Learn how to make salted butter from raw milk or store bought cream. You only need 2 ingredients to make this easy homemade butter recipe, and you can make it with a mixer, blender, or churn. Fresh butter never tasted so good!
When we started milking our A2 Jersey cows, we knew we wanted to regularly make 2 things… Ice cream and butter. Learning how to make butter from raw milk was the #1 thing on our to do list when we started milking.
Making homemade butter is a relatively simple process, and you don't need a bunch of fancy tools to make it; you can even make it in a jar if you're making a smaller quantity.
I'm going to show you how to make butter from heavy cream and share some of the benefits and ways you can use homemade salted butter. Now that we've been eating butter made from our cows' fresh milk, I can't imagine going back to store bought butter; and I'm willing to bet that once you taste it, you won't want to either.
Why You'll Love Making Homemade Butter
- Homemade butter has a deliciously rich flavor and even a darker yellow coloring, especially during the warmer months when the cows can eat more fresh green grass versus hay in the winter.
- It's relatively simple and easy to make. There are a few steps to it, but the steps are easy to follow.
- If you're needing A2 butter like I do, making it is the cheapest and sometimes the only option. Before we had our own cows, I was buying small half-pints of A2 cream from a natural grocery store an hour and a half away, sometimes ordering thru Azure. Said cream was not cheap; I think it was around $8 for a 12-oz. bottle. Now… Factor in the cost of feeding and caring for a cow, store bought cream is definitely more affordable. However, if you're buying raw milk from a local farmer at say, $8/gallon, and able to skim off the cream to use for butter, local raw milk is the way to go, especially in terms of cost-effectiveness.
- You can eat it fresh, you can use it in baking, and you can make all sorts of things with homemade butter. You can even add flavorings to it, which we'll talk more about below.
- Contrary to what much of society, not to mention what our modern healthcare system thinks, butter has a lot of health benefits. It's not only good for the immune system, it's also a healthy source of fatty acids, healthy cholesterol, and antioxidants. It's a good source of selenium. It's also a good source of nutrients that protect against heart disease. It contains vitamin A, which is good for healthy thyroid function, something many of us need. And did you know that butter contains saturated fats that actually help protect against cancer? You can read more about the benefits and learn why butter is better.
Ingredients and Substitutions Notes:
This section is pretty simple, because you only need 2 ingredients to make butter…
- Heavy Cream – You can separate the cream from raw milk, and I'll share how to do that a little further below. Or you can buy a carton of heavy whipping cream from your local grocery store. To find a good source of raw milk, start researching your local area; you can find raw milk dairy farmers through Real Milk's Raw Milk Finder. You may also search local Facebook groups, Facebook Marketplace, or ask around in local community groups you're involved with.
- Sea Salt – I recommend using a healthy sea salt. Redmond Sea Salt is the best.
How to Make Salted Butter from Raw Milk
Before getting started, it's important to chill the milk in the fridge 'til the cream has separated. Cream will rise to the top, and milk will be left underneath. I usually let fresh milk sit in the fridge, untouched, for 6-12 hours before skimming off the cream.
How to Separate Cream from Cows' Milk
- Once you have a definitive cream line, it's ready to skim.
- Use a ladle or large gravy spoon to skim the cream off the milk. You can even use a turkey baster to gather up the cream. As you skim, add the cream to a large 1/2 gallon jar or mixing bowl.
How to Mix the Butter
Now keep in mind, you can use whatever you have, whether it's a blender, a stand mixer, or a butter churn. We actually alternate on which one we use, depending how much cream we have; sometimes we have multiples going at once, but lately, we've been using our blender quite a bit.
- Add the cream to your preferred small appliance, whether it's a stand mixer, blender, or butter churn. If you're using a mixer, you'll want to cover the mixer with a flour sack towel, or use a shield to keep it from splattering all over the place.
- Allow it to run 'til the butter separates from the milk (less than 5 minutes for a blender, about 20 minutes for a mixer, and maybe 30 minutes for a butter churn); then drain the milk off the butter curds. You'll know when it's ready because you'll have chunks of butter separate from the liquid.
Now Squeeze the Milk out of the Butter
- If the butter is too soft, add ice water to the churn and let the butter firm up before removing the liquid.
- Remove the butter from the jar and squeeze out as much milk as possible.
- Place the butter on a cutting board, and roll it with a rolling pin to squeeze out more milk.
- Alternate cooling the butter down in a bowl of ice water to keep it firm.
- Keep squeezing more milk out, as much as possible, until the liquid you squeeze out is as clear as possible. You can use paddles, if so inclined, but we prefer to use our hands.
- Keep cooling in ice water in between squeezing more milk out.
When to Add Salt to Homemade Butter
- Once you've gotten as much milk out as possible, add the sea salt on top of the butter.
- Work the salt into the butter with your hands or with butter paddles.
How to Make Homemade Butter into Sticks
You can just put your butter into a container, refrigerate it, and use it as is. Or you can form it into sticks or blocks, then refrigerate or freeze. We use butter stick molds for this.
- Press the butter into the butter molds.
- Then level the butter in the mold.
- Cover and freeze the butter sticks for 3-4 hours.
- Once the butter has sufficiently frozen, remove the sticks from the butter molds, and wrap each one individually in wax paper. Then store in a freezer bag or airtight container in the freezer 'til ready to use.
And that's it! Now you have a batch of homemade butter to enjoy.
Can I Add Flavorings to Homemade Salted Butter?
Yes, you can totally add flavorings, and gently stir or whip them in with a rubber spatula. You likely only need a dash of seasoning to mix up a cup of flavored butter.
Here are a few ideas…
- Cinnamon
- Honey
- Maple Syrup
- Everything Bagel Seasoning
- Chives
- Rosemary
- Pumpkin Pie Spice
- Garlic
- Dill
Expert Tips and Recipe FAQ's
It's better to keep raw milk butter in the fridge, and use it as needed. It should keep for 2-3 weeks in the fridge.
Yes, it will harden in the fridge. However, you can get it out a little ahead of time if you know you need butter with breakfast or dinner. And if you're buttering hot toast or homemade biscuits or Grandma's homemade yeast rolls, I've found lightly scraping the top of the butter with a butter knife allows me to get a good amount of butter that melts right into my toast or bread.
You betcha it can! In fact, it'll keep for at least 6 months to a year, possibly longer. Just make sure it's wrapped tightly in wax paper or parchment paper and store in either an airtight container or a sealed freezer bag.
Well, you can drink it. Or you can use it to make a batch of raw milk ice cream. Or save it for later use; just be sure to store it in an airtight container or jar in the fridge.
You better believe it. In fact, one of my favorite things to make with it is a big batch of chocolate chip cookies. It also makes a mean Texas sheet cake.
More Raw Milk Recipes
If you love making butter from cream, you'll love these recipes too…
- Homemade chocolate ice cream
- Mint cookies and cream ice cream
- Homemade Butterfinger ice cream
- Old-fashioned ice cream
- Old-fashioned strawberry ice cream
- Homemade banana ice cream
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How to Make Salted Butter
Ingredients
- 1/2 gallon heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Once you have a definitive cream line*, use a ladle or large gravy spoon to skim the cream off the milk. As you skim, add the cream to a large 1/2 gallon jar or mixing bowl.
- Add the cream to your preferred small appliance, whether it's a stand mixer, blender, or butter churn. If you're using a mixer, you'll want to cover the mixer with a flour sack towel, or use a shield to keep it from splattering all over the place.
- Allow it to run 'til the butter separates from the milk (less than 5 minutes for a blender, about 20 minutes for a mixer, and maybe 30 minutes for a butter churn); then drain the milk off the butter curds. You'll know when it's ready because you'll have chunks of butter separate from the liquid.
- If the butter is too soft, add ice water to the churn and let the butter firm up before removing the liquid.
- Remove the butter from the jar and squeeze out as much milk as possible.
- Place the butter on a cutting board, and roll it with a rolling pin to squeeze out more milk.
- Alternate cooling the butter down in a bowl of ice water to keep it firm.
- Keep squeezing more milk out, as much as possible, until the liquid you squeeze out is as clear as possible. You can use paddles, if so inclined, but we prefer to use our hands.
- Keep cooling in ice water in between squeezing more milk out.
- Once you've gotten as much milk out as possible, add the sea salt on top of the butter.
- Work the salt into the butter with your hands or with butter paddles.
- You can just put your butter into a container, refrigerate it, and use it as is. Or you can form it into sticks or blocks, then refrigerate or freeze. We use butter stick molds for this.
- Press the butter into the butter molds.
- Then level the butter in the mold.
- Cover and freeze the butter sticks for 3-4 hours.
- Once the butter has sufficiently frozen, remove the sticks from the butter molds, and wrap each one individually in wax paper. Then store in a freezer bag or airtight container in the freezer 'til ready to use.
- And that's it! Now you have a batch of homemade butter to enjoy.
