The 5 Tips You Must Know To Avoid Burning Butter On The Stove

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There's nothing quite so luxurious as cooking with butter. Whether you're basting a steak, making a garlic butter sauce, or creating a nutty brown butter, you're adding a whole lot of decadence to your meal. But even the most experienced of chefs will have burned their butter at one time or another, transforming the smooth, creamy flavor into a bitter and unpleasant taste.

The reason that butter is so prone to burning is that it's not composed purely of fat. All butter contains fat, water, and milk solids, which give it that creamy taste. However it's these milk solids that give butter such a low smoke point of around 350 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to something like sunflower oil, which can be heated to 440 degrees Fahrenheit without burning. If you love that buttery taste but haven't had success avoiding a smoking pan, here are a few tips that can keep things creamy rather than charred.

This is likely the most common tip you'll come across for preventing butter from burning, and with good reason. It's the simplest way to address the key issue with butter: its low smoke point. By adding oil (which, in most cases, has a higher smoke point), you're raising the smoke point of the whole mix. The milk solids in the butter will still burn at some point, but they will be more diluted by the oil.

This method won't be suitable for all recipes of course. Some dishes require you to measure your butter exactly, such as cakes or cookies, while a butter-based sauce needs the unadulterated taste. But when it comes to sauteing vegetables or pan frying meat, the combination of butter and oil gives you the perfect balance between taste and temperature.

When choosing an oil to add to butter, most advice calls for adding a neutral flavored oil with a high smoke point, such as canola oil. However, you can use the opportunity to enrich the taste of your dish. Something like sesame oil has a lower smoke point than other oils but one that is still higher than that of butter, and the combination would make for a luxurious fried rice.

Setting aside butter's chemical composition, user error can play a big part in butter's tendency to burn. When it comes to stovetop cooking, your focus is (understandably) on hitting the correct temperature for whatever it is you're cooking. But you don't want to start your butter off in either a cold pan or one that's too hot. Ideally, preheat your pan to medium before adding the butter, then raise the temperature if needed. If you have an infrared or digital thermometer (like this one from Alpha Grillers on Amazon), this is the perfect time to use it, making sure your butter doesn't tip over 350 degrees Fahrenheit. If what you're cooking requires searing at a high heat, consider adding oil to the mix or using clarified butter instead.

Another thing to consider is the type of cookware that you're using. Lightweight pans are more reactive to fluctuations in heat and are prone to hotspots where butter can easily burn, even when the rest of the pan is at a medium heat. Look for cast iron, copper or heavy bottom stainless steel pots and pans that will distribute the heat more evenly.

Keeping everything moving goes hand in hand with managing the heat that you're cooking at. Butter that is allowed to sit for too long on the bottom of the pan will eventually overheat and burn. Keeping the contents of your pan moving will distribute the heat throughout the dish and stop the butter from settling in one place. Beyond simply stirring, you can also keep the heat from rising too high by adding your other ingredients gradually. This is the technique used in the "from the ground up" method of sauteing, which has the added benefit of making sure each ingredient is cooked perfectly.

For dishes that require cooking your food in batches, like a stack of pancakes or seared scallops, it's good to keep this tip in mind too. Rather than adding a big chunk of butter at the beginning of cooking, refresh the supply regularly and wipe out the pan with a paper towel if you notice the butter picking up too much color.

This tip applies when melting butter or making brown butter. When melting butter for baking, the aim is to turn all of the butter to liquid without actually cooking it. To avoid overdoing it, take the pot off the heat while there are still some solid pieces remaining, then stir to melt these using the residual heat of the pan. To help evenly melt butter, it's also important to start by chopping your butter into small, even cubes. Trying to melt a large piece of butter will mean the outsides will have melted and possibly burned by the time the interior has come to melting temperature.

Brown butter, which has many uses, requires you to strike a finer balance. The nutty aroma and taste only develop when the milk solids reach the point of caramelization without burning. When your butter has reached the perfect shade of brown, removing the pan from the heat won't be enough. It's important to have a bowl on standby where you can empty the contents immediately, or the heat from the pan will continue to cook the butter.

If your dish absolutely must have high heat to make it a success but you still want some butter flavor, then clarified butter is the answer. Clarified butter is butter that has been melted and had all of the milk solids strained out. With these easily burned proteins removed, the remaining fat has a much higher smoke point than regular butter — around 450 degrees Fahrenheit. If you can't find it in stores, it's simple enough to make clarified butter at home, though it does take a little time. By melting butter over a low heat, you can skim off milk solids as they rise to the surface until only the pure fat remains.

If you're wondering where ghee comes into the equation, it's a type of clarified butter. It differs from other clarified butters in that it has been cooked rather than simply melted, allowing it to develop richer, nuttier flavors. Additionally, it's much easier to buy thanks to its widespread use across the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East and Africa. Try ghee next time you want to whip up a traditional chicken korma, or scrambled eggs that won't burn.