Have you ever browned butter?
It’s an easy way to take a recipe that relies on butter up a notch in flavor. Just by cooking the butter a little past the melting point results in the milk solids in the butter browning, and creating a wonderfully nutty aroma.
It’s fun to do with butter-based sauces (check out these scallops in a browned butter caper sauce), baked goods that call for melted butter (like these brown butter chocolate chunk cookies), or with vegetables such as winter squash that you sauté in butter.
Just be sure to keep your eye on it while cooking; it’s pretty easy to go from browned to burnt!
What do you like to make with browned butter? Let us know in the comments.
How to brown butter
How to Make Brown Butter
PrintIngredients
- Unsalted butter
Method
1 Heat a thick-bottomed skillet on medium heat. Add the butter (if you slice it, it will melt more evenly) whisking frequently. Continue to cook the butter.
2 Once melted the butter will foam up a bit, then subside. Watch carefully as lightly browned specks begin to form at the bottom of the pan. Smell the butter; it should have a nutty aroma.
3 Remove from heat and pour into a bowl to stop the butter from cooking further and perhaps burning.
It's pretty easy to overcook browned butter and go from brown to burnt. If the butter starts to blacken, I suggest dumping it and starting over (something I've had to do on occasion), unless you want beurre noir which has a different taste than nutty brown butter.
If you want to make sage brown butter sauce, add some fresh sage leaves to the butter once it has melted. Allow the butter to brown and remove from heat.
Use browned butter immediately or store covered in the refrigerator for future use.
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Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
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I used this twice, the first time was great!!! My kids loved it! Even my picky eater! But the second time it was just bland. I used the same butter but I used more, about 2 1/2 sticks. I was making a big pot. I followed the recipe. It was the same color, no black pieces. Anyone know what I did wrong this time? Too much at one time maybe??
That brown butter certainly does look wonderful. Hopefully I’ll try to make it one of these days. You’ve really out done yourself once again, Elise!
Yum! I like to do this and then toss a ham steak in to cook in the brown butter. Gives some nice flavor to the ham!
I could never get this quite right. This worked GREAT! Thanks!
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I need help! I tried to brown 1 cup of grass fed butter for over 10 minutes in a pot and it never browned! What did I do wrong? Do I have to use a pan?? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.