1 min
3-7 hours
16-32 oz
Butter
The amount doesn’t matter. You can use as much or as little as you wish. I usually use 4 blocks (8-ounces each) of KerryGold butter, or organic, grass-fed butter totaling 32 ounces. You can use salted or unsalted butter. I know most ghee recipes tell you to use unsalted butter, but I actually like using salted butter a bit better. The majority of the salt ends up in the milk solids,leaving the ghee very, very lightly salted. It’s perfect!
Crockpot
2 Coffee Filters or a Cheesecloth or Nut Bag
Glass jar or jars (I use a 32 ounce jar like THIS)
Step 1: Place the butter in your crockpot.
Step 2: Set your crockpot to high and keep it uncovered. After about an hour, the butter starts to completely melt. An hour or so later, you’ll start to see foam gathering on the top. Then you’ll notice the foam start to turn brown. As It turns brown, it will start giving off a very pleasant, almost nutty aroma.
Step 3: After the foam on top starts to turn brown and develops a crust, turn off the crockpot. This can take anywhere from3 hours to 7+ hours, depending on your crockpot.
Step 4: Strain the liquid into your jar or jars using a double folded cheesecloth, 2 coffee filters or a nut bag. I sometimes strain twice just to make extra sure that all those pesky milk solids are out.If any are remaining, they will float to the top so they will be easy to spot. You can skim them off with a spoon or you can strain the ghee a second time.
Look at that beautiful golden liquid! That’s ghee! As it cools, it will turn much lighter in color.
Step 5: Let the ghee cool completely and then put on the lid. There’s no need to refrigerate unless you want to. Ghee will keep in or out of the fridge for many months. The only thing that will cause it to go bad early are if it gets exposed to too much sunlight or air or if it happens to get water in the jar.
That’s it! Enjoy your ghee and use it any way you would butter. Since it has a much higher smoke point than butter, I especially love using it for cooking and frying.
You can find ghee in stores and online (I like THIS brand),but it’s very expensive. A 32-ounce jar in the store is around $40 compared to about $10 to make it yourself. That’s a big savings! Since it’s so easy to make, why not make your own for much less?
Ghee is very similar to clarified butter, but the difference is that ghee is cooked a little longer so that the milk solids start to brown, giving it a slightly sweet and nutty aroma and taste. It is made entirely of butter, but when the butter is heated to make ghee, the water evaporates and the milk solids start to separate and then turn brown. You can skim those brown milk solids off and you’ll be left with beautiful golden ghee (liquid gold!). Many people who are intolerant to dairy can consume ghee with no negative reactions because the milk solids have been removed!
Often, even dairy intolerant people can enjoy ghee. Ghee can often be consumed with no negative reactions, as the milk fat is gone! And many actually like it even better than regular butter.
Kelly, from PrimallyInspired
