Cooking with infused or compound butter is a simple way to give your food a burst of luscious, creamy flavor. From adding infused butter to your baked goods, to upgrading your steak in spicy, creamy cowboy butter, there are several ways to incorporate butter blended with herbs, spices and other flavorful ingredients into your food. For instance, a tasty tequila butter pairs perfectly with grilled meats and vegetables, particularly shrimp, fish, lobster, steak, chicken, and corn on the cob. Combined with citrus and spices, tequila butter brings depth of flavor to your grilled food that your tastebuds will love.
The ingredients for tequila butter can vary but are typically unsalted butter, lime juice (freshly squeezed for the best flavor), salt, and a spoonful or two of tequila. Silver tequila is a good choice for your butter due to its herbaceous, crisp, and light tasting notes that pair well with citrus. Optional flavor-boosting ingredients include garlic, minced jalapeño peppers, red pepper flakes, cilantro, and black peppercorns. You can also use a pre-made cilantro lime seasoning blend like Badia’s Cilantro Lime Pepper Salt. Adding jalapeño peppers or red pepper flakes adds a welcome kick while cilantro delivers bright, fragrant freshness to the butter. Follow a few other helpful tips and you’ll be making mouthwatering, restaurant-quality grilled seafood, steak, and veggies in no time.
Tips for making tasty tequila butter
There are a couple of different ways to make tequila butter. Before getting started, it helps to know the difference between infused butter and compound butter. Infused butter involves cooking the ingredients to infuse the butter with flavor. It can be poured on food as a liquid or chilled to create a solid butter. Meanwhile, compound butter is made by mixing ingredients into softened butter, giving you a soft, flavorful spread that can also be chilled.
Either method will work for making tequila butter. You can add the lime juice, tequila, salt, and other ingredients to softened butter and mix thoroughly (a hand or small stand mixer is useful for this, like the Kitchen in the box Small Electric Food Mixer). For simple instructions, follow a guide on how to build your own compound butter with one easy formula. Add a pat of tequila butter to a grilled steak for a creamy, flavorful topping, or spread some on your grilled corn on the cob to give it a burst of citrusy flavor.
Another option is to heat the ingredients in a saucepan, bring to a boil, then simmer for a few minutes. In general, cooking the ingredients allows the flavor to permeate the butter more evenly than mixing it into softened butter. Drizzle melted butter over your grilled shrimp, steak, lobster, or corn on the cob, or pour it in a bowl and chill it in the refrigerator for a spreadable butter.
