How to make Ghee
Ghee(Hindi), tuppa(Kannada),tup(Konkani)-clarified butter must be one of the most important ingredients in any Indian sweets. It gives a unique flavor and aroma to any sweet dish and takes the dish to a new level. When in India, my supply of ghee always came from my Aayi. I never liked the store bought ghee. I started making it in Bangalore when I used to buy Nandini whole cream milk. This milk gets a thick cream when heated. So I used to save it and make ghee out of it. When I came to US, I was totally lost since the milk we get here does not get the cream when heated. The ghee that we get in Indian stores is very expensive. So I started using shortening as a replacement as told by one of our friend. Shortening does give a better result than ghee for nankatayi, chiroti and many other dishes, but some of my readers said that it is not very good for health. So finally I decided to make ghee at home using unsalted butter.
I usually buy the 4 pack combo of unsalted butter in Costco and make ghee of 2 or 3 packs at a time and store. I somehow feel it is better than the store bought ghee and works out much cheaper. So this is what I have been doing for last many months. I was thinking of this post for a long time now, because of the increasing number of cooking newbies who read Aayi’s Recipes. I took as many pictures as possible, I am happy that my camera still is working after all these pictures. There was a thick vapor that sat on the camera lens when I tried to take picture from too close 
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Apart from using in many sweet dishes, ghee is usually added to lamps (oil lamps) during festivals. It is supposed to be very auspicious. I still remember aayi giving ghee mixed in sugar after it was offered to god during one of the festivals.
- Heat 7-8 sticks of butter in a clean heavy bottomed pan. When all the butter is melted, keep the heat on low. Let it boil.
- Just blow lightly some air, if the liquid has become transparent and you can see the bottom of the pan clearly, the ghee is done. Switch off the heat. (Do not keep the heat on at this stage, otherwise the ghee gets burnt). Some people like to add a little fenugreek(methi)
- Now add 1/8 th tea spn of salt. It helps the floating particles to settle at the bottom.
- When the ghee has cooled a bit, pour in glass jars taking care not to pour any of the solid particles.
- If everything has gone well, it solidifies when completely cooled.
- There is a considerable amount of ghee which remains in the vessel after you pour it in jars. With a spoon, remove all the solid particles. Now use the vessel to make daali thoy or any other daal and the final daal comes out very tasty and fragrant.
At my native some people add a small turmeric leaf to the milk which is used for making ghee. Personally I don’t like any extra flavor to it, so I don’t like to add anything.
I emailed the direction of making ghee to my daughter. The pictures really help to see what the end result is
hai ghee maduva bagge tiliyitu
nanu mane yalli tuppa maduvudu
halu kayisi adara bhave ondu bottle nalli hakiduttene dina halu kayisuvaga bhave sikkuttadalla adannu fridge nallittu bottle tumbidaga tegedu mix yalli haki butter tegetu kayisi tuppa tegeyuttene bhave tegediduvaga adakke heppu hakittare mix madi butter tegeyuvaga olle majjige yu sikkuttade
hi!
I have some problems making ghee and maybe you can help me with that.
so, the question is when the ghee kind of separetes after cool down. I know that happens when the ghee is not finished. what separets is the water that remains there. but in this case it’s not lack of time, maybe is the butter or othe thing that I’m doing wrong.
thank’s a lot!
mar
thank you very much for your simple instructions on making ghee. our temple will be making it for the first time to be used in out mahasivrathri celebrations for the next 2 weeks.
your site was very helpful and i will be returning here often!
thank you so much!
namaste
suryadasi
thanks for your recipe for ghee. I’ve made it successfully for the first time at home – thanks to your recipe and the photos.
Shilpa, thanks for such a great guide! The ghee in the shops around here is expensive and doesn’t smell good. Last time I tried to make my own ghee, I cooked it too hot and burnt it. This time I followed your directions, and added a couple of curry leaves and filtered through a paper towel as mentioned in other comments. Result – the best ghee I have ever used!
I am so happy to have found your site, thank you!
VERY NICE DESCRIPTIONN!!!!!
HI,
UR RECIPE WAS REALLY SUPERB. I NEVER IMAGINED THAT GHEE MAKING IS SUCH A EASY PROCESS.
Hi Shilpa,
I tried it yesterday and it came out very well. Thanks!
I was going trough the responses and queries, one of them (no. 36, Shilpa), although way back in 2007, asked about how to make Ghee from Cream directly. Well, I use to do that till the time I was in India, its simple, here are the steps –
1. Collect the Cream from boiled milk and keep it in fridge.
2. When its enough, take it out and put it into thick bottom pan.
3. It would be good if you can take the collected cream out of Fridge at least couple of hour, that would help it to come to room temperature and it would be easy to come off from the vessel where you have stored it. Or else, you can microwave it or put it on flame for a minute so that it comes of easy.
4. Now, when you have it in the pan, put it on medium to high flame as you are comfortable to Handel it. And yes you will have to stir it continuously. or else it will get stick to the bottom and will burn.
5. As it will progress, you will see, ghee will start separating from that and the stage will come when you can see Ghee clearly and soft milk solids separately.
6. Now you can sieve it, don’t allow milk solid to get into filtered ghee. Store it the way you want it. It stays good for long.
7. the remaining milk solids (it would be white and soft, if made with care, i.e Continuously stirring and preventing it from sticking to the pan) can be eaten with sugar, OR you can put it further on flame and stir, you will see it become brown and little hard or crunchy, this will make the remaining ghee also come out. Now you can filter and get more ghee and throw away the residue.
Hope it helps!
Shikha
Shilpa: Thanks for posting it Shikha. But I had already posted these steps for comment 35.
I am from the US and having been making ghee for a long time but I clarify the butter differently. I slowly melt 1 lb butter in a small teflon wok. When all the butter is just melted, I gently scrape the surface material off with rubber spatula and discard. Then, gently place the wok in the refrigerator until the separated contents has solidified. Then I break the solids into about four pieces. They will have a coating on the outside of white curds. Run some tap water until it is warm and quickly dash the quarters under the running water until the curds wash away. The remaining ghee is frozen until needed. The remaining whey (liquid) is discarded. What I learned here is that the curds and whey can be used also. So, now I will try to save this instead of discarding.
Also, I have a question. In the US butter is required to be refrigerated by the merchant. But, ghee is routinely sold unrefrigerated. Ghee labels do not indicate any preservatives. How can this anomaly be? Why doesn’t Indian ghee get rancid? Butter certainly does, if not refrigerated in the summer.
Shilpa: I don’t know. Probably because it does not have perishable milk solids.
Store butter is pasteurized so the proteins and lactose in the butter will go rancid. Raw butter wont (but will sour), ghee is just the saturated fat, which will stay good indefinitely so long as you keep it dry.
Thanks for this post. For the first time i tried making ghee for my son when the fresh ghee supply from India finished up and i couldnt bring myself to buy another old ghee bottle (dates too old on those). someone mentioned this idea but no details. your post made it picture perfect to go thru all steps and NOT burn it
.
Its great to see you taking time for making this one perfect. Wish you all the best for all next recipies.
P.S. – At my home place ppl pt a little sugar or loung (clove), it brings sji like texture for ghee which is very desired in our home side. next time i wold try and see if that works.
thanks for the pictures. I finally can make ghee correctly. most of the times in the past i burnt it until i saw your blog.
My grandma adds onions, garlic, cloves, cinnamon, turmeric,elaichi, betel leaf stalks and methi all pounded together into a fine paste and added just before the butter boils…great taste and a lovely green colour!!
Thank you for the detailed pictures and information how to’s. Your perseverence at taking pictures at each step shows how much trouble you took so that someone else will know how to make ghee. God bless you.
Where I live, unsalted butter is not available. In fact, there are only two brands of salted butter available. Is it possible to make ghee with salted butter? If so, are any adjustments to the procedure necessary? Also, would a higher-quality butter be better for making ghee (presuming it’s even possible with salted butter), or would lower quality be better?
Thanks!
Never mind. I looked, but didn’t see that someone else had already asked about salted butter, and that you had already answered. Thanks, anyhow.
I had to make ghee and was not sure how to do this because my mother was not at home. i search googlgles on net and these photographs were extremely useful for me. i was looking for exactly this and it was really very helpful. thanks for posting this because such things prove very useful in day to day life.
I used to make ghee from everyday collected cream from in a jar for a week. then churn and make butter and then make ghee from it. Now a days i make ghee directly putting collected cream in a non-stick pan on a gas. I add a pinch of salt to it when it is about to be ready.The salt here works as a preservative.ghee does not require any refrigeration..