DIY Make Your Own Butter – heavy cream and salt are all you need to make homemade butter that is more delicious than any you ever bought at the grocery store. Spread some on warm bread for a heavenly treat.
Making your own butter is easier than you think! You just need two ingredients – heavy cream and salt. And the best part? It’s cheaper than store-bought and doesn’t have any additives at all. Plus, you can customize the flavor of your DIY butter to your liking by adding salt, herbs, and other spices.
In this recipe post, I’ll show you how to make butter using a stand mixer or hand mixer. Let’s get started!
Okay. I know there’s a less than zero chance that anyone who reads this blog is ever going to make their own butter. I also already know that you think I’m totally crazy for doing it, too, so please don’t feel that you have to comment on that :-) Thank you very much.
It was just one of those things I’d never done, and I wanted to see if I could do it. You understand, right?
And let me tell you something…you have never, ever tasted butter that tastes like this! Oh. My. Gracious. Goodness. It’s so much sweeter, so much butterier than any I’ve ever had. And it only took about ten minutes from start to finish.
So, some weekend when you have nothing else to do, buy a quart of heavy cream and make yourself some homemade butter. Then spread it on some lovely warm bread. You’ll absolutely love it!
Recipe Snapshot
Cuisine: Worldwide
Cooking Method: None
Total Time: 15 minutes active time; 7 hours inactive time
Servings: 32 (1 tablespoon each)
Primary Ingredient(s): Heavy cream, salt
Skill Level: Easy
What You’ll Like About This Recipe
- This DIY butter only requires two ingredients – heavy cream and salt.
- It’s the freshest-tasting butter you’ll ever have – much sweeter and richer than store-bought.
- You can customize the flavor by adding salt, herbs, and other spices to make a delicious compound butter for freezing.
- It’s a fun and easy kitchen project to do with kids.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING …
“I just made butter with half gallon of cream and no food coloring! I got a quart of buttermilk and … a couple of pounds of butter! So tasty!!”
— Karen
Ingredient Notes
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- Heavy Whipping Cream — You’ll need cream that is at least 30% butterfat, or heavy whipping cream. I can’t find the percentage of butterfat printed on any of the cream at my grocery store, so I just trust that heavy whipping cream will work. I typically purchase Organic Valley Heavy Whipping Cream for making butter.
- Salt
- Yellow Food Coloring — Totally optional, but it gives the butter a nice color.
The complete ingredient list with detailed measurements is included in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
How to Make Homemade Butter
Before You Start
- Before starting, you’ll need to “ripen” the cream by letting it stand at room temperature for 4 to 6 hours. During the ripening, it will thicken and become just mildly sour. This helps to give the butter a good, rich taste. After ripening, cool the cream again in your refrigerator for about an hour.
Beat the Cream Until the Butter Separates
- Pour the cream into a large electric mixer bowl. Add a few drops of yellow food coloring if desired. (I find that four drops are just about right.)
- Beat at high speed until flecks of butter begin to form. This will start to happen when it has passed the “whipped cream” stage. Just keep watching, and you’ll see it start to separate.
- Turn the mixer to low speed until the butter separates from the milk. Watch to keep the spattering to a minimum. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as the cream whips. You’ll definitely know when it separates. All the butter will clump together and mass around the beater or whisk.
- Once the butter has separated from the milk, strain off the buttermilk. The buttermilk is what’s left when the butter separates out from the cream. Don’t throw that away, though! It’s great for making biscuits or pancakes or anything that uses buttermilk.
Wash the Butter
- Now, you’ll “wash” the butter either by hand under cold running water or in the mixer. If washing by hand, gather the butter into a mass in your hands and “knead” it very gently under cold running water until the water runs clear. You really have to wash out all of the buttermilk that was caught up with the butter. It will make your butter go bad much more quickly if you don’t. If using the mixer, place the butter back in the bowl and add very cold water, about as much as the amount of buttermilk you poured off. Let the mixer run at its lowest speed. Pour off the water; repeat until the water poured off is clear.
- Return the washed butter to the bowl and add a scant tablespoon of salt. On the lowest possible speed, mix in the salt. Remove the beater(s) and scrape off the butter with a spatula. Work out any remaining water with a spatula by pressing the butter against the side of the bowl. Be sure to work out as much water as possible.
- Mold the butter in a butter press or empty it into a container with a tightly fitting lid.
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How to Store Homemade Butter
Use a glass or ceramic jar or container to store the butter, as it’s known to absorb flavors, and plastic containers tend to have residue.
The leftover liquid that you poured off is the buttermilk. It can be saved for later use as well. You’ll just need to store it in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Store both the butter and buttermilk in the refrigerator.
Serving Suggestions
Besides freshly baked bread, homemade butter goes great in all types of recipes, from savory to sweet. I recommend trying it in my Champ (Irish Potatoes), Cheese Grits, and on top of my Cheesy Chile Cornbread!
If you’re looking for a decadent dessert, go with a Mississippi Mud Cake, Saltine Cracker Toffee, or delicious Classic Peanut Brittle.
Questions About Homemade Butter
One quart of cream makes about one pound of butter, although it depends on how heavy (fat) the cream is.
The buttermilk is great for making biscuits or pancakes! It also works well in any recipe that calls for regular milk, such as homemade macaroni and cheese, lazy daisy cake, and more.
No, you can make butter with cold cream, but the flavor will be much richer if you let the cream mellow at room temperature before you begin.
Absolutely! You can use a food processor. Just be sure to watch the butter closely for separation, and once that happens, turn off the processor.
Have a question or thought to share?
If you have a question about the recipe or if you’ve made it and want to share how it turned out, I would truly enjoy hearing from you. Just scroll down to leave a comment or add your star rating.
Thank you for stopping by. It means a lot to have you here.
Recipe
How to Make Homemade Butter
Ingredients
- 2 pints heavy cream (1 quart)
- 4 drops yellow food coloring optional
- 1 tablespoon salt optional
Instructions
- Ripen the cream by letting it stand at room temperature for 4 to 6 hours. It will thicken and become mildly sour. This helps to give the butter a mild, good taste. Cool cream again in the refrigerator for about an hour.2 pints heavy cream
- Pour cream into large electric mixer bowl. Add a few drops of yellow food coloring, if desired.4 drops yellow food coloring
- Beat at high speed until flecks of butter begin to form. This will begin to happen once the cream has passed the "whipped cream" stage.
- Then turn to low speed until butter separates from milk. Watch to keep the spattering to a minimum. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as the cream whips.
- Pour off the buttermilk.
- Now, “wash” the butter either by hand under cold, running water or in the mixer. If washing by hand, gather the butter into a mass in your hands and “knead” it gently under running water until the water runs clear. If using the mixer, place the butter back in the bowl and add cold water, about as much as there was buttermilk. Let beater run at lowest speed. Pour off water; repeat.
- Add a scant tablespoon of salt. Let beater mix it into the butter. Remove the beaters, scrape off the butter with a spatula and work out any remaining water with a spatula by pressing the butter against the side of the bowl. Be sure to work out all of the water.1 tablespoon salt
- Mold the butter in a butter press or empty it into a container with a tightly fitting lid. Store in the refrigerator.
Notes
- One quart of cream makes about 1 pound of butter, although it depends on how heavy (fat) the cream is.
- Please refer to the post for very detailed information regarding the individual steps of the process.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated by software based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.
— This post was originally published on April 2, 2009. It has been updated with new photos and additional information.
Hi, Lana ~
just read your wonderful-sounding oatmeal recipe today and decided to look at all of your recipes!
Will definitely make your refrigerator pickles (with carrots, zucchini, cauliflower, etc) and found your ‘how to make butter’ recipe.
I made homemade butter a few years ago – Alex Guarnacelli (from “Chopped”) has a recipe. She uses cream and sour cream as her base but squeezes the buttermilk out using a clean dishtowel to wrap it around the butter ball. I used my food processor and it made butter in a snap.
Soooo good! My 87-year old mother thought it was funny to see how excited I was, especially since it was her job to churn the butter as a child on her Indianapolis family farm.
Thank you for the inspiring recipe, as well as your other delectable foods!
Lisa
Thank you so much for sharing, your not at all crazy! Here lately I’ve been reading more and more about how bad margarine is (I usually buy that over butter) and have been thinking about making my own butter but didn’t know where to start except with the heavy cream :) I’m only 25 and nobody in my family could help me out, so thank you!!
Anna,
I have been making homemade butter in my Kitchen Aid mixer for about four years. I go to store that has sells thing from stores that did not order everything and need to get rid of it before it goes bad and they sell 16 oz of heavy cream for 50 cents. I just got 10 carton today so tomorrow will be butter day. I have a real deep sink on one side and I put my Kitchen Aid mixer and add the cream.I always put my bowl in the freezer for about 30 minutes before. My step daughter and friends I share with love it and I do almost the same as you but I do not put the food coloring. Just wanted say it was nice to see your post.
Enjoy butter making day, Anna!
At the county fair next week I’ll demonstrate churning butter and will use the ceramic churn and butter press given me by Aunt Bonnie. Her mother gave those items to her when she left home to marry at age 18 in the early 1900’s. I learned how to churn 50+ years ago and still enjoy it. For the fair, I’ll use pasteurize cream from Jersey cows…yes it DOES make a huge difference!. For personal use I use raw milk that I get from a farmer up the valley. I also use sea salt and think it adds a great deal of flavor and would never. ever. consider using food coloring. Again, if you’re using rich milk fat cream, there’s no need to use food coloring.
Why would you use food coloring if you are using fresh raw milk it has it’s own yellow coloring naturally.
I used and showed in the photos commercial heavy cream purchased from the grocery store. I didn’t even mention “fresh raw milk” and I specifically said that the food coloring was optional.
Looks good. I make my own butter sometimes but I use my food processor. Never thought of the mixer.
I actually made my own butter on a regular basis. I kept goats, at one point I had 7, but only 6 girls.
Goat’s milk is a bit of a challenge as it is naturally homogenized. It takes some time for the cream to separate, a few days usually. The most important thing when working with dairy, is being impeccably clean. Raw milk is better than pasteurized as it carries good bacteria, which develops a better flavor in whatever you are making.
While it is imperative to work out all the water, it’s also important not to ‘stretch’ the butter. Try to just press it against the side of a bowl, wood is best, with a wooden spoon or spatula. Too much smearing will make your butter greasy.
I’m gonna try this! Love your step by step pictures! We love making things with healthier options like organic when we can. You could always leave out the food coloring if you wanted to avoid food dyes. Thanks for posting this, I think there is way more that a 0% chance people are going to make their own butter!
I loved it! Super easy instructions and pictures were really helpful. First time making butter and the taste was so amazing! I didn’t add food coloring (optional) but followed to the T with no issues. A staple for my household now. Thank you!
So glad you had fun with it! It really is easy and so delicious, isn’t it?
Thanks for sharing this on Katherine’s bloghop. This method is so much easier than some special tool I read online. I will have to get some cream from fresh milk and try it one day.
Thanks for the easy instructions and pictures. Today was the first time of making homemade butter. So worth it. I’m glad you also posted the butter could be rinsed in the mixer as well. I was having a hard time rinsing under running water. I’m also going to try your strawberry jam recipe too. I’m sure the pair will be unbelievable together.
Lana, thanks for much for not only the instructions, but the pictures. I make cheese and have annoto coloring (all natural) for making my cheddar yellow. I’ll put a drop into my butter when I make it. ….wish I had a cow!
After watching a Youtube video on how to make butter, it inspired me to make my own due to the simple process that you don’t need any special tool besides a jar with lid, some cream, and some shaking. I poured the cream into 3 separate ziploc containers so my two kids can do their own shaking. My son ended up dropping his container and it broke, but my daughter’s and mine made it and everyone agreed that the butter was way better tasting than store bought.
I enjoyed your article on making butter. We have our own cow, so we have 3-4 gallons of fresh Jersey milk every day. I love making butter, it’s so fun to get this awesome result from throwing some cold cream in a mixer! I make some of the most awesome buttermilk biscuits and using the fresh buttermilk and fresh butter makes them even better!
Keep at it! It’s so much better for you and the vitamins in butter help stop a huge array of diseases and health problems. I wish people would stop giving butter such a bad name, it’s not what they make it out to be! Have fun!~
Just wanted to let you know, I’m totally going to go out and do this! I found this article researching the functions butter serves in baking because I want to learn to make my own recipes from scratch, but you’ve inspired me to make my own butter from scratch too! Thank you!
Went to make an Applefest Apple Pumpkin Cake (www.food.com) for our Lifespring’s meeting tonight and was out of butter, but had 2 pints of heavy cream in the (carton) fridge so Iwent to ask .com. “How much cream to make a pound of butter.” and here I am, what a nice idea! Thanks for your help! I’v always wanted to try making butter also.I can rember my grandmother churning it when I was a child, the large pans of bread dough also, Hot bread and butter, yummmmm. I rember my grandmother freezing the blocks of butter. Any idea how long it will keep in the freezer and what best to store it in? Freezer paper? Why does the butter need to cure before churning? Huggs and Butter, Bernadette
Bernadette, I don’t know exactly, but I would expect to be able to freeze it for up to six weeks. And the “curing” part is just to allow cream to develop a very slight tangy flavor.
Homemade butter takes a bit of work but is totally worth it. Made as a child with cream from our own cows. Have tried it again recently when I found a raw milk dairy locally