How to Make Butter

Once you learn how to make butter you will realize just how simple it is! Not only is it delicious, but you’ll also love knowing how to make homemade butter using only one ingredient!

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It is super frugal and easy too. In fact, you can get your kids involved in making butter at home. We did this over our last fall break. I’m not sure why I’m just now sharing it with you, but I know you will love that I did.

I remember making butter at home when I was a little kid. Or maybe we made it in Kindergarten class, either way, I remember being fascinated that if you shook some “white liquid” (that I now realize was cream!) long enough you ended up with delicious butter, that simply tasted amazing spread on saltine crackers.

I wanted to share that experience with my kids. So we did it and they were all amazed at just how easy it was and how it tasted!

Is it cheaper to make your own butter?

Depending upon what you pay for the whipping cream, it can be cheaper to make your own homemade butter. One pint of whipping cream will make approximately one cup, which is half of a box of butter or two sticks. If you can get your hands on raw cream, you will have a richer flavored butter that is sometimes hard to find in stores!

If you’re wanting a tangier butter, you might be interested in cultured butter, which would require you to culture the cream with plain unsweetened yogurt. For this recipe, it would take approximately 1 teaspoon of yogurt. Once you combine the cream and the yogurt, let it sit at room temperature for 24-48 hours then proceed as directed.

Ingredients for homemade butter:

• Heavy whipping cream  
• Small Mason Jars (we used small ones that I had bought on Amazon)

How do you make butter?

This recipe is crazy easy…. like crazy easy.  You will have fresh homemade butter in under 30 minutes.

•  You pour about ¼ cup of heavy whipping cream into your mason jar. Make sure the lid is on tight.

• You shake it – you shake it – and you shake it.

• This is when you get help from the kids since it takes about 20 minutes to finish. They love it. Just look at my boys shaking their mason jars. It was hard for me to even get a picture they were having so much fun shaking and running with them. The fun part is about halfway through you can take the lid off and show them that they made whipped cream!

• After a while, the cream turns into more of a solid and there will be a lot less liquid left. This is liquid buttermilk. You can strain it off, or leave it in if you want a thinner butter.

• Wrap the butter in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for about an hour. You can eat it immediately, and believe me, we did. However, I liked it better when it was nice and cold.
• Note that this is unsalted. If you want the delicious taste of salt, just sprinkle some in and give it a quick shake. It doesn’t take much to make it nice and salty.

What to do with leftover buttermilk?

When your butter gets to the stage where it separates from the liquid, place it on cheese cloth and squeeze to remove the remaining buttermilk. Some people find that pouring in a small amount of ice cold water before they remove the butter solids will help the solids separate from the buttermilk better. Rinse the butter to remove the remaining buttermilk, you don’t want it to go waste!

Once you strain the buttermilk, don’t toss it! You can use the buttermilk in pancakes, use it in homemade ranch dressing, gluten-free biscuits, or really any recipe that calls for buttermilk. So really, this recipe is a two for one!

Can you turn milk into butter by shaking it?

Sadly, no. There isn’t enough fat in store-bought milk to make butter, plus it’s been processed quite a bit. Raw milk sometimes works because it has such a high-fat content, but even then it doesn’t always work. It is best to just use whipping cream.

I told you it was easy – like crazy easy to make. It was super fun too. If you don’t have any mason jars or kids to shake it, you can also use a food processor or stand mixer (cover the bowl with a towel) to churn the butter. Simply place the whipping cream in and mix for about 4 minutes, starting on high and moving down the speed as it gets more solid.

The kids loved eating it on saltine crackers, but that night we made our homemade Kings Hawaiian Rolls recipe and it was amazing on those warm rolls.

Easy Flavored Butter Ideas:

Take it up a notch by adding herbs or flavorings to it before you refrigerate it. Add some chopped basil, parsley and garlic for a quick garlic basil butter. Parmesan and cheddar cheese are also a good flavor combo! Play around with it and see what your favorite flavor combinations are. Our favorite is cinnamon butter!!

Print your homemade butter recipe below:

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Homemade Butter recipe

5 from 5 votes

Homemade butter recipe. How to make butter with heavy whipping cream that tastes great. Making butter at home is super easy.

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Servings 1

Cuisine American

Course Mixes and Seasonings

Calories 205

Author Carrie Barnard

Ingredients

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

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Instructions

• Pour about ¼ cup of heavy whipping cream into a mason jar (or jar of choice with a very tight seal). Make sure the lid is on tight.
• You shake it – you shake it – and you shake it.
• After a while, the liquid mixture will no long be liquid and it will have hardened into a delicious homemade butter.
• Once the liquid is gone and you start to see butter take shape. I placed it in the fridge for about an hour. You can eat it immediately, and we did. However, I liked it better when it was nice and cold.
• This is unsalted butter. If you want the delicious taste of salt, just sprinkle some in and give it a quick shake. It doesn’t take much to make it nice and salty.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 205kcal, Carbohydrates 2g, Protein 1g, Fat 22g, Saturated Fat 14g, Cholesterol 82mg, Sodium 23mg, Potassium 45mg, Sugar 1g, Vitamin A 875IU, Calcium 39mg

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In the meantime, try out some of these other homemade recipes:

• Kings Hawaiian Rolls recipe
• How to make Homemade biscuits
• Easy Homemade Chili Seasoning
• How to Make Homemade Cornbread Mix
• How to Make Homemade Taco Seasoning