This funky, creamy, salty Korean Gochujang Butter is the perfect companion to your favorite meats, potatoes, mac & cheese, or green vegetables. Plus, it can be made in less than 5 minutes!
For other delicious spicy sauces, try my spicy garlic mayo or gochujang aioli.
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About this recipe
Easy Korean Sauce: one thing I’m always looking out for is new Korean sauces to add to my rotation. This gochujang butter sauce is the perfect dressing or even cooking sauce, great for zoodles as well as cooking meats; it’s creamy, savory, salty, and satisfying.
East Meets West: most uses for gochujang are both savory and fermented, so this American mashup of gochujang compound butter is both unique and delicious, especially if you love spicy sauces.
Use for Gochujang: this is a great way to use up the dregs of your last tub of gochujang before breaking the seal on that new one.
Ingredients
Unsalted Butter: while it's also the base for the gochujang butter, whatever type of butter you use also serves to balance out the more pronounced flavors of the gochujang.
Gochujang Paste: this hot ingredient is the key to great kimchi as well as adding flavor & heat to this creamy Korean sauce.
Rice Vinegar: this small quantity of the mildly sweet rice vinegar helps balance out the overall flavor of the gochujang butter, and cut through any acids in dishes you eat it with.
Honey: this liquid sweetener balances out the many sharp flavors of the gochujang.
Sea Salt: you can use any type of salt that you like, but since you're using unsalted butter, this adds a measured amount of salt to the final dish.
How to make gochujang butter: step-by-step instructions
Step 1. Put all the ingredients into the bowl of your food processor or high-speed blender, warming the butter on 10% power until softened, and then mix everything until well-blended. You'll want to scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times, and whip everything up until fluffy. Refrigerate for at least an hour to let the flavors set.
Recipe notes & tips
Making it Vegan: double check that your gochujang is vegan-friendly (traditional Korean brands are), and the only swap you need to make is using a vegan butter.
Customizing the Heat Level: While this quick gochujang butter may look spicy, that actually depends more on how hot your gochujang is. In Korea there are 5 different grades of heat at which gochujang is sold, so the heat in a level 1 paste will be barely detectable compared to a level 5.
I recommend buying a level 3 if you’re good but not great with heat (I use less here because I buy a level 5). And if you’re completely new to cooking with gochujang, I suggest starting with just the 2 teaspoons the first time you make this (and trust me, you’ll wanted make it again & again!).
How Long to Store: this creamy gochujang butter can keep in the fridge for up to five days in a well-sealed container, though you're probably better off just freezing it in individual portions.
What to do with gochujang butter?
- put it on steak
- dip in your favorite fries or potatoes
- melt it over bakes or steamed broccoli
- add it to your favorite masshed potatoes
- use it to cook brussels sprouts
- smear it on a baguette with minced garlic for a twist on the usual garlic bread
- mix it into your favorite mac 'n' cheese recipe
Other recipes using gochujang
- gochujang brussels sprouts
- crispy gochujang potatoes
- gochujang sauce for Korean BBQ
- creamy gochujang aioli
- sweet gochujang caramel cookies
- spicy gochujang pasta sauce
Homemade Gochujang Butter Recipe Card
As always, if you like the recipe, I really appreciate a review or comment!
📖 Recipe
5-Minute Gochujang Butter
Ingredients
- 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon gochujang can use up to 1 ½ tablespoons before it changes the fat balance
- 1 teaspoon rice vinegar alt. white wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon honey alt. brown rice syrup
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Put all the ingredients into the bowl of your food processor or high-speed blender, warming the butter on 10% power until softened, and then mix everything until well-blended. You'll want to scrape down the sides of the bowl a few times, and whip everything up until fluffy. Refrigerate for at least an hour to let the flavors set.
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