Recipe Overview
Why you’ll love it: A pat of chive butter will add extra herb and garlic flavor to all of your favorite dishes. Follow this recipe for a quick guide to transforming your everyday butter!
How long it takes: 5 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: electric mixer, small mixing bowl
Servings: 8 (1 tablespoon each)
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Pin ItCompound Butter
There are many ways you can enhance plain butter. Whenever you add anything to butter, it’s called “compound butter.” We’re all pretty familiar with garlic butter, but have you considered fresh herbs, spices, or sweeteners? This orange honey butter is pretty spectacular on homemade wheat bread, English muffins, or roasted acorn squash. Try warmly spiced gingerbread butter on fluffy buttermilk pancakes or carrot raisin muffins.
Easy Chive Butter
Lots of ways to use it! Chive butter can replace your regular butter in a variety of ways. Think about how often butter is used for things like lobster, pasta, breads, steak, potatoes, and fish. Imagine elevating the flavors in those dishes with the mild onion flavor of chives and a hint of garlic. This chive butter is perfect on top of your juicy steak, a steaming baked potato, or a slathered on a slice of crusty bread.
Super easy to make. Grab your butter, make sure it’s at room temperature, blend with chopped chives (store-bought or homegrown), garlic powder, kosher salt, and coarse ground black pepper, and voila!
Looks fancy. A smooth log of butter flecked with vivid green chives and cracked black pepper looks so pretty in a serving dish on the table. If this is a special occasion dinner, herb compound butter is a really nice addition to your presentation. It looks impressive but couldn’t be easier to do (and chive butter can be made well ahead of time).
Ingredient Notes
- Butter: You’ll want to make sure the butter is softened to room temperature. It should still be firm, opaque, and hold its shape. You don’t want it to be super squishy and partially melted because it will lose its creamy texture even after chilling.
- Fresh chives: Chives are in the same family as green onions or scallions, but are considered a perennial herb. They are grass-like in appearance and have a milder flavor than green onions or scallions. The entire plant is edible, including the purple flower. Chives are very easy to grow and you can harvest them beginning in early spring, and generally right through the summer until the first hard frost. Don’t worry if you’re not a gardener; chives are available in most grocery stories, too.
- Garlic powder: Garlic pairs well with most herbs. I use garlic powder because it’s easy, and because the compound butter can be stored longer than if you use fresh garlic.
- Kosher salt & coarse ground black pepper: The coarse salt and freshly cracked black pepper aren’t just there for the taste, they also add a bit of texture.
How Much Salt To Add
If you use salted butter, you won’t need as much salt; if you use unsalted butter, you might want to bump up the salt a bit.
How to Make Chive Butter
Prep chives. Rinse and dry the chives. Try to get them as dry as possible because water droplets will not absorb into the butter. Chives can be chopped with a very sharp knife or snipped with a scissors. Try to chop them quite finely. Remember, this is a spread and you don’t want long pieces of chives hanging out in there.
Combine. Put the butter, chives, garlic powder, salt and pepper into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, mix until well combined, scraping down the sides as needed. You can also mix it with a fork, if you prefer.
Shape the butter. You can transfer the butter to a small decorative bowl, or form the butter into a small log. Spoon it out of the bowl onto the center of a sheet of parchment paper or plastic wrap, in the rough shape of a log. Fold the parchment in half over the butter. Using a flat edge (such as a ruler, cookie sheet, or dough scraper) on the outside of the paper, gently push the butter into a compact roll. Twist the ends of the paper to secure it, like a big Tootsie Roll. (Refer to this 1 minute YouTube video if you’re unsure.)
Chill. Refrigerate the butter until firm. It can be sliced in neat rounds once it’s chilled. If you want it to be spreadable, take the butter out of the refrigerator one to two hours before using.
Easy Recipe Variations
- Use the flower, too. Since the entire chive plant is edible, you can chop the purple blossoms and add them to the chive butter, too. The flowers also make a beautiful presentation, if you arrange them around the log of chive butter.
- Customize with your favorite herbs. You can add different fresh herbs to the compound butter, either in addition to the chives, or instead of them. Try sage, thyme, basil, tarragon, oregano, or parsley.
- Add a hint of citrus. Stir in a half teaspoon of finely grated lemon zest.
- Make it a little spicy. Add a pinch of cayenne pepper.
- Add cheese. Grated Parmesan cheese can be stirred into the compound butter for a nice variation. This compound butter would be perfect on pasta or fresh bread.
- Veganize it. Replace the butter with vegan butter.
Refrigerate: This butter should be treated like any other butter and refrigerated until ready to use, for up to a week. It can be kept at room temperature for a couple of hours.
Freeze: Wrap compound butter logs in plastic wrap before freezing in a freezer-safe container or bag. Thaw in the refrigerator. You will be able to slice a couple of rounds off without thawing it first, if you only need a bit.
Chive Butter
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter, softened to room temperature (1 stick)
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine all ingredients using an electric mixer, scraping down the sides as needed. If you prefer, you can mix it with a fork or sturdy spoon instead of an electric mixer.½ cup butter, softened to room temperature, 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- Store in the refrigerator. Soften for 1 hour at room temperature before using, so the butter is spreadable. Once you slice it, it will soften more quickly.
Notes
- Variations: You can add different fresh herbs to the compound butter, either in addition to the chives, or instead of them. Try sage, thyme, basil, tarragon, oregano, or parsley. Stir in a half teaspoon of finely grated lemon or orange zest. Add a pinch of cayenne pepper. Grated Parmesan cheese can be stirred into the compound butter.
- Vegan: Replace the butter with vegan butter.
- Storage: Refrigerate for up to a week. Compound butter can be kept at room temperature for a couple of hours. To freeze, wrap compound butter logs in plastic wrap before freezing in a freezer safe container or bag. Thaw in the refrigerator. You will be able to slice a couple of rounds off without thawing it first, if you only need a bit.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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