17 Savory Recipes That Prove Brown Butter Makes Everything Better (2024)

FAQs

Does brown butter make things better? ›

Brown butter adds a rich, slightly nutty, caramel flavor to baked goods that makes everything extra delicious. If you haven't made brown butter before, don't you worry.

Browned butter can add a subtle nutty flavor to baked goods (like chocolate chip cookies) and pan sauces, it makes roasted vegetables taste decadent and rich, and it's excellent in a cake frosting.

Often described as tasting nutty or toasty, it has a deeper, richer, more intense flavor than melted or clarified butter. Brown butter is traditionally served with fish, but it makes a delicious topping for vegetables such as Brussels sprouts and broccoli.

The Science of Browned Butter

As the butter continues to heat, the water evaporates and the milk solids (which contain sugars and amino acids) toast and undergo the Maillard reaction. The butter takes on a dark speckled appearance from the toasted milk solids and smells savory, sweet, toasty, and toffee-like.

Browned butter can be made and stored in a covered container in the fridge for future use. It will keep as long as the original best by date. With flavors that span across sweet and caramelly to toasted and nutty, browned butter is an aromatic ingredient we encourage you to try!

We recommend using a silicone whisk for the best results, but a wooden or regular spoon will work just as well. You just need to be able to stir the milk solids while the butter is cooking, so that they brown evenly and not turn black and burnt.

Brown butter, or beurre noisette, is a sauce classically used in French cuisine, where it's paired with both savory and sweet dishes. In French, the name translates to hazelnut butter which is indicative of its nutty, toasted flavor and aroma.

The foaming is caused by the water in the butter boiling away. The main reason you wait for it to subside is simply because that means the butter has had long enough to reach a proper temperature for cooking: too cold and the food will absorb the butter rather than fry in it.

Account for evaporation: Brown butter reduces in volume by 20-25% as water content cooks off. Store for later: Browned butter can last one to two weeks in the fridge.

Adding one standard two-tablespoon ice cube for every two sticks of butter you brown has two benefits: 1) It will help stop the cooking process so your butter doesn't burn and 2) The melting ice will add back water content to your butter that was lost during the browning.

Do you keep brown butter in the fridge? ›

You can (and should!) make brown butter in advance and store it until needed. Pour brown butter into a heat-safe bowl, then after it cools to room temperature, transfer it to an airtight container. Brown butter will keep in the refrigerator for up to two weeks or in the freezer for up to three months.

Ghee is very similar to brown butter in terms of flavour, but the latter is not strained and the browned solids are left to cool and form with the butter after cooking. The key difference between the two is that ghee develops a rich, nutty flavour as it is allowed to caramelise slightly during the cooling process.

In its purest form, brown butter tastes like toffee, a little sweet and savory with a heady caramel aroma. Chemically, brown butter tastes so good for the same reason a seared steak does: a process called the Maillard reaction that describes the breakdown of animal proteins into hundreds of flavor compounds.

The milk solids, those white foamy bits, will begin to brown as the butter continues to cook. They're the key to the delicious flavour, so you'll want to ensure an even browning by continually whisking the butter or swirling it in the pan. Avoid letting those milk solids burn at the bottom.

Butter-Toasted Milk Powder = Big Brown Butter Energy

Per stick of butter, use as little as 2 Tbsp. milk powder (as in these Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Treats) or as much as ¼ cup milk powder (like that chocolate cake). Melt the butter, add the milk powder, and cook, stirring constantly, until deep golden brown.

As the butter continues to heat up, the magic begins: The butter's amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) react with its sugars to create totally new compounds, some of which are brown and many of which have new toasty flavors. This is known as the Maillard reaction or the browning reaction.

Just like regular butter, browned butter (also called just brown butter) improves the texture of baked goods and adds richness to savory dishes. But unlike regular butter, brown butter has a distinctive, bold flavor that otherwise can't be recreated.

Brown butter is regular butter cooked a bit longer than usual until the milk solids toast and turn brown. You'll cook the butter just past the melting point. Browning butter creates a magical toasty flavor you don't get with regular melted butter.

Fatty foods are often more flavorful because many flavors dissolve in fats. Butter works very well as a flavor carrier for spices, vanilla and other fat soluble ingredients. When you sauté an onion in butter before adding the base ingredients, all the flavor from the onions will be carried by the butter into the dish.