Garlic herb butter is a delicious compound butter made with fresh herbs and roasted garlic. This homemade condiment recipe makes the perfect topping for baked or mashed potatoes, garlic bread, or pasta.
What’s in garlic herb butter?
A blend of fresh herbs, roasted garlic, and creamy butter are in this homemade condiment. It’s also known as compound butter.
This herb butter recipe uses several fresh herbs, which are chopped and mixed into the butter:
- parsley
- basil
- chives
In addition to the fresh herbs, we add roasted garlic cloves, made by roasting heads of garlic in a cocotte (coquette).
The beautiful thing about making homemade compound butter is that any blend of fresh herbs can be used. If you don’t care for parsley, basil, or chives, feel free to swap them out for something you enjoy. Common herbs found in garlic herb butter are dill, oregano, rosemary, and thyme.
Can you freeze garlic herb butter?
Flavored butter freezes beautifully, keeping well for up to 6 months when it’s wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. For the freshest flavor and to reduce the chance of freezer burn, I also place it in a silicone freezer bag.
Similar to plain butter, your compound butter will stay fresh in the refrigerator for several weeks. Because fresh herbs hold up better under refrigeration, it’s best not to store the butter at room temperature.
What are uses for a garlic herb butter recipe?
You can add flavored butter to so many things! Basically, any dish that needs a punch of flavor is the perfect reason to use it. You can add roasted garlic herb butter to vegetables, meats, and even breakfast recipes. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
- Use it as a topping on baked sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, or Instant Pot rice.
- Add a tablespoon of garlic herb butter to a hot skillet before making scrambled eggs.
- Spread it onto toast
- Add some compound butter to steamed vegetables. It’s delicious on Brussels sprouts and green beans!
- Lemon and dill herb butter is fantastic on grilled fish!
- Add a teaspoon of the butter on top of grilled steak, then grab a napkin, because there may be some drool involved!. Haha!
How to make garlic herb butter
The recipe below will explain exactly how to make this recipe, but here the simple steps involved.
- Bring 250 grams of salted butter to room temperature.
- Set your oven to 400 degrees F. and roast a full head or single bulb of garlic in a cocotte.
- Remove the fresh herbs from their stalks and chop them very finely. You will need a total of 1 cup of chopped fresh herbs for this recipe.
Garlic Herb Butter
Ingredients
- 1 bulb garlic
- 1 cup chopped soft herbs (or 1/4 cup harder more aromatic herbs) - see notes
- 250 g (salted) butter - 2 sticks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F (200C) and take the butter out of the fridge to soften at room temperature.
- Remove paper-like coat of bulb of garlic and cut about 1/3 of the top part off to expose all cloves, make sure to leave the bulb intact. Drizzle a couple of drops of oil over each clove, place bulb into a cocotte and place the lid on top or wrap in aluminum foil. Roast it for 40-50 minutes or until soft and golden. (see video)
- In the meantime, wash and spin dry herbs and then de-stalk them. Chop herbs finely until you have about 1 cup of chopped herbs.
- Add chopped herbs, roasted soft garlic and softened butter to a bowl and mash and mix with a fork until very well combined. Make sure to mash the roasted garlic nicely into the butter.
- Store in an air-tight container in the fridge.
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Kim guiffre says
You didn’t mention how long the garlic stays in the oven
Lorena Grater says
Ahhh, I am SO sorry about this. Just added the information to the recipe card. How could I miss this? It’s 40-50 minutes approx, depending on the size of the bulb.
Sheila says
Hi Lorena!
Thank you for your always inspiring recipies and well explained videos, I love them! This herb butter looks yum! I can’t wait to try it. Here in Europe in recipies we often distinguish between the oven settings, such as regular/classic oven on 200 C. or the hot air circulation (I don’t know the English word for this setting) on 200 C. as the latter tends to get hotter. Which setting do you use in this case and is it generally just a given in Canada/US to use that setting? I always wonder…
T.I.A.
Lorena Grater says
Hi Sheila, in North America not many have a “convection oven” (hot air circulating). Most have ovens that have heating elements at the bottom only (sometimes at the top for broiling). So use the classic setting on your oven without air-circulation.
Shennean says
Does this work well with dried herbs?
Lorena Grater says
Yes. It works well. You’ll have to use a lot less though or it’ll be overpowering.
Will says
I tend to use unsalted butter so as to not affect the seasoning when using it in cooking. Then salt to taste whatever your using it with.
Also i melt the butter and simmer with the herbs and garlic to infuse the flavours. Not too hot as to split the butter though.
Desirae says
Can you put the garlic in a pressure cooker instead of an oven?
Lorena says
No Desirae, you won’t achieve the same effect. The garlic would steam cook and not roast. Only by roasting it becomes sweet because it caramelizes.
Maria says
How long do the garlic has to be in the oven ?
Lorena says
40-50 minutes depending on how big the bulb is.
Dom says
How long would you keep the butter in the fridge once it’s made?
Lorena says
About 1 week or 10 days. If you know you won’t eat it that fast, you can freeze it for up to a month :)