Homemade butter doesn’t require a 20th-century churn or specific knowledge. With modern technology and understanding, you can make butter at home in a blender!
I know how to make homemade butter. And I’ve made it off and on over the years.
However, when I make butter, I shake up a mason jar or test out a churn from a friend. A mixer will work just fine, too!
The process of making butter by hand, or in a mixer, can be time-consuming. So naturally, it’s not something to do very often.
But when I saw a social media trend circulating about butter in a blender I had to give it a try. And what do you know – it works!
Here’s how you can make your butter at home without a butter churn!
This post contains affiliate links. That means when you click on a link and make a purchase, I make a commission at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon Affiliate, I make an income from qualifying purchases. For more information about my disclosure and privacy policy, visit this page.
How to Make Homemade Butter in a Blender
There are a few different ways to make butter. Butter in a blender is potentially the quickest way, time-wise.
In a clean blender, pour 2 to 3 cups of heavy cream (it doesn’t take much cream to make butter!). Our family uses raw cream from a local dairy farmer, but you can easily use store-bought heavy whipping cream, too.
Blend on high, stopping periodically to check on your cream.
When your heavy whipping cream forms stiff peaks and doesn’t slide off of a spoon, you have reached the whipped cream stage. Keep blending!
As you blend, watch your cream for signs of butter.
You will see a sort of break in your cream. Part of your cream will thicken up and stick to the sides of your blender. Other parts will run freely through your blender.
(This is different from when cream breaks overheat, where the fats and the liquids separate. In the blender, the fat is butter!)
When you see liquid and thick, gold butter, you know you’re ready to strain the buttermilk.
The entire process takes anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes. The time it takes to make butter usually depends on the power of your mixer. If you have a more powerful mixer, it may take less time.
Carefully remove the blade of your blender, if you’re able, and strain the buttermilk through a fine mesh strainer. (You can use this leftover liquid in pancakes, as a chicken marinade, and other baked goods!)
Return any butter in your strainer to the blender.
Move the butter to a large bowl and rinse under cold water until the water runs clean. You could also use ice water and refresh the water until the water runs clean.
This removes any residual buttermilk and prevents your butter from going rancid.
I form my butter in a silicone mold like this one. As you form your butter, you can sprinkle in the salt you usually cook with for a salted butter. If you prefer unsalted butter, skip this step.
Your homemade butter will keep in the fridge for about two or three weeks. Be sure to store it in an airtight container! Store in the freezer for a longer shelf life.
You should note that your butter may go rancid before two weeks. If that’s the case, you had too much buttermilk in your butter! When you make butter again, be sure to rinse your butter very well.
I wrap my sticks of butter in a piece of parchment paper. I find that my butter freezes better in a piece of parchment paper than it does in aluminum foil.
Be sure to store it in an airtight container!
For videos on the whole process, follow me on Pinterest!
Want more easy, from-scratch recipes?
I’m not a Michelin-star chef. But you don’t have to be to make great food for your family!
For more easy recipes and homesteading inspiration, sign up for my email list! You’ll also be the first to know about behind-the-scenes projects.
Here’s What I Use to Make Homemade Butter!
I love kitchen tools that stand the test of time! This blender has been used almost every day for three years. And it’s dishwasher safe!
This silicone butter mold is not dishwasher safe, but every tablespoon is notched so I can easily measure out whatever reserved fats I need!
Can I Store Homemade Butter at Room Temperature?
You can store butter at room temperature. However, it may spoil faster.
You must rinse the butter in cold water until the water runs clean! This will make sure all of your buttermilk is removed and the butter won’t go rancid as quickly.
Please note that you don’t have to use room-temperature cream to make butter. But the finished products, butter, and buttermilk, are best stored in the fridge.
Is Making Butter More Cost Effective than Buying Store-Bought Butter?
Are you willing to pay money for good food or pay for your health?
I don’t ask that question lightly. Good quality food is worth paying for!
But if you’re in a season of life where you have to balance quality with your budget, knowing whether butter is cost-effective is important!
Take the average cost for a quart of heavy cream in your area. Three cups of heavy cream gets me about two sticks, or half a pound, of butter.
So for me, I know I need at least two quarts of cream to get a pound of butter.
In my area, two quarts of cream are much more expensive than a pound of butter. That’s just how the math works out! In your area, it might be different.
In 2024, a quart of cream, 32 fluid ounces, is $5.67. A pound of store-brand butter from the same store is $3.78.
Since we’ve talked a bit about quality already, let’s take a deeper look.
Butter from the grocery store has preservatives in it. When you make butter with store-bought heavy cream, you still have whatever preservatives are in the cream. However, you may not have the added beta-carotene some companies use to make their solid butter look yellow.
Homemade butter made with raw milk does not have preservatives in it. Thus, it should be used quickly or stored in the freezer for long-term storage.
Can I Use Homemade Butter for Compound Butter?
You can use homemade butter for compound butter!
It’s an incredible way to use a great product. So savor it!
Where Else Can I Use Homemade Butter?
Homemade butter can be used wherever you eat store-bought butter!
We love butter on toast with homemade jam, on English muffins, in rice, and so much more!
Since we are using butter made from raw milk, we prefer to use store-bought butter in baked goods. But for general frying or spreading on baked goods, we like to use our homemade butter.
That balance is also a great one to strike if you aren’t able to make enough butter to feed your family! Since we don’t have the cream to make enough butter to fulfill all of our needs, we use store-bought butter in baking.
Different Methods to Make Homemade Butter
You can make butter in a stand mixer, blender, and by hand.
If you want to try making butter in a stand mixer, put your cream in the bowl of your stand mixer.
Throw a hand towel or a shield over the bowl of the stand mixer. A paper towel would also do. This will prevent buttermilk from flying all over your kitchen.
Start on your lowest speed and turn to high speed as you get comfortable.
A mixer will let you see when butter forms. It will be more obvious than in a blender. The butter will stick to the whisk attachment.
I don’t recommend using a hand mixer to make homemade butter.
Benefits of Fresh Butter
Butter is a necessary fat loaded with vitamins. Some say butter can also strengthen your bones and eyes! Read more about the benefits of butter in this article.
If you have fresh cream, butter is a great product to make! You could also make ice cream and sour cream with fresh cream.
Other Whole-Food Inspiration
If this is your first time falling down the rabbit hole of whole food, I want to welcome you! While this can be a daunting transition to make, I want to encourage you. You can make it in steps!
If you aren’t ready to start drinking raw milk and making your butter, maybe you’re ready to purchase your meat in bulk. So long as you have the freezer space to store your beef, you can save an incredible amount of money per pound!
I will warn you – buying beef in bulk is a financial investment!
If you aren’t ready to put quite a bit of money down on purchasing beef, maybe you are ready to start baking sourdough bread! The cost to learn how to cook with a sourdough starter is very cheap. And you can use standard, all-purpose flour from the grocery store!
I have a few tips for how to start your sourdough starter and succeed with sourdough in this blog post!
For more healthy living and whole food inspiration, follow me on Pinterest!
Homemade Butter Recipe
Homemade Butter in a Blender
Homemade butter doesn't require a 20th-century churn or specific knowledge. With modern technology and understanding, you can make butter at home in a blender!
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 tsp salt, optional
Instructions
- If you're using raw milk, skim 2 cups of cream off of the top of your milk.
- Put cream in a blender. Blend on high for 5 minutes.
- At 5 minutes, check on the cream. If cream is holding it's shape and there's no excess liquid, keep blending, checking every minute or two.
- When the butter separates from the buttermilk, strain off the butter milk. Reserve the buttermilk in a glass jar to use for other recipes!
- Fill a small, glass bowl with cold water and rinse the butter. Refresh the cold water until the water comes clean.
- For salted butter - smear the butter up the sides of the bowl and salt the butter. Fold the butter over on itself and sprinkle more salt if desired.
- Fill the recommended silicone mold with butter and refrigerate until solid.
- Package in an air-tight container or parchment paper. Store in the freezer for long-term storage.
Notes
Check out learnlifeblog.com/homemade-butter-in-a-blender for the products I recommend to get the job done! For more cook-from-scratch recipes, check out learnlifeblog.com!
Pin this post for later!
Leave a Reply