This post may contain affiliate links. Please see disclosure form more information.
Learn how to make butter at home with just two ingredients and a mixer using this easy homemade butter recipe. Makes a delicious gift!
Homemade Butter in Minutes
We have been making butter at home ever since I couldn’t find a butter lamb to serve at our traditional Polish Easter one year. It turned out great, and we loved the taste. Even though we buy most of our butter from the store, this easy recipe for homemade butter is great to have on hand. You don’t need a churn or special equipment, other than a mixer. Technically, you can even use a glass jar to shake the cream, although I don’t recommend it! We love spreading fresh butter on homemade bread, like nut bread, paska and sourdough.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make butter from scratch. Full amounts are on the printable recipe card below.
- Heavy cream — heavy whipping cream. Half and half or whole milk will not work for this recipe.
- Salt — This is optional because you can make unsalted butter with just cream. But, I like to add it because I use salted butter for everything. Salt also acts as a natural preservative.
How to Make Butter at Home
First, use a hand mixer or stand mixer to whip the heavy cream until the solids separate from the liquid. This takes about 10-12 minutes. Pour the contents of the bowl into a fine mesh strainer placed over a clean mixing bowl. Strain the liquid into the bowl, and save the buttermilk for later. We use this to make buttermilk pancakes! Rinse the butter in cold water until the water runs clear. Finally, form it into a stick, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until ready to use.
Storage
Store homemade butter in the refrigerator, either wrapped up or in an airtight container. It should keep for 3-4 weeks. You can also freeze butter for up to 6 months. Homemade buttermilk will last about 1 week in an airtight container in your fridge.
Variations
It’s easy to mix in flavorings. Just add fresh herbs, roasted garlic or dried herbs before shaping. You can make honey butter, but you will need to store it in a jar or bowl since it will be too soft for shaping.
If you want to use a butter mold to make fancy shapes, just spread it into the mold instead of using plastic wrap.
You can wrap the butter ball in cheesecloth to help remove the buttermilk. I used to do this, but I stopped as I found it didn’t make a difference. Squeezing with your hands until the water turns clear works just as well.
Recipe Tips
Start out using the low speed on your electric mixer until the cream thickens to avoid splashing the liquid everywhere.
Don’t skip the rinsing step since it’s important to remove as much buttermilk as possible so that it does not spoil.
Homemade Butter
Equipment
- 1 electric mixer
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Add the heavy whipping cream to a large mixing bowl and beat with a hand mixer on low until cream becomes thick. Will take about 3 minutes
- Increase the speed to medium speed and beat until whipped cream is formed. Will take about 2 minutes
- Beat on high speed until butter separates from buttermilk. Will take about 5 minutes
- Place a fine mesh strainer over a clean mixing bowl and dump the contents into the strainer, fully separating the butter from the buttermilk
- Set aside the buttermilk for future use
- Place the butter in a bowl full of cold water and gently massage to release any excess buttermilk that did not get strained out. Water should become cloudy
- Replace cold water and gently knead butter again. Repeat until water runs clear
- Place butter on a sheet of plastic wrap and add salt
- Mix in salt while shaping butter into the form of a stick
- Cover with plastic wrap or parchment paper and store in fridge until ready to serve
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Sign up for the newsletter and follow me on social media for more easy recipes.
Yes!! I wanted to get into butter molds because something about premade ones……hmmmm…… This is amazing! I did a practice batch and it was great, and made the actual mold, a cow! So cute! I will keep making this for my other molds
This was surprisingly easy to make! Very tasty with just the right amount of salt
Wow! This homemade butter was the best better I’ve ever eaten!! So many recipes only include directions for a stand mixer, which I do not have, so I appreciated you talking about using a hand held one. Cant wait to make again!
Thanks, Carol. So glad you liked the recipe!
This was so easy to make. Take a few minutes but well worth the wait. So creamy!
This was so fun to make! I never knew making your own butter could be so easy! So much better than store-bought!
It’s super easy! Glad you enjoyed it!