Easy Peach Butter ~ you’ll kick yourself if you don’t make a big batch of silky butter before the peaches are all gone for the year. This small batch fruit spread is sheer heaven on a piece of toast, a warm biscuit, or just by the glorious spoonful!

When life gives you peaches, whether fresh, or frozen, make peach butter!
You can’t go wrong with this recipe, it takes a boatload of peaches and transforms them into something silky and spreadable. Your morning toast will never be the same.
what you’ll need
- peaches ~ you can use fresh or frozen, but use good ripe summer peaches for best flavor.
- sugar
- lemon juice adds a little acidity and balances out the sweetness of the butter.
Fruit butter is a thicker, more luxurious version of jam.
If you love apple butter, you’re going to flip for this next generation fruit butter. Peaches lend themselves to this treatment with their meaty flesh and sweet tangy flavor. Fruit butter gets it’s distinctive consistency because the fruit is cooked, then pureed, and then cooked down again into a spreadable ‘butter’. But of course there’s no dairy in it at all, just pure fruit.
small batch peach butter can be refrigerated, or canned
This recipe makes a small batch that doesn’t require canning, but I’ve included canning instructions in the recipe if you want to set yourself up for the year, or want to get a head start on holiday gifts.
When you get your first taste of this peach butter you’ll feel like you’ve died and gone to peach heaven!
I like the real fruit flavor to shine through in all my preserves, so I used relatively little sugar, and some lemon juice to make the peach flavor pop. Because I was after a pure fresh peach essence, I didn’t add any spices, but you certainly can if you like. Cinnamon, or vanilla bean would be nice in this recipe. Nobody’s stopping you from adding a touch of almond extract either.
let’s make it!
You can make fruit butter with almost any type of fruit. Apple butter is the classic, but I’ve made rhubab butter, and a wonderful cranberry butter that you’ll want to have around this fall. You can make pumpkin butter (made in the crock pot!) which is amazing with biscuits and cornbread. Would you believe I’ve even made banana butter with a touch of bourbon?? Here’s the basic method for making fruit butters:
- Chop your fruit and add it to a pan with the sugar and some water.
- Heat, stirring often to dissolve the sugar, until the mixture comes to a boil, and cook for about 20 minutes, or until the fruit is completely softened and juicy.
- Puree the cooked fruit until smooth.
- Strain your puree, if necessary, to remove seeds, bits of peel, or any lumps.
- Put the smooth puree back into a clean pan, add lemon juice, and continue to cook, stirring often, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
- Cool and then refrigerate. It will thicken further as it chills.
how to use peach butter
Fruit butters aren’t only for spreading on toast, or biscuits. They can be an ingredient in baked goods, too. They add flavor and moisture, and can help you cut down on added fat and sugar. My spiced apple cake, which is one of my current favorite cakes, is made with a cup of apple butter. I’m thinking of making a peach version with, oh, I don’t know, maybe a Bourbon glaze? Stay tuned 😉 You might also use some of your peach butter as a filling for these Jack Daniels peach pie bars… just saying.
If you love to make small batch butters, jellies and jams be sure to check out my ultimate guide to freezer jam!
“Oh my goodness, this is amazing!! It’s going on our sourdough pancakes this weekend!!!”
~ LINDZ
Peach Butter
Ingredients
- 4 lbs fresh peaches, (about 10 good sized peaches)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup water, (if your peaches are juicy omit the water)
- 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
Instructions
- Peel and rough chop the peaches. Note: I love my serrated vegetable peeler for this job. The fine teeth make quick work of the soft peach skin.
- Add the peaches to a heavy pot along with the water and sugar. Heat on medium, stirring to dissolve the sugar. When the mixture comes to a boil, lower the heat slightly and cook for about 20 minutes until the peaches are completely tender. Stir occasionally.
- Add the lemon juice to the peaches, and then, working in batches, puree the fruit until it is completely smooth. Don’t rush this step, let the processor or blender run long enough to get all of the lumps.
- At this point I strain the puree through a mesh strainer just to make sure it is completely smooth. Push it firmly with the back of a spoon to get all the puree through. Discard any lumps. If your puree is smooth enough, you can skip this step.
- Put the puree back into the (rinsed out) pan and bring back up to a boil. Lower the heat and cook gently until it is greatly reduced and thickened. This will take about 25-30 minutes or so, depending on the size of your pan. Stir very frequently during this step so the fruit doesn't scorch. I like to use a splatter screen because it does splatter. Note: the longer you cook the peach puree, the thicker the butter will be. You know it's ready when it starts to darken slightly, and your stirring starts to leave trails in the mixture. Test it by dipping a spoon in, and then run your finger down the spoon, if the butter doesn't fill in the strip, it's ready.
- Ladle the hot peach butter into a clean jar or jars and let cool before capping and refrigerating. The peach butter will thicken as it cools. Consume within a couple of weeks. You can also freeze the butter for up to 6 months, just put the cooled butter into a freezer safe container, leaving 1/2 inch at the top to allow for expansion.
If you would like to can this recipe
- Follow safe canning practices and ladle hot peach mixture into sterilized jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe jar rims with a clean cloth. Close lids to fingertip-tight.
- Place jars in boiling-water canner and process jars 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Turn off heat; remove lid, and let jars stand 5 minutes. Remove jars and cool.
I have never made Peach Butter before but I will try it this year. I always make apple butter & rather having to cook it a long time to ensure thickening I use pectin such as Certo & follow direction for this product in making jams. Cuts down cooking time. Turns out great.
I must be missing something but in reading through the ingredients I didn’t see where any butter was used in this recipe. So, not to be sarcastic or anything, but why is it called peach butter when there isn’t any butter in it? I think I am going to make it but I will add butter just to see how it turns out. I made apple cinnamon butter a couple of weeks ago, turned out good but I didn’t like the cinnamon I used, could hardly taste it so did a bit of investigating on the internet and found out that the best cinnamon is from Ceylon and if you want a spice with a stronger taste, use cinnamon bark, apparently the cinnamon sold in grocery stores is not very good for flavor. Just my observation on this. Can’t rate it yet because haven’t made it but I will very soon. Since summer is over, I might have to use frozen peaches instead of the fresh, hope not.
It’s just the name of it as it’s used instead of butter and can be put onto everything like butter is: pancakes, biscuits, toast, waffles.. you can add cinnamon and nutmeg to say Apples and the Apple Butter is like a thicker Apple Sauce and it makes your house smell amazing too. I’ve canned peach and pear butter this year and my mom does Apple for all her kids yearly as a holiday gift. My husband loves whichever jar is currently open on anything at breakfast!
This is called Peach Butter for the same reason there is apple butter, and peanut butter, and almond butter. If it’s spreadable, and has very few ingredients (the fruit, water, sugar), and it involves the whole fruit or nut, it’s called a butter.
Dairy butter is actually pretty similar, as it is made from cream. Except that dairy butter is what’s left after working the whole cream to separate the liquid (the whey) from the solids (the curds, which can become butter or a type of cheese, depending on the type of processing that comes next). But it still starts off using whole cream or whole milk, not a filtered or altered version usually meant for other things.
If you’re wondering, fruit butters aren’t called jellies or jams because those are made mostly using just the juice and pectin of the fruit (which you could think of as an altered version of the fruit). Butters are made using the entire fruit (or nut, or cream – and not usually counting the seeds of fruits, but they could be included for something like a strawberry butter if desired).
Summary – It’s a butter because every edible part is used to make it, and it’s thick enough to spread, not because it’s a dairy product.
I love this recipe but for some reason mine came out to thin. I added more peaches and put back on the stove. Any suggestions on how to make it thicker so I can can it.
To thicken it just keep cooking, it gets thicker the longer it cooks.
I have made his twice and I don’t add water, as you cook down the peaches, their juice will come out plus the sugar breaks down the peaches too. Hope this helps. I cooked mine down for over an hour last night. Definitely not 20 min or so. It’s a slow process. It’s delicious
This is THE most delicious butter I’ve ever tasted!!! Never had fruit butter before but I’m definitely hooked! ?
I also didn’t choose to add spices because the fruit stands on its own quite well!
I poured some in small jars to share with friends!
I want to add some vanilla extract to the recipe. How much would you recommend?
I’d start with a teaspoon, and you can add it at the end, so you can go by taste if you want to add more.
Hello! I’m making this as we speak but my pure seems so runny. It’s been boiling 25 minutes. Please help! It smells and tastes amazing but I don’t have a thick texture.
Just keep boiling it down, but be careful that it doesn’t scorch, so keep with it!
I understand how the ingredients differ, but what is the difference between a peach cure and a peach butter?
Pinterest must have been paying attention when I randomly bought a couple of peaches, and I am so glad it was! I didn’t buy enough of therecommended amount, but I had also happened to buy a mango….well needless to say, it was sooooo delicious! So if anyone is interested in a variant of the peach, substitute a couple of peaches for a mango and you won’t be sorry. I also used some of the peach-mango butter to fill a some croissants! This is so easy to follow, I am going to be making this often! Thank you!
Love this fun variation, thanks Justi 🙂
How long will this last after being canned?
If canned properly it should last up to a year.
Did you peel the peaches>>
Yes, I peel the peaches in step one, but you don’t have to.