Fluffy dinner rolls, golden brown sourdough toast, and crisp French bread have finally met their ideal match. This garlic butter is smooth, slightly salty, and plenty garlicky, with a bit of lemon zest and a lot of chopped parsley for extra zip. Garlic butter is a compound butter, which is really just a fancy way to describe butter that has extra flavorings added to it, either sweet or savory. The high amount of fat in butter makes it the perfect medium for carrying extra flavor into your food. We’ve also got red wine butter, Tuscan butter, and maple butter if you’re in the mood to expand your compound butter collection.
Don’t stop at bread! Garlic butter is also delicious on a grilled steak or tossed into warm pasta, mashed potatoes, or melted over grilled vegetables. To make the butter easier to slice, spoon onto a sheet of plastic wrap, roll into a log shape, and twist the ends closed.
If you don’t have any fresh parsley on hand, this would also work well with chives or even dried herbs. Try adding dried basil and oregano to give your garlic butter an Italian flavor profile, or add a bit of dried dill and a sprinkle of za’atar seasoning. You can also punch up the garlic flavor by roasting the garlic before mashing it into the butter.
Store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, then store in the freezer to extend the shelf life for up to 6 weeks.
Did you try making garlic butter? Let us know how it went in the comments!
