Jump to Recipe Jump to Video Print Recipe

This 8-minute lemon garlic butter sauce is the BEST garlic butter sauce to add to baked steelhead trout, perfectly steamed shrimp, boiled lobster tails, or grilled steaks.

lemon garlic butter sauce and steamed lobster and steamed shrimp

Minced garlic is fried in melted butter, then lemon juice and freshly chopped parsley are added at the end. If you haven't noticed, I'm a little obsessed with the combination of garlic and butter, like this garlic butter shrimp and garlic butter baguette. Garlic plus butter equals happiness in my heart.

Use this silky sauce as a dipping sauce for French bread or seafood recipes like steamed crab legs and boiled crawfish. Or, spoon this simple garlic butter sauce over grilled sirloin steaks or oven-roasted salmon.

Ingredient Notes

ingredients to make homemade lemon garlic butter.

How To Make Garlic Butter

chopping the fresh garlic cloves finely.

Peel and cut the end off the garlic cloves. Mince the cloves of garlic finely.

chopping Italian parsley on a cutting board.

Remove the leaves from the fresh parsley bouquet. Chop the fresh parsley.

Cut the lemon in half.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan on medium high heat.

add the minced garlic to the melted butter.

Fry the garlic in melted butter for about a minute or until the garlic starts to turn golden.

Squeeze the lemon juice into the garlic butter. Immediately add the chopped parsley. Stir the lemon garlic butter sauce for another 30 seconds on medium-high heat.

Serve immediately while this delicious garlic butter sauce is hot. There are many ways to use this buttery garlic sauce. One way is to spoon this flavorful sauce over some steamed shrimp and lobster tails.

garlic butter sauce poured on steamed seafood.

📋 Recipe

Homemade Garlic Butter Sauce

Author: Lily Guidry

Course: Dips, Sauces

Cuisine: Mediterranean

Prep: 5

Cook: 3

Total: 8

5 from 10 votes

Print Pin Rate

Servings 4

This 8-minute homemade garlic butter sauce combines freshly minced garlic, melted butter, lemon juice, and chopped parsley. It's the perfect dipping sauce for steamed shrimp and lobster tails, or pour it on top of some baked salmon or grilled steaks.

Ingredients

US Customary - Metric

4 garlic cloves
4 tablespoon butter unsalted
½ whole lemon
2 tablespoon parsley freshly chopped, Italian parsley or curly parsley
pinch of salt

Instructions

Peel and finely mince the garlic. Wash and chop the parsley leaves. Cut the lemon in half.
Add the butter to a small saucepan. Once it's melted, add the minced garlic and stir. Fry the garlic in butter for about 1 minute or until the garlic starts to change colors.
Using a lemon squeezer, squeeze the lemon half into the garlic butter. Immediately add the chopped parsley. Mix the garlic butter, chopped parsley, and lemon juice for about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat.

Video

Notes

Substitute salted butter for unsalted butter. Omit the pinch of salt until you taste the sauce.
Use lime instead of lemon.
Substitute olive oil for butter or a combination of both.
Curly parsley and Italian parsley can be used interchangeably.
Substitute other fresh herbs for the parsley, like cilantro, thyme, oregano, sage, or rosemary.
Add more butter if you want the sauce to be less chunky and more buttery.
Storage: This sauce is best served right away but can also be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Variations:
1. Add red pepper flakes to this homemade garlic butter sauce to add some spice. Fry the red pepper flakes at the same time as when you fry the butter.
2. Use a garlic press or mortar and pestle to crush the garlic rather than mince the garlic. Crushing the garlic into a paste allows the garlic to disperse more evenly in the butter.
3. Substitute olive oil for butter. This means this would be garlic olive oil rather than garlic butter sauce, but both taste great.
4. Experiment with fresh herbs like cilantro, thyme, oregano, and sage. I recommend trying the herbs independently first.
5. Use lime instead of lemon. I prefer lime for baked fish, like this roasted steelhead trout with garlic lime butter.

Nutrition

More Garlic Sauce Variations

If you are looking for some garlic sauce variations, try this lemon garlic aioli (uses mayonnaise) or Lebanese garlic toum (an emulsified garlic sauce). Garlic aioli is great for blanched asparagus. Lebanese toum is what you use for chicken shawarma or chicken shish tawook.