How to make butter with whipping cream and every kitchen's most versatile tool - the mason jar. You will also need, a stand mixer, a food processor or an aggressive steroid regiment.
I shook butter until my arm almost fell off last week. I’d done it before and kept both limbs, so I figured, why not? No idea why making butter—even when it hurts—is so much fun.
There’s something cathartic about shaking a jar like it owes you money. That aggression fades fast, though, replaced by pure delirium because turning cream into butter by hand takes forever. At least 20 minutes.
The real MVP? The mason jar. A relic from a simpler time when people used them for jam, moonshine, and proudly displaying their gallstones. You know—the good old days.
Watch this video to see it in action…
Ta da! Creamy, fresh butter. Way nicer to eat than a chewy set of gallstones.
How to Make Butter
How to make fresh butter with whipping cream and a mason jar. (or a mixer if you prefer)
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups Whipping Cream or Heavy Cream (35% or over)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Get your whipping cream to room temperature by leaving it on the counter for a couple of hours. This helps move the process along so you won't have to shake it for as long a time period.
- Pour enough whipping cream into a mason jar to fill it about halfway.
- Shake the jar vigorously. It will thicken, turn solid, and then the solid form will "break" which separates the buttermilk from the butter. This whole process will take at least 15 minutes. Your arm will hurt.
- Drain the buttermilk from the jar.
- Once you've created your butter, plunk it into a bowl and mash away at it with a spoon to remove any remaining liquid and drain it off.
- Continue to mash the butter and rinse it with cool water until all the liquid is gone. It's fully rinsed when the water runs clear.
Add ¼ teaspoon of salt & stir it in with a spoon.
Notes
- The resulting buttermilk isn't fermented like grocery store buttermilk. It just tastes like regular milk, and you can use it in anything you'd use milk.
- Adding salt acts as a preservative as well as a seasoner. Hand shaken butter doesn't store as long as store bought or even butter that's been made in a stand mixer.
- Don't stop shaking when it forms a solid mass. You have to shake beyond that point to "break" out the buttermilk.
TO MAKE IN A STAND MIXER: Use the paddle attachment on medium/high. (start on low so you don't have a splashfest)
Takes 4-5 minutes
TO MAKE IN A FOOD PROCESSOR: Use the regular blade attachment and whiz.
Takes 4-5 minutes
After watching that, now at some point in your life, you’re going to find yourself standing in your kitchen, staring at a carton of whipping cream, thinking, I could make butter. Maybe you ran out of store-bought butter. Maybe you just want to feel superior to 18th-century homesteaders. Either way, I support your questionable choices.
What You Need:
- 1 cup of whipping cream (35% fat or higher—don't cheap out)
- 1 mason jar with a lid
- Patience (or very strong forearms)
Step 1: Pour the Cream into the Jar
Not too complicated. Just dump it in there. Leave some space at the top unless you want an early introduction to the laws of physics.
Step 2: Shake Like You Mean It
Put the lid on tight and shake. And shake. And then shake some more. Somewhere between minutes 3 and 5, you'll start questioning your life choices. That means you're doing it right.
Would you like to save this stuff?
We'll email you this post, so you can refer to it later.
First, the cream will get thick—like whipped cream (because it is whipped cream). KEEP GOING. At around 8-10 minutes, the magic happens: the fat separates from the buttermilk, and suddenly, you have a lump of actual butter.
Step 3: Strain and Rinse
Dump out the buttermilk (or save it for baking). Rinse the butter under cold water, kneading it gently to remove excess liquid. This step is important unless you like your butter with an expiration date of “right now.”
Step 4: Salt & Enjoy
Mix in a pinch of salt if you like, or leave it unsalted if you want to feel like a Puritan. Smear it on toast. Marvel at your achievement. Wonder why your arms hurt so much.
Final Thoughts
Making butter in a mason jar is 50% science, 50% stubbornness, and 100% proof that you don’t need fancy equipment to do something old-timey and satisfying. And now, if civilization collapses, at least you’ll have butter.
So long as you own a cow.
So if 8 oz of cream is shook, approx how much butter will result? Will it be less expensive than store bought? Of course I know it will taste better
You get about half the amount of butter and half the amount of buttermilk. So 4 oz each. At around $9 per litre for whipping cream getting hyou 500 ml of butter you'd have to get your whipping cream on sale to make it cheaper than buying butter. ~ karen!