Learn how to make clarified butter (ghee), an easy process that removes the water and milk solids from whole butter. Clarified butter tastes great, lasts longer in the refrigerator, and has a higher smoke point for cooking.
When you make clarified butter, you skim milk solids off the top of melted butter and leave released water in the bottom of the pan. The stuff in the middle, the liquid gold, is 100% pure butterfat.
I had one goal the first time I made clarified butter: To make Hollandaise Sauce.
This means a higher smoke point, a longer shelf life, and a more versatile substance great for making everything from stir-fries to sauces.
Recipe ingredients:
Ingredient notes:
- Better butter: The best butter for clarifying is European-style, imported butter. These butters usually contain more milk fat than American butter (82% to 86% milk fat in European vs. 80% to 82% in American). After clarifying some store-brand or other inexpensive butters, I was left with what looked like a pan of yellow water. Not appetizing! If you are clarifying butter to make a delicious Hollandaise Sauce, choose a delicious butter (since Hollandaise Sauce is mostly butter). But If you’re clarifying butter to make a stir-fry, the quality won’t be quite as important.
- Butter solids: You can lightly brown the butter solids (the layer you scooped off the top) in a small amount of clarified butter to make “browned butter.” Then, add to cookies, vegetables, soups, mashed potatoes for extra butter flavor, or use as a condiment on bread.
Step-by-step instructions:
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- Melt the butter over low heat. If the butter boils, the milk solids get dispersed throughout the fat and you won’t be able to skim them off. Skim off the foamy milk solids that rose to the top.
- Last, ladle the butterfat from the saucepan in to a second (clean) saucepan or another vessel for holding. Be sure to leave the water in the bottom of the original saucepan (it will look like a white, milky substance).
- Melt the butter over low heat. If the butter boils, the milk solids get dispersed throughout the fat and you won’t be able to skim them off. Skim off the foamy milk solids that rose to the top.
What you’re left with is pure butterfat. It doesn’t have the same rich, buttery flavor as whole butter, but it doesn’t turn rancid in the refrigerator, either. (At least not for several months).
Put clarified butter to work:
How to Make Clarified Butter
Ingredients
- 1 pound unsalted butter
Instructions
- In a small saucepan over low heat, warm butter without boiling or agitation of any kind.
- As the butter melts, the solids rise to the top and water sinks to the bottom. Sometimes the solids appear to bubble up from the bottom.
- When the butter is melted, skim the milk solids from the top using a ladle or slotted spoon (see notes for ideas of what to do with the solids).
- When the skim solids have been removed, transfer the butterfat to a clean saucepan or bowl using a ladle. Leave the water in the bottom of the original saucepan.
- 1 pound of whole butter will yield approximately 12 ounces clarified butter. The clarified butter can be kept in the refrigerator or freezer.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Better butter: The best butter for clarifying is European-style, imported butter. These butters usually contain more milk fat than American butter (82% to 86% milk fat in European vs. 80% to 82% in American). After clarifying some store-brand or other inexpensive butters, I was left with what looked like a pan of yellow water. Not appetizing! If you are clarifying butter to make a delicious Hollandaise Sauce, choose a delicious butter (since Hollandaise Sauce is mostly butter). But If you're clarifying butter to make a stir-fry, the quality won't be quite as important.
- Butter solids: You can lightly brown the butter solids (the layer you scooped off the top) in a small amount of clarified butter to make "browned butter." Then, add to cookies, vegetables, soups, mashed potatoes for extra butter flavor, or use as a condiment on bread.
Nutrition
What butter is the best butter to make the clarified butter (ghee) out of?
How about the members mark sweet cream unsalted butter?
Hi Kiran, The best butter for clarifying is European-style, imported butter. These butters usually contain more milk fat than American butter (82% to 86% milk fat in European vs. 80% to 82% in American). Hope this helps! – Meggan
Nervous about the solids staying almost 100% at the bottom. The slotted spoon was too wide so I switched to a stainless steel serving spoon from my flatware set with smaller holes. I ended up wasting a little of the clarified butter because I didn’t want the solids coming out.
Why would a baking recipe call for both clarified butter and milk. It doesn’t seem to be a higher smoke point issue if you add milk back in. Couldn’t you just increase the butter and decrease the milk to get the about the same oil/water/milk balance?
I tried this same method using cheese. It didn’t work.
Well done.
Thank you David! -Meggan
Butter was clarified easy per instructions given
Used clarified butter(cb) to make chicken Milanese. The cb turned darker after the first 3 cutlets and continued to darken through 8 cutlets I cooked. Was the flame to high or is the cooking life of cb short?
Hi Rich, chicken Milanese sounds delicious! Clarified butter will continue to brown as it is exposed to heat. If you were able to get through the cutlets and nothing burned, I don’t think your flame was too high. – Meggan
Just add olive oil to your clarified butter to help increase the longevity of the butter to keep from burning. Hope this helps.