What is Ghee and Why Should I Care?
Ghee, also known as “clarified butter”, “butter oil” or “drawn butter”, is delicious, healthful and fits in well with the Paleo diet. Many people have immune reactions to the milk solids (lactose and casein) in dairy products and may not even realize the source of the problem. This, among other reasons, is why the Paleo diet generally eliminates dairy. (I recommend trying a 30 day elimination period such as the one outlined in the Strictly Paleo Plan to help determine your tolerance of dairy products.)
Even if you find you need to avoid dairy, most likely you can still enjoy ghee. Ghee is butter that has had all the water and milk solids removed. It is somewhat different from clarified butter in that the process of making ghee involves toasting the milk solids resulting in a nutty, rich flavor. Unlike butter, ghee has a long shelf life and can be used for high temperature cooking. It is also not as difficult to make as you might think.
The Health Benefits of Ghee
A tablespoon of ghee contains 8g Saturated fatty acid (SFA), 3.7g Mono-unsaturated fatty acid (MFA) and 0.5g Poly-unsaturated fatty acid (PUFA). Saturated fat, contrary to what you might have learned, is not an evil menace directly responsible for heart disease. (See this post and this abstract from “The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition”). Mono-unsaturated fats (also known as oleic acid) are the main structural fats of the body and are non-toxic even at high doses.
Ghee is also rich in fat soluble vitamins like A, D, and K2, as well as CLA (conjugated linoleic acid). CLA is an essential fatty acid found almost exclusively in grass-fed animals and may protect against cancer, heart disease, and type II diabetes. To get the benefit of CLA from butter and ghee, I strongly recommend you purchase varieties from pastured (grass-fed) animals. Using organic butter will also ensure you are avoiding hormones and pesticides that may find their way into your ghee.
Here are a couple of brands of pasture butter I use:
How To Make Ghee In The Oven
The traditional way to make ghee is on the stove top. But by making ghee in the oven you will avoid standing in front of the stove for long periods of time. It is important to make sure the milk solids toast enough to imbue the ghee with a nutty taste but if you let it go too far you can burn the solids and ruin the entire batch. The following process is fairly simple and will result in a nicely toasted ghee taste without the need for constant observation.
These instructions are for making about 1 1/2 cups of ghee. Times will vary with different quantities.
What you need:
1) 1 pound of organic, pasture butter 2) oven-safe pan 3) cheese cloth or thin fabric for straining 4) glass container
Instructions
- Place one pound of pasture butter in a Dutch oven or other oven-safe pan.
- Place pan into oven and cook, uncovered, at 250 degrees F. (No need to preheat) When you check on it after 45 minutes this is what it should look like. The milk solids are rising to the top.
- Continue cooking for another 30 minutes. At this point the water is boiling off and the milk solids are beginning to settle to the bottom of the pan and are browning.
- Remove the pan from the oven (about 1 hour 15 minutes total time) and allow to cool slightly.
- Strain through three layers of cheesecloth or even an old t-shirt or thin kitchen towel. Your empty pan may look something like this with milk solids on the bottom and some browned bits.
- You will be left with the pure butter oil – no water or milk solids like lactose and casein.
- Pour the ghee into a glass jar that can accommodate at least 12 ounces.
- Store the ghee in the glass container at room temperature for up to six months or in the refrigerator for up to one year.
- Use your ghee for searing meats, sautéing veggies, cooking eggs or adding to sweeter recipes like Spiced Apple Compote or Fried Sweet Plantains.
One of the benefits of making ghee yourself is that it is much less expensive than purchasing it. Making ghee in the oven will also create such an amazing aroma in your home you will begin to look forward to doing it.
Best wishes for ghee making, eating and cooking!
PrintHow to Make Ghee in the Oven

Dairy-solid-free butter alternative
Ingredients
- 1 pound of organic, pasture butter
- oven-safe pan
- cheese cloth or thin fabric for straining
- glass container
Instructions
- Place one pound of pasture butter in a Dutch oven or other oven-safe pan.pasture butter in pan
- Place pan into oven and cook, uncovered, at 250 degrees F. (No need to preheat) When you check on it after 45 minutes this is what it should look like. The milk solids are rising to the top.
- Continue cooking for another 30 minutes. At this point the water is boiling off and the milk solids are beginning to settle to the bottom of the pan and are browning. how to make ghee in the oven
- Remove the pan from the oven (about 1 hour 15 minutes total time) and allow to cool slightly.
- Strain through three layers of cheesecloth or even an old t-shirt or thin kitchen towel. Your empty pan may look something like this with milk solids on the bottom and some browned bits.
- You will be left with the pure butter oil – no water or milk solids like lactose and casein.
- Pour the ghee into a glass jar that can accommodate at least 12 ounces.
- Store the ghee in the glass container at room temperature for up to six months or in the refrigerator for up to one year.
- Use your ghee for searing meats, sautéing veggies, cooking eggs or adding to sweeter recipes like Spiced Apple Compote or Fried Sweet Plantains.
I love practical posts like this. 🙂
Oh my…I love this. I’ve been wanting to make my own ghee as I’m getting close to running out…this seems like it will be much easier than the stove-top method! Thanks so much!
Doing it this way takes some of the stress out of it for me and I hope it will for you too.
I made stove top ghee and failed. Have just ghee following your instructions in the oven and have had success! Thank you.
That’s great Margaret. So glad to hear it. You are very welcome. Thanks for the feedback.
great !! can you use ghee in baking paleo?
Yes, definitely. I do it quite often!
This was so easy, and came out perfect! Thank you!
This is a fantastic idea! I advocate eating a paleo type diet to those looking for fat loss – especially to lose belly fat. Eating ghee is a much better way to take advantage of CLA than talking supplements.
I love this suggestion! I usually have made ghee on the stovetop, but this will definitely cut down the attention necessary time and make it that much more accessible for constant use. Thank you!
This might be a dumb question… but do you put the lid on the pan when you put it in the oven?
It’s not a dumb question but no you don’t need to put the lid on the pan.
Thank you 🙂 I am starting my paleo journey and am very excited to make this tomorrow!
Does this mean you do not have to stir at all??
That’s correct. Stirring would just mixed the milk solids back in with the oil. Better to let it settle to the bottom while the water also cooks out.
Thank you very much! I will try that. I wasted a pound of precious organic butter by burning it on top of stove.
I much prefer this oven method to stovetop, but I will say that I tried this with Horizon organic butter last time since it was all that was available without running to many different stores. I had it in the oven for the 1.25 hours and really, it needed more time. I didn’t realize that until after the fact, but it had more water than the wonderful Kerry butter; I should have left it cook off. As it was, I ended up pouring off milky liquid after I had refrigerated my ghee and it solidified. It’s my understanding that it can spoil if not fully cooked??? Didn’t matter much here since I use up my ghee fairly quickly! Just a point to keep in mind I guess.
I love this recipe, so easy compared to the stove top method. My one problem is that both times I have ended up spilling a fair amount of ghee all over the counter. I need two hands to lift and pour out of my heavy dutch oven, and another hand to hold the handle of my strainer with the cheese cloth in it. I am just wondering if any one has any tips on how to set it up so I don’t spill any!
You can try to ladle it out. Good luck.
I use a glass 4 cup measurer with a handle. I place the cheese cloth over the opening and secure it with a large rubber band. That holds the cloth on place.
I have been thinking about that too, I will use another lighter container that is big enough to hold the pound when it melts. And set up the cheesecloth with a rubber band over the big measuring cup so I can pour right into it. I’ll give it a run.
Thank you so much – I always dread when I run out of usli ghee because of the long process at the stove in making it and being sure I don’t burn the milk solids. This is great. The empty pot with the left over browned milk solid ‘fond’ is fantastic for making soup, OR you can deglaze it with stock or some wine and save it briefly in the fridge to use later in soup, sauces, or to toss steamed veggies in. No waste!
Great idea, Rod. Thank you.
New to this, so please humor me. You mentioned using the left over browned milk solid for other purposes, but isn’t the benefit of ghee that you are trying to get rid of the milk solids? I like the idea of not wasting anything.
if you use the milk solids does this not contain the casein? that’s the whole reason that ghee is made, to avoid that.
Really good question. Yes and no. Yes, the milk solids contain casein. So if you make ghee to avoid the casein then you would definitely not want to eat the milk solids. But, no, that’s not the whole reason to make ghee. Many people make ghee because they like the fact it is a fat that can be used at high temperature for searing meat and other things. When the milk solids and water are removed during the ghee-making process, you end up with just that butter oil that can be used for high temp cooking. There may also be a situation where one family member needs to be casein free but another does not. In that case you might have someone in the household who would eat the milk solids. I hope that helps. Thanks for your comment.
thanks for the good explanation! very helpful ;0)
super easy vs on stove top! question… after pouring the ghee into my 2 jars using cheese cloth to filter the solids, I notice that there was fine white sediments at the bottom that went thru the cheese cloth. I poured only the golden yellow ghee into my jars, and left the rest in a bowl. I intend to skim off the top layer of ghee… did I not have it in the oven long enough? I left it in the oven for 1.5 hrs at 250F. Thanks!
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Hi Anne,
It sounds like you are referring to the milk solids that separate from the butter oil during the cooking process (which is what we want). But if it is going through the cheesecloth I think you’ll need two or three layers of cheesecloth to ensure the solids don’t get into your jar. Cheesecloth can be pretty “hole-y” so I’ve even been known to use a coffee filter or a clean tea towel.
I hope that helps.
Lea
Do you salted or unsalted butter and if it doesn’t matter what’s the difference
I used unsalted because the salt would cook out with the other milk solids.
I don’t understand this. The onky thing tat evaporates is water. You wild be concentrating the salt . . . No?
The water is evaporating out of the butter. I recommend using unsalted butter. In any case, the solids should be filtered out in the last step.
Made it and it was so EZ. Hope I did it right. Looked like yours, but next am after sitting out it was no longer clear. It looks like it had solidified a bit. Wish I could send a pix.
Thank you for the EZ recipe.
That’s normal that as it cools it will not be clear any longer. So glad you made it and thought it was an easy process.
TY once more
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I love using ghee on popcorn, toasted breads, even to rub on pizza crusts! This method is so much easier, as there is no skimming the froth off the top when cooking on the stove top. Thank you so much for this option!