Making fresh, homemade butter is simpler and easier than you might think! All it takes are a couple ingredients, some well-made equipment and a little time. Enjoy these basic recipes for homemade butter.
Canning Jar Method
Yield: About 8 oz fresh butter
- 1 pt (16 oz) heavy cream or whipping cream
- cold water
- Allow the cream to reach room temperature (about 72°F) and let sit for a few hours to ripen slightly.
- Pour cream into a clean canning jar and screw the lid on tightly.
- Shake the jar vigorously for several minutes (depending on how hard and fast you shake, making butter could take anywhere from 10-30 minutes).
- You’ll see the cream go through several stages, from frothy to firm to coarse. Then, rather suddenly, the cream will “seize” and turn to fine grains of butter in buttermilk.
- Keep shaking, and soon a ball of butter will separate from the buttermilk.
- Drain the buttermilk and save in refrigerator for baking.
- Rinse the butter well with cold water until the water runs clear. Note: Rinse well! If you don’t do this, your butter will sour and be inedible.
- Transfer to a bowl and remove as much water as possible (a potato masher works well for this) and store your butter in a covered crock or air-tight container, or roll it in waxed paper.

Lehman’s Best Butter Churn Method
Yield: Approx. 24 oz fresh butter
- 2-2½ quarts (48 oz) cream
- cold water
- Allow the cream to reach room temperature (about 72°F) and let sit for a few hours to ripen slightly.
- Pour cream into Lehman’s Best Butter Churn and screw the lid on tightly.
- Just turn the handle! With fast, vigorous turning, you’ll have butter in as little as 30 minutes.
- You’ll see the cream go through several stages, from frothy to firm to coarse. Then, rather suddenly, the cream will “seize” and turn to fine grains of butter in buttermilk.
- Keep turning, and soon a ball of butter will separate from the buttermilk.
- Drain the buttermilk and save in refrigerator for baking.
- Rinse the butter well with cold water until the water runs clear. Note: Rinse well! If you don’t do this, your butter will sour and be inedible.
- Transfer to a bowl and remove as much water as possible (a potato masher works well for this) and store your butter in a covered crock or air-tight container, or roll it in waxed paper.
Here are some additional tips local organic gardener Karen Geiser, who often makes her family’s butter with Lehman’s Best Butter Churn:
- When using raw cream, butter consistency and color vary greatly during different seasons of the year. June butter is prime and January butter is often grainy and pale.
- If using store bought cream, be sure not to use ultra-high pasteurized (UHT) cream.
- Temperature makes a big difference in turning time. Thirty minutes would be for a smaller batch of butter; a full batch takes even longer (up to 45 minutes or more).
- Fill level is important – filling the jar nearly full could result in a mess once the cream expands while churning.
- Sharing the churning among several eager children makes it go faster!
[…] as “butter churn technology”). We tried to unlock the secrets, many long forgotten, of making good butter at home. We tested, then tinkered with the design, then tested […]
[…] Want to learn more? Click here for instructions on making your own butter, with or without our churn. […]
The article was written well & with experience obviously revealed! I tried to give it a 5 star, but the ‘Article Rating’ would not allow me to change it from a 2 to a 5.
I will subscribe to this lady’s hard work & will appreciate her efforts! Thank you Lehman!
FOR THOSE WHO CAN’T AFFORD A DAISY BUTTER CHURN, A STEEL HAND MIXER WILL DO THE JOB NICELY. I’VE BEEN USING A HAND MIXER FOR YEARS. ALSO, I NEVER WASHED MY BUTTER, PER SE, BECAUSE I USE A FLAT WOODEN PADDLE SPOON TO PRESS ALL THE BUTTERMILK OUT OF THE BUTTER. I’M VERY THOROUGH WITH TURNING THE BUTTER OVER, CUTTING IT UP, PRESSING MORE BUTTERMILK OUT OF THE BUTTER UNTIL THERE’S NOTHING LEFT TO DRIP OUT. MY FAMILY LOVES MY BUTTER AND WE’RE VERY FORTUNATE TO HAVE A RAW MILK DAIRY FARM ABOUT 20 MINUTES FROM OUR HOUSE. WE BUY EVERYTHING DAIRY THAT WE NEED FROM THIS WONDERFUL FAMILY-OWNED FARM. (SORRY ABOUT THE ALL-CAPS TYPING; I’M VISUALLY CHALLENGED, NOT YELLING!)