Less than 10 minutes to make, this Garlic Butter Sauce is perfect for just about anything you can think of! It’s wonderful tossed with freshly cooked pasta or served with your next steak, seafood, or Grilled Veggies. I also serve this tossed with my Grilled Potatoes all summer long and drizzled over roasted veggies in the winter. The possible ways to serve this easy and tasty sauce are endless and I know you’ll love it too.
Garlic butter sauce drizzled over everything – yes please and thank you! All joking aside, this sauce is a regular in our house because it pairs with your favorite protein, carbs, and veggies.
My favorite formula to get dinner on the table fast is super simple: protein + veggie + sauce = really fast dinner. Simply choose a protein and a couple of veggies to roast or grill, then pair it with your favorite sauce.
And since this Garlic Butter Sauce goes with anything I can think of, the sky is the limit on the combinations you can create. And bonus points if your veggie counts as a carb as well, like sweet potato, squash, or regular potatoes.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Butter – I use salted butter because that’s what I have on hand, but unsalted butter works here as well. Simply add salt to taste depending on what you use.
- Garlic – fresh minced garlic will make for the best flavor, this is no time to use jarred garlic. Try using a garlic press to make prep easy.
- Lemon – freshly squeezed lemon juice is what turn this garlic butter into a ‘sauce’ and adds a bit of depth. You can omit the lemon juice to make regular garlic herb butter.
- Herbs – I like to add a bit of chopped fresh parsley and chives to this sauce because I have both in my garden. But you can choose one to simplify.
- Salt & pepper – add both to your taste. You may find you need more salt if you use this sauce on pasta. If you pair it with grilled or roasted meats that have salt, you’ll need a bit less.
How to make this recipe step by step
Step 1: Start by mincing up the chives and parsley, then set them aside.
Step 2: Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat.
Step 3: Next add the garlic to the melted butter and cook for about 1 minute over low heat. You want the low heat to take the edge off the raw garlic, but not to brown it.
Step 4: Turn the burner off and whisk in the chopped fresh herbs, lemon juice, and then season to taste with sea salt and pepper.
Ways to serve this
- This garlic butter sauce is perfect with your favorite protein: beef, chicken, fish, seafood, and pork all pair with this sauce.
- This homemade garlic butter sauce is also perfect as a dipping sauce for shrimp, seafood, and vegetables of all kinds.
- You can toss this sauce together with 1 pound of freshly cooked pasta along with more lemon juice and salt to taste. This is particularly good sprinkled with freshly grated parmesan. This sauce is also tasty tossed together with boiled new potatoes, or cube up larger potatoes after they’ve been boiled, (sweet potatoes or roasted squash also work). And finally, you can also mix a few tablespoons of this sauce with freshly steamed rice.
- This easy garlic butter sauce adds lots of flavor to your favorite steamed veggies. Toss cooked carrots, green beans, spinach, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, or any other veggie you can think of with just enough garlic butter sauce to coat and flavor them.
FAQ’s
Yes, you can if you love the taste of your dairy-free butter of choice. This sauce is all about the butter flavor, so I personally would make a different sauce, or use a full-flavored extra virgin olive oil.
Garlic butter is simply garlic and butter together with fresh herbs, salt, and pepper added sometimes. Garlic butter sauce is all the same ingredients but with something acidic added like lemon juice or white wine which creates the ‘sauce’.
Storing leftovers
- To store – leftover garlic butter sauce keeps in a container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
- Make ahead – this sauce keeps well which makes it a great make-ahead recipe. Simply reheat the garlic butter sauce and whisk it back together when you’re ready to serve it.
- Reheating – this sauce will solidify at room temperature and in the fridge. To reheat, place the garlic butter sauce into a small saucepan and heat gently over low heat whisking to emulsify until warmed through.
- To freeze – you can freeze leftover sauce for up to 3 months. Place in a freezer-safe container or freeze individual portions in an ice cube tray and freeze, then transfer to a well-sealed container.
Tips & Tricks
- You don’t need to add the fresh herbs if you don’t have them on hand, this sauce still has wonderful flavor without them. Although if you have to pick one, parsley is probably the easiest to find and adds a nice fresh flavor. I only add chives when they’re growing in my herb garden.
- The better the butter you can find, the better this sauce will taste since it’s all about the butter. I love to use Amish butter whenever I can get it in the local supermarket because it has such a nice rich flavor. Any grass-fed butter you love works perfectly here as well. Of course, regular butter works too, but really good butter is nice in this sauce.
Dietary Options & Substitutions
- Dairy-free, Vegan, or Vegetarian – you can use dairy-free or vegan butter as mentioned above, but I would use extra virgin olive oil personally because I like the taste better, or make a different sauce recipe.
- Paleo Whole30 – use ghee in place of the butter.
More Sauce Recipe Inspiration
I really hope you enjoy this Garlic Butter Sauce recipe! If you do get a chance to make this recipe, I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
Garlic Butter Sauce
INGREDIENTS
- 8 tbsp salted butter - 1 stick, or ghee
- 1 clove garlic - minced
- 1 tbsp parsley - chopped
- 1 tbsp chives - thinly sliced, optional
- 1/4 tsp sea salt - or to your taste
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper - more or less to your taste
- 2 tbsp lemon juice - freshly squeezed, see notes
INSTRUCTIONS
- Start by mincing up the chives and parsley, then set them aside. You can use just parsley if you don't have chives on hand to simplify.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat.
- Next, add the garlic to the melted butter and cook for about 1 minute over low heat. You want the low heat to take the edge off the raw garlic, but not to brown it.
- Turn the burner off and whisk in the chopped fresh herbs, lemon juice, and then season to taste with sea salt and pepper.
- Serve with your favorite protein, starch, and veggies. This sauce separates as it sits, simply whisk it back together.
Trying this tonight…..
I sure hope you enjoy it!
Sounds amazing! I was wondering when melting the butter, do u bring it to a boil or just right at it? Ive noticed when making other sauces that if the butter boils, it separates.
You want to keep it under a boil, just enough heat to take the edge off the garlic but not to a boil because butter does separate like you mentioned. This is also a delicate emulsion that will separate as it sits and needs to be whisked back together. I hope this helps and be sure to let me know how it goes, or if you have any more questions!