Brown Butter
Brown butter is an easy way to add a ton of flavor to any sweet or savory recipe - but how do you make brown butter? I’ll show you just how easy it is (and what NOT to do) with my step-by-step instructions, photos, and baking science explanations.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter
Instructions
- Cube your butter. Starting with cubed butter helps it to melt more quickly and evenly.
- In a medium stainless steel sauté pan or skillet set over medium heat, melt the butter.
- Swirling the pan occasionally, continue to cook the butter. It should become foamy with audible cracking and popping noises.
- Once the crackling stops, stir the mixture occasionally until the butter develops a nutty aroma and brown bits start to form at the bottom. Don’t swirl the pan too often; we want to encourage those nice brown bits on the bottom to continue to form, and stirring constantly will prevent that. However, sometimes it’s difficult to tell how browned the butter is without stirring.
- Once the bits are amber in color, about 2 to 3 minutes after the popping stops, remove from heat. Use as the recipe indicates. Be sure to scrape out those little flecks of brown in the bottom of the pan—they are toasted milk solids and are FULL of flavor.
Video
Notes
Check out the Tip Box (above the recipe) for storage information, under vs. over-browning, and tips on substituting browned butter in recipes using melted or creamed butter.