Here’s how to brown butter for any sweet or savory applications. The cooking technique adds a rich, toasted, nutty toffee aroma and flavors.
Recipe Science
- Heating butter until it browns causes the milk solids to caramelize, creating a rich, nutty flavor and deepening the butter’s color.
- The Maillard reaction occurs as the milk proteins in the butter are exposed to heat, contributing to the complex flavor profile and aroma of brown butter.
- Evaporating the water content from the butter concentrates its fat, enhancing the overall richness and creating a smoother texture ideal for baking and cooking.
Featured Comment 16
“From white foam…to clear…to clear bubbles…to Heaven! Thank you for the instructions.”—Brian
Why It Works
Making brown butter, or beurre noisette is a method every home cook should have in their repertoire. It adds a toasty, nutty aroma and hazelnut-like flavor to any sweet or savory dish. Make a brown butter sauce to add to pasta, vegetables, seafood, or meat. Use it to elevate the caramel flavor of chocolate cookies, frostings, and quick bread. The options are endless!
If you haven’t taken the opportunity to turn this beautiful ingredient into liquid gold, now is the chance! This step-by-step guide will ensure success. Careful attention ensures that the butter won’t go from browned to burnt.
Ingredients You’ll Need
It all begins with a beautiful hunk of unsalted butter. When heated, the milk solids naturally found in sticks of butter; the proteins casein and whey, and lactose transform in taste. Once melted, the milk solids cook and toast, developing deeper flavors. Pleasant nutty hazelnut aromas and flavors emerge as it cooks.
Use brown butter in cookie recipes or for any sauce, pastry, or culinary application. It takes less than 10 minutes to prepare!
Step 1: Melt the butter
Use a lightly colored saucepan to make brown butter like a stainless steel pan. This way, you can see the color of the butter change from yellow to lightly browned, then golden. The butter can be used cold or at room temperature. You can slice them into smaller pieces for faster melting. Apply medium-high heat to start the melting process quickly.
Step 2: Allow the Solids to Separate
Once the butter melts, reduce to medium heat, so it doesn’t burn. See the white foam on top of the melted butter? That’s the milk solids. When butter melts, it separates into milk solids, butterfat (which can be collected for clarified butter), and water.
The temperatures rise as you heat the melted butter over the heat source, and the milk solids change to a golden brown color. Continuously stir or swirl the butter during this process to get consistent cooking. Keep a close eye on the color change. You don’t want burnt bits on the bottom of the pan.
Step 3: Brown the Butter Solids
See those golden-browned solids on the bottom of the pan? Quickly transfer the brown butter to a heatproof bowl to stop the cooking process. Make sure you scrape those bits into the bowl to get all of that great nutty flavor.
This process can take 3 to 10 minutes, depending on how much butter you’re using (a few tablespoons to 1 cup). In the picture above, 10 tablespoons of butter took 3 to 4 minutes to finish.
Frequently Asked Questions
Brown butter is regular butter melted down on the stovetop and heated until the milk solids turn golden brown. This process toasts the flavorful solids, creating a nutty, butterscotch-like flavor. Heating causes some of the water to evaporate.
Brown butter is the first step to making ghee without removing milk solids. It’s used as a butter sauce or flavor-boosted ingredient for baked goods. Ghee is a type of clarified butter that removes the foamy milk solids and evaporates the water in the butter. After straining, what’s left is golden brown milkfat with a caramel flavor used for cooking or baking.
If not using the browned butter right away, refrigerate it. This will prolong the shelf life of the butter for about 2 weeks or 3 months in the freezer.
Butter can turn from perfectly browned to charred if the heat is not monitored. The butter is heated above 266°F (130ºC) so the lactose and proteins brown. To prevent burning, ensure the temperature stays below the butter smoke point of 350°F (177ºC). Use an instant-read thermometer to check the temperature. Watching the color change is as crucial as stopping the cooking before it burns.
If not using the browned butter immediately, you can cool it down, then transfer it to an airtight container. I like to store it in a glass jar and then grab some when a recipe calls for it. It will last for about 2 weeks in the refrigerator. You can also freeze the brown butter for up to 3 months.
Ways to Use Brown Butter
If you tried this Brown Butter recipe, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below!
How to Brown Butter
Ingredients
- 8 ounces unsalted butter, 1 cup
Instructions
- Melt the Butter – Add butter to a lightly colored medium skillet. Melt over medium-high heat.
- Brown the Butter – Once the butter is melted completely, turn the heat down to medium. Occasionally, swirl the pan to ensure that the milk solids are being evenly browned.The browned butter is ready when the milk solids become golden brown, the oil slightly darkens in color and has a nutty aroma, about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Stop the Browning – Immediately transfer browned butter to a bowl, scraping down the pan to transfer the solids. Alternatively, use it immediately as a sauce. If desired, strain the browned solids. However, the milk solids add a lot of flavor to baked goods and sauces.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Recipe Yield: About 1 cup
- Serving Size: 1 tablespoon
- Storing: Cool and store in an airtight container or jar in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Freeze for up to 3 months.
- Slice the Butter: To melt the butter quicker, slice the stick into even-sized pieces and place them in a single layer in the pan.
- Larger Batch: If making a larger batch, use a large pan. A few more minutes may be needed to brown the butter.
Nutrition Facts
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000-calorie diet. All nutritional information is based on estimated third-party calculations. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods, and portion sizes per household.
World chef says
If it’s only taking you this short of time; you are burning your butter now browning it!!
De Ratcliffe says
I have used BrownButter before and now I have done it while making a Béchamel sauce with rice flour for Moussaka recipe. It smells amazing but I am wondering if I should start again?
It looks like light brown rice and I was going to use 1/2 & 1/2 with Mozzarella cheese so will still get a creamy sauce just not a white sauce.
Your advice is much appreciated.
Cheers Dee
david says
why a light colored skillet
Melissa says
It says in the recipe to use a light-colored skillet so that you can see the butter change color.
Jill Ruben says
I’m dying to properly make browned butter for gnocchi. Your directions are perfect. However, I’m a bit confused. When you say it Alita and use only the brown butter, exactly what will I be doing? Sorry I sound so stupid. And I’m a home gourmet cook! Anyone that could help before 7pm I will be so grateful. Wish me luck.
RENEE WAGNER says
Refrigerate, when hard grate and add to cookie dough.
DZDC says
Hello Jessica~
Amature baker here…I was wondering if there is a conversion chart for turning solid butter to brown butter. I’m trying to make (the perfect) chocolate chip cookie and the recipe I’m developing calls for 1 1/4 C of butter, but when I used 1 1/4 C of solid butter, it only produced slightly more than a cup. Another recipe noted to add water until the level came up to a cup to compensate for the evaporation of water. AND since it is now a liquid, do I use a measuring cup designed for liquid instead of one used for dry like I would use when it’s a solid?
Thanks
Robin says
Can I put in an icebox and make it so I can use for a cookie recipe? Like the snowball cookie .. measure like shortening
Jessica Gavin says
I think you can give that a try and they soften it before you make the cookies. Let me know how it turns out!
Mike Govette says
I made a cookie recipe with brown butter. I let it cool and get solid in the refrigerator, then used it like butter in the recipe. Had to let it soften to use it, but it worked GREAT! What a flavor!
Jessica Gavin says
Wow, I can only imagine how nutty and flavorful the cookies were with the browned butter!
Brian says
From white foam…to clear…to clear bubbles…to Heaven! I accidentally made brown butter once when trying to learn how to make ghee – I’d never heard of brown butter before that. I can think of few things as amazing-smelling as brown butter. I literally open the jar on a regular basis just to sniff it. Seriously.
Thank you for the instructions. 🙂
Jessica Gavin says
They should make a browned butter air freshener!
Emma Cook says
Or Yankee Candle XD
Peg L Arnett says
Nummm.. i just did the exact same thing.. i like it better than ghee
Judy Caywood says
Hi Jessica, these cookies look crisp vs soft. Am I right about that? No one in my family likes the soft baked type but they do love a crisp cookie with a little snap to it.