The Best Wild Garlic Butter

This super easy, four-ingredient wild garlic (ramps) butter is the classic way to make the most of this wonderful seasonal ingredient. It keeps well and is easily freezable, so you can have a taste of spring year-round.

Wild garlic butter on a piece of baking paper with more wild garlic butter in a small glass bowl, with a god knife on the side.

Ultra creamy, bright and flavoursome wild garlic butter has to be the easiest way to preserve this special seasonal ingredient. Not only is it SO easy (literally throw 4 things in a food processor or bowl and press go) but it’s one of the best ways to add a burst of spring flavour to so many dishes.

Drizzle it over new potatoes or asparagus, toss through pasta or rice, spoon onto grilled chicken or maple glazed salmon or simply slather it onto toast! (I recommend this Vogel’s style seeded bread).

Looking for more wild garlic inspiration? Try making wild garlic pesto, wild garlic macaroni cheese, wild garlic risotto or cheesy pull apart wild garlic hot cross buns.

Ingredients

You only need FOUR ingredients to make this delicious butter.

Wild garlic (ramps). These beautifully fragranced leaves only appear for about 1 month a year in spring. They have a lovely subtle garlic flavour. If you’re lucky, you can forage for them yourself (just make sure you know exactly what you’re looking for as they are often mistaken for lily of the valley, which is poisonous). You can also find them at farmers’ markets, and online retailers Able & Cole, Riverford and Ocado stock them in the UK.
Butter. We’re using unsalted butter to better control the quantity of salt in the finished butter, but you can use salted butter if that’s all you have. If you do use salted butter, make sure you taste it first and then reduce the amount of salt you add.
Lemon. We’re using the zest of the lemon and a little lemon juice for freshness, so ideally, you want to use a fresh lemon here.

How to make it

Add the softenedbutter, wild garlic leaves, flaky salt, lemonzest and lemonjuice to the bowl of a food processor or chopper. Blitz for a couple of minutes, scraping down the sides as you go, until a creamy, light green whipped butter is formed. Taste, and add a little more salt if you like.

You can also make this butter by hand. If you’re doing that, chop the wild garlic leaves finely, then vigorously mix all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Ingredients for wild garlic butter in a small food processor.

Wild garlic butter blitzed in a small food processor.

Seven ways to use wild garlic butter

Replace regular garlic butter with it in this recipe for garlic butter potatoes.
Use it to make the most fragrant roast chicken (this juicy herb roasted chicken is great with wild garlic butter under the skin).
Swap regular garlic naan for wild garlic naan in this 2 ingredient dough garlic naan recipe.
Drizzle it over grilled steak, salmon, chicken or prawns/shrimp.
Use to it make the best butter board around.
Brush it on top of quick garlic butter dinner rolls.
Or simply slather it on toast! Try it with this super easy no-knead Vogel’s style seed bread, no-knead rosemary parmesan bread or no-knead focaccia.

Got a question?

How long will the butter keep?

It will last for at least 2 weeks, stored in the fridge. It’s also great to freeze – roll it into a log wrapped in baking paper and slice little bits off straight from the freezer. It will last at least 6 months in this way.

Can I use salted butter?

Yes, you can – the reason we use unsalted in the recipe is so you can control the quantity of salt in your finished butter. So if you only have salted butter, just taste it first to see how salty it is, you may need to reduce the amount of salt you add.

Like this recipe? Here are more you might enjoy

Close up of wild garlic pesto on a small gold spoon. — How to Make Wild Garlic Pesto

Butter smoothed onto a board and topped with chilli oil, fig chutney and herbs with bread on the side. — How to Make Wild Garlic Pesto

If you make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you! You can leave me a comment below.

The Best Wild Garlic Butter

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5 from 1 review

Author: Kate Alexandra
Total Time: 5 minutes
Yield: 1.5 cups 1x
Diet: Vegetarian

Print Recipe

Description

Ingredients

Units Scale

250g unsalted butter, softened
100g wild garlic leaves, thoroughly washed
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon flaky sea salt

Instructions

Make the wild garlic butter. Combine 250g softened butter, 100g washed wild garlic leaves, 1 tablespoon of flaky salt, the zest of 1 lemon and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice in the bowl of a food processor or food chopper. Blitz for a couple of minutes, until the butter is looking smooth, pale green and ultra-creamy. Taste, and season with a little more salt if you think it needs it. Transfer to a clean container to store in the fridge.

Notes

NO FOOD PROCESSOR? No problem! You can mix this butter by hand. Just chop the wild garlic leaves finely, then mix vigorously with the other ingredients in a large mixing bowl until smooth and creamy.

STORAGE INSTRUCTIONS: The butter will keep well for at least 2 weeks, stored in the fridge. You can also freeze it for up to six months. Form it into a log and wrap it in baking paper, then you can slice off discs whenever you like.

INGREDIENT NOTES: You can find wild garlic at farmers’ markets and at some online retailers during spring – in the UK you can pick it up from Ocado, Riverford or Able & Cole. You can of course forage for it in the wild if you’re lucky! Just make sure you know it really is wild garlic – it looks very similar to lily of the valley which is extremely poisonous. We’re using unsalted butter to control the amount of salt added, but you can use salted butter if you like. Just give it a taste before adding salt as it might end up too salty.

Prep Time: 5
Category: sauces
Method: no cook
Cuisine: british