches and store them in the freezer. Share the delicious wealth with family and friends. They make great hostess gifts too.
At the end of the summer I always have extra herbs of my garden that I know will die with the winter and go back to the earth. But I prefer to use them in compound butter and use it all winter long.
It freezes nicely and can also be given as gifts which everyone appreciates. I’ve used it melted on top of proteins like steak and chicken and fish. I’ve also use them on potatoes, mixed in with some vegetables or in sautés. It just has that extra special something that makes you seem like you spent superwoman time on making your meal.
It just has that extra special something that makes you seem like you spent superwoman time on making your meal.
Below are my simple instructions on how to make the compound butter. Basically it’s just taking any kind of herbs you prefer, maybe add some garlic in one version and lemon zest in another. You’ll need some sticks of room temperature salted or unsalted butter. If you are you salty like me, you’ll want the salted variety, but if you plan on seasoning it heavily on your own I would go with the unsalted.
Trader Joe’s makes a delicious butter or you can go with your simple supermarket brand. Either way it’s going to be great. Compound butter will hold in your freezer for as long as you want. Within a couple months is probably the freshest, but I’ve had butter and compound butter in my freezer for a year and it held up decently.
You’ll need to roll the mixture into foil that is lined with parchment paper to keep it safe in the freezer. You can also just roll it in foil if you plan on using it within a month or so.
When you’re ready to use the herb butter, just take it out of the freezer and bring it to room temperature. It can slice little rounds to use as butter pats and looks so pretty and professional. I suggest placing a butter pat on top of your steak or whatever impressive meal you’re trying to make.
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Herb Butter Recipe
Wow I love this stuff. I put it on everything! You can even melt a pat on top of steak, chicken and fish. This is a yearly tradition of mine to use up those end-of-season herbs in my garden. Plus the butter holds well in the freezer until I'm ready to use it or gift it!
Ingredients
- 1 Stick of butter at room temperature I like to use salted butter but unsalted will work too
- 1 cup Your Favorite Herb Combination of Chopped Herbs If using a Cuisinart theres no need to pre-cut the herbs
- 1 tbsp Zest of Lemon
- 1/2 tbsp Adobo Seasoning
Instructions
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Beat ingredients together until fluffy using a Cuisinart, hand mixer or stand mixer. You'll need to scrape down sides of mixer as needed to make sure all the herbs are combined with the butter. This might take a few times, don't despair!
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Transfer the herb butter onto a sheet of parchment paper lined with tin foil. The double layer will help to protect it in the freezer.
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Roll up to form a cylinder shape. Twist both ends tight and keep it in the refrigerator or freeze for up to 6 months. When butter is firm, cut into slices as needed.
Recipe Notes
Make sure you label the butter if you made more than one variety. These make great hostess gifts!
I found this a little messy to make. But it was my first time attempting it. Besides that I found tasty. Great use for all those post season herbs. I used a combo of garlic, basil and mint. I melted a little on top of salmon. It was delicious! I can’t wait to try other combos including some sweet ones.