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By Taryn Solie Updated
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This herb butter is such an easy recipe that really adds flavor to your meal. Using fresh sage, rosemary, and thyme, it’s perfect for a wide variety of proteins like chicken, steak, salmon, prime rib, or (my family’s favorite) smoked turkey. You can either use it right away or store it for later – either way, this herb compound butter is a great addition to your dinner table.
This herb butter is so simple to make and is really going to make your meals shine.
It came about when I started smoking a turkey on a Traeger for Thanksgiving. I made the butter to put under the skin of the turkey to flavor the meat – which it did wonderfully.
Then I started experimenting with other types of butter (whipped honey butter is most often requested) and it occurred to me that this herb butter would be great on its own too.
While I typically use this herb butter for turkey, it also works great on other proteins. You can put it on top of grilled steak or salmon and it just melts into everything.
Or if you’re looking to impress you can add it as a little extra something to go with your meal.
So scroll down to see thestep by step pictures and instructions, as well as helpful tips,to make this easy herb butter for your family and friends!
Grab these ingredients
(Note: the full ingredients list, including measurements, is provided in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.)
There’s really only two things you need: herbs and butter. But more specifically, you’ll want the following types of herbs and butter.
- Fresh herbs – sage, rosemary, and thyme. Sometimes you can buy all three in a pack around Thanksgiving or Christmas, usually labeled as a poultry blend. Don’t try and make this herbed butter with dried herbs as it won’t taste nearly as good.
- Salted butter – I typically use the grass-fed salted butter from Costco, but any salted butter would work. I have also made this recipe with ghee, or clarified butter, and it works well too.
How to make homemade herb butter
(Note: please see the recipe card at the end of this post for the complete written instructions.)
There are only a couple of steps needed to make this super simple compound herb butter, which are shown below.
How to use herb butter
In addition to using this recipe for herb butter on stereotypical items like rolls or cornbread muffins, it works great when cooking proteins.
My family uses it every year on our whole smoked turkey – or sometimes just a smoked turkey breast – but you also use it for:
- baked or grilled salmon,
- on top of a new york or rib eye steak,
- on a slice or prime rib, or
- to cook some chicken breasts or thighs.
Troubleshooting tips
- You can’t find all the herbs. If you can only find two of the three herbs, just omit the third and continue to follow the directions. I would not recommend using dried herbs in it’s place as it will not taste the same.
- The butter melts. If the butter has only melted a little, place the bowl with the butter back in the fridge to let harden then continue on with the recipe. If it’s melted all the way you are better off starting fresh as the text of the butter will change.
- You need to save it for later. Simply store the herbed compoun butter in an airtight container in the fridge – it is best for up to 2 weeks. If you want longer-term storage, wrap the butter in plastic wrap and store in the freezer for up to 6 months.
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Herb Butter Recipe for Turkey, Chicken, Steak, Salmon, or Prime Rib
This herb butter is such an easy recipe that really adds flavor to your meal. Using fresh sage, rosemary, and thyme, it's perfect for a wide variety of proteins like chicken, steak, salmon, prime rib, or (my family's favorite) smoked turkey. You can either use it right away or store it for later – either way, this herb compound butter is a great addition to your dinner table.
Print Pin Rate
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Diet: Gluten Free
Keyword: butter
Prep Time: 12 minutes minutes
Total Time: 12 minutes minutes
Servings: 16
Author: Taryn Solie
Equipment
A hand mixer
Ingredients
- 1 large stem fresh rosemary about 1 tbsp finely chopped leaves
- 3-4 large stems of fresh thyme about 1 tbsp thyme leaves
- 10-12 sage leaves
- ½ cup salted butter
Instructions
Take the butter out of the wrapper and place it in a large microwaveable bowl. Set it aside.
Use a cutting board and large sharp knife to prep the herbs. Start by finely chopping the sage leaves. Then remove the leaves of the rosemary from the stems and finely chop them as well. Next remove the leaves from the stems of thyme and, if necessary, finely chop them too (they may not need it if the leaves are very small). Set the fresh chopped herbs aside.
If the butter isn’t soft to the touch after sitting out, microwave it until it is. Start with 10 seconds then touch the butter to test its softness – you want it to be sticky but not melty. If it’s still pretty hard, try 5 more seconds. You shouldn’t need more than 20 seconds to soften it as you don’t want it to start melting. Make sure to check all sides of the butter as the middle is usually what starts to melt first! If you start with room temperature butter, you shouldn’t need to microwave it.
Use a hand mixer to whip the butter before putting the herbs in – this will help more easily incorporate the herbs. Start on a low speed and be careful not to splatter the butter outside of the bowl, gradually increasing the speed up to medium and whipping until the butter looks fluffy in the bowl.
Add the fresh chopped herbs into the bowl with the butter and again use a hand mixer to combine them together, starting on low speed and increasing gradually to medium. This should take less than 5 minutes as the ingredients will come together quickly.
Use a spatula to scrape the herb butter out of the bowl and place it in a small dish to serve.
Notes
- You can use a stand mixer to whip the ingredients together, just make sure the bowl isn’t cold as it will harden the butter.
- If you’re starting with already softened butter, also make sure the bowl isn’t cold otherwise the butter will harden as you start to whip it, making it more difficult for the ingredients to combine.
- Store the butter in the refrigerator for a couple weeks in an airtight container, or wrap it in plastic and freeze it for up to 6 months.
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