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

FAQs

Does brown butter make everything better? ›

Browned butter is a great way to create more complex, nutty flavors in sauces and baked goods. It isn't bad or bad for you, unless you take it too far and let the milk solids in the butter burn.

Benefits of Using Browned Butter

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.

What Is Brown Butter? Brown butter, also known as buerre noisette in French, is made by heating butter until the milk solids caramelize, imparting a golden color and toasted, nutty flavor. The French technique is an easy way to ramp up the flavor of regular butter without adding any extra ingredients.

During the process of browning, much of the water evaporates from the butter. So if you start out with 1 cup of butter, you'll be left with just a hair over 3/4 cup of butter. You'll lose a couple tablespoons in the process. This is the evaporating effect.

It provides flavor, affects texture, and sometimes even aids in leavening. I could sing the praises of butter all day long—and browned butter, well, that's a whole other level. And thanks to its deepened, nutty flavor, it can take your baking to another level too.

Pre-browned butter can be stored in airtight containers in the fridge for up to two weeks, but it'll last for up to three months in the freezer.

Brown butter, also known as beurre noisette, is made by cooking unsalted butter long enough to turn the milk solids brown while cooking out any water present in the butter. Often described as tasting nutty or toasty, it has a deeper, richer, more intense flavor than melted or clarified butter.

You can use either salted or unsalted. We like using unsalted butter, especially for baking, because you can control the quantity of salt in your dish.

While brown butter is not a health food, it can be used as a healthier substitute for regular butter in some recipes. Since it has a nutty flavor, it can be used to replace other nuts in some dishes, and it can also be used in place of butter in some baked goods.

Black specks indicate burnt milk proteins which will give a bitter taste to your recipe. If this happens, no worries it has happened to all of us. Dump the butter and start the process over.

What is the science behind browned butter? ›

The Science of Browned Butter

The process starts with melting butter. Heat breaks the emulsion, causing the water to separate from the fat and milk solids. 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.

Brown specks in brown butter are toasted milk solids. They're actually where most of the flavor comes from, so make sure you scrape those out of the pan along with the liquid butter. Don't strain out the specks. Trust me, you want it all in your recipe!

How to store brown butter. Brown butter can be stored just like regular butter. I keep mine at room temperature for a couple of days but then I refrigerate it if I don't use it up.

Butter contains a good 13 to 17% water, which has to go before the fat's temperature can rise enough to brown the milk proteins. Once the butter reaches a temperature of 212°F, the water in the butter starts to evaporate much more quickly. As a result the butter will start to bubble and splatter dramatically.

Under-browned butter won't carry as much flavor, and won't bring that lovely nuttiness to your bake. It will look lighter as you'll see in the photo below. Over-browned butter will taste bitter or even burnt, and be darker brown in color, as you can see in the photo below.

Because it's been cooked, some of the water has evaporated so it has a lower water content than regular butter. It adds a distinct nutty flavor and brown specks that regular butter doesn't, so sweet and savory dishes made with it tend to stand out.