Maple Butter

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Add this easy maple butter to your fall favorites! It’s a sweet and creamy topping for all of your breakfast favorites, breads, and sweet potatoes.

A few years ago I bought some pricey maple butter and spent the month carefully doling it out, trying to make it last as long as possible. Sweet, creamy, and just a tad salty, I loved it!

Then I realized I could make this myself for a fraction of the cost. All you need is some butter and pure maple syrup, and you’re on your way.

Maple butter is not the same as maple cream, which is simply maple syrup that is cooked down and stirred until thick and creamy. That’s delicious too, but maple butter is much more versatile.

I love using maple butter for weekend pancakes, toast, or spread onto corn muffins with dinner. It’s also excellent over baked sweet potatoes, or you can try it with roasted carrots!

Ingredients for maple butter

You only need two ingredients for maple butter: butter and maple syrup.

Make sure to use pure maple syrup, not imitation syrup. I use Grade A syrup for my butter, which is the typical syrup you’ll find at the grocery store.

You can also use dark or robust maple syrup for a deeper flavor. This was previously called “Grade B,” but was renamed in part due to customers thinking Grade B meant it wasn’t as good as Grade A.

For the butter, I recommend using a nice quality butter rather than what you’d typically use for baking or cooking. Kerrygold is great, or you can use the Kirkland grass-fed butter, as I have for the batch I’ve photographed. 

How to make this recipe

You’ll want to make sure your butter is at room temperature, or the syrup won’t be able to mix in.

Put the softened butter in a mixing bowl, and using a hand mixer (or a strong arm) beat the butter just to smooth it out a bit.

Pour in the maple syrup and mix again until the syrup is uniformly blended in. The butter should be smooth.

Taste the butter and add more syrup if desired, or add salt to taste. If you’re using salted butter, you shouldn’t need to add any.

Transfer the butter to jars or a deli container. You can also shape it into a log on plastic wrap or waxed paper and twist up the ends. This will make it easy to slice off the butter you need without needing to let it soften.

Store the butter in the refrigerator. When you’re ready to use it, remove from the fridge ahead of time to let it soften enough for spreading.

If you want a stronger maple flavor, measure 1/2 cup maple syrup into a small saucepan, and cook until reduced by half.

Storage tips

Stored in the refrigerator, maple butter will keep for 2-3 months. Storing toward the back of the refrigerator will help it last longer, since it is colder.

You can also store it in the freezer for up to 6 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator when ready to use.

If your maple butter separates, let it come to room temperature and then re-whip it with a hand mixer.

Recipe suggestions

You can vary the flavor of this syrup to match up with more sweet or savory flavors.

For sweet spices, add in 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, or apple pie spice.

To make this butter savory (perfect for biscuits or rolls at dinner), use 1/4 teaspoon ground sage or thyme.

Try this maple butter recipe to go with buttermilk waffles, roasted white sweet potatoes, or English muffins!