Whipped Cranberry Butter
Whipped Cranberry Butter is a delicious accompaniment to toast or biscuits and is a great way to use up leftover cranberry sauce after Thanksgiving! You’ll love how tasty this cranberry flavored butter is and how easy the recipe is to prepare.
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The Perfect Flavored Butter for Thanksgiving or Christmas
This sweet-tart cranberry butter is a type of compound butter (i.e. flavored butter). It’s made in about 5 minutes by whipping together softened butter, cranberry sauce, and a little orange zest. That’s it!
This is why this cranberry butter deserves a spot on your holiday table:
✔ Quick and Easy: Just 3 ingredients and 5 minutes (if that!) are all you need to make this spectacular butter.
✔ Light and Fluffy Texture: You’ll love the combination of fluffy butter with the flavor of fresh cranberries studded throughout.
✔ Make-Ahead Option: Compound butters like this one can be refrigerated for 7 days or frozen for 3 months, so feel free to prepare the flavored butter as far in advance as needed.
Happy Holidays!
-Katie
The 3 Main Ingredients
Keep scrolling to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for the measurements. Here’s an overview of what you’ll need to make the cranberry-flavored butter.
- Cranberry Sauce — Make this Cranberry Orange Walnut Relish for a chunkier butter, or this Red Wine Cranberry Sauce for a silky smooth texture. You can also use your favorite store-bought cranberry sauce.
- Salted Butter — I prefer using salted butter to prevent the cranberry from tasting too sweet. Use a high-quality butter that whips well (my favorite is Kerrygold). You might be able to use a non-dairy butter, but I’ve never tested that personally.
- Orange Zest — A pop of fresh citrus flavor makes this compound butter taste like something from a restaurant!
Only have unsalted butter on hand? That’s okay! Just add a healthy pinch of salt to the butter to balance out the flavors.
How to Make Cranberry Butter
- Whip the butter until fluffy. Here’s how I like to soften my butter quickly. Don’t try to whip cold butter (it just won’t work!).
- Add the cranberry sauce and orange zest. Keep beating until super fluffy.
- To make a large batch, use a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment for ease.
Katie’s Tip: To keep the butter smooth and spreadable after refrigeration, add a little oil (maybe 1 teaspoon) to the mixture. Alternatively, just bring the cranberry butter to room temperature before you serve.
Refrigerating and Freezing Instructions
- Refrigerate for up to 7 days. If you serve it in a bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap. An airtight container also works. If you rolled the butter into a log, just roll it back up into the parchment paper, twist the ends, and place in the fridge.
- Freeze for up to 2 months. Transfer the cranberry butter to an airtight container, label with date and contents, and transfer to the freezer. When ready to use, thaw on the counter for an hour or in the refrigerator overnight.
Ways to Use Your Cranberry Butter
Whipped cranberry butter is one of the easiest ways to dress up simple recipes. The list could go on and on, but here are some of my favorite uses.
- Slather on Rustic Bread, Homemade Baguette, Sweet Potato Rolls, or Flaky Biscuits.
- Serve it alongside Gingerbread Muffins, Pumpkin Protein Muffins, Apple Cranberry Muffins, Zucchini Apple Muffins, Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins, or Apple Cider Muffins.
- Spread onto Multigrain Pancakes, Apple Oatmeal Pancakes, Orange Ricotta Pancakes, or Homemade Waffles.
- Top your favorite scones, such as these Lemon Poppyseed Scones or Cranberry Orange Scones.
- Add it to a baked sweet potato for a sweet and tart side dish.
Katie’s Tip: You can also make savory compound butters, like this Garlic Herb Butter.
More Cranberry Recipes to Try
My Thanksgiving recipe collection is chockfull of cranberry recipes (it’s one of my favorite seasonal ingredients!). Here are a few more you absolutely have to make.
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Whipped Cranberry Butter Recipe
Whipped cranberry butter is a great way to use leftover cranberry sauce after Thanksgiving!
Ingredients
- 1 cup Kerrygold Salted Butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 teaspoon Orange Zest
- 2/3 cup leftover cranberry sauce, such as Cranberry Orange Walnut Relish
Instructions
Making the Cranberry Butter
- Add the butter to a medium sized mixing bowl. Beat the butter until fluffy using a hand mixer with beater attachments; scrape the sides of the bowl down as needed using a flexible silicone spatula. (Tip: For a larger batch, I recommend using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment.)
- After the butter has been whipped, add the orange zest and cranberry sauce. Continue to beat until the ingredients are incorporated into the butter and the mixture is light and airy.
- Butter can be served immediately or chilled before use.
Shaping Cranberry Butter into a Cylinder
- Place the softened cranberry butter down the center of a piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap.
- Fold one end of the parchment over the top of the butter.
- With a straight edge (a ruler or bench scraper works great), push the butter back into a cylinder while you hold the paper down over top.
- After that, roll the the butter forward into a roll. Twist the ends (like a tootsie roll!)
- Place the rolled cylinder of butter in the fridge to chill until firm.
- When ready to serve, unroll the cranberry butter and slice.
Notes
Store 5-7 days refrigerated or 1-2 months in the freezer.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: about 2 tablespoonsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 167Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 41mgSodium: 123mgCarbohydrates: 8gFiber: 0gSugar: 6gProtein: 0g
GoodLifeEats.com offers recipe nutritional information as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although GoodLifeEats.com makes every effort to provide accurate information, these figures are only estimates.
Try This Delicious Cranberry Butter Recipe!
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carolyn says
I always test recipes a few months before the holidays, this coming week I’ll try your whipped cranberry butter w/ roasted chicken.
Becca B says
Season tilapia with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Sautee in a pan with olive oil. Cook fish on both sides. Once cooked and opaque in color, remove from the pan and add in BUTTER, chopped garlic, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Scrape up the bits from the bottom of the pan and cook the butter down to make a delicious lemon butter garlic sauce. Top with fresh chopped parsley and enjoy!
Dorothea says
One of my favorite butter recipes is for a savory Garlic Butter for seasoned and grilled steak:
Add 2 cloves of fresh, minced garlic and 1 Tablespoon of fresh minced parsley to 1 stick of salted butter. Mix all ingredients together until creamy and thoroughly mixed. Use immediately, or store in the refrigerator.
kat says
OMG that looks super delicious!!! I want to put that on everything!!! Thanks so much for the recipe! I am very excited to try! 🙂
Lisa @ Stop and Smell the Chocolates says
I love cranberry and I love butter so – yum!! What a great combo – I’ve got to try this!
pam l says
whip some butter and pumpkin puree and dig in 🙂
amy @ uTryIt says
I’m sharing my Butter Cookie recipe for this Holiday Recipe Exchange. As you said,Kerrygold butter really makes a difference in the baked good. I only use Kerrygold in this particular for the same reason. 🙂 Guess I’m a lucky girl, my local markets such as Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s always carry Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter! It’s pure heaven in my butter cookies! I’m keeping my fingers cross for this contest.
Anne says
A dear friend shared this with me years ago and my family dubbed it “Heavenly Almond Syrup”.
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup whipping cream
3/4 tsp. almond extract
Melt butter & sugar in saucepan (do not boil). Place in blender with whipping cream and blend for 1 minute. Add almond extract and mix well. Serve warm. Excellent topping for pancakes, waffles, even ice cream.
Kathy says
I like to add a little honey and cinnomon, whip it up and put it on english muffins…yum!
Molly Jo says
I adapted this butter idea from the one above (from my mom, who LOVES her butter and cheese.. so winning would be awesome… but back to the recipe:)
2 sticks (8 TBS ea) butter (not margarine!)
1/2 tsp Poppyseeds
1/2 tsp Sesame seeds
Let the butter come to room temperature so it’s soft and easy to work with. Put both sticks in a small bowl and gradually mix in the seeds.
This is a great topping on wheat toast, for sautee’ing shrimp or stir-fry, and atop crackers for a tasty snack.
And since it’s butter, it stores in the refrigerator for ever!
Molly Jo says
My mom raised me on this chive butter recipe:
2 sticks (8 TBS ea) butter (not margarine!)
Approx 25 Chives, fresh grown and minced.
Let the butter come to room temperature so it’s soft and easy to work with. Put both sticks in a small bowl and gradually mix in the chives.
We used this on garlic toast, baked potatoes, other recipes that called for butter and seasonings (like creamy soups!), or as a dipping sauce for steak fondue.
It’s utterly delicious, and since it’s butter, it stores in the fridge for ever!
Liz says
I enjoy make fresh herb butter for veggies!
Jan says
My mom smears leftover cranberry sauce (the basic homemade kind) on toast or biscuits until it’s all gone and now she’s got me doing it.
I’m going to make some of this and form it into a log and freeze portions of it so I can enjoy it year round. I’ll puree the sauce first to break up the big chunks of fruit so it spreads easier.
Thanks for sharing this!
Jan
Cheri @ KzooKitchen says
Looks delicious! I’m going to try this on Thanksgiving