Homemade Raw Milk Butter (How to Make it at Home!)

Fresh, homemade raw milk butter is the best! And the good news is, you can make it at home in a few easy steps, with no special equipment. Keep reading to see exactly how we make our own butter at home, with cream from fresh raw cow’s milk.

Easy “Recipe” for Making Butter from Raw Milk

I guess you’d call this a recipe? At any rate, it’s a super easy way to make butter! And it doesn’t take terribly long either. 

The latest thing I’ve been into (besides cooking comfort foods for my family) is playing around with raw milk products! And in case I never mentioned it, we do indeed have a family milk cow, named Holly. Milking time is definitely a highlight of the day for our daughter and the dog. (And me, too:)

So yes, we drink raw milk over here. We also eat a lot of butter, so we still do buy some store-bought butter. But I always like to have some homemade butter on hand, too!

If you’ve never had fresh butter, yeah. You’re missing out. It’s much more “buttery” than the bought stuff! I especially like it for foods where the butter shines like spreading on toasts and jelly breads, brown butter, Roasted Herb Potatoes, and more.

​Health Benefits of Raw Butter

Raw butter contains vitamins and minerals, essential fatty acids, active enzymes and beneficial bacteria that are all otherwise lost during pasteurization.

It’s actually crazy when you stop to take a look at raw milk benefits. Whole raw milk contains a wide variety of vitamins and minerals, fatty acids, and beneficial bacteria (aka natural probiotics). And these will be even greater in grass-fed cows milk. But that’s not all! Raw milk also contains also contains enzymes and carrier proteins so that our bodies can actually absorb all those nutrients. Isn’t that amazing?

For more information on raw milk, check out this website: Real Milk

Where can I find raw milk to make homemade butter?

If you don’t have your own cow, there’s likely somewhere you can purchase raw milk. Is there any local farmer who has a dairy cow? Or, you can use this Raw Milk Finder to check if there’s a place to buy raw milk near you.

Ingredients

There’s only 2 simple ingredients!

• Raw milk – actually you’ll just be using the raw cream off the top of the raw milk (but starting with a whole gallon of milk, so yeah:)
  
• Salt – Redmond real salt, Diamond Crystal kosher salt, and Maldon sea salt are some of our favorites.

Supplies You’ll Need (and what we used!)

Food processor – this Cuisinart food processor was a wedding gift, and it works great for this!  

Mixing bowl – a bowl to rinse the butter in

Strainer – I just use a mesh strainer to sort the butter from the buttermilk

Other tools you can use to make butter

If you don’t have a food processor, no worries. You can also use:

• Electric stand mixer with a paddle attachment (like a Kitchenaid mixer) and I suppose an electric hand mixer would work too, though I never tried it.
  
• Blender 

​To make butter with either of these tools, you do it the very same way, only the timing might be different. Keep an eye on it and you should easily be able to see once the cream separates into butter!

This post contains affiliate links. As Amazon Associates, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you when you purchase through our links. Thanks for supporting our little family!

How to make Homemade Raw Milk Butter

Separate the cream from the milk. After the milk sat in the fridge for awhile (and the cream rose to the top) you’re ready to skim the cream off the top of the milk with a dipper. (If you get a little milk along with it, that’s ok!) Let the cream set out at room temperature for about 15 minutes.* (Cream that’s a little warmer than fridge temperature turns into butter faster.)

Turn the cream into butter. (I like to do it in two small batches instead of one big one so it for sure doesn’t spill out over!) Pour half the cream into the food processor and process on high until the cream separates into butter and buttermilk. This usually takes about 8-10 minutes in the food processor. Then do it all over again with the rest of the cream. 

Strain off the buttermilk and rinse the butter. (Save buttermilk for another use if you wish) then put the butter into a mixing bowl with some cold water and press with a spoon (or your hands) to remove extra buttermilk. Drain off the cloudy water, add fresh water and press the butter again. Repeat this process until the water runs clear. (Or grab that butter with your hands and squeeze and rinse under cold running water!) 

Then press the butter against the side of the bowl (or squeeze with your hands) to remove as much liquid as possible.

Optional: Sprinkle the butter with salt and shape however you wish. (This time I just made a log and wrapped it in parchment paper.)

Use the butter right away, chill it in the refrigerator or freeze it for later. Enjoy!

How to Store Homemade Raw Milk Butter

Store the homemade butter in an airtight container in the refrigerator. If all the buttermilk is removed, it can last for up to 2 weeks. If not, the butter can turn rancid in a day or two. 

You can also freeze your butter for 6 months or more in an airtight container.

Tips, Tricks and Notes on making Butter from Raw Milk

*The ideal temperature for cream for making butter is about 60-65 degrees F. You can make butter with cold cream straight from the fridge, the process just tends to take a little longer. Also, if you let the cream get too warm, the butter is softer and harder to deal with. 

Leftover buttermilk can be used in baking or in pancakes, biscuits, and more.

Make flavored butter (compound butter) by mixing in herbs, garlic, or cinnamon sugar.

How much butter does one gallon of raw milk make?

It depends on your cow.

From our Jersey, I usually get about 3 cups of cream from one gallon of raw milk, which makes 1/4 to 1/2 pound of butter (or equal to 1-2 sticks).

If you like this post…

…you might also like:

• Healthy Homemade Marshmallows

• Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing

Pin this Homemade Raw Milk Butter post for later!

Thanks for visiting our small town!

We’re honored to have you here. Feel free to stay awhile and explore!

Until next time, we love you and we’re praying for you, 

-Julie