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Ghee in a glass mason jar in the forefront. Stick of butter on a white board in the background.

Homemade ghee from butter

Shri Repp
This is an easy recipe for making homemade ghee from butter.
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Cook Time 15 minutes
Course Ingredient
Servings 3 /4 cup

Equipment

Ingredients
 

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter preferably grass-fed European style butter (Refer to Notes about types of butter)

Instructions
 

  1. Add 1 cup 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.
    Beginning Stages of Ghee
  2. Over the next 7-10 minutes, you should see the bubbles transform from milky to transparent as the milk solids sink to the bottom.
    Middle Stage of Ghee
  3. 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.
    Final Stage of Ghee
  4. 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.
    Ghee in a glass mason jar in the forefront. Stick of butter on a white board in the background.
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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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