This guide includes several recipe ideas and tips to help you make, and store, compound butter. Learn the easiest way to enhance your next BBQ!

Making compound butter is a fun BBQ / cooking hack. A backyard secret if you will. If you want to level up your backyard BBQ cooking game, making some compound butter will be your best friend. It’s like the Swiss army knife of condiments and we’re going to be making four different flavors today so let’s do it.

What is compound butter?

Compound butter is made by mixing butter with a handful of ingredients together in a bowl. This glorious combination of flavors can enhance nearly any recipe with very little prep time. If you’re smoking, grilling, or making a sweet side, there’s a compound butter you can throw together quickly to take your meal to the next level.

Classic Steak Resting Butter

Classic steak resting butter is my favorite thing to put on top of and under steaks. To start, we need one stick of softened unsalted butter. You want unsalted so you have control over the salt level in the butter itself. Every different brand of butter has a different amount of salt in it so if you’ve ever baked cookies with salted butter and wondered why they ended up a little bit too salty, that could be why. With unsalted you can add as much seasoning as you want to taste.

Microplane in a couple cloves of fresh garlic. I recommend using the microplane versus pre-minced garlic. It gives you fresh garlic flavor and it’s so thin it kind of melts into things along with the butter. I also add in some Worcestershire sauce, some fresh thyme (you can use dried here as well but I just think fresh thyme is better). Lastly, we also need to seasoning. Salt and pepper works great, or you can use two teaspoons of Hey Grill Hey Beef Rub.

The only thing left to do here is mash up your butter to get it all mixed and combined. Once this butter is made it’s good to use immediately. Keep it at room temperature if you’re going to use it right away. Later we’ll discuss a hack for storing each of these compound butters in your fridge so that you always have them on hand and they’re ready to slice up and use whenever the need arises.

Sun-dried Tomato and Basil Butter

Next up we have the sun-dried tomato and basil butter. This is great for stuffing inside of chicken breasts or basting. You can even spread this on toasted bread and it’s absolutely delicious.

Again we’re going to start with a stick of unsalted butter. Then add a couple tablespoons of sun-dried tomatoes. If you don’t enjoy the texture of sun-dried tomatoes, you can chop them really fine and it will essentially blend in with the other ingredients while still adding delicious flavor. You could even do this in a food processor to really break them down. Then add a couple grated cloves of garlic. Any time I’m preparing compound butter, I always like to use fresh herbs to add some brightness so we’re also going to add some chopped basil. Finish it off by seasoning with salt and pepper.

And just like that, you have a super simple compound butter that is packed with flavor. This is really delicious in pastas, on grilled chicken, or anything else you’d like to add a bit of Italian flair and flavor to. Who says resting butter is only for steak?

BBQ Butter

BBQ butter is amazing for putting under skins of chickens because it holds all the seasoning suspended, but it can also be used as a finishing butter for things like shrimp and grits, a topping for burgers, or a really delicious addition on Seafood as well.

This is the easiest one that we’re going to make. To start, surprise, it’s unsalted butter. Since we’re going with a BBQ theme for this one, we’re going to start with some Hey Grill Hey Sweet Rub. Then add a little bit of the Hey Grill Hey Everything Sauce. For this recipe you can use your favorite BBQ seasoning and sauce, but these are my favorite and if you give them a try, they may become yours too! Either way, start with about a tablespoon of each.

I really love using this compound butter as a seasoning base for things that can be difficult to season. For example, putting it under the skin of chicken before you smoke it and then using it during cooking. This may be the easiest compound butter recipe covered today, but it is super high impact in terms of flavor. It’s rich, savory, and sweet.

Cowboy Butter

This last one is a bonus. It’s not necessarily a compound butter, but this seasoned butter is incredible for dipping things like grilled veggies, crusty bread rolls, steak, chicken, and shrimp.

Since this butter is actually served melted, the first step is to melt a stick of unsalted butter. Then squeeze in some fresh lemon juice. Be sure to catch and dispose of the seeds. Then add grated garlic and your choice of dijon or spicy brown mustard. To add some color and some kick, add paprika and a little bit of chili pepper flakes.

The best thing about Cowboy Butter is that it’s sort of a choose your own adventure addition to any meal. You can adjust ratios and spice levels to fit your personal taste or to what you’re serving it with. I like to add my Chicken Rub because it also has rosemary, thyme, smoked paprika, and some cayenne pepper for a little extra heat.

Serving compound butter

One of the best things about making a compound butter is its versatility. They come together quickly and are infinitely customizable. On top of that, serving them couldn’t be easier. After throwing one together they are ready to be used immediately for peak freshness. If you’re the type to plan ahead, they can easily be stored to allow for cutting a quick medallion whenever the need arises. And speaking of storing…

Storing compound Butter

To store your newfound favorite compound butter, all you’ll need is some plastic wrap (do not use parchment paper for this). Place the butter in the middle of the wrap, then encase and roll the butter into a tight little log making sure to remove as much air as possible. Make sure to label the outside with a marker so you know what kind of compound butter it is.

Wrapping your butter like this will allow it to store safely in your refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or up to 6 months in the freezer allowing you to add a serious flavor bomb to whatever you’re making at a moments notice.

Dealer’s choice

Now you have 3 ideas for compound butters to try, along with a bonus dipping butter. As I mentioned before, these ideas are completely customizable. I highly recommend giving these a try and then you can mix, match, and change whatever you like to make it your own. If you’d like to see how easy these can come together, visit my YouTube channel or click this link:

Knowing you have these options, and how to store them to keep them handy, you can amp up any backyard BBQ recipe. New or old. Let your imagination run wild. Try enhancing your favorites, or try some of mine. Here are a just a few options, which you can also find in the Hey Grill Hey App:

Seafood

Grilled Sea Bass with Lemon Chive Butter

Recipes

Grilled Bison Steak with Compound Resting Butter

Vegetables

Smoked Sweet Potatoes with Cinnamon Maple Butter

Beef

Grilled Filet Mignon

Whether you’re in the mood for something savory or something sweet, there’s a compound butter ready to help you become a Backyard BBQ Hero!