How to Make Brown Butter - Browned Butter Recipe

Browned butter is one of my favorite ingredients! But if you're here, you may be wondering how to brown butter, and what is brown butter used for? Find all the tips for browning butter, including how to make brown butter for cookies, sauce, or pasta, or any other brown butter recipe!

*This post contains affiliate links — as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please see my disclosure for details*.

And if you like this baking tips post, check out How to Make Vanilla Extract, Pound Cake vs. Bundt Cake - What's the Difference?, Measuring Baking Ingredients Accurately for Better Results, and My Favorite Kitchen & Baking Tools!

Jump to:

• What is brown butter?
• What is the difference between brown butter and regular butter?
• What is the trick to brown butter?
• How do you brown butter?
• What is brown butter made of?
• What does browned butter look like?
• How long does it take to brown butter?
• What's the difference between brown butter and burnt butter?
• Why is my butter foaming?
• FAQs About How to Make Brown Butter
• Why is brown butter so good?
• How to Store Browned Butter
• Browned Butter Recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

What is brown butter?

Browned butter is regular butter that’s melted and cooked until the milk solids toast into golden brown bits. This creates a nutty, caramel-like flavor that makes both sweet and savory recipes taste richer.

Also known as beurre noisette or browned butter, it's made solely from butter, the process involves evaporating the butter's water content and gently cooking the remaining components to a golden brown.

What is the difference between brown butter and regular butter?

Where do I begin? My love for this ingredient is so well-established it's almost overkill at this point. Suffice it to say that when I make any recipe that calls for butter, I at least consider swapping it for brown butter.

If you have the time, it could be the key to taking your recipe up a notch. But the real question is how to make brown butter? Well, you're in luck -- although browned butter has seemingly magical powers to transform an everyday recipe into a masterpiece, there is no magical spell required!

I have shared so many brown butter creations, starting with my sweet potato pie. But even if a recipe doesn't require it, you can use it in any dish that could be improved by a nutty, caramel-y, rich flavor. Especially autumn and wintertime recipes like Eggnog Bread Pudding with Brown Butter Rum Sauce or my brown butter pumpkin spice donuts!

You can also use it in savory recipes -- make a brown butter sauce for savory pastas with aged cheese and earthy herbs, or baste a steak in brown butter! In short, it's a secret ingredient that can step up lots of different types of dishes!

What is the trick to brown butter?

Brown butter is just butter that has been (you guessed it) browned on a stovetop the butter melts until the milk solids are toasted and take on a nutty, caramel flavor. 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.

How do you brown butter?

Also known as brown butter or beurre noisette, what we're aiming for is butter that has been cooked on a stovetop until its milk proteins are toasted and deep golden brown. As the butter browns, the flavor gets richer, and can turn your dish from delicious to amazing. And the best part is how easy it is! It's so simple to get the hang of, and it only adds a few extra minutes to your total prep time.

What is brown butter made of?

• Butter. It can be salted or unsalted, but I recommend using unsalted butter, since sometimes salted butter can brown more rapidly. You can also use cultured butter for added flavor and quality. You'll start with a ½ cup of butter.
• A light-colored pan. I usually use a stainless steel pan, but if you have a white or cream-colored skillet it's even better. This will help you clearly monitor the browning process.
• You'll need a whisk and a rubber spatula. The whisk helps keep the butter from burning and allows it to brown evenly -- I like this silicone whisk -- and the rubber spatula scrapes all the browned bits from your pan!

What does browned butter look like?

To make it, cut your stick of butter into chunks and heat it in your hot pan on medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes. As it starts to melt, it'll look something like this:

Keep whisking and watching the regular melted butter and it'll start to foam up. You'll also see the white milk solids separate and fall to the bottom of the pan.

Be sure to keep whisking so that the foam doesn't obstruct your view of the milk solids at the bottom. They'll be the first to start to turn a golden brown color, after about 5 minutes or so. Finally, when it looks like this, you're all set!

Immediately remove it from the heat and transfer to a heatproof container. Be sure to scrape up all the brown bits that are at the bottom of the pan -- that's where the nutty flavor is most pronounced!

How long does it take to brown butter?

How do you know when butter is browned enough? Your brown butter should be ready in about 5-10 minutes, depending on the quantity of butter that you're browning. I would definitely stay by the stove and keep an eye on it while it's browning, since butter can go from brown to burnt in just a few seconds!

What's the difference between brown butter and burnt butter?

How do you tell if browned butter is burnt? I'd recommend going by color and smell. Brown butter has a deep golden brown, caramely color. As soon as you begin to see this color in your butter solids, remove it from the heat and pour into a heatproof bowl, because it'll continue to brown a bit because of residual heat. Burnt butter will be darker and begin to have a burnt smell.

Why is my butter foaming?

Foaming is the result of water in the butter evaporating. Depending on the brand of butter and your cooking temperature, the butter may create more or less foam. Either way, no worries -- foaming is totally normal! Just continue to whisk your butter to keep it moving, and keep a close eye on the milk solids so that you know when they've changed color.

Once you start making browned butter, a few questions always pop up. Since it can go from perfect to burnt pretty quickly, it helps to know what to expect and how to avoid common mistakes. Here are some of the most searched questions about how to make brown butter, with simple answers to make the process stress-free.

FAQs About How to Make Brown Butter

Why is brown butter so good?

Brown butter is insanely good because when you heat it up, it gets all nutty and toasty, adding this incredible depth of flavor that's just irresistible. Seriously, it's like a flavor bomb that makes everything taste richer and more delicious, whether you're whipping up some cookies or sautéing veggies.

It adds such a deep, complex flavor to your sweet and savory recipes that it'll have your guests wondering what was so good about that rum pound cake you made, or why your pasta was even more irresistible this time. And it's an easy way to achieve that deliciousness that chefs have been using for years!

How to Store Browned Butter

You can make brown butter ahead of time and store it in a mason jar or another container with a tight-fitting lid. Store it in the fridge for up to 10 days, or freeze it for up to 3 months.

Browned Butter Recipes

Now that you know how to make it, what is browned butter used for?

There are SO many! Brown butter works best in recipes that call for melted butter, like rice krispie treats, brownies, blondies, or certain cookie recipes. But as you grow more comfortable with the technique, you should definitely try using it in place of softened butter in recipes.

It's especially delicious in frostings or icings, in brown butter cake and in quick breads like my brown butter banana bread recipe with pineapple. For frostings, you may need to chill the hot brown butter until it's solid, and the allow it to come back up to room temperature. A great example of this technique is my Butter Pecan Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting!

I frost my spiced banana cake and apple pie cinnamon rolls with brown butter cream cheese frosting, I drizzle my brown butter cream cheese glaze on my chai cake and my carrot pound cake, and I use a maple brown butter glaze on my Banana Cinnamon Pancakes and my Sour Cream Pumpkin Bread!

The possibilities are truly endless -- you'll find over 44 recipes in my full collection of sweet and savory brown butter recipes!

📖 Recipe

Don't lose this browned butter technique! PIN it for later:

Last Updated on March 28, 2026 by Chenée Lewis