How to Make Butter in a Food Processor

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Learn how to make butter in a food processor at home with just 1 ingredient. And then of course if you want to add salt you can add salt as well, or other seasonings and herbs. Making homemade butter is a lot of fun and doesn’t take very long in a food processor, in under 10 minutes, you will have your own butter.

Ingredients

To make butter at home in a food processor, you need just 1 simple ingredient:

• Heavy whipping cream, normal whipping cream, or full cream, depending on where you live, it may be labeled differently.
• Salt – The salt is optional, but it does add flavor, however, I generally don’t add salt because I prefer unsalted butter.

Tools/Equipment

1. Food processor – This is my trusty Hamilton Beach food processor. It isn’t very expensive and works very well.
2. Spatula
3. Fine mesh sieve or strainer
4. Bowls
5. Gloves (optional)

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How to make butter at home in a food processor

Let’s make our homemade butter. Pour cream into your food processor bowl. In this case I am using 2 cups of heavy cream. You can make butter with any amount of cream, but it is worth it to use at least 1 pint or 16 ounces (437ml). You are only limited by the size of your food processor.

Turn the food processor on low or 1 for about 30 seconds, then increase to 2 or the highest setting. Making butter occurs in a few phases, the first phase is turning the cream into whipped cream. So after about a minute or two, you will have whipped cream in the bowl. Use a spatula and scrape the sides of the bowl, this helps to make sure everything is evenly mixed, as well as allow you to see what is going on better.

TIP: Room temperature heavy cream tends to make it a little quicker.

Keep mixing for 3 to 6 minutes until there is separation from the butter solids and the buttermilk. This will be evident as the buttermilk starts sloshing around inside the food processor.

Squeeze the Butter then Rinse it

Once the buttermilk has separated from the butter in the food processor, it is time to separate them permanently. Add a strainer or sieve on top of a bowl and then pour the contents of the food processor into the strainer.

The strainer will catch the butter and allow the buttermilk to go into the bowl. Using clean hands or gloves, squeeze and knead the butter in your hands to get rid of as much excess liquid as possible.

Once you get as much buttermilk out of the butter as possible, place the ball of butter in a bowl of cold water. Then squeeze and knead once again. This is called “washing” or “rinsing” the butter. Why do we do that? Well, the water removes any leftover buttermilk or other small bits of lactose that can easily spoil faster. No need to wash the butter if you are going to use it all within a couple of days. But definitely do it to add self-life to your fresh butter.

Shape and Store that Food Processor Butter

Now you can shape the butter into whatever shape you want. I usually just form it into a classic rectangle butter shape.

Next I like to wrap the solid butter in parchment paper for storage. You can use wax paper, or just place it in a plastic bag if you want, or another type of container.

TIP: Write the date on the parchment paper of when the butter was made.

Now you can store it in the fridge until you want to eat it.

What can I do with the remaining buttermilk?

Make sure to save the leftover buttermilk. Do not throw it out. You can add it to baked goods, any recipe that calls for water, milk, or buttermilk. You can add it to pancakes, waffles, crepes, etc. Or if you like, you can use it in your cereal instead of normal milk. I just store it in an airtight container like a bowl with a lid.

NOTE: This type of buttermilk is NOT the same as the cultured buttermilk bought at the supermarket or grocery store.

How long does butter last?

Butter made at home will last 2 to 3 weeks in the fridge as long as it has been washed/rinsed. You can also freeze the butter for several months. To freeze it, wrap it in parchment paper, then place it in a freezer bag and in the freezer it goes.

If you would like to get a little workout while making your butter, try this other method for making butter by doing it in a mason jar.

Here are other recipes you may be interested in:

Homemade White Bread

Easy Buttermilk Biscuits

Danish Butter Cookies