The Best Cowboy Butter Recipe for Steak
This homemade Cowboy Butter is a bold, flavorful dipping sauce—rich, garlicky, and packed with herbs, citrus, and spice. Perfect warm with steak, seafood, veggies, or crusty bread. It’s quick to make and turns any dish into something special.
Cowboy Butter
When I shared the ribeye recipe (cooked in a cast iron skillet) a few days ago, I mentioned that we’ve started cooking more and more steaks at home, and I’ve loved the process of perfecting a steak recipe.
But my experimenting didn’t end there. I recently saw Kinder Cowboy Butter seasoning in our local store, and I went down a rabbit hole learning about Cowboy Butter Sauce. I was intrigued enough to develop my own recipe for Cowboy Butter for steak.
As a dipping sauce, Cowboy Butter is a warm, velvety, flavorful butter that brings a zesty, savory kick to just about anything you dip into it. Our favorite way to enjoy it is with a steak dinner but it’s great with so many other proteins and pretty much any grilled meat.
What is Cowboy Butter?
My first question when I saw the seasoning was – what is cowboy butter?
Cowboy Butter is a zesty, savory butter-based sauce or spread loaded with flavor. It typically includes ingredients like garlic, fresh herbs (like parsley and chives), lemon juice and zest, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and spices like smoked paprika and chili flakes.
While it can be served as a type of compound butter (chilled and sliced), it’s most popular as a warm dipping sauce—perfect for steak, seafood, grilled vegetables, or bread. Think of it as a kicked-up, flavor-packed alternative to garlic butter, with a smoky, tangy twist.
Cowboy Butter Recipe for Steak
I always add butter to my steaks – sometimes regular butter and sometimes homemade butter (like this garlic and herb butter)… but this Cowboy Butter Sauce is a delicious way to really make your meal feel “fancy.”
I decided to go with the melted butter Cowboy Butter Dipping Sauce and it truly takes any type of steak to a whole new level! We especially love a Cowboy Butter Steak!
Why You’ll Love Cowboy Butter Sauce
There are so many reasons to love this Cowboy Butter Sauce recipe…
- Bursting with bold flavors
- Perfect accompaniment for dipping steak, steak bites, shrimp, veggies, or fresh bread
- Made with savory herbs and zesty lemon that pack a lot of flavor!
- Perfect addition that adds extra flavor to any meal
- The sauce can be made ahead of time and reheated over low heat
- Easily customizable to suit your spice level
- Works as a dip, spread, or drizzle
Ingredients
Cowboy Butter ingredients are all pretty common and easy to find. You may even already have them all in your pantry.
- Unsalted Butter
- Red Onion, finely chopped
- Fresh Garlic, minced
- Fresh Parsley, chopped
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Dijon Mustard
- Lemon Juice
- Lemon Zest
- Smoked Paprika
- Red Pepper Flakes (to taste)
- Fresh Chives (or Dried Chives)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Find the full recipe with ingredient measurements in the printable recipe card below.
How to Make Cowboy Butter
Making the best Cowboy Butter recipe is easy and only takes a few steps! So let’s get started. How to Make Cowboy Butter for steak:
- Place butter in a small saucepan and melt it over medium heat.
- Add the chopped red onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add the minced garlic to the butter mixture and cook for about 30 seconds, until fragrant. Be careful not to burn the garlic.
- Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, lemon zest, smoked paprika, and red chili flakes.
- Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
- Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally, to allow the flavorful ingredients to meld. Stir in the remaining ingredients: chopped parsley and chives.
- Remove from heat and serve immediately with grilled steak, pork chops, chicken or side dishes.
Pro Tips & Variations
Variations. You can certainly change up the flavors in your cowboy butter if you’d like to. For some of the fresh ingredients, you can choose dried herbs if that’s more convenient. Here are some other things you can add or substitute:
- Fresh Thyme
- Hot Sauce
- Green Onion, diced
- Garlic Powder
- Chili Powder
- Rosemary
- Coarse Mustard
More Heat. For a spicier kick, add more red chili flakes. Use less if you only want a little kick. Added cayenne pepper can also add a kick of heat.
Say Cheese. For cheesiness, stir in 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese off the heat. This make the perfect topping for warm bread.
Cowboy Compound Butter
If you’d like to serve it in slices, Cowboy Butter Steak Sauce can be made into a flavorful compound butter in the shape of a log.
How to Make Cowboy Compound Butter
To make compound Cowboy Butter, grab a medium bowl and mix all the ingredients into softened butter (or room temperature butter) until well combined. Spoon the mixture onto a sheet of wax paper or parchment paper, then shape it into a log.
Roll it up tightly in a long piece of plastic wrap, twisting the ends to seal. Chill in the refrigerator until firm. When ready to use, slice off rounds and place them on hot grilled meats or seafood to melt over the top.
Serving Suggestions
A perfect meal at our house would be a grilled ribeye steak (or cooked inside), a potato side dish (such as baked potato or funeral potatoes), some green beans (our favorite recipe) and dinner rolls.
Steak butter can even be used as butter sauce for the green beans and rolls! It’s the best dipping sauce for every dish… mmmm perfection!
Storage Directions
Store leftover sauce in an airtight container or a layer of plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Reheat in a small saucepan over low heat before serving. You can also place it in a small bowl to reheat in the microwave.
The sauce can be made ahead of time and reheated over low heat.
More Condiment & Sauce Recipes
The Best Cowboy Butter Recipe for Steak
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 1.5 cups 1x
Description
This homemade Cowboy Butter is a bold, flavorful dipping sauce—rich, garlicky, and packed with herbs, citrus, and spice. Perfect warm with steak, seafood, veggies, or crusty bread. It’s quick to make and turns any dish into something special.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes (or more, to taste)
- 1 teaspoon dried chives
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the chopped red onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add the minced garlic and cook for about 30 seconds, until fragrant. Be careful not to burn the garlic.
- Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, lemon zest, smoked paprika, and red chili flakes. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
- Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally, to allow the flavors to meld. Stir in the chopped parsley and chives.
- Remove from heat and serve immediately.
Notes
- For a spicier kick, add more red chili flakes.
- Add other fresh herbs like thyme, or rosemary.
- For cheesiness, stir in 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese off the heat.
- The sauce can be made ahead of time and reheated over low heat.
- Storage: Store leftover sauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat before serving.
- Compound Cowboy Butter: To make compound Cowboy Butter, grab a medium bowl and mix all the ingredients into softened butter (or room temperature butter) until well combined. Spoon the mixture onto a sheet of wax paper or parchment paper, then shape it into a log. Roll it up tightly in a long piece of plastic wrap, twisting the ends to seal. Chill in the refrigerator until firm. When ready to use, slice off rounds and place them on hot grilled meats or seafood to melt over the top.
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 10
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Stovetop
