Name: Smoked Butter With Sea Salt
Prep time: 1 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 46 min
Ingredients: 1 Stick Grass-fed Butter (unsalted); 1/2 tsp Flakey Sea Salt (Maldon's)

Smoked Butter is incredibly simple to make, and totally irresistible. It’s perfect for slathering on bread, finishing your meats, or to cook eggs or veggies in. It is truly versatile and adds a little pizazz to any dish.

Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

Smoked Butter

As my obsession with our Traeger Grill continues, I enjoy experimenting with new things to smoke. Enter, smoked butter. There is so much to love about this recipe, the great thing is it’s so easy to make, and you can use smoked butter in so many ways. It’s perfect on toast, steaks, eggs, mashed potatoes, veggies or even in mac and cheese.

The only added ingredient in this smoked butter recipe is sea salt, but you could also add garlic, fresh herbs or black pepper for a slightly spicy finish.

What Type Of Butter Should I Use?

We’d recommend using unsalted, grass-fed butter. Using the unsalted variety allows you to control the salt quantity AND quality. Additionally, grass-fed cows graze on grass (which is what they are designed to eat), unlike commercially fed cows whose feed typically contains GMOs hormones and other antibiotics.

Ingredients

Grass-Fed Butter: Kerrygold Butter is my go-to. Irish butter is a European-style butter that comes directly from Ireland. It’s made from grass-fed cow’s milk and has a higher fat content than regular butter, which gives it a richer texture.

Sea Salt: I love using finishing salt in this recipe. Maldon’s Sea Salt is my favorite.

Cast iron skillet, Kerrygold butter and sea salt on a white surface.

Instructions

Preheat your pellet smoker to 180 degrees f.
Place the stick of butter on a small cast iron skillet, small dutch oven or a heat safe shallow dish.
Sprinkle the stick of butter with Sea Salt
Place the cast iron skillet on the grill grates of your pellet smoker. Close the lid and smoke for 45 minutes.

Stick of butter sitting in a cast iron pat.

Stick of butter in a cast iron skillet sprinkled with Sea Salt.

A stick of butter on a cast iron skillet sitting on the grates of a grill.

Melted smoked butter in a cast iron skillet on the grates of a grill.

Melted smoked butter in a cast iron skillet, sitting on a white backdrop.

Variations

Smoked Garlic Butter: Add 1-2 minced garlic cloves to the cast iron skillet for a garlic butter version.
Smoked Herb Butter: Try adding your favorite herbs, like thyme, rosemary or oregano to the skillet. The mixed herbs will infuse the butter with a wonderful flavor.
Sweet Smoked Butter: You can also make a sweet variation by adding honey to the cast iron skillet.
Compound Butter: Add the chilled butter to a food processor or stand mixer along with a little bit of herbs. Pulse at a low speed, and voila you have an herb compound butter.

How To Use Smoked Butter

You can used smoked butter just as you would regular butter. You can try it on the following:

Ribeye Steak
Pork Chops
Fish
Chicken
Prime Rib
Lobster
Shrimp
Scallops
Toast
Eggs
Potatoes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Smoke Butter In A Pellet Smoker?

Yes, you can! You will want to place the stick of butter in a cast iron skillet and smoke low and slow for 30-45 minutes. The taste of the butter provides a subtle smoky flavor without much smoke.

What Is The Best Wood For Smoking Butter?

Hickory, applewood or cherrywood are great wood chips for smoking butter.

What Is The Smoke Point For Unsalted Butter?

You will want to keep you pellet grill lower than 200 degrees to really infuse smoke into the butter. The smoke point for unsalted butter is 300-350 degrees.

What's The Difference Between Smoked Butter and Brown Butter?

Brown butter is ordinary butter cooked until it melts and the milk solids turn a golden brown. This cooking process brings out deeper, more complex flavors and aromas in the butter. Smoked Butter is cooked at a lower temperature, and infused with smoke from the pellet grill.

Smoked Butter With Sea Salt melted in a black cast iron skillet with a silver spoon.

How To Serve

Use this smoked butter to cook your meats, veggies or eggs in. You can also drizzle it on top of your favorite grilled meat or seafood, or slather it on bread.

How To Store

When the smoked butter is a room temperature you will want to pour it into an airtight container, and store it in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Other Smoker Recipes

Smoked Cream Cheese

Smoked Whole Chicken

Traeger Smoked Salmon

Smoked Hot Dogs On A Pellet Grill

Traeger Grilled Salmon

Smoked Bacon

Smoked Asparagus

Did you make this recipe or another recipe on Simple And Fraiche? Please leave a rating or a comment, as we would love to hear from you. You can also hashtag it on Instagram #simpleandfraiche.