Meet your new favorite compound butter! This luscious concoction is packed with French onion flavor – it’s savory, yet a little sweet, herbed, and full of umami. Slather it on a piece of crusty French bread, spread it over vegetables, or swirl it into a bowl of piping hot pasta.
It also makes a fantastic food gift for the holidays, if you can bear to let it go!
Have you ever seen a butter so beautiful?
If you love the flavor of French onion soup, you’ll love this homemade compound butter.
It is so versatile to use in recipes, and you can even make it as gifts! If your friends are so lucky.
Ingredients are simple! Butter (obviously), onions, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, parsley and Worcestershire sauce. Worcestershire sauce typically has anchovies and is not vegetarian-friendly, but I have listed a vegetarian option available through Amazon in the recipe card. You can also leave it out if you don’t like the flavor.
I recommend using unsalted butter so you can control the amount of salt in this recipe. Feel free to add or reduce the amount of salt as needed based on your personal tastes and/or dietary needs.
If using salted butter, be sure to omit the added salt from the recipe, as your butter will be way too salty otherwise.
I’ve shown you how to make caramelized onions before, so just remember the key ingredient there is TIME. The longer you allow the onions to caramelize, the tastier they will be. 40 minutes to an hour is recommended.
If you don’t want to go back to the onion post linked above, be sure to stir your onions frequently and keep on medium-low heat! The last thing you’ll want is to end up with burnt onions or butter that has gone too far brown and become bitter.
You can also add a little bit of water to your pan if the onions start to burn.
Then you just mix everything together in a food processor!
Of course one of the main ingredients for French onion soup is garlic, and if you like it extra garlicky you may want to add more than 1-2 cloves!
Use it on… everything! Especially some crusty bread.
To give as gifts, you can pack into a small mason jar and seal tightly, or wrap it in parchment and seal with freezer tape!
French Onion Compound Butter
Meet your new favorite compound butter! This luscious concoction is packed with French onion flavor - it's savory, yet a little sweet, herbed, and full of umami. Slather it on a piece of crusty French bread, spread it over vegetables, or swirl it into a bowl of piping hot pasta. It also makes a fantastic food gift for the holidays, if you can bear to let it go!
Ingredients
- 1 large sweet yellow onion, sliced
- 12 tablespoons softened unsalted butter, divided
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic (1-2 cloves)
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (see notes)
- ⅛ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ tablespoon chopped parsley
Instructions
- Start by caramelizing the onions (this post may help). Place the sliced onion, 2 tablespoons of the butter butter, ¼ teaspoon salt, and a pinch of black pepper in a skillet over medium heat.
- Cook the onions, stirring frequently, for 45 minutes, until they have caramelized into a deep brown color.
- Remove from heat and set aside to cool for 5-10 minutes.
- Place the remaining 10 tablespoons butter, the caramelized onions, garlic, Worcestershire, thyme, parsley, and a pinch of salt & pepper into the bowl of a food processor.
- Pulse until the ingredients are fully incorporated and the mixture is smooth.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve!
Notes
- The longer you work on caramelizing your onions, the sweeter and deeper the flavor will be. It’s a labor of love, and it takes patience, but it’ll be worth it in the end! I recommend cooking them for a minimum of 40 minutes up to 1 hour.
- A vegan/vegetarian option for Worcestershire sauce is listed in the Amazon recommended products below. If you don't like the taste of this sauce, you can leave it out.
- The flavor of dried thyme can be overwhelming, so take care to use just a bit. If you want to use fresh thyme instead, you can toss a couple of sprigs in whole before processing.
- If using salted butter, be sure to omit the added salt from the recipe, as your butter will be way too salty otherwise.
- Refrigerate any leftovers for up to a week. Be sure to cover tightly or store in an airtight container when storing to prevent spoilage.
- You can wrap and freeze this butter for up to a month.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
16Serving Size:
0.5 ounceAmount Per Serving: Calories: 80Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 23mgSodium: 36mgCarbohydrates: 1gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 0g
Nutrition information is calculated automatically by an online tool at Nutritionix. It is not always accurate. Please use your own tools to check if you rely on this information.
Would you like to save this?
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
You'll also get email updates with new recipes (you can opt-out any time).