Easy whipped brown butter

5 from 8 votes

The fluffiest, most addictive easy whipped brown butter that you can make in 10 minutes! Blow your family and friends away with this super impressive whipped butter with that nutty brown butter flavour. Serve it with some sourdough at your next gathering and people will think you're a genius, I promise!

Hands golding a stainless steel bowl with whipped brown butter in it.

Hi! Ok, I know it's normally all about pasta here but I had to write up a quick guide for this easy whipped brown butter. It is definitely not invented by me, I've seen lots of chefs make it but it just seemed like a very 'me' thing to have on my website! I cannot tell you how easy this is, anyone can make this!

It's as simple as melting some butter and then whisking it over ice. The transformation watching it go from a golden liquid to a creamy whipped texture is SO fun!

A striped ceramic bowl with sliced sourdough and a a pile of whipped brown butter. In background a loaf on a wooden chopping board.

Why do I love brown butter so much?

As you can guess from my name, I'm a big fan of a brown butter (burnt butter just sounded better, but it should NEVER be burnt!). Butter is completely transformed when you brown it, turning it into an addictive foamy nutty sauce. The French were really onto something when they created this.

It works beautifully on pasta and I have an easy 10 minute brown butter for pasta recipe you should go and check out. It's such a simple sauce and works so well on anything from homemade pappardelle to more intricate shapes like my spinach and ricotta agnolotti.

What is brown butter?

It's simple! Brown butter is the result of melting butter until the milk solids in the butter seperate and brown. It also evaporates some of the water so you'll often end up with less than you started with.

It's a really simple process and creates a rich, nutty taste that is PERFECT for pasta! Most commonly you might have browned butter when baking (The Cloudy Kitchen Brown Butter Choc Chip Cookies are a staple in my house). There are very clear stages when browning butter which you will get to know really well.

Firstly the butter will melt and then start to sizzle. It will get quite loud and crackly with bigger bubbles. Then it will quieten down considerably and that is when the top starts to foam. This is the stage you need to keep a really good eye on it. It's often quite hard to see what is going on under all that foam so swirl the pan or use a spatula to check those brown bits aren't getting too dark!

Striped ceramic bowl full of whipped brown butter with a spoon. Background a loaf of sourdough on a wooden chopping board.

Ingredients and equipment:

Butter - You can use salted or unsalted but make sure you add some big pinches of salt if using unsalted. It's going on bread so I suggest using salted, but use whatever you have on hand.
Ice - The butter needs to be whipped over a bowl of ice.
Scales - Totally optional actually. I have given a weight but you don't need to be precise at all, make as much or as little as you want.
A saucepan - You'll need a small - medium saucepan to brown the butter on the stove. Good quality saucepans with heavy bottoms are the best for browning butter.
A medium AND large stainless steel mixing bowl - You need to place the browned butter into a medium bowl that will sit inside the bigger one full of ice.
Whisk - Just a normal hand whisk, you can do it with an electric one but it really doesn't take that long and I like the control a hand whisk gives you.

How to make brown butter

Firstly, fill a large stainless steel bowl with ice, it doesn't need to be really full, a good 2 - 3 cups. I then put in about a cup of water too.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Continue cooking the butter, swirling the pan so it cooks evenly.
The butter will create big bubbles and crackle quite loudly. Feel free to turn the heat down if you think it is cooking too quickly.
The bubbles and noise will subside and then it will start to foam on the top.
Keep swirling the pan so you can see what is going on under the foam. We are looking for the specks on the bottom to be brown NOT black. Keep in mind it will continue to cook when you take it off the heat.

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Cubes of butter in a stainless steel fry pan.

How to whip the brown butter

Now is when the fun begins!

Pour your browned butter into a medium stainless steel bowl and place it inside the bowl of ice.
Start whisking! Whisk as quick as you can, you'll think nothing is happening then all of a sudden it does.
It will lighten a lot in colour then the texture will get thicker to the point where it is a whipped cream consistency.
The KEY POINT is to take the bowl out of the iced bowl when it starts to thicken. You don't want to take it too far! It can start to get solid chunks in it if it is too cold.
A tip is to take it out of the iced bowl and whisk when you think it's close. You can always put it back in for 30 seconds.
You might not get the perfect consistency first time, if in doubt then under do it!
You are looking for a light whipped cream consistency.
Serve it next to some sliced sourdough with some flakey sea salt sprinkled on top.

Stainless steel bowl half full of ice with a smaller bowl placed on inside.

How to store the whipped brown butter

It can stay out on your bench until you need to serve it if it isn't too hot. Otherwise put into a container into the fridge. You'll need to bring it back to room temp and give it a whisk to bring it back before serving. It's best to make it right before you need it.

Try my whipped ricotta next

This light and fluffy ricotta can be used for so many things and is a 5 minute recipe.

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Recipe FAQs

How do I know when the butter is ready?

Make sure you look at the process photos above! The butter will have stopped crackling and there will be a layer of foam. Swirl the pan so you can see what is going on under the foam. The specks should be browned, not black.

How long does it take to whip?

It depends on how hard you whisk! It shouldn't take longer than a few minutes.

What can you serve the whipped butter with?

I think it's perfect spread onto your favourite bread. It's a great thing to put on the table for a dinner party, so impressive! You could use it on anything else though, on top of steak or vegetables. I think it would be amazing with cinnamon whipped into it on pancakes too!

A hand holding slice of sourdough with the whipped brown butter spread over it.

Did you make this recipe?

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