How To Brown Butter

Ready to upgrade your cooking and baking with one simple ingredient? Let's explore the magic of Brown Butter and how it can transform your recipes. This technique is simple to master with a few simple tips!

Prep Time5

Cook Time10

Total Time15

Course: Condiment

Cuisine: French

Servings: batch

Calories: 3241kcal

Author: Briana

Equipment

light-colored saucepan
rubber spatula or whisk
digital food scale

Ingredients

4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature & cut into chunks (can make any amount you prefer)

Instructions

Cut the sticks of butter into small, equal-sized pieces. Allow the butter to sit out at room temperature for 20-30 minutes before beginning so that it's not too cold. Place a saucepan over medium heat on the stovetop. Add the chunks of butter to the saucepan, and stir to melt.
Once melted, the butter will get really foamy and sizzle around the edges. Keep stirring. After a few moments, the butter will stop making so much noise, and the milk solids will begin to separate. Keep moving the butter around to help the milk solids toast evenly.
Keep a very close eye on it now, the butter will continue to bubble up, and you will want to keep it moving. It will brown and become a nice golden brown color very quickly. When the butter is a nice golden amber color, you'll notice little brown bits at the bottom of the pan, and a nice nutty smell. This usually takes about 5-10 minutes depending on the amount of butter you're using. DO NOT walk away from the stovetop! This process goes quick, and your butter can go from browned to burnt and bitter very quickly!
Once the butter has plenty of brown flecks on the bottom of the saucepan, remove it from the heat immediately and place it in a heatproof bowl or container. The residual heat will continue to cook it gradually even off the heat.
Now, weigh the remaining butter using a food scale. You can anticipate to lose about 20-25% of the total volume of the butter after cooking. This is because the water content will evaporate while the butter cooks. You can drop in a little bit of extra butter at the end and stir to melt, or, you can always brown about 25% more butter than you'll actually need for whatever recipe you're using to end up with the correct amount.
If you end up with too much, don't worry! Brown butter stores really well for long periods of time in the fridge and freezer. Your browned butter is ready to use! Enjoy it in a variety of dishes and baked goods!
Store leftover brown butter in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 2 months. It can be kept easily in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Notes

Use a light-colored pan. This helps you keep track of the color change of the butter to make sure it doesn't get burnt! You want a nice golden brown or amber color, not burnt butter, which will turn a little black and become very bitter!
Cut the butter into chunks. This helps it melt and brown more evenly.
Make sure the butter is at room temperature and not too cold. If the butter is too cold, it will splatter when it warms up in the pan, which can obviously burn and hurt you!
Stir constantly. You don't want any of those toasty, caramelized milk solids to get stuck on the bottom of the pan and burn. Keep everything moving to ensure it browns as evenly as possible.
Keep a close eye on the butter the whole time, and don't walk away from the stove! This recipe isn't difficult, but it is pretty hands-on. You will need to watch the butter during the whole process to make sure it doesn't go from golden brown to burnt. It can happen so fast, it's not worth walking away at any point.
Use all of your senses. It's not just the color of the butter that gives away whether it's done or not. The nutty aroma will also be very apparent.
Keep the heat source at medium the whole time. Medium heat will ensure that the butter doesn't brown too fast and burn. If you're using high heat, the butter can easily burn.

Nutrition