How to Make Clarified Butter {Step-By-Step Photos} - Savory Simple (2024)

Clarified butter should be referred to as liquid gold, in my opinion. It can be used in place of oil for high heat cooking applications such as searing, sautéing, pan-frying and more. However, unlike most high heat cooking oils, it adds a ton of rich, buttery flavor to recipes. It’s also a tasty dipping sauce for shellfish like lobster and crab legs! Learn how to make clarified butter in this step-by-step tutorial.

I’ll never forget the day in culinary school where we learned how to make clarified butter. I’d never even heard of it, so I was fascinated. This lesson was during the first week of school, possibly the first or second day. As soon as I started cooking with it, I was hooked. Clarified butter is now my ingredient of choice for high heat cooking, though I don’t often use it in recipes here since I realize many people are unfamiliar with it, as I was.

You can purchase clarified butter online and in some stores (Trader Joe’s usually has it). However, it’s much cheaper to make it at home, and only takes a few minutes. This is one of those ingredients that will elevate the flavor of your recipes with no effort on your part.

However, before demonstrating how to make clarified butter, I should explain exactly what it is and why it’s such a fantastic ingredient.

What is Clarified Butter?

Clarified butter is unsalted butter that has been simmered to separate and remove the milk solids and water from the butterfat. Once the milk solids and water have been removed, the resulting product has a translucent appearance, a rich flavor, a higher smoke point, and a longer shelf life.

This is also the type of butter that’s typically served alongside seafood such as lobster and crab legs. The slightly sweet, nutty flavor makes it a perfect accompaniment, adding fat without masking the flavor of the seafood.

Why Use Clarified Butter?

Regular unsalted butter has many uses, but it cannot be used for high-heat cooking because it has a low smoke point (350 degrees F), which means it burns easily. Because clarified butter has a high smoke point (450 degrees F), it’s an ideal choice for high heat cooking methods (for example, searing meat or sautéing vegetables).

There are plenty of high heat cooking oils, but none of them have the same buttery flavor. Cooking a steak in clarified butter makes it taste better.

Ok, let’s get to it.

How to Make Clarified Butter

Step 1: Place the butter in a medium-sized saucepan, and set the heat to medium.

I usually clarify one pound of unsalted butter at a time. It sounds like a lot, but once the water and milk fat is removed and discarded, you’re only left with around 1 1/2 cups. While it’s not essential, I recommend using a European butter such as Kerrygold or Plugra for best results. We used Plugra at school; you can taste the difference.

Step 2: Bring the butter to a gentle simmer.

Once the butter is melted and simmering, you’ll notice a white foam forming on top. This means the milk solids are starting to separate and rise to the surface.

Step 3: Watch and Listen As The Butter Transforms

After several minutes, you’ll begin to see and hear a change, which is how you’ll know the clarified butter is almost ready. The simmering bubbles will become larger and make little popping sounds. It might splatter a bit, so be careful.

Some tutorials recommend whisking the butter at this point to prevent the solids from sinking to the bottom and burning. You can do this, but it’s not necessary if you keep an eye on it.

If some of the solids sink and begin to brown, simply remove the pan from the heat and move on to the next step. Brown bits will add flavor (this is also known as ghee, and can be used the same way as clarified butter). Black bits will taste burned. More on ghee below.

Step 4: Skim the Milk Solids

When the bubbling slows down to almost nothing and the butter is transparent (you should be able to see the bottom of the pan if you move aside the solids with a ladle), that’s when it’s time to skim the top layer. You can remove the pan from the heat first, or leave it on if the milk solids aren’t browning. Try to remove most of the solids, but it’s ok if you miss some since it will be strained.

Step 5: Strain Through Cheesecloth

Strain the butter through a fine mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth. This will catch any lingering solids. That’s it!

What’s the Difference Between Clarified Butter, Brown Butter and Ghee?

It’s easy to confuse these three ingredients since they’re all very similar (and commercial packaging doesn’t help since it often lumps them together). As previously noted, clarified butter has had all of the milk solids and water removed so it can be used for high heat cooking.{See it in action in my Crispy Baked Chicken Thighs with Lemon and Garlic.}

Ghee takes things one step further; milk solids sink to the bottom of the pan and brown, creating a nutty, toasted flavor. It can also be used for high heat cooking. However, some brands of ghee sold in the grocery store look and taste more like regular clarified butter, and ghee is often referred to as brown butter in recipes! Ghee can almost always be used interchangeably with clarified butter, and it’s a common ingredient in Indian cuisine. {See ghee in use in my chicken tikka masala recipe.}

Brown butter (aka buerre noisette in French) tastes almost identical to ghee because the milk solids are browned. However, unlike the other two variations, the butter is not clarified or strained. Therefore, brown butter can only be used for medium heat cooking. It’s amazing when added to baked goods or sauces in place of regular butter. {Check out my brown butter banana bread muffins.}

Can Clarified Butter Be Kept at Room Temperature?

You can technically leave clarified butter out at room temperature indefinitely, but I store mine in the refrigerator to prolong the shelf life for as long as possible.

How Long Does Clarified Butter Last?

Clarified butter will keep for up to 6 months in the refrigerator.

More Ingredient Tutorials

Did you find this tutorial helpful? If so, check out my tutorials on How to Make Whipped Cream, How to Cook Quinoa, and How to Make Buttermilk Substitute!