How to Make Butter Using a Food Processor

Learn to make butter using a food processor and heavy cream. You don’t even need a cow and fresh milk to have fresh butter at home.

Homemade butter is delicious and incredibly easy to make at home. In years past, we milked goats. We enjoyed the milk and made all sorts of delicious yogurt, cheese, and kefir. I made butter a few times by skimming off the cream and shaking it in a jar. There is very little cream in goat’s milk, so I would get just a little bit of butter at a time.

We have recently started milking our milk cow and have a lot more milk and cream to make things with. That means more butter. While the jar method worked to make butter, I knew there had to be an easier way. I tried making butter in the Kitchen-Aid mixer, which worked well but was quite messy. In a moment of inspiration, I decided to try my food processor. It worked! Everything was contained, no mess, no fuss, and in less than 10 minutes, I had butter!

You don’t need your own fresh milk to make delicious butter. Heavy whipping cream from the store will work as well. One quart of cream will make one pound of butter, plus two cups of buttermilk. One cup of cream yields 1/2 cup of butter and about 1/2 cup of buttermilk.

Let’s get started!

Steps to Make Butter Using a Food Processor

Step 1: Skim off the cream from fresh milk and pour into the food processor. If you’re using whipping cream, just pour it in! Keep in mind that food processors will leak if filled too full, so keep the cream below the full line. Otherwise, you can use as little or as much cream as you like.

Step 2: Place the lid on the food processor and turn it on. It will take a few minutes to go from cream to butter. First, it will become whipped cream, then it will thicken some more. Keep the food processor going until the butter and buttermilk separate.

Step 3: Using a tightly woven sieve, carefully pour off the buttermilk into a measuring cup, catching the butter in the sieve. Be sure to keep the buttermilk to use in pancakes or biscuits.

Step 4: Return the butter back to the food processor bowl and add 1/4 cup of very cold ice water. Cold water from the tap will work, but the colder the water, the easier the butter will be to work with. Pulse the food processor a few times to rinse the buttermilk out of the butter. Pour off the water; no need to save the water. Repeat this process four or five times, until the water is clear. It is essential that all of the buttermilk is rinsed out of the butter or your butter will sour quickly.

Step 5: Squeeze out any excess water from your butter. The most effective way that I have found is by kneading the water out with your hands. Add salt to the butter and knead it in. Place the butter in a dish and refrigerate.

Slather a piece of freshly baked bread with butter and enjoy the fruit of your labors. That’s all there is to it, you just made butter! Your fresh butter will keep in the ‘fridge for up to a week. For longer storage, wrap the butter well with parchment paper and freeze in a Ziploc freezer bag.

See how simple that was? Are you ready to make butter using a food processor?

Guest post by Janelle Veldkamp of  Homestead In The Holler. Janelle and her family are building their farm using natural techniques to manage soil fertility, soil creation, manage water, and produce healthy products in the Missouri Ozarks. She shares her journey with her readers. This includes the stresses, failures, and woes; but also the successes and joys.

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Thanks for sharing!