How To Make Butter In The Blender

Making delicious butter in the blender can take a few short minutes and provide your family with such a great tasting addition to recipes and snacks.

Kitchen appliances have taken over in a lot of ways but the blender is one that has so many uses. Maybe you haven’t ever thought it would be the best appliance to make butter but I’m here to tell you, don’t dismiss it yet.

We have used our KitchenAid mixer for making butter for quite some time now but recently I started using our Ninja blender. It has made such an impact on the time spent and the mess involved that I knew I had to share the process with you!

Why Make Butter in the Blender?

Making butter the old fashioned way requires you to shake the cream vigorously for quite a while. I’m not sure if you’ve ever tried it, but your arm gets tired really quick. I would absolutely do it if I didn’t have power to run the blender, but on a typical day, I have lots to get done and the blender is much faster.

Other methods to make butter could include whipping it in a KitchenAid mixer or similar product. I have absolutely made butter with ours but it takes a bit longer AND it also makes quite a big mess for me to clean up.

Using the blender to make homemade butter takes the time commitment and cuts it in half. It also makes the mess nearly non existent. That’s a huge win for me.

What Do I Need to Make Butter?

You will need to gather a few items to make butter in the blender

• Heavy cream
• Blender
• Mesh Strainer
• Ice Water
• Mixing Bowl
• Jar for Buttermilk
• Spatula

Let’s Make Butter In The Blender

First you will get the ice water chilling. Add a bunch of ice to a metal mixing bowl. This helps the bowl to chill which will help the water stay colder longer. Make sure the water is cold enough to keep the butter from melting as it will make the cleaning process so much easier.

Next, I fill the ice cubes with our tap water simply because I do not have access to a better filtration unit right now. If I had a choice, I would use filtered water to be sure contaminates and additives weren’t being added to our food.

The next process is really straightforward but you will want to pay attention. You’re going to pour the heavy cream into the blender and blend on high. We use a Ninja blender that we got at Costco and love it.

You should expect to run the high setting on your blender approximately 4-5 times depending on the time limit each turn is. For me, it runs for 60 seconds each time. Around the 4-5th time I will notice the butter fat separating from the buttermilk. This is a key phase as it is when you want to be able to move to the next step.

How Do You Know When It’s Done?

The way to tell that the butter fat is separated from the buttermilk is that you will see a white liquid that is separate from the yellow particles. When I see this happen I will run my blender 1-2 more times just to make sure that I have processed it long enough to get the desired result.

Now you are going to pour the butter fat/buttermilk mixture from the blender into a mesh strainer. I like to pour it over a bowl and collect the buttermilk. I love using it in recipes like pancakes, waffles, and other yummy treats.

Using a mesh strainer like the one pictured also collects most of the butter fat so that it doesn’t fall into the buttermilk bowl.

How To Clean the Butter

Now that the butter fat and buttermilk are separated, it is time to clean the butter. You could technically be done after you strained the buttermilk. Your butter will go rancid pretty quickly without being used soon. Unless you are planning on using all of your butter in your next meal or recipe, I would highly suggest cleaning it so that it lasts longer.

To clean our butter we will use the ice water we prepared at the beginning. We will simply use a spatula and scrap the butter fat from the strainer into the ice water. The butter will be really creamy at first but will harden with the cold of the ice bath. This will make it much easier to manage as we clean it.

It is almost finished now. You’ll need to use your hands or a sturdy spatula and grab the butter and squeeze out the buttermilk/water. I find that removing the ice cubes at this stage works best. Leaving them in until this moment helps the water to stay colder longer. The ice can also be removed before placing the butter into the water too.

When doing this step, I simple collect the butter pieces, squeeze with my hands and then grab some more. Your hands will be pretty cold.

Another way to do this is to use a spatula and grab the butter and press it into a dish expelling the buttermilk/water. You will still need to submerge the butter multiple times in the water to get all of the buttermilk/water out. I find that using my hands works faster and more efficiently.

How To Store Your Butter

When the water runs clear when pressing or squeezing the butter, it’s ready to be stored. I like to use these storage containers from Amazon. They freeze really well and are easy to press the butter into.

When pressing the butter into my container, I will use my palm or the spatula. I will make sure that I press the butter in to fill in all of the space. Then I will run my spatula along the inside rim to expel any residual moisture that I may have missed.

Now that I no longer see any fluid I secure the lid and store on the countertop, the refrigerator, or the freezer depending on my needs.