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This garlic herb butter is simple to make and delicious on just about everything. I keep a batch in the fridge at all times, and it’s the perfect easy addition to make chicken, beef, shrimp, salmon, or veggies into a deliciously flavorful gourmet dish.

3/4-angle view of a round slice of garlic herb butter on a piece of crusty bread.

What Makes This Recipe So Good

  • It tastes AMAZING! If you’ve browsed the site before, you’ve probably noticed that this incredible garlic herb butter shows up in several of our recipes. Well, that’s because it’s perfect with basically EVERYTHING.
  • It’s so, so easy to make. No, I’m not going to have you churn your own butter. Don’t worry, we’ll be using your typical unsalted butter here. All you have to do is toss it in the food processor with some herbs, lemon juice, garlic, and salt, and in just a few minutes you’ll have a creamy garlic-herb compound mixture. Refrigerate it until firm, and voilà!
  • You can change up the flavors every time you make it! It’s easy, too. Just change the ingredients you use! Use different combinations of herbs, different seasonings, you could even make a sweet compound butter by using a little honey. SO good on cornbread and waffles!

Chef’s Tips

  • Don’t worry about finely chopping your herbs or mincing your garlic. The food processor will take care of most of the work here, you just want to give it a head start.
  • If you don’t have a food processor, you can make this up by hand. You’d definitely need to finely chop the herbs and mince the garlic and shallot in this case, then add everything to a bowl and mash with a fork until everything’s combined.
  • Short on time? You can chill the garlic herb butter in the freezer instead of the fridge to help it firm up faster. You’ll need roughly 2 hours in the fridge, but only 30 minutes or so in the freezer.
  • Higher quality butters will give you better-tasting garlic herb butter. DON’T get me wrong – this will absolutely work with store-brand butters, and it will be DELICIOUS. That being said, I highly recommend trying this with a brand like Kerrygold at least once.
Close-up view of a log of garlic herb butter sliced into discs on a wooden serving board.

More Deliciously Buttery Recipes

Recipe By: Cheryl Malik

Garlic Herb Butter

Prep 10 minutes
Chill 2 hours
Total 2 hours 10 minutes
This simple but delicious garlic herb butter goes with just about everything. You'll always want to have a batch of this on hand!
8 servings

Equipment

  • Food processor
  • Plastic wrap
  • spoon, or cookie scoop with release handle

Ingredients

  • ½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 3 tablespoons fresh parsley roughly chopped
  • 1 tablespoon other herbs of choice see Notes
  • 1 teaspoon garlic roughly chopped, approximately 1 clove
  • 2 tablespoons shallot roughly chopped
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Instructions

  • Add ½ cup unsalted butter, 3 tablespoons fresh parsley, 1 tablespoon other herbs of choice, 1 teaspoon garlic, 2 tablespoons shallot, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, ½ teaspoon salt, and freshly cracked black pepper to food processor bowl. Process until smooth.
  • Spread sheet of plastic wrap out on flat surface. Transfer butter mixture to plastic wrap. Cover butter mixture tightly and roll in plastic wrap to form log shape. Twist or fold ends of plastic wrap closed to fully encase butter log.
  • Place wrapped butter log in refrigerator. Chill 2 hours or until firm, then serve as desired.
  • The butter needs to be room temperature to blend smoothly with the other ingredients. If you forget to take it out of the fridge early enough, just pop it in the microwave. Be careful not to overdo it, though – you want it softened, NOT melted.
  • If all you have is salted butter, don’t add the extra ½ teaspoon of salt.
  • No food processor? No problem. You can mix everything together in a bowl with a fork. You’ll want to finely chop the herbs, garlic, and shallots, though, so they combine well when you mix everything.
  • Herbs: Use any herbs you like here. Tarragon, oregano, rosemary leaves, chives, or just more parsley would all work!
  • Make it Vegan/Dairy Free: Use a vegan butter.
  • Make it Whole30/Paleo: Use ghee instead of butter.
  • Leftovers: Refrigerate any leftover compound butter up to 2 weeks.

Approximate Information for One Serving

Serving Size: 1servingCalories: 105calProtein: 1gFat: 12gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 31mgSodium: 148mgPotassium: 26mgTotal Carbs: 1gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 523IUVitamin C: 4mgCalcium: 8mgIron: 1mg
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.

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2 Comments

    1. Sure! Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, then place it in an airtight container or a freezer bag. It should keep for 2-3 months! Just defrost it overnight in the fridge before trying to use it.

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