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How to Make Butter from Powdered Milk

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Making your own butter is an old-fashioned skill Ma Ingalls would be proud of, but making your own butter from powdered milk goes a step further when it comes to self-sufficiency skills!

The best part is, if you don’t have fresh cream on hand you can still use powdered milk from your food storage to make this homemade butter from scratch.

Learn how to make butter from powdered milk and you'll be able to whip up some homemade butter from your dried food storage whenever you need it! #foodstorage #homemadebutter #powderedmilkrecipes

How to Make Butter from Powdered Milk

Note: This is a guest post submitted by a Little House Living Reader. I (Merissa) have not personally tried this recipe so your results may vary.

So the other morning I woke up thinking…if you can make butter from milk, why can’t I make butter from powered milk? It seems simple enough, right?

The problem is that most powdered milk is non-fat, which is not ideal for making butter (something that is notoriously high in fat). But then I discovered Nestle “Nido”-brand powdered whole milk, which has a higher fat content than other skimmed varieties. So I tried it with this, and it worked!

The recipe is pretty straight-forward. You can make it with a food processor (which is how I make it), or you can simply put all of the ingredients into a Mason jar and shake it until it thickens up to butter consistency.

Of course, this isn’t real butter, because it calls for vegetable oil of some kind as well as water. But it’s a great recipe to have on hand if you need to whip up some butter (quite literally) and you don’t have anything but your dried food stores on hand.

Here’s what you do…

How to Make Butter from Powdered Milk

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 c. powdered milk
  • 1/3 c. water
  • 1/4 c. oil (coconut oil, avocado oil, olive oil, etc.)
  • Pinch of salt (for “salted butter”)

Directions:

  1. Add the powdered milk to your food processor (or Mason jar). Then add the water, oil and salt.
  2. Blend (or shake) for a few minutes and then check to see if it’s starting to thicken. Keep blending until it starts getting really thick (remember, you’re aiming for butter consistency). Check on it ever couple minutes to see if it’s getting there.
  3. After a few minutes it should be pretty thick, like butter or margarine. It might not be as thick as you’re used to with butter or margarine, but that’s also what makes it extra spreadable!

 

Looks, smells, and tastes like butter. Yum!

This recipe will make about 3/4 cup of “butter.” It will store in the fridge for at least a week and you can use it in place of butter on toast, vegetables, buns, etc. I haven’t tried it in baking. I’m not sure if it would hold up when heated up to oven temperatures, but feel free to give it a try and let me know your results!

For more homemade butter recipes, check out this post on how to make Homemade Butter In The Blender.

Or for something a little different, try this Homemade Honey Butter.

Looking for some yummy homemade food to spread your butter on? How about these Blueberry Muffins, or these Buttermilk Biscuits, or maybe these Quick Pull Apart Rolls.

And if you’re looking for more pantry staples you can make from scratch with ingredients you probably already have on hand, check out these posts:

7 Pantry Staples to Start Making

Homemade Mayo Recipe

Homemade Ketchup

Homemade BBQ Sauce

Homemade Yogurt

This blog post on How to Make Butter from Powdered Milk was originally published on Little House Living in February 2011. It has been updated as of April 2019.

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Comments

  2. This seems to be a solution for that “fake” butter stuff that you buy?..I’ll bet it tastes a whole lot better & it has to be better for you!?…Thanks…I would have never thought of doing this!!!

    Reply

    • Just tried this for first time…I had bought a box of powdered milk and my kids did not like so been trying to find other uses for it…this is AMAZING, it taste great..the food processor did not work well, I just put it back in jar and shook til thick, then placed in fridge. Just used powdered milk , water, and vegetable oil with a dash of salt.

      Reply

  3. I tried this twice; and each time it tasted awful, as well as a tough texture. Not sure what I’m doing wrong. I used Non-Fat dry milk from the LdS cannery, and olive oil. Any ideas?

    Reply

    • Mine tasted great…but I only used powdered milk, water and vegetable oil with a dash of salt….did not like how food processor was working so I placed it back in jar and shook ( my family took turns shaking, LOL) for like 20 minutes then placed in fridge when it started to thicken.

      Reply

  4. I had the same results as Linda. It was awful. I would not try this again. It never thickened much and the taste was just terrible.

    Reply

  5. If it doesn’t get thick then try blending it on a slower speed for either longer or not as long,remember not all blenders are the same, and if it doesn’t taste as well as you were hoping try adding more or less of the salt and butter flavoring.

    Reply

  6. I noticed that there are two recipes for this. Is it 1/4 c powdered milk and 3/4 c oil or is it 3/4 c powdered milk and 1/4 c oil? I would love to try it, but coconut oil is very expensive and I don’t want to have to throw it away.

    Reply

    • I saw the difference in the amount of milk and oil too. The recipe in the picture has a different amount than the recipe posted below it. Which one is it? 1/4 c powdered milk or 3/4 c. ? 1/4 c. oil or 3/4c ?That could be why a couple of other people posted that theirs did not turn out well. I plan on trying it, but not sure which recipe is correct.

      Reply

  7. This idea looks awesome! have you tried it with the NIDO? I wish I could make fresh butter 🙁 working on getting the land. Right now we are living in a rv so a cow is not really an option lol. I would love to know if you tried the Nido if that works I will invest in a blender/food processor 🙂

    Reply

  8. Hi, I have tried it several times and it always turns out…I did try with the NIDO and it was still good…not like butter from the cow (we have made it that way too). But in a…I don’t want to go to the store and want butter kinda way. Or the world is coming to an end and I need butter!!! Hope you do try it again and tweek it for you. If coconut oil is too expensive, start with vegetable oil. I buy my coconut oil in 5 gallon buckets, so it is way cheaper! And it is the only oil I use…just use what is right for you!

    Reply

  10. Have you tried this on toast…..
    I’m wondering if the water content of the recipe will turn the toast soggy ? This is a problem I find with some of the commercial margarines (especially the one that claims to taste like real butter)
    Thank you

    Reply

    • Mine is great on toast, that is the first thing i tried, did not make soggy, but I chilled for a while before using , also i only used shake method , did not like how thin food processor was making it.

      Reply

  11. I was just wondering if the butter flavoring available today is the same that was linked to cancer several years ago? I don’t recall if that was taken off the market or not. Can’t remember what exactly the chemical is called,but I think it was identified after many incidences of cancer showed up in people that came into contact with it at popcorn packaging factories.

    Reply

    • Butter flavoring (like in the picture) and the stuff they flavor popcorn with are 2 different things. Plus those workers were exposed to massive amounts of the stuff. You can usually find this kind in the spice aisle or Wilton makes a butter flavoring that they sell with cake making supplies.

      Reply

  14. I just tried this recipe for making butter and it sure is yummy.I live in the Philippines and it is very hard to find cream ,that is why I tried this recipe .

    Reply

  15. This is something I have never heard of before, and find fascinating. I will indeed try it. I foresee many experiments to come with cooking with it.

    Reply

  16. I made i and added the butter flavor sxtract and salt still taste like powdered milk and you can’t melt it only spread it on bread etc. any idea’s? . don’t know if you are suppose to keep on the counter or refig?

    Reply

  18. Can you find out from your friend what type of Nido by Nestle milk you use to make butter? Is it whole powdered milk. What type of milk do I use
    there is so many different types. Carol

    Reply

  20. How much oil did you use? the picture says 3/4 c oil and you have written 1/4 c oil. Would like to make it but that’s a big difference in oil. Thanks!

    Reply

  22. I made this is fantastic nobody notice it I made cheesecake all from my food storage I made my sweet condensed milk and evaporated milk from powdered milk and my cream cheese from my yogurt that I made from powered milk so delish.

    I am not buying butter again ever thank you so much for sharing the recipe.

    Reply

  25. Instead of butter flavoring, salt and coloring …I had some butter popcorn flavoring shaker powder (found in the chip and snack row at grocery store) it worked perfectly! The taste of the butter was outstanding. We now use it on everything. We even bake with it. Example cookies, breads and cakes. The only thing that did not work well with was a butter based recipe for pie pastry. (I am not referring to the graham crumb type but the type for fruit pies.) Tried it several times by seasoned pie makers and same results. But… considering that everything else worked…. I am pleased with the results.

    Reply

  26. I wanted to know if the cream you used is the same cream that can be collected after boiling milk. A heavy layer that settles on top after it boils and cools down.

    Reply

    • It may be flavour of the butter. For example: peanut butter or the regular one. Although I had the same question but even I’m not confirmed abt the same.

      Reply

  30. I noticed several comments that the texture was grainy and awful tasting. This may help. Not all milk powders are the same. Low temperature powders such as those from Honeyville Grain for example, will not work. High temperature powders such as Carnation will work. Additionally, high temperature processed powder used for bread making wont work for drinking, butter or cheese making. Yes, it’s different yet again. High temperature processed is not the same as high temperature powder. If any one knows exactly all these difference, I hope they will share. I’m still trying to get my head around it myself.

    Reply

  31. Where there is a will there is a way! But consuming free oil is detrimental to health. I suggest spreading bread and other things with avocado.

    Reply

    • That’s a good idea if you have avocado.
      And what if you have no avocados and no way to get any??

      This is a great idea at least for those times when nothing
      else is available; although some comments said they’d be
      using only this recipe in the future.

      Reply

  33. I made this recepie, it is not that soft like in the picture, to soften more do I need to add more water? Or oil?

    Reply

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