Give Store-Bought Butter The Cowboy Treatment With These 10 Additions

While creamy, rich butter makes any dish better, giving it the cowboy treatment always kicks the flavors up a notch. Cowboy butter is a type of compound butter, a softened spread that gets all gussied up with herbs, spices, condiments, or other flavorings. Once mixed, rolled into a log, wrapped, and chilled, you can slice up pats to jazz up everything from steak to seafood, vegetables, and breads. And the best part? You don't need a campfire, cowboy hat, or cast-iron skillet to get in on the action. 

It's essential to start with unsalted butter, so you have a blank canvas, and it doesn't clash with the flavors you're trying to bring out, especially if you're making something salty or sweet. The combinations are endless, and your creativity can come alive when making this delicious condiment. Whether you crave savory, smoky flavors, a mix of sweet heat, or bright, zippy fresh herbs, there's a recipe out there that would get even the toughest cowboy's stamp of approval. We selected 10 tasty additions you can add to store-bought butter to take it to the next level and infuse your dishes with a flavor bomb.

Bring the heat to your dishes by adding roasted jalapeño to your cowboy butter. Char some of the chili peppers in the oven or directly over a gas stove flame, let cool, then mince and mix with your softened butter. It infuses a nice smoky, spicy flavor, and you can leave the seeds in for an extra kick of heat or remove them for a milder flavor. Adding some fresh herbs helps round out the flavor, and lemon juice balances the rich butter. Pour it on seafood, baked potatoes, or use it to punch up this grilled flank steak recipe.

Roasted garlic makes any recipe 10 times better, in my opinion. Slow-roasting a whole head of garlic transforms the flavor into a caramelized, jam-like condiment that's soft, rich, and sweet. Slice the top off a whole head of garlic, enclose it in a foil packet with olive oil so it doesn't burn, and cook for 45 to 50 minutes, until golden and tender. Blending that with butter is a match made in heaven. It's simple but packs a punch. Spread it on biscuits, over lobster, or slathered on this garlic bread recipe.

Using fresh herbs is the way to go for classic cowboy butter. You can use whatever blend you like, but fresh parsley, fresh chives, basil, and thyme make the condiment come alive. Dill, tarragon, and rosemary are also good options. It also doesn't hurt to get creative or experiment to see what you like. To cut the richness of the butter, you can also include Dijon mustard and lemon juice. This one can be used on a wide range of dishes.

As above, dried spices also incorporate well into butter, and you can get really creative depending on what you're making. Salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder are good starting points, but paprika, chile powder, turmeric, curry powder, red pepper flakes, or Herbs de Provence are all excellent selections. Any dried versions of the above fresh herbs would work great, as well. Whisk your favorites into softened butter, and add it to your next savory breakfast, roasted vegetables, or mashed potatoes.

Blue cheese and meats, especially steaks, burgers, and roast beef, usually pair together very well. Combining blue cheese with butter to melt over a hot grilled steak takes the flavor over the top. Chef Suzanne Trachet, a prominent Los Angeles chef who has appeared on Hell's Kitchen and Top Chef Masters, has a recipe for a decadently rich butter made with sweet Gorgonzola. Gorgonzola Dolce, as it's called, is best for a mild, sweet flavor, but you can also use Roquefort or Stilton blue cheese to combine with your butter for your steak and burgers.

A food trend since 2021, hot honey has been used to add a sweet heat to everything from chicken to drinks and pizza. It's also a tasty option to combine with butter, and you can make it spicy or mild, depending on how much heat your taste buds can take. You can use a premade hot honey or mix in your favorite hot sauce, or add red pepper flakes or other chile spices to make it. Hot honey butter can be smeared on fresh cornbread or in place of the spicy/sweet butter in this pan-seared steak recipe.

A decadent culinary treasure, black truffles are extremely difficult to grow and hard to find in the wild. Their intense, earthy, and strong umami flavor makes them a more indulgent but perfect option to add to butter. You can buy them if you have the means (they can cost over $700 for 16 ounces), and finely grate them into butter, or buy black truffle paste, which is more readily available in retail stores for around $25. Use it to top a high-end cut of steak like Wagyu or to mix into pasta with sautéed mushrooms for a richer sauce.

The sweet heat combination of maple syrup and chiles with butter can take the flavor of sweet potatoes, grilled corn, pork chops, and just about any other dish to a whole other level. Use pure maple syrup and red pepper flakes for a milder butter. A fermented chile paste or adobo peppers would bring a smokier, more intense heat to your spread. Some sea salt and maple vinegar are also good options to add in to balance out all the flavors.

Miso brings a droolworthy and unmistakable umami flavor to any dish. The savory Japanese condiment is a paste made from fermented soybeans. There are several types of miso paste, but red miso provides the most intense, salty, and concentrated flavor. Adding tart lime juice cuts the richness of the butter and adds a bright tang. Miso lime butter would work well melted over salmon, noodles, or roasted carrots. Some cilantro and jalapeño would also kick this butter up a notch.

In this combo, creamy butter gets a savory boost from fresh garlic, while paprika adds a warm flavor and gorgeous color. It's rich without being overpowering and incredibly easy to customize with herbs, chili flakes, or a squeeze of lemon. You can use your roasted garlic recipe above, or use fresh minced garlic, but it will have more bite than the caramelized roasted garlic. Slather it over warm bread, melt it onto grilled steak, or toss it with potatoes, shrimp, or pasta for an instant flavor upgrade.