Dress Up Homemade Steak With A Slab Of Herby Compound Butter

What's better than a perfectly cooked steak? A perfectly cooked steak dripping with richly flavored, just-melting butter, that's what. Luckily, it couldn't be easier to create an almost restaurant-worthy steak dinner at home just by making an herby compound butter. And because it adds so much tender juiciness and luxurious mouthfeel to the meat while elevating the robust savory taste, there's no need to make an additional steak sauce, which can be easy to mess up, on the side.

An herb compound butter simply involves mixing softened butter with fresh herbs using a bowl and fork, hand mixer, or food processor. You can either mix it up and then spoon it directly over your cooked steak, or make it in advance and keep it in the fridge or freezer. For the latter, it's best to roll the flavored butter into a cylinder shape in plastic wrap or parchment paper. Then, you can just slice off what you need whenever you want to use it.

Using unsalted butter makes it easier to control the amount of sodium you use by adding it to your taste. And softened butter is easier to mix than fridge-cold, so get it to room temperature before you start. A fragrantly herby version is the flavorful butter Ina Garten always keeps in the fridge, but you could also incorporate a variety of ingredients to create butters that are spicy, smoky, or packed with umami punch.

Herby compound butters are unbeatable for adding a burst of aromatic freshness to steak. Use whatever fresh herbs you fancy — rosemary, parsley, or thyme go particularly well with steak, or you could try basil, sage, or cilantro. Add some minced shallots for extra depth of flavor, and a squeeze of citrus juice for brightness; as a bonus, lemon juice makes steak scientifically more delicious. For a more robust flavor, mix in a little minced garlic, Dijon mustard, or prepared horseradish, which all pair perfectly with the red meat. 

Spiced or smoky butters also go wonderfully with steak. Try a classic homemade café de Paris butter, which is packed with flavorful ingredients such as anchovies, salty capers, garlic, zingy citrus, smoky paprika, and herbs. Use chili powder and hot pepper sauce for a fiery hot butter. Or mix gochujang paste and honey with the dairy product for a spicy, sweet-yet-savory combo. Even TikTok's viral cowboy butter makes a perfect accompaniment for steak.

If you're a fan of savory, umami-rich flavors, experiment with dried mushrooms. You can either rehydrate and finely chop them, or grind them dried to make a powder to mix with the butter. Heady minced truffle also adds a luxurious quality. Fancy a cheesy twist? Grated parmesan works well, especially when combined with garlic and herbs. Or mix in some crumbled blue cheese and freshly ground black pepper for a punchy butter, which will enhance any steak dinner.