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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 brown 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
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter
Method
1 Melt the butter: 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 Watch for brown specs and nutty aroma: 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.
How to Make Brown Butter
I added chopped garlic and yellow squash, then whole wheat spaghetti and topped with grated Parmesan. A quick, easy and delicious vegetarian dinner! Will use for many more things. Didn’t realize how easy it would be. Thank you!
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I use it to make a Cabernet Sauce for lamb
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What a great idea Susan!
I’m trying to perfect/develop a chicken pot pie recipe that is a step or two above the norm. The next time in making the sauce I was thinking about browning the butter before adding the onions, etc. I was also intrigued by maybe adding the thyme to the butter. Just wanted to get some thoughts.
Hi Brent, I think browning butter for a chicken pot pie sauce is a fabulous idea! Adding thyme would be good too. Chicken loves thyme. Just add the thyme near the end of the brown butter process.
Works great. I suggest putting it over noddles and adding some saffron. Deliciousness!!
I accidentally made brown butter this morning while making syrup for french toast. Rather than throwing it out, I added it to the french toast batter.
BEST FRENCH TOAST EVER!
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Kitchen accidents are so much fun! Wow. I’ll have to try this! Thanks for your comment, Joe!
Brown butter makes everything better!