Smoking Butter in the Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill or Oven is so easy!
Only one ingredient and your favorite flavor of wood pellets are needed to transform regular butter into a magical addition to so many different foods.
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I keep multiple sticks of smoked butter in the fridge at all times so I can add a little bit of smokey flavor anytime I want without having to smoke the food itself.
Creative Uses for Smoked Butter
- Seared Steaks: Top your steak with smoked butter for a smoky flavor that pairs perfectly with beef.
- Mashed or Baked Potatoes: Drizzle smoked butter over potatoes for a hint of smoke flavor.
- Vegetables: Sauté or steam veggies with smoked butter for added depth.
- Smoky Roux: Combine smoked butter and flour to make a smoky roux, perfect for any kind of stews or sauces where you want a little smoke flavor.
- Quick Breads: Use melted smoked butter in quick bread recipes for a smoky infusion.
There are so many uses for smoked butter, get creative and let me know what you are using your smoked butter for!
What You Will Need To Make Smoked Butter
A Smoker
You can use any type of smoker as long as you can either cold smoke or regulate your temperature to around 180℉/80℃.
On the Ninja Woodfire model I have, I use the cold smoke feature and it works perfectly, even in hot weather!
If your model of Woodfire does not have the cold smoke function, go on the lowest temperature setting on the smoker function.
While there are some foods you should only cold smoke in colder temperatures, like cheese and fish, because they will either melt or there are food safety issues to worry about. Butter can be smoked anytime of the year.
It's going to melt, even on cold smoke, and we are never going to get to high enough temps to burn it.
Suggested Pellet Flavors for Smoked Butter
- Applewood Pellets
- Imparts a sweet, mild flavor that goes with everything!
- Used in this recipe for a subtle smoky taste.
- Cherrywood Pellets
- Imparts a nice mild fruity flavor.
- Very good choice for butter being used for poultry or fish
- Pecan Pellets
- A great choice for smoked butter
- Imparts a mild smoke flavor
- Oak Pellets
- Provides a mild, traditional flavor.
- Ideal for classic dishes like steak.
- Hickory Pellets
- A little stronger of a smoke flavor
- Use when you want a little more smoke flavor.
- Mesquite Pellets
- Personally Mesquite is too strong of a flavor for me, especially when smoking butter
- Use when you really want to pack a punch of smoke in your butter
Container for Smoking Butter
You will need a dish or tray to put your butter in because it will melt during the smoking process.
I recommend using a container that is heat proof up to 300℉/150℃ (just to be on the safe side) and is large enough that, when melted, the butter is not deeper than 1".
This will allow the butter to absorb the smoke. If your container is small, but deep, your butter will take longer to smoke and you will need to stir it more frequently.
I use a small metal tray which holds 1 pound of butter perfectly.
Choosing the Right Butter for Smoking
You can use any kind of butter you like and it doesn't have to be an expensive butter either! I use store brand butter all the time for smoking and it turns out great. There may be a little more water in less expensive brands, but I show you what to do about that later in the article.
More important than quality of the butter is whether it is salted or unsalted.
Avoid Using ALL Salted Butter: Using only salted butter results in a very salty smoked butter and I don't recommend it.
Combination of Unsalted and Salted Butter: I found a balanced mix is one stick of unsalted butter and three sticks of salted butter, totaling one pound, worked the best for my taste, but I encourage you to try different combinations until you find what is best for you.
Remember, you can add salt back into the butter, but you can't take it out.
Butter Temperature: Use Cold or Frozen Butter for the best results.
How to Smoke Butter on the Ninja Woodfire
Setting up the Ninja Woodfire for Smoking
Follow these steps to set up your Ninja Woodfire for smoking butter:
- Fill the Hopper with Pellets: Choose your favorite wood pellets and fill the hopper.
- Select the Smoker Function: Turn the dial to select the smoker function.
- Set Temperature:
- If available, use the cold smoking function
- If you don't have the cold smoking function, set the temperature to the next lowest setting, typically around 145 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Set Timer: Adjust the timer to two hours and fifteen minutes. It takes 2 hours to smoke the butter and you want a 15 minute burn-off period to eliminate the heavy bitter white smoke.
- Begin the Ignition Process: Press the start button to start the ignition of the pellets and to burn off the heavy white smoke.
- You do not need to push the Woodfire Flavor button when using the smoke function, and doing so can actually cancel out the ignition process on some models.
Smoking the Butter
- Place the sticks of butter on a tray that is deep enough to hold the butter when melted.
- The tray I use for 1 pound of butter measures about 8"x6" with about a 2" lip.
- Once the Ninja Woodfire has gone through the ignition process and you have let it run for 15 minutes to burn off the heavy smoke, open the lid and let all the heavy smoke out.
- Place the tray of butter on the grate of the smoker and close the lid.
What to do During the Smoking Process
With the exception of refilling the hopper and stirring the butter once during the smoking process, there isn't anything else you need to do except keep the lid closed!
Avoid opening the lid unless absolutely necessary, because you let all the smoke out which can result in not enough smoked flavor in your butter.
- Monitor Pellet Levels: Check the hopper box just before you put the tray of butter on the smoker.
- A full hopper typically lasts about 45 minutes. Between the ignition process (about 8 minutes) and the 15 minute burn-off time, you may need to refill the hopper right when you put the butter on.
- I like to do this when the hopper still has about 50% of the pellets left and they are still burning. This avoids having to reignite the pellets, which can cause the harsh smoke to build again.
- Refill as Needed: During the 2 hour smoke time, I top off the hopper right when I put the butter on, and then 1 hour into the smoking time.
- If you want less smoke flavor and don't want to refill the hopper, then you can let the hopper run out and when it is empty.
- Remove the butter if you aren't refilling the hopper because there is no benefit to smoking it unless the pellets are burning.
Quick Tip
If you have to press the Woodfire Flavor button to ignite the pellets because they went out, remove the tray of butter during the ignition process or you may end up with bitter tasting butter. Let the smoker run after ignition for at least 5 minutes before putting the butter back on the smoker.
1 hour into the Smoking Process
- Open the lid and stir the butter and give it taste to determine if you want to smoke the last hour or not. This is based on your preference of smoke level.
- If you want to smoke another hour, top off the the hopper with pellets which should be enough to finish the 2 hour smoke time.
2 hours into the Smoking Process
- When the 2 hours of smoking time is up, remove the tray of butter and place it on a larger tray to make it easier to carry into the kitchen.
- Turn the Woodfire off and, if the pellets are still burning, let them burn out on their own.
Process the Butter
You will see that the butter has separated and the milk solids have become light brown. This is normal. You can decide if you want to strain the butter to have smoked ghee or if you want to emulsify it again.
I usually emulsify it again so I can mold it back into sticks of butter.
Blending the Smoked Butter
- Pour the liquid butter into a blender cup and pulse blend until it is combined.
Finishing the Smoked Butter
- Mold the Butter: Use a butter mold or any dish to shape your butter. Refrigerate it for a few hours so it solidifies.
- Rinse the Butter: If there's liquid separation, rinse the butter under cold water to remove excess liquid.
- Dry the Butter: Place the Butter on a rack and let it dry for a few minutes.
- Storage: Store the butter in the refrigerator or freezer in airtight containers.
Variations of Smoked Butter
You can get creative with the types of Smoked Butter you make by adding in various ingredients either before you smoke the butter or after. Here are a few ideas!
- Smoked Honey Butter: Combine 1 Tablespoon of honey with 4-6 Tablespoons of soft smoked butter and stir to combine.
- Use more or less honey depending on the level of sweetness you like.
- Smoked Garlic Butter: About 1 hour into the smoking process, mix in 1 Tablespoon of minced garlic per pound of butter and let the garlic infuse into the butter as it smokes.
- If you blend the butter after smoking, you won't have much texture of the garlic, but the flavor will be there!
- If you prefer to have the garlic be seen in the butter, consider using roasted garlic or lightly sauteed butter. *Raw garlic mixed in can be bitter.
- Smoked Jalapeño Butter: Cut a jalapeño pepper in half (remove seeds and pith for less heat) and put it in the tray with the butter to smoke at the same time. Remove before blending the butter.
- You can also add in roasted diced jalapeño after the smoking process if you want pieces of pepper in your butter.
- Smoked Cajun Butter: Add the following spices to 8 Tablespoons (½ cup) of smoked butter after blending and before chilling.
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¾ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ⅛ teaspoon ground chipotle powder
Storage & Reheating Instructions
Refrigeration
Smoked Butter should be stored in the refrigerator and will keep for at least 3 months when packaged correctly.
I recommend letting it firm up and then wrapping it in plastic wrap and placing in a ziploc bag OR if you aren't molding your butter, you can pour it into any container with a lid and store it that way.
Freezer
Smoked butter freezes great!
Make sure to let it solidify completely before freezing by putting it into the refrigerator overnight.
Wrap the butter in plastic wrap and then place in a sealable freezer bag or use a vacuum sealer. Freeze for up to a year.
More Ninja Woodfire Recipes
The Ninja Woodfire has quickly become one of my favorite appliances and here are some recipes that I have fully tested in the Woodfire Grill & Smoker.
Smoked Butter in the Ninja Woodfire
Equipment
- Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill and Smoker
Ingredients
- ½ cup Unsalted Butter
- 1½ cups Salted Butter
- ½-¾ cups applewood pellets or your pellets of choice
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Instructions
Set up the Smoker
- Add the pellets to the hopper box.Make sure the grate or griddle is installed.Turn on the Woodfire Grill and turn the dial to select the Smoker Function.Press the temperature button down as low as it will go. If you have the cold smoke function, your display will read "CLD," if you don't, then it will show the lowest temp in degrees. Any temperature up to 180℉/80℃ is fine for smoking butter. Press the time button up to 2 hours and 15 minutes. Press start and let the ignition process finish and then burn off the heavy smoke for an additional 10-15 minutes before adding the tray of butter.½-¾ cups applewood pellets
Smoke the Butter
- Place the cold or frozen butter in a tray that is about 8"x6" with a 2" lip. Put the tray of butter on the grill grate or griddle. Top off the pellets in the hopper. Keep the lid closed for 1 hour. After an hour of smoking the butter, stir and give it a taste. If it has enough smoke flavor for you, you can remove the tray and turn off the smoker. If you want more smoke flavor, leave the tray in the smoker and close the lid. Top off the hopper box with pellets and let the remaining hour of smoke time finish.½ cup Unsalted Butter, 1½ cups Salted Butter
Process the Butter
- Remove the tray of butter. It will be separated at this point and you will see the darker milk solids.
- Pour the butter into a blender or blender cup and pulse blend until it has emulsified again.
- Pour the butter into butter molds or into a container with a lid. Place it in the fridge to chill for a few hours.
- Serve the butter on anything you like!
Nutrition
About the Recipe Author, Louise Long
Louise is a full-time recipe creator and food blogger @ The Salted Pepper. She has over 30 years of experience with cooking and recipe development. She owned a restaurant for several years and was a full-time RN until retiring to blog full-time.
She published her first cookbook in the Fall of 2018 and is very interested in writing several more.
Louise is also the creator of an online Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooking Course with over 100 instructional step-by-step videos. People absolutely rave about the course and all the value they have received from it.
Louise has several very active Facebook groups that help people with the basics of cooking and learning more about the appliances they love.
Ninja Foodi Pressure Cooker & Air Crisper 101
Ninja Woodfire Outdoor Grill & Smoker
Louise is also a YouTube creator and you can find most of her recipes in video format on The Salted Pepper YouTube channel.
She is very responsive to messages and eager to help in any way she can. Get more Information about Louise & contact information
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