How to Brown Butter

A white bowl with browned butter in it, on a white background.

How to brown butter... with easy to follow instructions! Browned butter amplifies and completely elevates the flavor of any baked good you add it to! Add browned butter to chocolate chip cookies or buttercream frosting and you instantly have a deeper and richer flavor.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 10

Total Time 11

Servings serving

Calories 814kcal

Author Whitney Wright

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter (1 stick) salted or unsalted, cut into tablespoon sized pieces

Instructions

Place the butter pieces in a light colored saucepan or skillet. Place the pan over medium to medium-low heat.
Stir the butter around the pan until melted. While browning butter you want to stir just about the entire time to keep things moving and to prevent the butter from burning. Browning butter is a process that takes about 8 minutes from the time you started.
Once the butter melts, it will begin to foam and sizzle. Continue stirring, eventually the foam will subside and the milk solids at the bottom of the pan will turn a very light golden color. Continue stirring until the milk solids are golden brown and almost amber colored. The smell will be nutty and very buttery. Butter can burn in a matter of seconds so don’t overcook the butter.
Immediately remove the pan from the heat and pour the butter into a heat proof bowl or container. This will stop the cooking process.
Use the browned butter as desired!

Notes

You can brown more than ½ cup of butter. Just make sure you have a skillet or pan large enough to hold the amount. I wouldn’t’ brown more than 1 cup at a time though.

Mere seconds can be the difference between perfectly browned butter and burned butter. Using a light-colored pan can help you know when to remove the pan from the heat.

See my FAQs and Tips for more troubleshooting.

Nutrition