How to Make Clarified Butter

What's made with just one ingredient and can make your kitchen smell heavenly in the process? You guessed it—clarified butter. This ingredient is every restaurant kitchen’s worst-kept secret. The great news is, it's not just for chefs; you can make clarified butter at home to use in all of your most treasured recipes.

When you clarify butter, you are removing the milk solids and water. This leaves behind a rich, fragrant, golden-hued liquid. You can use a spoonful or two of clarified butter just about anywhere you would use a stick of butter, and your cooking will get an instant upgrade.

What Is Clarified Butter?

Clarifying butter is the process of separating the butterfat from the water and milk solids that are present in your everyday stick of butter. Butterfat contributes to roughly 80 percent of the makeup of butter, leaving water and milk solids to make up the remaining 20 percent. So when you clarify butter, you're doing exactly what the name suggests—removing everything but the delicious and versatile fat that chefs often call liquid gold.

If you've made browned butter for a recipe, you've inadvertently made clarified butter (perhaps without even realizing it). The process is simple–if you feel confident melting butter and keeping an eye on the pot, making clarified butter will be no problem. Clarified butter is a staple in classic French cooking. It's often used to get a nice sear on pieces of meat or incorporated into delicate sauces like hollandaise or béarnaise.

Here are a few reasons we love clarified butter for cooking:

• Higher smoke point: Clarified butter has a smoke point of around 450 degrees Fahrenheit (compared to 350 degrees for regular butter). You'll notice that many recipes will call for a combination of butter and oil, even when doing something as simple as sautéing an onion. This is because regular butter has such a low smoke point that it can start to burn pretty easily unless something with a higher smoke point (like oil) is incorporated. Clarified butter solves that problem. Its high smoke point is great for frying vegetables in a skillet or searing thick cuts of meat like rib-eye steaks or pork chops. 
• Stability: Milk and water are the parts of butter that can sometimes prevent proper emulsion. Since those are removed in the process of clarifying butter, the resulting butterfat is much more stable. This makes it perfect for incorporating into sauces that are also fatty in nature, like hollandaise, or even as a finishing touch to simple pan sauces. 
• Overall flavor and texture: Even though you're not fully browning the butter when you clarify it, some of that signature nutty flavor does start to develop in the process. The flavor is pure and a bit less sweet than regular butter (since the milk solids have been extracted). The texture (once allowed to solidify) is smooth and creamy, though not as firm as a stick of butter.

How to Clarify Butter

The process is so simple you barely need a recipe. You can clarify as much or as little butter as you want. Just slowly melt unsalted butter in a saucepan over low heat. Once melted, remove it from the heat and allow the milk solids to sink to the bottom. If any foam rises to the surface, skim it using a spoon, then carefully pour the clarified butter into a heatproof jar to separate it from the solids.

Ways to Use Clarified Butter

• Cooking meat and seafood: If you’ve ever cooked a Thanksgiving turkey, you are probably all too aware that the buttery skin tends to smoke in the oven. Since clarified butter has a higher smoke point, you can spread it over the skin of the turkey (or chicken) instead of regular butter. Clarified butter is also ideal to use for searing thick cuts of meat or fish. You'll get a nice golden brown crust on the steak or fillet without the pan smoking or burning. 
• Sautéing vegetables: Sauté any of your favorite vegetables in clarified butter. The vegetables will brown more evenly and the flavor will be unmatched. We especially love to use clarified butter when caramelizing onions. 
• Drizzling over seafood: Serve bowls of clarified butter alongside lemon wedges when you serve cooked seafood like shrimp, crab, and lobster. The buttery flavor complements the seafood perfectly and isn't overpowering. 
• Making sauces: Any egg or cream-based sauce, from hollandaise to béchamel, can be fickle. Since clarified butter is more stable without the water and milk solids, it can help prevent these sauces from breaking. You can also finish your favorite pan sauce, gravy, or tomato sauce with a spoonful of clarified butter. 
• Amping up popcorn: Clarified butter will give you movie theater-style flavor when drizzled over freshly popped popcorn.