3-Ingredient Anchovy Butter Recipe

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One of the easiest ways to elevate your cooking is to use compound butters. Made by mixing herbs, cheeses, veggies, or even alcohol into room-temperature butter, compound butters can be used on a variety of dishes like steak, roasted vegetables, and fish, adding flavor that would otherwise require many ingredients to achieve. By putting together a compound butter in advance, you save time when making the dish later – plus, it can add visual appeal when added to plated dishes, too. This three-ingredient anchovy butter recipe developed with Michelle McGlinn uses anchovies, butter, and parsley to make a simple, flavorful butter that will elevate anything — even a simple piece of toast.

Anchovies are an unexpected ingredient for adding umami to beef, vegetables, and fish. It can be hard to know how, exactly, to incorporate anchovies into your cooking, especially if you aren't used to working with the small, thin, canned fish. Compound butters make it easy, allowing you to melt the anchovy flavor into your dishes incrementally until your desired flavor profile is reached. Best of all, a great anchovy butter requires just a few ingredients, making it easy to have on hand anytime. 

To make anchovy butter, you will need softened butter, parsley, and anchovies. You can use salted butter for more flavor, or add salt as needed once the butter comes together, keeping in mind that anchovies themselves have a salty flavor. For the anchovies, seek out high-quality filets packed in oil. It doesn't matter whether you use canned or jarred anchovies, but because you only need a few, jarred may be the wiser choice. You can then store the remaining anchovies to use for Caesar dressing and use the oil in pasta sauces and soups.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a small nonstick skillet over medium-low heat.

Add the anchovies, stirring constantly until anchovies begin to melt. Press into the anchovies with a spatula to dissolve, if necessary.

Remove the skillet from heat and let the mixture cool slightly, about 5 minutes.

Combine the cooked anchovy paste into the remaining butter along with the parsley.

Serve the anchovy butter or store in an airtight container until ready to use.

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Anchovies add umami flavor to dishes that are already either rich or acidic in the same way that fish sauce or soy sauce does in Asian cuisine. Anchovies are often used in Italian dishes, adding depth to tomato sauces and pestos. You can add the anchovy butter to tomato sauce for a touch of rich umami flavor, which will melt into the sauce and add dimension. You could also melt it into puttanesca or simply swirl it into noodles plain for an elevated butter noodle.

You can also use the butter after cooking to garnish completed dishes. The most common way to use anchovy butter is on steak, where the pat of butter will melt into the steak's crispy exterior. You can also add it to fish like cod or halibut, as the mild flavor will complement the fishy taste of the butter. You can also spread it on bread slices or add a pat to roasted potatoes for extra umami flavor.

If your heat is too high or the skillet is too dry, your anchovies may begin to splatter and burn instead of melting cleanly into a sauce or paste. Anchovies dissolve in heat, which is why they are great, easy additions to soups, sauces, and stews with high volumes of liquid. This is because anchovies require fat to melt instead of burn or splatter, much like anything else you add to a skillet. While you could add the anchovies to the skillet with a drizzle of the oil they are packed in, you can also use some of the butter, which will fold cleanly into the remaining stick.

If you are melting the anchovies in butter and still experience splattering, try lowering the heat until the butter is just barely simmering. The anchovies only need a little bit of heat to melt into the fat, so stir the anchovies while cooking slowly over low heat. You can also try using a nonstick skillet, which will prevent any sticking while the anchovies dissolve.

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