Make Chive Butter to Use in a Variety of Recipes

Chive butter is one of our favorite herb butters because it is so versatile. You can eat it with virtually anything: steaks and grilled meats, grilled or poached fish, roasted vegetables, and, of course potatoes, baked potato, mashed potatoes, or plain new potatoes boiled in their skins. Chive butter also makes a delicious spread on wholesome bread, flatbread, savory waffles, scones, and muffins.

It is best if you start with the butter at room temperature. It is easier to incorporate the chives without working the butter too hard and bruising the chives.

Adding chopped up chive blossoms to the butter is not just pretty, it also adds a stronger chive flavor to the butter. Cut the chive flowers just after they have opened when they are full and bright in color. Don’t wait until the flowers are starting to fade and turn papery. 

You can either make a small amount of chive butter that you’ll use within a few days, or, if you have chives growing in your garden or in a container and have more chives that you can use at the moment, you can make a bigger batch. Roll the finished butter into a cylinder, wrap it in wax paper and store in a sealable plastic bag in the freezer. Then, just slice off a few pats as needed. 

You can also freeze the chive butter in smaller logs or press it into ramekins or ice cube trays, smooth the tops, and place them in the freezer until the butter is hard, then release it and store in freezer bags. 

For a chive butter with a hint of garlic without using actual garlic, make the butter with garlic chives instead of chives.