Homemade Butter: Tips, Tricks, and How-To

Recently I came across a few different Facebook videos of people making homemade butter and for whatever reason decided I should give it a shot. It seems crazy given we have commercially available butter, but still I wanted to try it out. After 30 minutes of impatience and thinking I had messed it up, lo and behold, I had butter! I actually thoroughly enjoyed the experience and learned some tricks along the way. I posted the results of my first attempt on social media and to my surprise lots of you wanted a how to!

Let's dive in!

I started out my process by doing a bunch of research including questions and comments by people who hadn't had much success. To me, by preparing for all the possible outcomes I could better know what to do overall.

So what were some of the common problems?

- It isn't separating into butter and I can't seem to get past whipped cream
- It looks like my butter mixed back into the buttermilk.
- I started to get bits of butter, but when I tried to separate it I couldn't.

The biggest thing I learned was PATIENCE. It's going to keep looking like it's about to happen... but it isn't. Trust me, when it happens, you WILL know.

Some of the tips I saw during my research mentioned the temperature of the cream and the bowl or container, but in truth those don't matter much. Whether your cream is ice cold or room temp, the results will be the same. Same goes for your bowl or jar, it doesn't need to be chilled ahead.

Let's address some of those common issues before we get into the how-to.

If it seems like your stuck at whipped cream, don't worry, just keep going. It does take considerably longer to get past the whipped cream stage than it does to get TO the whipped cream stage. Just be patient and keep whipping/shaking.

If for some reason you got to the stage where you have butter and buttermilk and kept going and it seems like they got mixed back together don't worry. While I didn't have this issue myself, I read in several places that you can just place the mixture in the fridge for a bit and they should separate.

If you got to what looks like cottage cheese and stopped to separate things out, you stopped too soon. What happens here is that if you try to rinse your butter at this stage your going to wash it all away. The butter hasn't properly separated yet and you'll be left with nothing.

The biggest thing I learned was that it took me SO long the first time because I nervously had my mixer set too low.

Now that we're prepped with some info, let's go!

What you need:
Ingredients:
- Heavy Cream (2 cups - yields approximately 1 cup of butter and 1 cup of buttermilk)
- Ice water

- Salt (optional)

Equipment:
- Stand mixer with whisk attachment or mason jar with cover
- Strainer/sieve or cheese cloth
- Bowl
- Spatula
- Towel

Depending on whether you use a stand mixer or a mason jar is going to determine how long this process will take. If you want to do this as a fun project with kids you can have them do the mason jar and wear them out a bit. A stand mixer is going to be considerably faster.

In a mason jar you are going to pour in your cream and shake like mad until there is considerable sloshing around and you see butter forming. Personally I prefer to use my stand mixer.

Add 2 cups of heavy cream to a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. If you have a splatter guard/flour cover I HIGHLY recommend using it. Turn on the mixer at low and gradually start to turn it up until you reach the highest setting.

Stiff Whipped Cream

Soft Whipped Cream

First, you're going to get a soft whipped cream and then a more stiff whipped cream (if you add sugar at this point it's perfect on hot cocoa.)

Now you wait... and wonder... and think you messed up. Just keep with it. It's going to look like your whipped cream is getting chunky, it's getting to the point of being over-whipped. Then it's going to look like it's starting to deflate back into the soft whipped cream. I like to take a second and turn off the mixer, take a rubber spatula and move everything back to the bottom of the bowl.

Over-whipped Cream

Cottage cheese, is that you?

Next it will start to look like cottage cheese and then you'll start to see what looks like small, very wet curds. At this point I turn the speed down just a tad, otherwise it is going to splash buttermilk all over you and your kitchen. I draped a towel over the opening in my splatter guard to prevent a mess.

It doesn't look great, but this is a good sign!

There's the butter!

You're going to start seeing more and more separation and then all of a sudden you're going to have golden chunks of butter sticking to the inside of the whisk and a pool of buttermilk at this bottom. Now is the time to turn off the mixer and get to the real fun.

Do your best to shake the butter off the whisk and use a spatula to scrape off as much as you can. Using the spatula, press the butter together against the side of the bowl and squeeze out the buttermilk. I pour off as much buttermilk as possible into a measuring cup and store it in the fridge, you can use it for lots of things.


Next, you need a bowl, your strainer or cheese cloth, and the ice water. It is SUPER important to make sure you "wash" your butter because if buttermilk remains it can make your butter go rancid quickly. If you have a cheesecloth you can wrap it around the butter and squeeze everything out in between rinses. I don't have any cheesecloth at home (and I keep forgetting to pick some up) and so I used a sieve and a bowl. I lay the sieve over the bowl and transfer the butter over and pour over a generous amount of ice water (try to keep the ice out of the butter.) The sieve is good during the first rinse if some pieces of butter haven't stuck together since it makes it easier to keep together. The water is going to look cloudy during this first rinse and will get clearer with each subsequent round as there is less and less buttermilk to remove. After the first rinse, drain the water out and move your butter to the bowl add more ice water. (This is how I do it. In theory you could rinse it through the sieve again, but I like to knead and massage the butter in the water and it could get stuck in the sieve.) With the butter submerged fully in the water, knead and massage it, squeezing it to remove any leftover buttermilk and then the water again. Repeat until the water remains clear.

(I forgot to take pictures of this part and I'm so sorry! I had buttery fingers and by the time I thought of it I was done rinsing! The next time I'll take some photos at this stage for you guys.)

Next, you want to squeeze out any water (again this is where if you have a cheesecloth, it comes in handy.) You can then shape your butter into any shape you like. Many people like making sticks, but I just roll mine into a log that fits into my butter dish. If you are adding any salt or seasoning this is the best time to do it since you can knead it through thoroughly. I personally keep mine unsalted and if for example I'm having it with bread, I'll sprinkle some crunchy salt on top. Salt does help keep the butter longer, but in my house it gets used up fast enough. Unsalted butter is also better for baking, so keep that in mind depending on how you want to use it.

I made this amazing no knead rustic bread (thanks Cooking Classy) to go with my butter and it was pure heaven. This is seriously the easiest bread ever and you will love it.

Pictured: Heaven

I find the price of making butter at home comparable to commercially available butter, but so much fresher and tastier, plus I have a blast making it. You also get buttermilk as a byproduct which is fantastic.

Let me know if you plan on trying your hand at butter making and if you do let me know how it goes!

Leave me any questions in the comment section :) and tell me what you'd like me to make next!