Garlic Herb Butter Recipe - Savory Nothings (2024)

This homemade Garlic Herb Butter is easy to make and tastes delicious with steak, grilled chicken or with pasta. Seasoned with fresh herbs, garlic and lemon zest, it combines all of the best flavors you want in a compound butter!

I honestly can’t remember the last time I had steak without smothering it in this garlic herb butter – I know, a good cut of beef only needs salt and pepper… But honestly, this compound butter is too irresistible to me!

This makes a good amount, you can easily store leftovers in the fridge for a couple of days.

Ingredients you’ll need

Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post for quantities!

Ingredient notes

• Herbs: Use soft herbs like parsley, basil, fresh oregano… for best results. My favorite combination is parsley and basil.
• Garlic: I mostly use fresh garlic for this recipe, but roasted garlic is very delicious, too. You can also use just garlic powder if you don’t have fresh/want a more mild garlic flavor in your compound butter.
• Worcestershire sauce: This absolutely “makes” the recipe for me, but if you don’t keep Worcestershire sauce on hand you can try using soy sauce as a substitute.
• Lemon zest: This is optional, but lends a bright and refreshing touch to balance the flavor.

How to make Garlic Herb Butter

It’s so easy to make a compound butter at home:

1. Use a hand mixer to whip together all ingredients except for the chopped herbs (this works best if your butter is very soft, but not melted!).
2. Add the herbs and mix them in on the lowest setting.
3. Spread the compound butter into a log, about 8×1.5 inches in size, on a large piece of plastic wrap. Roll it up into a “sausage” shape, twist the ends and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before serving.

Recipe tips

• Soften butter: Make sure to use softened butter for this recipe, it yields a much smoother and more evenly seasoned result. If your butter is still chilled and you need to make the recipe ASAP, rinse a mixing bowl with hot water and invert it over the unwrapped butter. It should be soft within 5-10 minutes.
• Garlic amount: If your garlic cloves are large, consider using just one. Fresh garlic can be a little difficult to predict, and in can increase in strength as the butter sits in the fridge. Keep this in mind and adjust the amount you add accordingly to suit your personal preferences.
• Mixing: Make sure you only beat on low speed after adding the herbs and don’t overmix the butter at this point – you want to avoid crushing the chopped herbs.

PSIf you try this recipe, please leavea review in the comment section and add a star rating in the recipe card – I appreciate your feedback! Follow along onPinterest,FacebookorInstagram.

Printable recipe