Homemade Ghee
Updated: Nov 19, 2020
I love the smell of butter cooking on the stove and that’s basically what ghee is: butter, boiled to evaporate the water and remove the milk solids. The final product is pure butterfat or ghee. It looks like liquid gold and has numerous health benefits. I have a particular interest in consuming it regularly because it is high in butyrate which is a fatty acid essential to gut health and creating an environment where diverse beneficial bacteria can grow. I’m all for that! I add this golden butterfat to anything that I’d typically put butter on (I also add it to my mug of bone broth) and I add a little extra. Word of warning: ghee does not taste like butter; it has a nutty flavor that may surprise you if you’re not expecting it.
What you’ll need:
Large stainless steel pot
Grassfed butter*
Mesh strainer
Cheesecloth
Large glass bowl
Pint sized glass jars with lids
Making the Ghee:
Unwrap your butter and cut into large pieces (I usually just cut mine in half… if I have time)
Place your butter in a stainless steel pot and turn the stove to medium heat.
While the butter heats up, prepare your glass bowl and strainer by placing a piece of cheesecloth (just big enough to cover the bottom of the strainer) into the bottom of a mesh strainer and place the strainer over a glass bowl to catch the butterfat.
Return to the stove to keep an eye on the cooking butter; give it a stir if you like.
The butter will melt completely and start to bubble and foam. Keep an eye on it, because you’re listening for the bubbles to quiet down and the foaming to stop. It may take a while (usually not more that 10 minutes) depending on the temperature of the stove-top and the amount* of butter you're cooking.
Once you see the foam dissipate, listen for the bubbles to slow (almost stop completely). After the foaming stops and the bubbles aren’t as loud and rolling, watch for the foam to start again (it’ll take a few minutes).
When the foaming starts again, it’s done!
Pour the butterfat through the cheese cloth and strainer into the glass bowl.
Once the butterfat has been strained and you can see the milk solids on the cheesecloth, it’s ready to pour into jars.
The ghee can be stored in the fridge for up to 6 months.
Notes:
*I like to buy unsalted Kerrygold butter in bulk wherever I can find it on sale. It's important to find quality grassfed butter in order to get the maximum amount of nutrients for your ghee.
*In the pictures above, I used a little more than 1 ½ pounds of butter; that yielded 3 cups of ghee.
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