How to Elevate Your Home Cooking: Browned Butter 101

If you’ve checked out some Station 1923 recipes like our amazing browned butter bourbon waffles, browned bourbon snickerdoodles, Mardi Gras-inspired king cake, southern style candied yams, or even our candied yam wings, you’ve probably caught on to one common ingredient they all require (besides Maple Cinnamon): browned butter.

Browned butter is one of those game-changers for baking that only takes a few minutes, but can really take your cooking and baking game to the next level. It adds a rich, nutty, caramel-style flavor to whatever it’s added to, thanks to the toasted milk solids that turn brown during the cooking process.

Browned butter is an easy way to add amazing depth to dishes and baked goods, and all you need to make it happen is some butter, a sauce pan, a rubber spatula, and a small bowl that won't warp or shatter (aka heatproof)!

How to Make Browned Butter (Time: 4-6 minutes)

To make browned butter for any recipe (savory or sweet), here's all you need to do:

Place your small sauce pan over a medium-low flame and add butter, stirring intermittently for a few minutes until it's completely melted.

Once melted, the butter will begin to bubble on the surface — don't walk away, because this is where things will start happening quickly. Things may look light yellow on the surface, but don't let that fool you! Continue stirring, ensuring that no bits stick to the bottom of the pan.

As the butter browns, toasted specks of milk solids will emerge; continue stirring until all of the milk solids are a light shade of golden brown and a beautiful, caramelized aroma develops.

Remove the pan from the heat, and transfer your browned butter to that heatproof dish so it can cool. Don't leave it in the pan! Because the pan is still hot, the browned butter will continue cooking and could potentially burn — making it bitter and unusable.

Once fully cooled, incorporate it into your favorite Station 1923 dishes (ike our amazing browned butter bourbon waffles, browned bourbon snickerdoodles, Mardi Gras-inspired king cake, southern style candied yams, or even our candied yam wings)!

Told you it was super easy!