The Absolute Best Way to Make Homemade Butter

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Affiliate, I can earn a commission off of products at no additional cost to you. You can read my full disclosure here.

I’m actually incredibly happy to be writing this post. I could talk about raw milk and homemade butter to anyone, and it’s crazy to me how I’ve finally figured out the perfect way to make it. Obviously, everyone has their own ways. I also know that not everyone is going to agree with me. But this is by far the absolute best way to make homemade butter from scratch in my opinion.

The Background

A little back story about me is I have slowly been trying to reach out to local farmers and businesses. I really want to rely on grocery stores less. Furthermore, I’ve done my research on whether or not it’s safe to consume raw milk, so let’s just not bombard the comment section with that.

About a year ago, a family member who lives about an hour from me told me her neighbor was selling raw milk for $3/gallon and wanted to know if I wanted any. This was my first time ever having the opportunity, and I jumped at the chance.

I was so excited to finally find someone “local” to get milk from. I began researching all of the things I was going to make with raw milk, from yogurt to cheese to butter. Butter seemed like it would be an easy start.

My First Time Making It

The first hump I had to get over was how to separate the cream. I ended up pouring the milk into glass gallon jars. Then, I let them set in the fridge overnight. The next day, I used a 1/4 C to “skim” the cream off the top.

Next, I poured the cream into my KitchenAid bowl, put on the whisk attachment and turned it on medium speed. After about 5 minutes, we were getting nowhere. Slowly, I turned the speed up. Once I realized the butter was starting to form, I also quickly realized the butter was being splattered everywhere.

After turning the KitchenAid off, I wrapped Saran Wrap between the bowl and the mixer as best I could and tried again. After a few more minutes, it seemed ready enough. Unfortunately, it was splattered all over the Saran Wrap and bowl. Additionally, I was starting to worry if I did this every time I got more milk, I would overheat my KitchenAid at some point.

Gathering the Butter Splatters Together

At this point, I thought maybe I should order a butter churner and mix it the way Ma Ingalls did back in the day. It certainly would be less messy, right? I took the Saran Wrap off and tried to scrape the butter off as best I could with a spatula.

After collecting all of the butter, I tried to rinse the buttermilk out and felt like I wasted a ton of butter due to it melting on my hands. Somewhere on the internet someone suggested rubbing an ice cube on my hand to keep the butter from melting. It didn’t seem to do the trick.

I have this weird thing about touching other peoples food, and didn’t like the idea of me handling (literally) the butter my whole family ideally was going to eat. Also, I really don’t trust city water, and we were renting in the city at the time. I didn’t like rinsing the freshly made butter underneath a faucet of tap water.

Once I finally had the butter the way I wanted it, I really felt like it was messy, not worth the trouble, and almost unsanitary to eat. Yes, I tried it a few more times, but it never really seemed much better.

Access to Raw Milk is the First Problem to Tackle

My access to butter slowly dwindled the later into the summer it became. I started running out of opportunities to drive one hour one way to pick it up. The farmer had only one cow, and once she slowed down on producing milk like some animals do once the fall hits, he didn’t have as much milk available. Lastly, when we became homeowners and moved out of town, that really solidified ending things for us.

So, fast forward to a month ago when I was woeing to myself that I didn’t have access to raw milk and it was starting to bother me. Stupid me didn’t start praying about it, though. It’s a good thing God knows our thoughts, even when we don’t ask him.

Someone I follow on Instagram on another state posted about finding raw milk through a Facebook page. I don’t know why I didn’t think of checking on there until now. Posting a question on my local community page gave me the contact information of a girl who will be a forever friend now.

Fast Forward to Now

My local farmer is 20 minutes from my house, as opposed to 60. What makes it even better is the grocery store I shop at at least once a week, and the gym my husband goes to practically every day is right on the route to her house. So we’re talking about an extra 20 minute drive attached onto our daily activities to go pick up some raw milk anytime we want.

That’s the other thing that’s great about her. She milks 7 dairy cows every morning. This girl is rarely out of milk, even in the fall/winter. There’s so many people she supplies milk for, and it’s so nice to be one of them. My first problem with trying to make homemade butter was solved.

Separating Milk from Cream

I’ll be honest, I’m not very patient, especially when I’m doing a monotonous, tedious task. I find separating milk from the cream to be monotonous and tedious. It’s even more annoying when I have to wait for the cream to settle to the top before separating it.

So, I really didn’t like the idea of pouring the milk into my wide mouth glass gallon jar and then waiting for it to settle. The solution I came up with was using a turkey baster. The baster fits into the gallon milk jug easily and I can gather more cream at a fraction of the time.

I would say as a warning, it is kind of tricky to begin with. Because it doesn’t draw milk from the sides but rather from below it, you can easily get milk mixed in with your cream if you’re not careful about how you’re drawing the milk up. I try to barely let the tip of the baster reach the milk. This way, it keeps the milk separate better.

Making the Butter

Obviously, the next problem to be solved is the whole KitchenAid debacle. After a lot of research, and trying different methods (including a hand mixer), I finally found my tried and true way: a blender. My mother-in-law gifted me an instant pot blender a few Christmases back. Up until this point, I use it to make smoothies about two to three times a week.

After trying to make butter once in a mixer, I’ll never go back. First off, it takes a max of 3 minutes of blending to achieve butter, as opposed to 10-15 in the KitchenAid. Secondly, the mess is all contained. Both of those are big deals to me.

But, a super nice third reason to make butter in a blender is that when you pour out the butter, it’s easier to separate the butter from the buttermilk. I realize the blender I just linked is on the expensive side. It’s so worth it though. You can make so many things with it and it’s a good quality brand. I use mine practically every day and it is definitely made to last.

All I do is have a bowl in my sink, and a mesh strainer. The butter settles in the strainer, and the buttermilk ends up in the bowl. I save my buttermilk to use in pancakes/waffles and other baked goods, which is just one more way to use up all of the raw milk.

A lot of people say to let the butter set at room temperature for a few hours before making butter. If you make your butter in a blender, you can skip this step as well.

Wrapping It All Up

Once you have all of the butter in the mesh strainer, it becomes a whole lot easier to clump it together into one solid “ball” of butter. I keep it all in the mesh strainer, and don’t hold the butter in my hands. Rather, I “push the butter” together with my fingers until it’s all together in a ball.

I will add, it’s nice if you sprinkle salt on the butter before you start pushing it together with your fingers. The added salt helps get the buttermilk out off the butter and adds extra flavor as well. Also, if you add salt to the butter, it keeps it fresh longer, especially if you’re wanting to keep it at room temperature for a few days.

How Long Can I Leave Butter Out

That brings me to another point: how long should you leave your homemade butter out? I understand why people ask the question. No one likes using cold butter from the fridge to spread on your bread in the morning. But, no one likes butter turning rancid either. Honestly, this is a great place for an argument depending on how strongly you feel about it, lol. A general rule of thumb is no longer than 48 hours. There are other factors that go into this, though.

First off, like I stated earlier, salted butter can be left out longer. The second question is how are you storing your butter? If you keep your butter in a butter dish with a lid where minimal heat and light are exposing it, you can keep your butter out longer.

Even better would be to have a butter crock. These work great, because the water creates an airtight seal on the butter, keeping it fresh for longer. This one is my favorite, but they have several options on Amazon. I just chose the blue one because my kitchen has bright blue accents (from my KitchenAid and ceramic pot).

My Final Words

There are so many wonderful things you can do with raw milk. The greatest, in my opinion, is having fresh homemade butter on hand. I hope this post encourages you to reach out to a local farmer so that you can make raw butter for your own family soon. Let me know in the comments if you have any awesome tips you’ve done in your homemade butter adventures you’d like to share!