How to Brown Butter

Sharing all my tips on how to make brown butter easily and quickly to make all your dishes and desserts even better! Brown butter is magical and tastes toasted and almost nutty, adding a lot more depth to a dish!

Table of Contents

• What is Brown Butter?
• How to use Brown Butter:
• How to Brown Butter:
• Tips to success:
• Get the Recipe

What is Brown Butter?

Brown butter is made when the fat and the water in the butter separate and the water cooks out, concentrating the butter’s unique flavor. Then, we continue to cook it until the milk solids in the butter cook and brown, creating a rich nutty flavor. 

Brown butter is a classic French staple that is used in both savory and dessert recipes. You can also let it cool to become a solid again and use it in different recipes that way as well. It stores wonderfully for future use and you can even freeze it for future recipes! 

How to use Brown Butter:

You can use delicious browned butter in any recipe that calls for butter. Know that when you brown the butter, there will be a little evaporation and your final product will be a smaller quantity than what you start with. For baking recipes, make sure you measure your browned butter carefully to make sure you are using the correct amount of butter. 

You can use brown butter immediately in any recipe that calls for melted butter. You can also allow the brown butter to cool and re-solidify to use it in any recipe that calls for softened butter.

Below are some great suggestions on how to use Brown Butter:

• Butterscotch Blondies
• tossed in pasta 
• Gnocchi
• as dip or spread for bread
• drizzled over fish or other seafood 
• Brown Butter Cookies
• Use it to make a fabulous brown butter frosting for cakes
• spooned over vegetables (like asparagus!)
• drizzled over popcorn (so yum with a little sugar too!)

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How to Brown Butter:

This cooking technique is very simple to do and only requires one ingredient – butter. You will also need a spatula (or wooden spoon) and a skillet. I recommend you use a skillet with a light colored bottom. This will allow you to see the exact moment the butter has started turning brown and when you should stop cooking!

Step 1:

Add butter to a skillet over medium heat and melt it. You want to keep your heat at medium, if you go too high, the butter will cook too fast and not be properly browned.

Step 2:

Cook butter until foamy. Swirl the pan, or stir the butter, often to be sure the butter is cooking evenly.

Step 3:

Tips to success:

This is a no-fail recipe as long as you follow these simple tips!

1. Not too hot! Do not turn your heat up past medium. If your heat is too high, your butter will not cook evenly. The water will not have time to evaporate and the milk solids will burn very quickly. The whole process will take 10 minutes or less, just keep that heat on medium. 
2. Use a light colored pan. If you use a dark pan, it is nearly impossible to properly tell when the butter is done and to remove it from the heat. 
3. Keep stirring. You want to continually stir the butter to make sure it cooks evenly. Brown butter can be easy to burn if you do not pay attention to it. 
4. Don’t look away! The biggest trick is to not look away. Keep stirring and watching and you will never let your butter burn! 

Brown butter is very easy to make and can be used in many ways! I hope this tutorial has helped you and you feel confident making brown butter! It only takes 1o minutes and I promise the flavor is worth the extra effort. 

And don’t worry, if you happen to accidentally burn it, just clean out your pan and start again! 

4.7 from 7 votes

Print Pin Recipe

Brown Butter

Brown butter is magical and tastes toasted and almost nutty, adding a lot more depth to a savory dish or dessert!

Cook Time10 minutes minutes

Total Time10 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• 2 sticks, 1 cup butter (unsalted or salted)

Instructions 

• Add butter to a skillet over medium heat and melt it. You want to keep your heat at medium, if you go too high, the butter will cook too fast and not be properly browned.
• Cook butter until foamy. Swirl the pan, or stir the butter, often to be sure the butter is cooking evenly.
• Keep cooking, stirring constantly. The foam will start to dissipate some and you will start seeing little golden flecks in the butter. The color will progress from lemony-yellow to golden-tan.
• Once you see lots of little browned bits and smell that nutty aroma, take the pan off the heat immediately and transfer the browned butter into a heat-safe bowl to cool.
• The butter will be very hot. If you do not transfer it to a room temperature bowl, the butter can continue to cook and end up burning.
• At this point, you can use the butter as is, fresh and hot or let it cool and re-solidify before using.
  
  

Nutrition

Serving: 1

© Jessica - The Novice Chef

Cuisine: French

Category: 30 Min or Less

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