Steak Dipping Sauce (Cowboy Butter!)

Name: Steak Dipping Sauce (Cowboy Butter!)
Prep time: 1 min
Cook time: 4 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 250 gram (1 stick) of unsalted butter ((£1.69)); 3 cloves of garlic, minced ((£0.39)); 2 tbsp fresh chives, finely chopped ((£0.60)); Juice of ¼ lemon ((£0.30)); 2 tbsp hot sauce; 2 tsp smoked paprika; 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Unlike steak sauce that is used to cover up the taste of steak, this cowboy butter steak dipping sauce is used to enhance the juiciness and flavor of any steak. And the best part is you can use it on more than just steak. Try it with chicken, pork, or even shrimp for any weeknight meal.

A small patterned turquiose blue blue and white bowl with melted butter and chopped herbs with a spoon.

Table of Contents

Why you’ll love this recipe

Versatile – Use it on anything from dipping bread to meat to veggies. This homemade steak sauce substitute is going to have you saying yeehaw!

Bold flavors – It’s bright, it’s mildly spicy, it’s garlic, it’s herby- everything you need to make this the best steak dipping sauce.

Simple to make – This butter comes together in less than 5 minutes. You can whip it up whilst letting your steak rest. Flavor and efficiency – a winning combo!

Use this delicious dipping sauce with one of these recipes; Air Fryer Shrimp, Air Fryer Steak Bites or Slow Cooker Gammon Joint,

Ingredients

Unsalted butter – I like to use unsalted butter for my cowboy butter dipping sauce as you want to adjust the level of salt yourself. We’re adding other ingredients such as hot sauce which also has salt, so it’s better if we can control the salt levels in the other ingredients! If you want to make you own butter, see my homemade butter recipe.

Fresh chives – This is easily customisable. I love fresh chives in my cowboy sauce but you could add fresh coriander or fresh parsley would also work really well.

Hot sauce – I use Cholula hot sauce in my steak bite dipping sauce but feel free to use your favourite Mexican style hot sauce. An Asian hot sauce wouldn’t be authentic to this recipe but you could try it out!

See the recipe card for full information on all ingredients and quantities.

Variations/ Adaptations

As this recipe yields a fair amount of cowboy steak sauce (leaving some for leftovers!), it’s good to know that you don’t have to just pair it with steak. It works with a variety of proteins and vegetables.

Protein pairings: pan-fried fish such as fried sea-bass or cod, turkey steak, salmon, pork chops, chicken breast, boiled chicken legs, pretty much any protein would work well with this recipe but maybe not ground meats.

Vegetables: Roasted tenderstem broccoli, sauteed broccoli, steamed/grilled asparagus, roasted bell peppers, roasted zucchini and eggplant, green beans and roasted tomatoes.

Substitutions: as mentioned above, you can sub out or even just add more of your favourite types of fresh herbs into this. In a pinch, you could also sub the fresh chives for ½ tsp dried chives for this steak dipping sauce. Customize the hot sauce to your heat and flavour preference too. For a great alternative, try my compound butter for steak

How to make Cowboy Butter Steak Dipping Sauce

Add the butter to a small saucepan over a low heat (Image 1).
Heat for around 2 minutes until melted (Image 2).

2 step by step photos, the first with a rectangular piece of butter in a pan and the second with the butter now melted in the pan.

3. Next, add the garlic, smoked paprika, Worcestershire sauce and hot sauce (Image 3).

4. Whisk to combine and cook for a further 2 minutes (Image 4).

2 step by step photos, the first with melted butter and some paprika sprinkled in a pan and the second with the butter now mixed together with a whisk and some hot sauce being poured in.

5. Turn off the heat and stir in the lemon juice and fresh chives whilst continuously stirring. Season with a few generous pinches of salt (around 1 tsp of flakey salt or ½ tsp table salt) (Image 5).

6. Taste to adjust seasoning (add more salt or more hot sauce for heat). Serve in a dipping bowl and enjoy! (Image 6).

2 step by step photos, the first with melted butter with herbs and a whisk in a pan and the second with 2 hands squizzing some lemon over the pan with a whisk.

Pair this dipping sauce with my Air Fryer Ribeye Steak (see photo below).

Sliced of cooked, medium rare steak laid out decorativelyly on a plate and some herby butter drizzled over the centre.

Tips for the best result

Ensure that the heat of your hob isn’t too high as we don’t want to brown the butter.
Get all of your ingredients out and chop your herbs before you start cooking as it all comes together very quickly.
Season liberally with salt. Because we’re dealing with a lot of butter, we need to match that with the seasoning!

Serving Suggestions

I love to pair this spicy, garlic butter dipping sauce goodness with an air fryer ribeye steak on weeknight for ease or a sirloin steak on the BBQ at the weekend. So depending on whether you have time to whack on the barbie, you can adapt your steak accordingly.

A carb that I love to pair my steak and dipping sauce with is parmentier potatoes. The oven does all the work for you so you can just chill and grill. Or if you want to up the micronutrients my roasted sweet potato cubes are delish.

Storage Suggestions

Refrigerator: Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Freezer: You can freeze this steak dipping sauce for up to 3 months. When ready to eat, defrost in the fridge overnight.

Perfect for making individual servings in an ice cube tray: This is ideal when you’re cooking solo rather than for a crowd. Once you pour the butter into the tray, place the tray inside a ziplock back and close (whilst still keeping it flat). This will prevent water from entering!

A small patterned turquiose blue blue and white bowl with melted butter and chopped herbs with a hand with red nail varnish holding a spoon next to a chopping board with some chilli flakes and a jar.

Here are some other dishes that will pair well with the dipping sauce; Chicken Patties, Crispy Smashed Broccoli with Parmesan served with Crispy Homemade Oven Chips

FAQs

Is the hot sauce optional?

You can leave out the hot sauce but if it’s a question of reducing the spice, try to opt for a hot sauce that’s just not spicy rather than omitting completely as it adds a lot of flavour. If you are leaving out, add a little more garlic, lemon and red pepper flakes to ensure you get the enough flavour to be the best steak bite dipping sauce.

Should the butter be melted first?

Yes! This helps to incorporate all of the ingredients evenly. And as this is a steak dipping sauce recipe, we need it to be liquid for dipping purposes.

How do I keep the sauce from separating?

This happens when adding a water-based liquid into a fat which would be the lemon juice or hot sauce. To prevent this, pour the liquids in super slowly to the melted butter whilst continuously stirring. With this recipe though, I’ve never found that it’s split as there’s a great ratio of fat to liquid.