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The moment you unwrap this roll of compound butter you’re going to be hit with an herbaceously fresh lemony scent.
Perfect for finishing meats, and especially seafood, vegetables, or rice and pasta dishes, this butter is the easiest way to infuse your dishes with a bright pop of herb and citrus.
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What is Compound Butter?
A compound butter is a popular French cooking staple, and as fancy as that sounds, all it refers to is a butter with one or more things added in to flavor it. These butters are honestly never-ending in their combinations and can be anything from sweet to savory, spicy and everything in between.
How is Compound Butter Used?
Typically, a compound butter is used as either a finishing butter or as a spread.
As a finishing touch, a savory or spicy compound butter can be added after the cooking process is done to melt and mingle into the cooked dish with the residual heat or on top of your dish where it will be allowed to melt and cover the item. For example adding a savory compound butter to your pan seared meats or seafood such as this savory Simple Saffron Butter, or this Herbed Butter to your steaks and potatoes can heighten your dishes by adding a deeper element of rich savoriness in addition to the complementary flavorings in the butter itself.
Similarly, your compound butters are perfect to use as a spread to top your breads, sandwiches, appetizers or even your pastries, cakes, waffles and muffins depending on the butter. For example, a sweetened coffee butter pairs amazingly with a warm slice of banana nut bread or some cinnamon butter slathered inside a freshly baked croissant are bother amazing sweet complements to each other.
Here’s Why You’ll Love This Easy Lemon-Dill Butter:
- It’s clean eating, gluten free, keto-friendly and lacto-vegetarian friendly.
- It uses simple, wholesome, pantry-staple ingredients.
- It takes just 5-minutes to make.
- It can use used to amplify and add flavor to most savory dishes from pastas to meats to vegetables and especially seafood.
- It can be used either as a spread or as a finishing touch to your dishes.
- It’s a simple addition to take your dishes to the next level.
- It makes for a great homemade gifting idea.
Here’s What We’ll Need To Make This Compound Butter:
- Butter: Salted or unsalted can be used. Ensure your butter is softened to room temp or a spreadable consistency, but not melted to a liquid form.
- Dijon Mustard: A touch of dijon mustard adds a great depth of flavor that complements the other add-ins.
- Black Pepper: Fresh or pre-ground black pepper can be used. I highly recommend a coarser grind for this recipe.
- Dried Garlic: While dried garlic works best, you can also use half a clove of freshly minced garlic.
- Dried Onion: A touch of dried/dehydrated onion adds a mild, almost sweet-garlicy flavor to the butter that melds well with other flavors. Do not use fresh onion in this recipe as the pungent and sharp flavor of the raw onion will muddle your butter.
- Red Pepper Flakes: A small touch of red pepper flakes adds a touch of spice and rounds our butter out.
- Fresh Dill: Featuring grassy notes with complementary citrus-like undertones, fresh dill pairs perfectly with lemon and goes great with seafood dishes.
- Lemon Zest: While I’m using the zest from a fresh lemon, you can, in a pinch use minced bits of dried lemon peel though the flavor will not be as intense.
- Lemon Juice: A touch of lemon juice mixed into our butter disperses a great bite of lemon flavor all throughout the butter for maximum flavor.
Here’s How Easy this Compound Butter is to Make:
To the bowl of softened butter, add all the flavorings, and, using a spatula mix it all together until fully combined.
You’ll end up with this gorgeously herb studded, spread-like mixture that is so pretty to look at once all the add-ins are mixed and evenly distributed.
Note: If either your butter or lemon juice is too cold they may not want to combine and you’ll have the lemon juice sitting on top of the butter. If this happens one of the easiest ways to fix it is to break out your hand mixer and whip the butter. The fast motion of the beaters will create both heat which will warm everything up and the speed will cause an emulsion effect forcing the two to mix.
Can I Make This Butter Into A Spread?
If you’d like to have this butter as a spread, then definitely use your hand mixer to whip and aerate the butter. Once the mixture is light and fluffy (about 3-5 min) your whipped Lemon-Dill butter is done and ready to be placed into a airtight jar or container and kept in the fridge for up to a week!
To make your butter into a log: Scrape your butter onto the middle of a piece of clean, food-grade plastic or parchment paper and carefully roll it into a log shape. The easiest way to do this is to make a hammock by folding the bottom left corner to meet the top left corner, and the bottom right to meet the top right. From there smooth the butter into a log shape and roll the plastic tightly while pinching or tying the ends to keep the butter in place.
With your log shaped, pop it into the fridge to chill and set up. Once it’s set, cut your butter into rounds and use as desired. It’s honestly that simple!
Suggestions for Using your Lemon-Dill Butter:
This herbaceous butter is packed with fresh bright flavors and is an amazing addition to:
- To finish cooked seafood such as shrimp, scallops, and flaky white fish.
- To finish cooked meats such as chicken or beef.
- Or to cook meats such as oven baked chicken thighs or this whole roasted chicken
- To steamed vegetables.
- Tossed into steamed potatoes.
- Mixed into hot, steamed rice or cous-cous.
- Mixed into your cooked pasta – especially for dishes like scampi.
This butter is vibrant and fresh while packing quite a punch when it comes to its lemony flavor. Though it may not seem to have many uses, it essentially goes great in any dish that you’d like to give a bright pop of citrus flavoring to. If you do try this recipe, let us know your thoughts by leaving a rating and dropping us a comment below. From our sunshiny kitchen to yours, we wish you happy eats. 
Easy Lemon-Dill Butter
Ingredients
- 8 tbsp salted butter softened or room temp
- 2 tbsp fresh dill
- 1 tbsp lemon zest or dried minced lemon peel
- 2 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 tsp dried garlic
- ⅛ tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp dehydrated onion (optional)
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, add your softened butter along with all the herbs and spices. Using a spatula, combine everything into a well blended paste.
- Scoop your butter onto a piece of parchment or plastic and roll and shape your butter into a log, being sure to tie off the ends with string to allow your butter to keep it's shape. Set your lemon-dill butter into the fridge to chill until set.
- If you have a silicone ice tray or candy mold, this is also a great way to portion out your butter and store the blocks and cubes to be used as needed.
- Set your lemon-dill butter into the fridge to chill until set (10-15 min), then cut and use as needed.
- Store any leftovers in the fridge for up to two weeks or in the freezer for anywhere between 6-9 months.
Notes
- If your lemon juice or butter is too cold, they may not combine/incorporate.
- If you'd like to have this butter as a spread, then use a hand mixer to whip your butter until light and fluffy (about 3-5 min). Store the mixture in airtight jar or container in the fridge for up to a week!
