Tarragon Compound Butter: One Recipe, Five Uses
A simple tarragon compound butter recipe that turns ten minutes of prep into a week's worth of instant flavor for steak, fish, vegetables, and bread.
Compound butter is one of the best returns on effort in a home kitchen - ten minutes of mixing on a Sunday gives you a flavor bomb that can carry five different meals through the week without any extra work at the time you actually need it.
Tarragon Compound Butter
Prep time: 10 minutes, plus chilling | Makes: about 1 cup
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 tbsp fresh tarragon, finely chopped
- 1 small shallot or garlic clove, very finely minced
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, mash the softened butter with a fork until smooth and creamy.
- Add the tarragon, shallot, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Mix thoroughly until everything is evenly distributed through the butter.
- Taste and adjust seasoning - the flavor will mellow slightly once chilled, so it's fine for it to taste a touch strong at this stage.
- Spoon the butter onto a sheet of parchment paper or plastic wrap and roll it into a log, twisting the ends to seal.
- Refrigerate for at least 1 hour to firm up before slicing into rounds, or freeze the whole log for longer storage.
Notes
This butter keeps in the fridge for about 2 weeks and in the freezer for up to 3 months. If freezing, slice the log into rounds first and freeze them on a tray before transferring to a bag, so you can grab individual portions without thawing the whole log.
Five Ways to Use It
- On steak: Place a pat on a hot steak straight off the pan or grill and let it melt over the top while resting.
- On fish: Melt a slice over pan-seared or grilled white fish or salmon for an instant sauce.
- On roasted vegetables: Toss hot roasted or steamed vegetables (asparagus, green beans, carrots) with a slice right before serving.
- Under chicken skin: Use this same butter as the base for a version of our tarragon roast chicken if you already have a batch made.
- On bread: Spread on warm crusty bread as a simple appetizer, or use it to finish garlic bread with an herby twist.
Why Compound Butter Works So Well
Butter is an excellent flavor carrier - fat holds onto the aromatic compounds in herbs like tarragon better than water-based liquids do, which is part of why so much classic French cooking builds around butter rather than oil. Making the flavored butter in advance also means you get a consistent hit of seasoning every time, rather than trying to finely chop and evenly distribute fresh tarragon at the last minute while something's already on the plate.
Variations
- Garlic-forward: Increase the garlic and reduce the shallot for a punchier, more savory butter.
- Mustard tarragon butter: Add a teaspoon of Dijon mustard for a flavor closer to our tarragon mustard sauce.
- Herb blend: Add a tablespoon of chopped chives or parsley alongside the tarragon for a more layered herb butter.
- Salted butter base: If using salted butter instead of unsalted, reduce or omit the added salt and taste as you go.
This is one of the best ways to make a single tarragon harvest stretch across an entire week of cooking. For more ideas on using tarragon fresh or preserved, see the complete tarragon guide.
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