Compound Butter substitute

Best substitute

Make it yourself in five minutes

Use the same amount as the compound butter you are replacing

Best for steak

Close match

The honest answer, because compound butter is not a manufactured product but a technique. For a standard log, mash 113g of softened unsalted butter with 2 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley, chives or tarragon, 1 small clove of garlic grated on a microplane, half a teaspoon of fine salt, plenty of black pepper and the zest of half a lemon. Scrape it onto baking paper, roll into a log, twist the ends and chill for thirty minutes until firm enough to slice. Tastes exactly like the restaurant version because it is the restaurant version.

Other compound butter substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Plain butter plus flaky salt and chopped herbs on the food
Different texture
Use the same amount on the butter
The fastest version and genuinely good on a steak.
What changes
Put a knob of cold butter on the hot meat, scatter over flaky salt, chopped parsley or chives and some grated garlic if you like, and let it melt into the juices. What you lose is integration. In a compound butter the aromatics have sat in the fat and bloomed, so every bite tastes the same, whereas this way you get pockets of herb, pockets of salt and pockets of plain butter. On a big cut you will not mind. In a sauce or on a delicate fish fillet you will.
Best for
steak, grilled chops, baked potatoes, corn, quick weeknight cooking
Grate the garlic rather than chopping it, or the raw pieces are harsh and gritty against the meat.
3Herb and garlic olive oil, a loose salsa verde
Taste and texture differ
Use 1.5 tablespoons oil for every 1 tablespoon of butter
The dairy-free answer and a good dish in its own right.
What changes
Pound or finely chop parsley, garlic, lemon zest and salt and stir into good olive oil, adding a little vinegar or lemon juice if you want it sharper. Use slightly more oil than the butter called for because oil is pure fat. What changes is the mouthfeel and the look. Butter clings, thickens the pan juices and gives a glossy melting pool on the plate, whereas oil runs off and pools separately. Flavor is brighter and sharper, less rich and rounded.
Best for
grilled fish, steak, roasted vegetables, dairy-free cooking, bread dipping
Add the acid at the last minute. Lemon juice sitting in a herb oil dulls the green color within an hour.
4Firm block-style vegan butter
Close match
Use the same amount
Behaves remarkably like dairy butter for this purpose, because the good block versions are formulated to be firm and sliceable.
What changes
Soften, mash in the same flavorings, roll and chill, and it sets into a log you can cut into coins and melts over hot food with the same gloss. It tastes slightly less rich and sometimes carries a faint coconut or cocoa butter note depending on the brand. The important part is to use a firm foil-wrapped block, not a soft tub spread, since spreads carry too much water and turn soupy and split when they melt.
Best for
vegan steak-style dishes, grilled vegetables, vegan garlic bread, corn on the cob, dairy-free finishing
Salt levels vary a lot between brands, so taste before adding the full amount of salt.
5Garlic and herb cream cheese, Boursin style
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount
An excellent swap for some jobs and the wrong choice for others.
What changes
On bread, on a baked potato, stirred through hot pasta or dropped onto steamed vegetables, it does everything a compound butter does and adds a pleasant tang, plus the flavorings are already in it. On a steak it does not work, because it is a fresh cheese rather than a fat: it slumps and goes slightly grainy rather than melting into a clear glossy sauce, and the acidity fights the beef. Use it where you want creaminess, not where you want melting.
Best for
bread, baked potatoes, pasta, steamed vegetables, stuffed chicken breast
It thickens rather than melts, so if you stir it into pasta add a splash of the cooking water.
6Ghee or clarified butter with the flavorings mixed in
Taste and texture differ
Use the same amount
Useful when you want something that keeps well or that will not split.
What changes
Ghee has no water and no milk solids, so it never separates when it melts and it lasts far longer in the fridge, and it brings its own nutty toasted flavor that suits garlic, chili and warm spices very well. Two limitations. It sets softer and grainier than butter, so it will not slice into neat coins, and it lacks the milky sweetness that makes a classic maitre d hotel butter taste the way it does.
Best for
basting, drizzling over grilled meat, naan and flatbread, spiced compound butters, long keeping
Stir the flavorings in as it cools and thickens, or they sink to the bottom.

What is Compound Butter?

Compound Butter is softened butter mashed with flavorings such as herbs, garlic, citrus zest or chili, then rolled into a log and chilled so it can be sliced into coins; French kitchens call it beurre compose and menus call it herb butter, garlic butter or steak butter.

Cooking tips

Soften the butter, never melt it. Butter that has been left on the counter until it dents under a finger will whip into a smooth emulsion that holds the flavorings evenly. Butter that has been microwaved to liquid separates, and the finished log is greasy with the herbs settled in a layer at the bottom.
Grate the garlic on a microplane instead of chopping it. Compound butter is not cooked, so any piece of raw garlic big enough to notice will be sharp and hot in the mouth, and grating it turns it into a paste that disperses through the fat instead.
Use zest rather than juice for citrus. The zest carries all the aroma and no water, whereas juice makes the butter weep and separate as it sits, and a compound butter that has split will not slice cleanly.
Roll the log in baking paper and freeze it. It keeps for around three months, and you can slice frozen coins straight off the end with a warm knife and drop them onto hot food, which is exactly how restaurants use it. This is the reason to make more than you need.
Watch the salt. A compound butter is a seasoning device as much as a fat, so it should taste slightly too salty on its own to be right on a steak. If you start from salted butter, cut the added salt right back, and taste before you roll.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave the compound butter out?

Yes, in the sense that nothing will fail. Compound butter is a finishing touch, not a structural ingredient, so a steak or a fish fillet without it is still cooked and still good, just less rich and less aromatic. But it is the cheapest upgrade in cooking, and if you have butter, salt and any herb at all you can make a version in two minutes, so it is rarely worth skipping.

What actually is compound butter?

Softened butter mixed with flavorings and chilled back into a firm log. That is the whole thing. The French name is beurre compose, and the classic version, maitre d hotel butter, is just butter with parsley, lemon and salt. It works because it does three jobs at once when it melts on hot food: fat for richness and gloss, salt for seasoning, and raw aromatics that have not been cooked away.

Can I use margarine instead of compound butter?

Use a firm block margarine or block-style vegan butter rather than a soft tub spread. Blocks have less water and set firm enough to slice, so they behave much like butter. Tub spreads are typically higher in water and emulsifiers, so they go loose at room temperature, split when they melt on hot food, and leave a watery puddle rather than a glossy sauce.

How long does homemade compound butter keep?

About a week in the fridge and around three months in the freezer. Once you have mixed in raw garlic, fresh herbs or citrus zest, it is a fresh product rather than a shelf-stable one, so keep it wrapped and cold rather than leaving it out in a butter dish. Freezing it in a log is the practical answer, since you can slice off what you need and put the rest straight back.

What is the best dairy-free substitute for compound butter on steak?

A firm block-style vegan butter treated exactly like dairy butter is the closest, because it melts and clings in the same way. The alternative is a herb and garlic olive oil, roughly one and a half tablespoons of oil per tablespoon of butter, which tastes brighter and sharper but runs off the meat rather than pooling. Neither reproduces the specific glossy melting richness of dairy butter, and the oil version is a different pleasure rather than a copy.

Related substitutes

More dairy substitutes

Compound Butter substitute

Other compound butter substitutes

2Plain butter plus flaky salt and chopped herbs on the food

3Herb and garlic olive oil, a loose salsa verde

4Firm block-style vegan butter

5Garlic and herb cream cheese, Boursin style

6Ghee or clarified butter with the flavorings mixed in