Brown butter is an absolute game-changer if you enjoy making your own popcorn at home. Although the process of browning butter can cause some to feel nervous - never fear! The success of achieving brown butter is dependent on using your senses.
It takes patience, time and a bit of babysitting. Watch the color develop, smell the nutty aroma, agitate the butter, listen to the sputtering sizzles that come from your pan and you can succeed! Rich browned butter and sea salt flecks folded into freshly popped kernels, has to be the ultimate snack.
What is Brown Butter?
After cooking butter for a lengthy amount of time, milk solids begin to separate from the fat. These milk solids eventually fall to the bottom of the pan and are packed with flavor! They can eventually burn if heated for too long, so make sure to keep an eye on the butter throughout this entire process.
After you've completed this process, you're left with a considerably nuttier, richer and caramelized version of the butter you started out with! Brown butter is a fantastic addition or even replacement within a number of recipes. Whether you are hoping to add flavors to cookies, cakes, bread, madeleines - elevate the flavor with a bit of brown butter. Take a look at my step-by-step guide below. It details how to actualize the brown butter of your dreams!
How to Brown Butter
To make brown butter, start by melting your butter over medium heat.
It's best if you're able to use a pan or dutch oven with a light-colored bottom while making brown butter. This way, you can keep track of the changing hue of the butter as it starts to brown as seen pictured above.
Next, swirl the pan occasionally to make sure that the butter is cooking evenly. As the butter melts, it will begin to foam, sputter and gradually turn shades darker as pictured above.
Once the butter has stopped sputtering and has turned a deep golden brown color that resembles coca-cola, it's time to take your pan off the heat. Then, pour directly into a heatproof glass jar to cool. This will prevent the butter from cooking further and burning.
You'll find that there are little brown specks at the bottom of the pan as seen pictured below - those are golden. Make sure to not leave those little guys behind as they are packed with nutty, rich flavor.
Making Homemade Popcorn
- To make popcorn in a dutch oven, heat dutch oven over medium heat and add coconut oil.
- Once the oil is hot, add one popcorn kernel to test into the pot and cover. As soon as the test kernel has popped, place the rest of the popcorn seeds into the oil and cover.
- After the kernels begin popping, shake every 10 seconds or so. Once you hear the popping slow down, remove the dutch oven from heat.
- Add the browned butter and sea salt to the popcorn to taste, folding with a spatula. You want to make sure every kernel is covered with that beautiful butter and voila!
Brown Butter Salted Popcorn
Equipment
- Saucepan
- Spatula
- Heatproof Glass Container
- Heavy Bottomed Dutch Oven or Saucepan
Ingredients
Brown Butter
- 1 Cup Unsalted Butter
Homemade Brown Butter Popcorn
- 2 Tbsp. Coconut Oil
- ½ cup Popcorn Kernels
- ¼ cup Brown Butter
- 1 teaspoon Sea Salt, Season to your liking
Instructions
Brown Butter
- Start by melting your butter over medium heat in a saucepan. Use a pan with a light-colored bottom so you can keep track of the color while the butter starts to brown.
- Swirl the pan occasionally to make sure that the butter is cooking evenly
- As the butter melts, it will begin to foam, sputter and the coloring will get darker
- Once the butter has developed a deep golden brown color, pour into a heatproof glass container and set aside
Popcorn
- Heat a large, heavy bottom pot over medium heat and add the coconut oil
- Once the oil is hot, add one test kernel to the pot and cover. As soon as the test kernel have popped, place the rest of the popcorn seeds into the oil and cover
- Once the kernels begin popping, shake every 10 seconds or so until you hear the popping slow down then remove from heat
- Add your browned butter and salt to your popcorn and fold with a spatula to make sure every kernel is covered with that beautiful butter and top with salt
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