Miso Butter

5 from 7 votes

A simple and easy miso butter recipe made of miso, and unsalted butter that can be used for stir-fries, braising, noodles, or spread on toast.

Prep Time10

Cook Time0

Total Time10

Course: Condiments

Cuisine: Asian, Asian American Fusion, Japanese Fusion

Servings: cup of butter

Calories: 1901kcal

Author: Joyce Lee

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter (softened at room temperature)
½ cup miso paste (white, yellow or red miso)

Optional Ingredient

1 bulb roasted garlic

Instructions

Preparation

Softened unsalted butter and miso at room temperature for 4 hours.
If you don't have time to wait for the butter to soften, you can soften it in the microwave for 15 seconds (do it in 2-3 second intervals). Do not melt the butter, you want to just soften it.

Making the Miso Butter

Once the butter is soft enough to cut through with a butter knife, add it to a large mixing bowl and cut it up into small pieces.
Add the miso to the bowl on top of the butter.
Using a hand mixer, mix it until everything is evenly blended.
If you don't have a hand mixer, you can use the back of a spoon and mash the miso into the butter until everything is evenly mixed together.
**Make sure you use a strong and sturdy spoon and not one that is soft and bendable.
You can use it right away or store it in the fridge for later.

How to Roll Miso Butter into a Tube for Storage

Take a large piece of plastic wrap and place it on top of a cutting board.
Using a spoon, add the miso butter on to the plastic wrap. I like to place enough to make it about 1½ inches thick but you can make it thinner if you want to make thinner logs.
Bring the bottom of the plastic wrap to the top
Start rolling the log upwards gently.
Using your finger, try to remove any large bubbles or gaps in the roll by pressing down on it.
Start to roll up one side of the roll, and then roll the other side as well.
Once both sides have been rolled you can tighten the roll by rolling it some more until it becomes a firm tube.
I like to roll them in opposite directions, so I will roll my right side upwards, and roll my left side downwards.
Place the rolls on a plate and let them set in the fridge overnight.

Notes

If you don't have time to wait for the butter to soften, you can soften it in the microwave for 15 seconds (do it in 2-3 second intervals). Do not melt the butter, you want to just soften it.
Once miso butter is stored in the fridge, the cold temperature will harden it and set it in the shape it was stored at. Since it is not easily scoopable once it is hardened, I highly recommend rolling it in a tube shape with plastic wrap and setting it into that shape, so that you can easily cut out small slices when you need it.
Both the unsalted butter and the miso should be softened at room temperature before you start making this recipe. This ensures that the butter will be evenly distributed with the miso, and you won't get clumps of miso or butter.
To make miso butter, always use unsalted butter. Miso is very salty, to begin with, so we don't need the extra salt from salted butter to make it even saltier.
If you like your miso butter a bit stronger, you can either use red miso (aka miso) or add an extra tablespoon of miso into the mix. Just keep in mind that the more miso you add, the less the miso butter will melt.
If you are trying to retain the health benefits of miso, do not cook with it on high heat (boiling, stir-frying etc)

Miso Butter Variations

Roasted Garlic - I like to use roasted garlic in my miso butter because it blends better, is milder in flavor, sweeter, and provides just a subtle hint of garlickiness.

To make roasted garlic, I cut off the top of the head of garlic and pour a bit of avocado over the opening. Then I wrap it in foil and bake it in the oven at 400f for about 40 minutes until the cloves are soft. Once the cloves are soft, wait for them to cool and you can pick out each clove or squeeze the whole bulb and mix it directly with the softened butter. I like to use 1 whole bulb for 1 cup of butter.

Fresh Rosemary - Rosemary works great in miso butter that you plan to use on steaks. That fresh pine scent flavor pairs well with any type of beef or lamb steak, especially if you put a bit of garlic with it.

Do keep in mind, fresh rosemary can also be very bitter if you use too much so more is not always better. For 1 cup of miso butter, I use about ¼ cup of fresh rosemary (stems removed), finely chopped.

Fresh Basil - I like to use fresh basil in my miso butter when I'm using it on noodles, fish, chicken, shrimp, or pasta. I find it goes nicer on lighter meats and noodles.

Fresh basil works best since it's difficult for dry basil to be rehydrated with cold butter. I like to only use the leaves of the basil, and it should be finely chopped. I use about ½ cup of fresh basil leaves for 1 cup of butter.

Nutrition