Easy Cowboy Butter Sauce Recipe
Bold and tangy, Cowboy Butter Sauce packs a spicy punch with a bright lemon finish. Perfect for grilled meats, roasted veggies or potatoes, french fries, crostini, or dipping.
This silky smooth dipping sauce, has perfectly balanced flavors of garlic & fresh herbs and a hint of lemon, that will keep you coming back for more. No broken, oily sauce or overly pungent flavors here. Our recipe stands out from the rest.
We’ll show you everything you need to know to prepare it as a silky smooth butter sauce or as a style of compound butter that can be made ahead, rolled, and sliced anytime to elevate a dish.
This Cowboy Butter Recipe is a versatile sauce that is great way to elevate a home cooked steak dinner, smoked, or grilled meats, a beautiful piece of fish, or other seafood. It’s delicious drizzled over roasted vegetables, roasted potatoes, french fries, or crostini. And is the perfect addition to serve on a charcuterie board as a compliment to all the various little nibbles.
This homemade cowboy butter sauce was inspired by our tender & juicy grilled ribeye steak recipe. Dipping slices of grilled ribeye into this warm, decadent steak sauce is just too delicious. It’s also super tasty drizzled over these oven roasted potatoes.
Be sure to check out our other barbecue and grilling recipes and some tasty side dishes to complete your meal.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
There are a number of recipes out there, but this is the best recipe to try and here’s why:
Perfectly Balance Flavors. The rich flavor of this recipe is perfectly balanced by just the right about of lemon juice, giving it a rich, but not overly pungent flavor that will keep you coming back for more.
And we’ll show you how to make this flavored butter or beurre composé two ways, cooked, and uncooked:
Silky Smooth Butter Sauce (Cooked). We’ll also give you pro tips on how to create a silky smooth sauce and how to fix a broken one.
Compound Butter (Uncooked) – A flavored butter that you can roll into a log and store in the freezer to slice and use anytime to refine a dish.
What Is Cowboy Butter
Cowboy Butter is flavored butter, or what the French call a classic beurre composé, that can be made two ways: as a compound butter or as a butter sauce. We’ll show you how to make both.
Compound Butter or Beurre Maître d’Hôtel (Uncooked) – Cowboy Butter is softened butter with a special blend of spices and herbs mixed into it, along with some lemon juice. Once mixed, it is rolled into the shape of a log in parchment paper or some plastic wrap.
In this form, it can be frozen and used anytime to elevate a dish. Just cut off a slice and allow it to come to room temperature. Place the slice on a hot steak or seafood and it will emulsify as it melts into the meat.
Butter Sauce (Cooked) – Cowboy Butter Sauce is a saucy version that is served warm for dipping or room temperature as a spread. It is a rustic version of the classic french butter sauce, Beurre Blanc.
Ingredients
- lemon juice – Use freshly squeezed lemon juice at the end for brightness and balance of flavors.
- garlic – Use minced, fresh garlic.
- dijon mustard – Smooth or coarse grained. Mustard works as an emulsifier that helps the sauce come together.
- prepared horseradish – Our favorite horseradish is Sandwich King. Prepared horseradish is a form of mayonnaise and works as an emulsifier.
- butter – Salted. May substitute unsalted. Use room temperature to make compound butter. Use ice cold butter to make a sauce.
Dried Spices
- paprika – Good ‘ole American paprika. May substitute smoked paprika.
- cayenne pepper – Just a pinch of finely ground red pepper will do.
- ground black pepper
- crushed red pepper flakes – Spicy peppers, or chili flakes. Adjust the level of spiciness by adding more or less red pepper flakes.
Fresh Herbs
- fresh herbs – Add fresh herbs at the end of the recipe to preserve the fresh flavor and color. May substitute dried herbs instead and add them in with the others.
- Italian parsley
- thyme – Fresh thyme
- chives – Fresh chives
Finishing Touches
- salt – Kosher salt. Added at the end to adjust the seasoning.
- lemon zest (optional) – Added at the end.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Easy Cowboy Butter Recipe
The easiest way to make this recipe is to make it into a compound butter. Simply combine room temperature butter with all the other ingredients using a small bowl and a wooden spoon, a food processor, or an electric mixer with the paddle attachment.
Once combined, roll it out into a log in parchment paper or plastic wrap and store in the freezer until you want to use it.
Cowboy Butter Sauce Recipe
Alternatively, you can take this recipe to the next level and make it into a delicious, warm sauce by following the simple step-by-step instructions below.
- Reduce Lemon Juice with Garlic. Place lemon juice and garlic into small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Reduce by half.
- Add Dried Spices, Mustard, and Prepared Horseradish. Whisk in dried spices, mustard, and horseradish.
- Add Cold Butter A Little At A Time. Add 2 tablespoons of butter and melt butter completely while whisking it over low heat.
Continue to place butter into saucepan and whisk it vigorously with each addition. Then, take it off the heat.
Note: Watch that the heat so that the it doesn’t boil or it will break. See note below on how to fix a broken sauce if it does.
- Stir In Fresh Herbs, Salt. Stir in the fresh herbs and lemon zest. Adjust the seasoning with salt.
- Serve. Serve warm.
Expert Tips
How To Make A Silky Smooth Butter Sauce
The key is to add the fat slowly so that the emulsification doesn’t break.
- Use Cold Butter. It will melt slower, causing the fat to be incorporated slowly.
- Add Butter In Slowly. Adding fat too fast can break a sauce.
- Watch The Heat. Too much heat can break a sauce. So, just barely heat it. Don’t let it come to a boil or too much liquid will evaporate, and it will break.
- Strain It. Use a fine mesh sieve to strain any particles out before you stir in any fresh herbs.
- For best results, bring to room temperature before serving.
How To Fix A Broken Sauce
What is a broken sauce? An emulsified sauce, like a butter sauce, hollandaise, or mayonnaise, is one in which droplets of fat are suspended in a liquid, and for a time, are combined as one. A broken sauce is one in which the bond or emulsification between the fat and liquid has broken and the particles separate.
A sauce with oil floating on the top is broken and a disappointment visually, texturally, and to the taste.
How to fix a broken sauce. Fixing a broken sauce is pretty simple. The best thing to do is simply add a little water to it and whisk vigorously to emulsify it again and it’ll be smooth as silk.