How To Make Butter: 3 Simple Ways To Make Homemade Butter

Ever look in the fridge and find yourself without butter? Ever wonder how to make homemade butter? One of my fondest memories in elementary school is when they taught us how to make butter.

Of course, I started making it with the kids to wear them out and teach a fun little science lesson they will remember. Cooking in the kitchen with kids is always a great opportunity for learning. Make your own homemade butter for the freshest flavor.

Just like butter from the store you can freeze homemade butter so don’t be shy to make your own if you find heavy cream on sale. With the current low prices on dairy not expected to stick it never hurts to stock up on the basics.

What do you need to make butter?

When it comes to making butter you don’t need much at all. In fact, you can make butter with only one ingredient.

Heavy Cream

If you like your butter to be salted you can add in a dash of salt when making your homemade butter. You can even add other things like herbs if you want to mix up the flavor a bit but the only thing you NEED is heavy cream.

The process is simple. You want to force the fat molecules in the heavy cream to slam into each other and stick together. You can do this in a few different ways.

How to make butter with a mixer

You can use either a hand mixer or a stand mixer to make your own homemade butter. For this, you want a large deep bowl or a bowl with a splash cover.

• Place your heavy cream into your bowl and begin to mix.
• You will reach the stage of whipped cream.
• Once you have whipped cream you are close to forming butter.
• Keep going until the blades and sides are covered in thick fatty butter.
• Drain away the liquid left after the butter solidifies.
• You must make sure every bit of the liquid is separated.
• Reise the butter in cool water to help ensure no buttermilk is missed or the butter will go bad quickly.

Make homemade butter in a blender or food processor

One thing I have been using more lately is the food processor my husband got me. This has been handy for everything from crushing ice to making homemade peanut butter and I prefer the cleaning process over using my blender.

• Fill the blender or food processor with 1 to 2 cups of heavy cream.
• Turn it on and blend until solid butter forms on the sides and blades
• Continue to run until no new thick fatty butter forms.
• Carefully scrape the butter into a ball
• You must make sure every bit of the liquid is separated.
• Rinse the butter in cool water to help ensure no buttermilk is missed or the butter will go bad quickly.

Homemade butter jar with a marble

This is how they taught me to make butter in elementary school. That is the day I fell in love with fresh real butter having only ever had margarine that my family used. You won’t find margarine in our house but it is not uncommon to find a jar in a young child’s hand to shake off some wiggles or sticks of fresh butter found on sale in the fridge. We use a lot of butter like in our Sinful Sausage and Potatoes Skillet Dinner.

• Fill a sterile glass jar about 1/4 of the way with heavy cream.
• Add a sterile marble to the jar.
• Shake the jar continuously, Roll it across the floor, and dance with it if you want. A silicone sleeve can help prevent accidents.
• Continue to run until no new thick fatty butter forms.
• Carefully scrape the butter into a ball
• You must make sure every bit of the liquid is separated.
• Rinse the butter in cool water to help ensure no buttermilk is missed or the butter will go bad quickly.

 After you make your butter you can store it in the refrigerator for use over the next week or two or freeze butter to use at a later date.