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I love butter and I love making this easy homemade butter. It is simple to make and you only need 1 ingredient.
People have been making homemade butter for many many years, it seems like it isn’t as popular as it used to be, with it so readily available at supermarkets. This king of the dairy is one of my favorite ingredients.
In this step-by-step recipe guide you will learn how to make butter at home in a jar. If I can do it, you can do it. Let’s get started!
Step 1: Gather the ingredients
In order to make this homemade butter you only need 1 ingredient with an optional second ingredient:
- Heavy whipping cream
- Salt – The salt is an optional ingredient. I don’t normally add salt because I prefer unsalted butter for baking. But it can certainly be added!
Step 2: How to make homemade butter in a jar
Begin by washing and drying your large jar. I always use the 24 oz (800ml) size mason jars to make my butter. Pour the heavy whipping cream into the jar and screw the lid on tight.
You need a high fat content cream to make butter. Heavy whipping cream or heavy cream is approximately 40 percent butterfat and 60 percent solids and water, so it works wonderfully.
Step 3: Shake that jar of cream
Now it is time to shake shake shake that jar. This is where you will burn a few calories. We are essentially churning the butter but super quickly.
I generally use two hands on the jar to shake it. You will wind up shaking it for several minutes. After awhile it will thicken up and feel like nothing is moving around in there. Keep shaking.
Shaking the cream takes it through phases, the first phase is thickening it into pretty much a whipped cream.
Soon the you will feel a solid bouncing around in the jar with a sloshing liquid. That solid is the homemade butter. Stop shaking once you get to this point. If you keep shaking the liquid will be re-introduced into the butter and ruin it.
Step 4: Remove the homemade butter liquid from the jar
Now open the jar of butter and pour it into a strainer allowing the liquid to fall into a bowl. The liquid is generally called buttermilk, but it is really whey.
Save that liquid and use it in baking bread, pancakes, waffles, cake, or whenever the recipe calls for buttermilk.
You are left with a nice lump of butter that you can do whatever you want with. You can use it right away of if you want to be able to store it in the fridge follow the next steps.
Step 5: Adding a longer shelf life to butter made at home
Add the lump of butter back to the jar and add cold water, enough to cover it. Put the lid back on tightly and shake the jar for 30 seconds. The water will be cloudy, we are removing more and more of that excess whey/buttermilk.
If we leave that in there, it will make the butter go bad much more quickly when storing it in the fridge. After the water gets cloudy pour it out and replace it with clean water. And repeat the step. Keep doing this until the water is clear.
Step 6: Pressing the butter
Time to press the butter. Strain the butter and then add it to a piece of parchment paper or cheesecloth and squeeze out any remaining liquid. Hold it over a bowl while you do this.
Open the parchment paper and then scrape all of the homemade butter together. Use it for baking or however you normally would use your butter. Wrap it in plastic wrap tightly when storing it in the fridge.
If you would like it to be salted, add 1/4 tsp. of salt during the pressing phase. Enjoy!
Do I have to use a jar to make butter at home?
No, you can also use a food processor or blender to make the butter. All the steps are essentially the same, but instead of using a jar use one of those.
How long will the homemade butter last?
That will depend on how well you extracted the whey/buttermilk from the butter. But generally it will last 2 to 3 weeks in the fridge. If you didn’t extract the whey/buttermilk it will usually sour after a week.
Can I freeze this butter?
Yes! You can freeze homemade butter. Wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and freeze it for long term storage.
Easy Homemade Butter In A Jar
I love making homemade butter in a jar. It is so easy to do and you get a nice little workout shaking that jar. If can be used for all your butter needs. If I can do it, you can do it!
Prep Time15 minutes mins
Total Time15 minutes mins
Course: Ingredient, Side Dish
Cuisine: American
Keyword: creamy, soft, whipped cream
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 102kcal
Author: Matt Taylor
Equipment
1 large mason jar with lid (24 oz/800ml)
Strainer
Bowl
Cold water
Parchment paper or cheesecloth
Spatula
Ingredients
- 1 cup of Heavy Whipping Cream about 240 ml
- 1/4 tsp. salt optional (1g)
Instructions
First, wash and dry the jar and lid.
Add all the heavy whipping cream into the jar and screw the lid on tightly. Shake the cream for 5 to 10 minutes until the butter forms and is sloshing around in some liquid. After a few minutes, it will turn solid and it will feel like nothing is happening on the inside. Just keep shaking until that butter forms.
Remove the liquid (whey/buttermilk) from the jar and save it for baking. It goes great in pancakes, waffles, cakes, etc. The butter can be used as is right away, but for longer storage proceed with the following steps.
Add enough cold water into the jar to cover the ball of butter. Then replace the lid and shake until the water gets cloudy. Remove that water and replace it with new water. Repeat the steps until the water is clear. This removes the excess whey/buttermilk from the homemade butter.
Add the butter to parchment paper and squeeze the remaining liquid out of it into a bowl. Scrape the butter together into a rectangular cube. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and store in the fridge for a few weeks or in the freezer for a few months. Enjoy!
Notes
Tried this recipe?Mention @WPRecipeMaker or tag #wprecipemaker!
Nutrition
Calories: 102kcal
Do you like this recipe? Please give it a rating and comment down below, I really appreciate it.If you make it tag me on Instagram @inthekitchenwithmatt. Also, sign up for the newsletter so you won’t miss out on any of my new posts and recipes.
Here are a few more recipes you may like:
Matt Taylor
YouTuber and food blogger with a passion for cooking, eating, being outdoors and watching movies. Did you know I wrote an ebook cookbook called "All Things Chocolate: 30 of my favorite chocolate recipes."? Help support the food blog and YouTube channel by buying a copy in my shop. :)
44 Comments
Penny
My family has been shaking our own butter to use at our Thanksgiving table for years. I’m wondering if you’ve ever tried adding any dried herbs to flavor it a little. Do you think it would work?
Awesome! And yes it definitely will work, just add them after the butter comes together when you would add the salt.
Debbie
We homeschool so this was a neat project for my 12 yo. We were skeptical, but it turned out, and tastes delicious. My son had fun and was amazed.
He now says he wants to make homemade butter for our homemade breads all the time.
I’m just learning to make bread,
and today made yeast rolls for the first time. We made the butter to go with them. I added honey to a small portion, but honestly the butter is so good it’s actually better plain.
Thank you for the recipe. It was a fun learning experience, and something we will be doing often.That is so cool! Glad he enjoyed it. I developed my love for cooking and baking around his age. Here are some of my favorite yeast-based recipes in case you are interested: https://www.inthekitchenwithmatt.com/amazing-homemade-cinnamon-rolls-no-mixer and https://www.inthekitchenwithmatt.com/amazing-white-bread-recipe and https://www.inthekitchenwithmatt.com/no-knead-bread and https://www.inthekitchenwithmatt.com/dinner-rolls I absolutely love bread. I have a whole category on my website dedicated to bread. https://www.inthekitchenwithmatt.com/category/homemade-breads-recipes
i thought this was how to make butter from the whey left from the mozzarella? this talks about heavy cream
Um no, why did you think that or what gave you that impression? You can’t make butter from whey. Butter is always made from heavy cream.
Poetichealing26
March 2, 2023 at 7:59 am·Reply
I remember making this in Girl Scouts YEARS ago. This would a great recipe/method to have on hand when baking something that calls for unsalted butter and all you have is salted (or vice versa).Also, is it super important to use the large jar? It’s been years since I did it in GS and don’t remember the details of how it looked or the logistics. Thanks and thanks for the recipe and nostalgia 🙂 I can’t wait to try it out!
Awesome!! I like to use the larger mason jar because it has more room for “sloshing” haha. I think it makes it a little easier. So just make sure the jar is at least twice the size of the amount of cream you want to turn into butter, and that will give it plenty of room for shaking. You are very welcome!! 🙂
Mama k
So. I messed up and we over shook it in the jar… is there any way to fix this?Hi there, no sorry, once you overshake it there is no going back.
mary
wow really interesting but can you replace the heavy cream for milk
Hi, Mary thank you! No sorry, you need the heavy cream, you can’t make butter with just milk.
Shelly M
I’ve seen videos on YouTube where they made butter from homemade sour cream…??? I wonder how that would taste… Oh it was a foreign country by the way. Not sure where tho…
mmm interesting, I haven’t heard of that.
Kapi
I experimented with an immersion hand mixer with the whisk attachment and used it in my big Mason jar. It went from heavy cream to butter in 10 minutes! my arms and elbows thanked me ?Nice!! Yeah you certainly can use electric gadgets for butter if you want. It’s fun to just shake it around too sometimes, haha.
I remember my grandma used to make homemade butter, but I’m not that ambitious. This is fun project to try, though. I will do this with my son. For educational purposes 🙂Awesome, Natalie! Yes it is a great educational activity to do with kids.
I have made this “by mistake” several times, lol. Apparently there is a fine line between perfect whipped cream and butter. 😉
Wow! Your Easy Homemade Butter recipe is gold! I will try my own version too. I hope this saves me more money so I won’t buy butter anymore.haha thanks! It all depends on the price of the cream. Sometimes the butter is still cheaper than making it yourself.
Shelly M
Not organic butter….haha
lol indeed!
Thank you for the recipe for homemade butter! My son looked over at my computer and saw what I was reading and wants us to try this recipe out. Fun!
You are welcome, Autumn!! 🙂 Let me know how it turns out if you wind up trying it. Fun activity to do with kids.
It is really impressive! Thank you for sharing the strategies. It really feels good knowing how to make our own version of homemade butter. Would love to try this too.Thank you!! 🙂
Marian
Matt,
I’m wondering how much butter you get from a cup of cream?Hi Marian, it makes about a half of a cup.
Kevin Brotac
Wow I didnt know butter was so easy to make! I am going to give this a chance and try for myself, I used to make yogurt and now lets try with butter!Yes, it is so easy to make at home! 🙂
Gervin Khan
Love this recipe! Easy and convenient. Thanks for sharing this with me.
Thank you! and you are welcome!
Homemade butter is looking so delicious. I have never thought that I could make butter at home.Thank you! Yes, it is so easy to make at home.
I love homemade butter! It is so much better than store bought butter by far and I’m sure this would be amazing butter!
Kileen
cute & littleYeah, homemade butter is awesome!
Julie Blanner
June 9, 2020 at 10:40 am·Reply
Love this! It’s a great way to keep the girls busy for a little while!Thank you, Julie! 🙂
Kara Cook
June 9, 2020 at 10:03 am·Reply
This is fun to make with the kids! We added salt, and used the butter on toast. Yum!So awesome, Kara!! 🙂 🙂 Yeah it is so yummy on toast.
Katie
June 9, 2020 at 9:20 am·Reply
Oh, I am excited to try this!Awesome! 🙂
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