Easy Homemade Ghee Recipe
This easy recipe will show you how to stock your kitchen with your own homemade ghee. Ghee is a healthy cooking fat with a high smoke point and tons of nutty flavor that makes a wonderful ingredient to add to your cooking arsenal.
What Is Ghee?
Ghee is made from butter by slowly cooking down the milk solids. When the milk solids are browned & eventually removed, what’s left is ghee. It’s important to use high quality butter. I use organic, grass-fed butter. The flavor of ghee is warm & nutty, but mild enough to be used in almost any cooking application. Cooking ghee takes a bit of time, but most if it is not hands on.
Why Should I Make This Easy Homemade Ghee Recipe?
My discovery of ghee came from trying to find healthier swaps in my kitchen. When we began our whole food cooking journey, I had a hard time finding a substitute for vegetable oil. My family was not on board with pig fat for cooking at first, so thankfully I found ghee. If your family is nervous about trying new ingredients, this one is an easy, delicious recipe swap!
Ghee’s high smoke point makes it a favorite in my kitchen. I love crispy edges on fried eggs, golden brown potatoes, and seared vegetables. Because of the mild flavor, I love using it for savory OR sweet recipes – just like butter! Unlike butter, though, ghee’s smoke point is 485 degrees! Butter’s smoke point is only 350 degrees which makes it less versatile.
How Can I Use Homemade Ghee?
Ghee can be used in place of butter in many recipes. Now, you probably wouldn’t want to spread it on a slice of sourdough toast, however, you can cook with it in many applications.
Add to your veggies before adding them to soups or roasting them in the oven.
You can sear your meats in them for that lovely butter flavor, without fear of it burning.
You can even substitute it in my Herb Butter Roasted Turkey Breast recipe!
Tips for making this Easy Homemade Ghee Recipe
- Use the best quality butter available to you. Organic and grass fed butter will provide the highest nutrients and lowest toxic load.
- The less fussing the better to allow the ghee to fully separate leaving you with the best result.
- For a milder flavor cook for less time, which will yield slightly less ghee and more milk solids to discard. For a nuttier, fuller flavor, cook longer to yield the most ghee and least amount of milk solids to discard.
- Skim the top only when there is a distinct film covering the entirety of the pot of ghee. This is the first layer of milk solids to remove. Underneath should be the ghee, followed by the last layer of milk solids that have sunk to the bottom and are toasting.
- Store in a jar that a spoon can fit into so that as the ghee solidifies you can extract it easily for each use.
- The recipe can be made with any amount of butter, but use an amount that makes your time feel worthwhile. If you have a need for it, use more butter to make more ghee at once.
What You’ll Need for Homemade Ghee
- 16 oz butter
- Small sauce pan for cooking the ghee
- Large spoon for skimming the top of the ghee
- Jar for storing with a lid
- Funnel
- Strainer
- Cheese cloth for straining
How to Make Homemade Ghee
Cut your butter into manageable cubes and add to a heavy-bottomed sauce pot.
Turn the heat to low to allow the butter to melt, but to avoid scorching.
After the butter has melted, wait for a foam to build up on top of the liquid. Gently skim this from the top of your clarified butter using a spoon.
As the ghee cooks, notice the layer of milk solids on the bottom of the pot – the lighter the layer on the bottom, the milder the ghee. The darker the milk solids become, the nuttier the flavor of the finished product will be.
When the milk solids are the desired color, (light for mild, darker for nutty), remove the ghee from the heat.
Place a cheese cloth or fine mesh strainer into a funnel for pouring your ghee into a jar of your choosing. The cheese cloth or strainer will remove prevent milk solids from entering your jar, but they mostly remain at the bottom of the pot.
Once strained, label your jar and allow it to cool. When cool, I like to keep in the refrigerator until it’s needed.
Enjoy!
One pound of butter, once clarified into ghee, yields nearly a full pint. The foam and milk solids skimmed from the ghee during the clarification (cooking) is minimal.
Ghee left at room temperature can remain fresh for up to a year, whereas refrigeration can remain fresh almost indefinitely. I personally have never had ghee go bad in my fridge.
Ghee, like most dairy derivatives, will have an obvious sour or “off” odor. Usually, when in doubt, throw it out.
Easy Homemade Ghee Recipe
Ingredients
- 16 oz Butter
Instructions
- Cube butter and add to your sauce pan.
- Turn heat to low and allow the butter to melt. Do not stir!
- After the butter has melted, periodically skim the foam from the top of the ghee until it stops foaming. This may take a few hours.
- After skimming the foam, look at the milk solids forming on the bottom of the pot under the ghee. For milder ghee, it will be done with these solids are lighter. For nuttier ghee, allow the solids to darken.
- When the milk solids are cooked to your preference, prepare your jar by placing the funnel, strainer, and cheese cloth over the jar.
- Allow the ghee to cool for 5 minutes to ensure the glass jar won't break.
- Pour the ghee through the cheese cloth & strainer into the jar. If poured slowly, the milk solids will remain at the bottom of the pot.
Notes
- Cut your butter into even pieces to ensure even melting.
- Resist the urge to stir!! The magic of this recipe happens when they layers are allowed to fully separate.
- This recipe can be followed using any amount of butter to start. Decide how much ghee you'd like to get, then use a similar amount of butter.
- The yield of ghee from butter is almost 1:1.
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