Here's a fancy-pants recipe that is sure to impress but is actually ridiculously simple to make: Pesto Butter. Use my easy pesto recipe or your favorite store-bought pesto to make pesto compound butter.
Use this pesto butter on steak, chicken, salmon, baguettes, grilled cheese, or see more serving ideas below!
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Pesto compound butter
Instead of writing about how delicious pesto butter is (and umm, it is!!), let me just list all the different ways you can use it.
And let me just mention the fact that this recipe is amazing for using up leftover pesto, when you only have a couple of tablespoons of pesto left.
More recipes using pesto: Pesto Crostini with Roasted Tomatoes
How to use pesto butter
- Make the BEST garlic bread by spreading the garlicky pesto butter on Italian bread and toasting.
- Scoop a spoon of pesto butter on steak during the last minute of cooking and let it melt all over the steak.
- Try it on mushroom steak or spread it on a grilled Portobello mushroom.
- Use as a spread in a sandwich instead of plain butter or mayo.
- Toss it with hot roasted young potatoes right as they come out of the oven, letting the pesto butter melt all over the potatoes... so good!!
- Spread on a toasted baguette as an appetizer.
- Spoon some on grilled chicken right as it comes off the grill.
- Spread some softened pesto butter on a salmon fillet, then bake or air fry. You can also pan-fry salmon fillets in pesto butter.
- Melt some pesto butter in your skillet and use that to cook scrambled eggs.
- Elevate your grilled cheese with a shmear or pesto butter.
- Spread on warm biscuits.
- Spread on toast for breakfast.
If that sounds amazing, let's make some pesto butter!
More recipes using pesto: Pesto Pizza with Fresh Mozzarella
Ingredients
For the pesto butter:
- 1 stick unsalted butter (½ cup)—softened to room temperature or even a bit warmer, see tips below
- 2-3 tablespoons pesto, to taste (see recipe below, or use store-bought pesto or try a foraged pesto with garlic mustard leaves or sorrel pesto!)
- Optional: ¼ - ½ teaspoon kosher salt, to taste
- Optional: try adding a couple of cloves of air fryer roasted garlic confit into the butter to make an even garlic-ier pesto btuter!
You can obviously double the recipe if you want to make more pesto butter! The ingredients above make about ½ cup of butter, which is about 8-16 servings, depending on how much you use.
For the pesto:
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves, tightly packed (from about 1 large bunch, make sure to dry it thoroughly after washing)
- 2 cloves garlic (this makes for a really garlicky pesto, which is perfect for combining with butter. If you want it less garlicky, use 1 clove)
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- Optional: ¼ cup pine nuts (I usually skip these when making pesto for pesto butter because I like a smoother compound butter)
- ¼ - ⅓ cup olive oil
- Zest of 1 lemon (optional, but suuuper tasty)
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (optional, but super tasty!)
- ¼ - ½ teaspoon kosher salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
More fancy appetizer ideas: Whipped Blue Cheese with Roasted Grapes
Ingredient notes and tips
→ Fresh pesto is best, but store-bought is fine!
→ Adding salt to pesto: I sometimes make my pesto more or less salty, depending on how I plan on using it. If I plan on mostly using it as a spread on toast/biscuits/grilled cheese, I make it less salty. If I plan on using it for pesto butter, as a pasta sauce, or anything else where it will be "diluted" with other ingredients, I make it a bit more salty... unless I am making the pesto butter with salted butter.
→ You can use salted butter and skip adding salt, but I like being able to control how much salt I add by using unsalted butter and then adding salt to taste.
→ Use freshly grated or store-grated Parmesan instead of the stuff in the green container.
→ If you want some texture to your pesto butter, don't skip the pine nuts, or try adding blanched almonds.
→ Try adding a pinch of red pepper flakes, or very finely minced sun-dried tomato for a different flavor.
Related recipe: Roasted Garlic Dip
Equipment
Aside from measuring cups and spoons, you'll need the following:
- Small food processor—for making the pesto
- Medium bowl—for mixing the butter and pesto
- Silicone spatula—for scooping out all the pesto and butter from the food processor and bowls
- 8-oz glass jar—for storing the pesto butter
TIP: For SUPER EASY cleanup of your mixing bowl and food processor, just grab a piece of soft bread and wipe off all the extra pesto and pesto butter with the bread, straight into your mouth! Just make sure to unplug the food processor and REMOVE the blade before sticking your fingers in there.
More homemade compound butter recipes to try: Garlic Confit Butter
Instructions
Make the pesto:
In a food processor, combine the basil leaves, garlic, Parmesan cheese, and pine nuts (if using). Pulse several times until the basil leaves are chopped into tiny pieces (stop and use a spatula to scrape down the basil, if needed).
Now add the rest of the pesto ingredients (olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and pepper) and process until the pesto is as smooth as you like. You can add a splash of olive oil if needed. Give it a taste and see if you need to add more salt, lemon juice, or pepper.
Make the pesto butter:
In a medium bowl, combine a stick of softened butter and 2-3 tablespoons pesto. Use a fork to mix the pesto in until completely combined and no white chunks of butter remain. Give it a taste, and see if you need to season with salt. Use immediately, or transfer to a glass mason jar and refrigerate. Pesto butter will keep well for up to a week, but I am sure you'll end up using it all because it goes so well with EVERYTHING!
Related recipe: Chive Oil
How to soften butter to make compound butter
The easiest way to make pesto butter is to soften your butter so much that it smushes easily if you press on it—a bit warmer than room temperature (unless room temp for you is around 80F). There are a few ways you can soften your butter to make this pesto butter:
- Mug method: Boil some water and place it in a tall mug until the mug heats up. Discard the water, then place the stick of butter in the mug and cover it with a saucer. The heat inside the mug should soften the butter. If it's still hard, repeat with another round of boiled water.
- Toaster method: Place room temperature butter wrapped in paper on top of your toaster or toaster oven after you run it. The heat from the toaster oven will soften the butter.
- Dishwasher method: Place the butter on the counter on top of your dishwasher as it is drying.
- Oven method: Place the butter on top of the stove if your oven is on underneath, but be careful not to let it melt.
- Microwave method: If you completely forget, you can microwave your butter in 10-second increments. Do NOT let it melt completely, but let it soften and gently stir together the melty parts with the rest of the butter.
If you enjoyed this recipe, let me know with a star rating and a comment below—let me know your favorite way to use this pesto butter!
And don't forget to share this recipe on Facebook and save it on Pinterest for later!
Pesto Butter (Compound Butter)
Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter - (½ cup)—softened to room temperature or a bit warmer
- 2-3 tablespoons pesto - to taste (see recipe below)
- ¼ - ½ teaspoon kosher salt - optional, to taste
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves - tightly packed (from about 1 large bunch, make sure to dry it thoroughly after washing)
- 2 cloves garlic - (this makes for a really garlicky pesto, which is perfect for combining with butter. If you want it less garlicky, use 1 clove)
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- ¼ cup pine nuts - (optional, I usually skip these because I like a smoother compound butter)
- ¼ - ⅓ cup olive oil
- zest of ½ lemon - (optional but recommended)
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice - (optional)
- ¼ - ½ teaspoon kosher salt - to taste
- freshly ground black pepper - to taste
Special equipment
- Medium bowl
- 8 oz jar for storing pesto butter
Instructions
- In a food processor, combine the basil leaves, garlic, Parmesan cheese, and pine nuts (if using). Pulse several times until the basil leaves are chopped into tiny pieces (stop and use a spatula to scrape down the basil if needed).
- Add the rest of the pesto ingredients (⅓ cup olive oil, lemon zest, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, ¼ teaspoon salt, and pepper) and process until the pesto is as smooth as you like. You can add an extra splash of olive oil if needed. Give it a taste and see if you need to add more salt, lemon juice, or pepper.
- In a medium bowl, combine a stick of butter and 2-3 tablespoons pesto. Use a fork to mix the pesto in until completely combined and no white chunks of butter remain. Give it a taste, and see if you need to season with salt or want to add more pesto.
- Use immediately, or transfer to a glass mason jar and refrigerate. Pesto butter will keep well for up to a week.
Notes
- Garlic bread: spread the garlicky pesto butter on Italian bread and toasting.
- Steak: scoop a spoon of pesto butter on during the last minute of cooking.
- Use as a spread in a sandwich instead of plain butter or mayo.
- Spread on a toasted baguette as an appetizer.
- Stir some into roasted potatoes right as they come out of the oven.
- Grilled chicken: spoon some on right as the chicken comes off the grill.
- Spread some softened pesto butter on a salmon fillet, then bake or air fry. You can also pan-fry salmon fillets in pesto butter.
- Elevate your grilled cheese.
- Melt some pesto butter in your skillet and use that to cook scrambled eggs.
- Spread on warm biscuits or toast for breakfast.
Nutrition
The nutritional information displayed is an estimate and not to be used as dietary or nutritional advice. Consult a nutritionist or dietician for nutritional info based on the exact ingredients you use.