This is an easy recipe for making homemade ghee from butter. It walks you through choosing the right butter, the stages of ghee, storage tips, and Indian recipes that use this flavorful ingredient.
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Defintion
Ghee is a type of Indian clarified butter where the milk solids are filtered out from the butter, leaving the fat behind. Because ghee does not have the milk solids, it has a higher smoke point than butter, so it is great for high temperature cooking while imparting the dish with that rich butter-y taste. You can read this blog post that goes in depth about ghee, its different varieties, and how it compares to other fats like clarified butter. If after reading, you decide that you would rather buy ghee than make it at home, then read this post about the eleven varieties of ghee brands I tested and the ones that came out on top.
Choosing the right butter for ghee
The quality of your ghee depends on the quality of the butter! In general, the rule of thumb is to choose a butter with a high percentage of butterfat and that uses grass-fed cows/buffalos, which will yield the best ghee. The reasons for this are:
- Choosing butter with a high percentage of fat yields more ghee. Butter that has a lower fat percentage has a higher percentage of water. When making ghee, the water is boiled out, so you will be left with a lot less ghee compared to the butter you started with.
- Organic or grass-fed cows yield a "buttery" and yellow-tinged butter ghee. The more grass a cow eats, the yellower the resulting butter is and the richer the taste! You can alternatively look for butter that says pasture-raised cows; however, you need to do more research on the brand to see if the cows actually grazed on grass.
In the United States, buy European-style butter in order to make really high quality ghee. European-style has between 82%-90% butterfat, compared to regular butter which has about 80% butterfat, so it yields a rich and decadent ghee. My go-to European butter for making high quality ghee is Kerry Gold. I love the rich yellow color of the butter, which then yields a deep golden and rich ghee.
Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter, Unsalted, 8 oz
Buy Now →Salted butter vs. Unsalted butter for ghee
You can use either salted or unsalted butter to make ghee. Typically, I prefer to use unsalted butter for ghee so that I can use the ghee more easily for both salty and sweet applications and so that I can control the salt content of my recipe. However, if you are mainly going to use ghee in salted applications and don't want to remember to add salt later, it is totally fine to make salted ghee from salted butter.
When is ghee ready?
You know when ghee is ready when the milk solids fall and start to caramelize/brown. The exact amount of caramelization is really up to preference: the darker the milk solids, the richer/nuttier the taste. This caramelization is what makes ghee different from any other clarified butter and thus it has a deeper golden hue and a nuttier taste. However, it is really important not to burn the milk solids or that will result in a bitter ghee. Here is a step by step to visually show you the stages of the ghee making process:
1. Butter is melting, and white milk solis are still on top
2. Milk solids starts sinking to the bottom, leaving a clear top
3. Sides and bottom show milk solids browning and the top foams
If you want the ghee to cool in the hot vessel that you are cooking it in, make sure to turn off the heat as soon as you see the milk solids start to brown. The residual heat of the pot will continue to cook the milk solids. However, you can allow the milk solids to brown into a deeper color if you plan on immediately straining the ghee into a different vessel.
Filtering the milk solids out of ghee
It is very important to filter the milk solids out of ghee so that it has a high smoke point (which means it won't burn when you are cooking it at a high temperature). This is what makes ghee different from brown butter.
How to filter ghee
The two ways of filtering out the milk solids are using either 1) a cheese cloth or 2) a tea strainer. I prefer a tea strainer because it is more ergonomic and the handle helps me keep it in place in small jars. In addition, I choose tea strainers that have a fine mesh to be extra sure that the milk solids stay out.
Buy Now → What to do with excess milk solids?
I used to simply discard milk solids, but boy was that a waste of delicious flavor. The milk solids have a deep caramelized milk taste. Here are some ideas on what you can do with the caramelized milk solids left over from making ghee:
- Mix with some butter and spread on toast.
- Mix with ricotta for a nuttier taste.
- Store in the freezer and add it to buttercream for a brown buttercream.
- Add it as a topping to ice cream.
How much ghee results from butter
The higher percentage of fat that the butter has, the higher amount of ghee that will remain. Here is a breakdown of what you can expect:
- If using American butter (80% fat, 20% water/milk solids), then you will get 80% of the butter you used.
- For 1lb = 2 cups = 454g of American (80% fat) butter, you should expect about ~1.6 cups = 363g of ghee.
- If using European style butter, check to see the fat content percentage, which can range from 82% - 90%. Simply multiply the number of cups or grams by the percentage of fat, and that should give you the resulting amount of ghee!
Storing Ghee
Since the milk solids have been strained from the ghee, it has a really long shelf life. Ghee, when placed in an unopened jar, can last at room temperature for a year and up to 6 months after opened! Once the ghee is open, just be careful to use clean utensils when scooping ghee out and be sure to close the ghee to reduce its exposure to bacteria. However, for an even longer shelf life (1+ years), ghee can be placed in the fridge. You will know if ghee has gone bad if you smell a rancid smell from the ghee similar to the smell/taste of bad butter.
Tips for making ghee at home
- Use high quality butter to make high quality ghee. You can either use regular butter or cultured butter for a tangier taste.
- Turn the heat down from medium to medium-low once the butter has melted and starts to boil. This step reduces the risks that the milk solids will burn.
- Allow the milk solids to caramelize and brown for a richer/nuttier taste.
- Strain the milk solids using a tea strainer or cheese cloth.
Recipes that use ghee
There are so many recipes that benefit from ghee: dal, Indian masala popcorn, ven pongal, or payasam with a ghee/nut topping. If you are to try only one recipe, the Indian popcorn is a prime example where ghee's properties really shine! Because ghee doesn't have water, the popcorn does not get soggy like if you were to use butter, and because ghee has a high smoke point, you can cook popcorn with this fat without risking burning the popcorn.
Homemade ghee from butter
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter preferably grass-fed European style butter (Refer to Notes about types of butter)
Instructions
- Add 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter to a medium saucepan on medium heat and melt into a liquid form. The butter will start to form a milky white froth as it bubbles. The white parts are the milk fat! Once the butter has come to a boil, turn the heat down to medium-low.
- Over the next 7-10 minutes, you should see the bubbles transform from milky to transparent as the milk solids sink to the bottom.
- In the next couple of minutes, the ghee will start to foam and the milk particles that sunk will start to brown which adds a nuttier flavor to the ghee. Stop the heat sooner if you want a subtle nutty flavor and wait longer if you want a deep brown-butter type of flavor. It is important to not burn the milk solids or else the ghee will be imparted with the burned flavor.
- At your ideal brown stage, remove from heat and transfer from hot pan to stop the milk solids from further browning by using a tea strainer or cheesecloth to strain the ghee into a heatproof vessel. Let the ghee completely cool before transferring to its final vessel.
Notes and Tips
- Related Reading: What is ghee?, Best brands of ghee to buy
- Use unsalted butter for versatility of ghee in sweet/savory applications and for control on salt levels. Alternatively, you can use salted butter if you don't want to remember to salt the ghee.
- Grass fed butter has a yellow tinge and a very buttery taste which results in a buttery-ier ghee. European style butter has at least 82% fat while American butter has 80% fat, so it yields more and richer ghee.
- Kerry Gold butter is one of my favorite brands of European style grass-fed butter for making ghee.
- If you want the ghee to cool in the hot vessel that you are cooking it in, make sure to turn off the heat as soon as you see the milk solids start to brown. The residual heat of the pot will continue to cook the milk solids. However, you can allow the milk solids to brown into a deeper color if you plan on immediately straining the ghee into a different vessel.
- The temperature of the butter can affect how quickly it melts and transforms into ghee so rely on these visual cues more than the times listed in the directions.
- Storing Ghee: Ghee can be stored at room temperature for up to 6+ months or in the fridge for 1+ years.
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