This honey butter recipe has been in my family for decades. Its creamy spreadable texture is due to a secret ingredient that might surprise you. I’ve been making it to give away during the holidays (with a crusty loaf) for years. It always has that eyes-rolling-back effect. ;)

The secret ingredient isn’t marshmallow fluff like a lot of other honey butter recipes. (And I feel like it needs a disclaimer.) The ingredient is…. a raw egg.

What kind of raw egg is entirely up to you. Pasteurized eggs are widely available (or you can make your own with my instructions below!). For obvious reasons I won’t condone eating raw eggs here, but if you’re comfortable eating raw cookie dough and you eat the honey butter within a few days then… use your best judgment.

Homemade Honey Butter ingredients

Butter, softened to room temperature
Honey
Vanilla
Salt
Pasteurized Egg

Is it safe to eat raw eggs?

I’m totally fine making this for us because I get higher quality egg and the risk of getting salmonella is super low. There’s a statistic going around online that the CDC said the risk is 1 in 20,000 eggs being contaminated with salmonella. I’ve hunted around for a legit link on the CDC’s site and haven’t been able to find that exact statistic.

I guess the takeaway is… the risk is low. Especially if you’re buying good eggs. And salmonella isn’t super dangerous for most people anyway so, use your best judgment there.

How to pasteurize a raw egg

I decided to give some loaves of sourdough and honey butter out to a few people last Christmas and didn’t want to give everybody raw egg honey butter.

So, I pasteurized my own eggs!

It was pretty easy. I used a tutorial over at Sugar Geek Show who followed instructions from the Egg Safety Center.

Basically you bring a pot of water to 140 degrees. Add some eggs and hold the temperature there for 3-4 minutes. Then put the eggs into an ice bath so they don’t scramble on the inside.

The goal is to get the inside of the egg to 140 degrees for a couple of minutes. This doesn’t 100% eliminate the risk of bacteria, but it greatly reduces the risk.

How to make honey butter

Honey butter is pretty easy to make. Most people blend up honey and… butter. You guessed it.

There’s nothing wrong with just honey and butter. It’s super tasty.

You can use a blender if you don’t have a food processor.

The issue I have with stopping at this point is that it’s sort of clumpy and hard to spread.

If you’re trying to spread this on toast or a scone or some pancakes, they better be really hot in order to get this honey butter smoothed evenly.

Or it’ll rip it to shreds.

There’s a secret ingredient we use to make honey butter super smooth and spreadable. Are you ready for it?

(It’s not marshmallow fluff. Although I’ve heard good things about that, too.)

It’s an egg.

Yep, a raw egg.

It smooths out the honey butter and gives it a better flavor. Trust me on this.

Do you get why I didn’t share this recipe before? And why I hesitate giving this stuff away to people?

Once they try it they’d ask for the recipe, and I don’t want to admit I tossed a raw egg into what I just gave them.

Honey Butter Recipe Variations

I like to add some vanilla and a pinch of salt to add more flavor to my honey butter.

You can also add one of these:

Cinnamon
Pumpkin Pie Spice
Chai Spice
Orange zest
Raw Cranberries (good with the orange zest, too!)
Freeze dried berries
Shaved chocolate

Ways to use Honey Butter

Most of the best ways to use honey butter have to do with smearing it on some kind of bread product. Like. . .

Warm bread
Toast
Scones
Pancakes/Waffles
Crepes
Biscuits

If you find a creative way to use honey butter, let me know!

How to store DIY Honey Butter

Keep the honey butter in a lidded container in the refrigerator. If you’re not using pasteurized eggs, I’d consume it within a few days. Otherwise it keeps for a week or so in the fridge.

If you make one of my recipes, be sure to post it on social media and tag me at @perrysplate or #perrysplate so I can send you some love!

Easy Recipe for Honey Butter

Name: Easy Recipe for Honey Butter
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 1
Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature; 1 cup honey; 1/2 teaspoon vanilla; pinch of salt; 1 egg

Yield: Makes 1 1/2 cups

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

This super delicious, super spreadable honey butter is naturally sweetened and is made with a secret ingredient that makes the texture SUPER smooth.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
1 egg

Instructions

Put the butter and honey in your food processor or blender. Blend until smooth and no large butter clumps remain.
Add the vanilla, salt, and egg.
Blend until completely smooth.
Store in a lidded container in the refrigerator. Keeps for a week.

Notes

If using a raw egg freaks you out, use a store-bought pasteurized egg or pasteurize your own eggs using the link within the recipe post.

How to Make Honey Butter