14 Flavored Butter Recipes That Make Everything Better

Dress up dinner with these festive flavored butter creations.

Southern Living Cracklin Cornbread with Whipped Jalapeno Butter sliced on plates to serve
Photo:

Morgan Hunt Glaze, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Stylist: Shell Royster

It's no secret that butter makes everything better. Mix butter with a few ingredients, and you're really upping your biscuit game—does it get more Southern than that? Sweet, savory, or a combination of the two, adding flavored butter to your recipes brings drastically delicious results. Whatever combination of butter, spices, and flavors you use, we know you’ll find plenty of reasons to reach for your butter bell. Sauté veggies in lemony garlic butter, or slather sweet honey butter over your dinner rolls. Dress up dinnertime with these festive flavored butter creations.

01 of 14

Cowboy Butter

Southern Living Cowboy Butter finished on a small board to serve with slices of bread

Caitlin Bensel; Food Stylist: Torie Cox

Keep this compound butter on hand to use in place of regular butter as a spread, a dip, or a topper. A mix of herbs, spices, garlic, lemon zest, and mustard makes an impact on steaks, potatoes, bread, or sandwiches.

02 of 14

Herb Butter (Air Fryer Steak)

Air Fryer Steak
Photography and Styling: Caitlin Bensel

This Air Fryer Steak gets a boost from a pat of herb butter. Flavored with parsley, rosemary, garlic, and lemon zest, this butter complements your favorite steak dinner, but we know you’ll find other things to smear it on. 

03 of 14

Lemony Garlic Butter (Grilled Royal Reds)

Grilled Royal Reds with Lemony Garlic Butter
Photo Credit: Jennifer Causey; Prop Styling: Lindsey Lower; Food Styling: Chelsea Zimmer

This lemon-butter combination is a good match for any seafood dinner. It uses lemon zest and lemon juice for heightened flavor.

04 of 14

Garlic Butter (Garlic Bread)

Southern Living Garlic Bread on serving board

Caitlin Bensel; Food Stylist: Torie Cox

This garlic-butter recipe makes a mean garlic bread. It includes a good amount of Parmesan cheese. Leave it out if you want a more basic garlic butter.

05 of 14

Honey Butter (Raspberry-Almond Muffins)

Raspberry-Almond Muffins with Honey Butter
Victor Protasio; Food Styling: Rishon Hanners; Prop Styling: Audrey Davis

These fruity muffins are even better with a smear of honey butter over top, but the goodness doesn't have to stop there. Use honey butter on muffins, pancakes, biscuits, or sweet potatoes. This recipe also has several variations, including berry, orange-vanilla, and chai honey butters. We bet you’ll find plenty of things to spread them on.

06 of 14

Hot Honey Butter

Plenty of Biscuits and Cornbread
Jennifer Davick

Turn popular hot honey into a dreamy butter that will spice up your biscuits. It’s equally good on cornbread, chicken and waffles, or even to make chicken wings. Use more hot sauce if you want higher heat.

07 of 14

Whipped Jalapeno Butter (Cracklin' Cornbread)

Southern Living Cracklin Cornbread with Whipped Jalapeno Butter sliced on plates to serve

Morgan Hunt Glaze, Food Stylist: Jennifer Wendorf, Prop Stylist: Shell Royster

Created as a topper for cracklin’ cornbread, this recipe for Whipped Jalapeno Butter is perfect for adding some heat to corn on the cob, potatoes, and other veggies. A blend of hot honey and chopped jalapeno bring sweet heat that you’ll want to slather on just about everything.

08 of 14

Herb Butter (Grilled Clambake Foil Packets)

Grilled Clambake Foil Packets with Herb Butter
Linda Pugliese; Prop Styling: Kay E. Clarke; Food Styling: Anna Hampton

Seasoned with Old Bay, fresh herbs, and lemon zest, a batch of this butter mixture will take your clambake to a new level. Top simple seafood foil packets with a hearty helping of the butter mixture, and grab some bread to mop up the buttery sauce while you eat.

09 of 14

Charred Scallion-Lime Butter (Grilled Chicken and Corn)

Grilled Chicken and Corn with Charred Scallion-Lime Butter
Johnny Autry; Prop and Food Styling: Charlotte L. Autry

Process herbs, green onions, and lime juice with butter for a spread that’s full of zest. Use it to baste meats, top potatoes, or to spread on warm corn-on-the-cob.

10 of 14

Goat Cheese-Garlic Butter

Goat Cheese-Garlic Butter
Photo: Iain Bagwell

Stir together 1/2 cup softened butter; 1/2 (4-oz.) goat cheese log, softened; 4 roasted garlic cloves; and 1/4 tsp. cracked pepper.

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Honey Butter

Honey Butter
Photo: Iain Bagwell

Stir together 1/2 cup softened butter, 1 Tbsp. honey, and 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon.

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Mustard-Chive Butter

Mustard-Chive Butter
Photo: Iain Bagwell

Stir together 1/2 cup softened butter, 4 tsp. spicy brown mustard, and 1 Tbsp. finely chopped fresh chives.

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Lemon-Herb Butter

Lemon-Herb Butter
Photo: Iain Bagwell

Stir together 1/2 cup softened butter, 2 tsp. lemon zest, 2 tsp. finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley, and 1/2 tsp. finely chopped thyme.

14 of 14

Pecan-Brown Sugar Butter

Pecan-Brown Sugar Butter
Photo: Iain Bagwell

Stir together 1/2 cup softened butter, 2 Tbsp. finely chopped toasted pecans, and 1 Tbsp. light brown sugar.

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