How to Make Brown Butter

⭐ Why You’ll Love This Recipe 

Brown butter is an absolute game-changer. Although the idea of browning butter may induce panic, never fear! The success of achieving perfectly browned butter is dependent on using your senses, so get ready to be thrilled. It's a great way to add intense flavor, deeper flavor and caramel flavor into your baking and cooking adventures!

The process of making brown butter doesn’t just yield a delicious result, it is also a true pleasure to witness. Pour yourself a glass of something tasty and strap in for the chemical reaction ride!

At first, your only job is to watch. The stick of butter goes through several stages of development — melting, bubbling, separating, and eventually, browning milk proteins. Once you note these stages, you’ll easily be able to scale the amount of butter up or down according to your needs.

🧪 The Science Behind Browned Butter

Browning butter is also a great olfactory introduction to the Maillard reaction — the chemical transformation that makes perfectly browned steak or golden roasted potatoes so delicious. 

Butter’s main flavor compound is butyric acid, while butyrate is the scent compound that is given off during a Maillard reaction. You’ll know when your browned butter is done browning because you’ll be able to smell its uniquely delicious aroma! Just trust yourself; you’ll know when it’s ready.

Nutty brown butter is a fantastic addition or even replacement within a number of recipes - pop in an airtight container and save for using in all kinds of recipes. Whether you are hoping to add flavors to popcorn, brown butter chocolate chip cookies, cakes, breads, rice krispie treats, savory recipes – take the flavor to the next level with a bit of brown butter. 

🍴Ingredients

This might come as a shock to you, but you only need one ingredient to make browned butter:

• BUTTER! Make sure to get the really good stuff here for the most nuanced flavors. Look for identifiers like grass-fed, organic, and/or cultured sticks of butter. I also prefer to use unsalted butter so I can more easily adapt it to use in other recipes. Remember, you can always add salt, but you can’t take it away!

⚒️ Equipment

Browning butter is a simple task that doesn’t require much, aside from: 

• A Heavy Bottomed Pan - This will ensure even cooking and help prevent scorching.
• Sharp Eyes & A Keen Sense of Smell. Honestly, once you make brown butter once, you’ll wonder what all the anxiety was about. If you’re tuned into the moment, you will have no problem identifying when your batch is ready.

📖 Step by Step Instructions

• Start the cooking process by melting your cold butter over medium heat in a small saucepan. Use a pan with a light-colored bottom so you can keep track of the color.
• First, the butter will melt and look opaque.
• Next, once your butter melts it will begin to bubble. The bubbles will be small and vigorous, and it’ll be hard to see the bottom of the pan. Keep the faith.

• After the foaming subsides, you’ll start to hear a splutter. This is an indication that the butter has separated into solids and liquids. Now you’ll need to pay closer attention.
• Swirl the pan occasionally to make sure that the butter is cooking evenly. The coloring will darken, but your most reliable cue that your butter is done browning is how it smells and sounds!

• Once the butter has developed a light golden brown coca-cola color, the noise/sputtering subsides and smells deliciously nutty, your browned butter is done!
• Then, pour directly into a heatproof glass jar as the butter cools. This will prevent the butter from cooking further and burning.
• You'll find that there are little brown bits or brown specks at the bottom of the pan as seen pictured below - those are golden milk solids with the best nutty flavor. Make sure to not leave those butter browns behind as they are packed with nutty, rich flavor - they're truly liquid gold!

❓ How To Use Browned Butter

Feel free to use this easy recipe for browned butter immediately. It goes great on:

• Popcorn - toss the kernels in this toasted flavor instead of regular melted butter
• Pasta - brown butter sauce anyone?!
• Vegetables
• Eggs
• Pancakes and Waffles
• Breads
• Everything, really.

You can also store browned butter in a heatproof container (like a mason jar) and refrigerate it for later. I love using it in:

• Coconut Brown Butter Rice Krispie Treats
• Banana Cake with Brown Butter Buttercream
• Brown Butter Double Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you allow the browned butter to chill entirely, you can then let it come back to room temperature to sub into basically any recipe that calls for you to cream butter. 

Start experimenting with your favorite cake or cookie recipes to see how it changes them. I think you’ll be delighted with what you find!

Did you come up with an amazing way to use your browned butter? Let me know in the comments below, or tag me on your socials! 

👩🏻‍🍳 Expert Tips

• Feel free to scale the recipe up as needed. Once you’ve made brown butter and witnessed all its steps, you’ll know when you’re getting close enough to jump in and start *really* paying attention. 
• Make browned butter in advance, and always keep it on hand.  It will keep in the fridge for up to a month, so even if you don’t have a plan for it, make it! I can promise it’ll be a lifesaver on a busy weeknight when you forgot about dinner; combined with pasta, you don’t need much else! 
• REMEMBER: All it takes to make brown butter is butter, a pan, 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 will succeed! 

If you're looking for more essentials to try your hand at making in your kitchen, try my Homemade Almond Butter, Fresh Ricotta, Basic Pesto Sauce or Homemade Nutella!

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