Sharing is caring!

Compound Butter For Steak can completely jazz up any grilled meats or vegetables. This is a simple garlic and herb compound butter recipe that is perfect on steaks and ready in minutes.

When catering we find little flavor additions to make dishes really shine. And a compound butter for steak is one of our secret tools.

Compound butters are fantastic over grilled meats and vegetables, spread over crusty bread, or simply used wherever else you would use butter, like cooked with mussels, to top a baked potato, or over corn on the cob. They can even be sweet to top over breakfast treats like pancakes or waffles.

Find out how to make several variations of this recipe to place over anything from grilled meats, to veggies, to breakfast treats and crusty bread.

What is Compound Butter

Compound butters are mixtures of butter and other ingredients (most commonly herbs and spices) to jazz up a dish, in this case a steak. 

While you can purchase them from the store they are ridiculously easy to make at home. And the best part is that you can make them exactly the way you want them when you make them yourself.

We’re keeping this recipe simple and straightforward, but if you scroll to the bottom you can see different variations and ways to get creative with your combinations.

Ingredients

•  Unsalted Butter – Use softened unsalted butter so you can add just the right amount of salt that you like.
• Herbs – Use a single or combination of your favorite herbs. We use sage and rosemary but you can use any combination. Plan 1 tablespoon of herbs per stick of butter.
• Garlic – Garlic adds a nice rich acidic flavor. An easy way to add the garlic is to remove the outer skin and shave it with a microplane. This avoids inconsistent chunks of garlic in the butter. One clove of garlic works for one stick of butter.
• Kosher Salt – Add salt into the butter with good kosher salt. Adjust the salt if you are sensitive. Avoid iodized table salt at these portions as it will make it too salty.

If scaling up this compound butter for steaks use the same ratio. 1 stick of butter, 1 tablespoon of herbs, 1 clove of garlic, and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt per stick.

Tools + Preparation

• Small Bowl + Fork – You can place the bowl on a kitchen towel to avoid it moving while mixing.
• Micro Plane – For the garlic.
• Parchment Paper or Plastic Wrap – To roll into a log and store linger term.

How to Make Compound Butter

1. Softened Butter: you’ll want to start with butter that is soft enough to be able to mix up. Room temperature butter works great. Make sure to use unsalted butter so you can control the amount of salt for your butter.
2. Mix: combine all ingredients together in a small bowl and mix together. For the garlic we recommend grating the garlic using a microplane grater, for best results (as shown in the photo above).
3. Roll: transfer butter to plastic wrap or parchment paper and form into a log. 
4. Chill: place in the fridge and chill for at least a half hour to firm up.
5. Serve: cut into logs and serve over a hot grilled steak

Making Ahead

You can make this compound butter for steaks in advance. Follow the recipe and store in plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.

For longer term storage we recommend storing in the freezer (also in plastic wrap) in smaller batches and thawing what you need the day before using it.

Compound Butter Variations

Switch it up! Try any of these compound butter combinations on anything from meats to sweets.

• Cilantro and Lime — great over white fish and chicken, or over shrimp.
• Strawberries and sugar — to top over pancakes or waffles.
• Honey and cinnamon — for a sweet topping for toast.
• White wine and garlic — serve with seafood.
• Horseradish and garlic — for a holiday smoked prime rib
• Lavender and honey — try with a pork chop or over crusty bread
• Roasted bone marrow, garlic, and salt — insane over a steak

Recipes Using Compound Butter

Add to any of our favorite steak recipes or pick from some of our favorites below.

• Reverse Sear Ribeye Steaks – Smoke and then sear ribeye steaks and then top them with this herb compound butter.
• Grilled Surf and Turf – Use this on lobster tails and filet mignon.
• Grilled Oysters – Any butter over oysters is divine.
• Smoked Prime Rib with Horseradish Butter – Add a touch of freshly grated or jarred horseradish to spice it up.
• Tomahawk Pork Chops – Any pork steak recipe will shine.
• Smoked Beef Tenderloin – Slice up a tenderloin roast and add butter to each slice.

---

---

About Vindulge

Mary (a certified sommelier and recipe developer) and Sean (backyard pitmaster) are co-authors of the critically acclaimed cookbook, Fire + Wine, and have been creating content for the IACP nominated website Vindulge since 2009. They live in Oregon on a farm just outside Portland.

---