Ghee made in the Thermomix® takes 25 minutes and yields 1 screw-top jar of clarified butter (roughly 200 g finished product from 250 g butter, as the milk solids are removed). The Ayurvedic answer to butter: lactose-free, casein-free, heat-stable up to 250°C, and keeps for months at room temperature.
We use ghee for frying meat, fish, eggs and in Indian curries. Compared to branded ghee from a jar (8 to 12 euros per 200 g), the homemade version costs around 3 euros per jar (depending on butter price). Plus: you know exactly what is in it.
Ghee (Clarified Butter) in the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 1 ✓
- 250 g butter
Instructions 0 / 2
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1
Melt the butter.
Cut the butter into pieces, place in the mixing bowl and heat for 11 min / Varoma / speed 1. Leave to cool for 10 minutes.
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2
Clarify the butter.
Meanwhile, line a sieve with a clean kitchen cloth. Pour the melted butter through the sieve and fill into a screw-top jar.
Store the ghee in an airtight container in the fridge.
Nutrition per serving
What is ghee, exactly
Ghee is clarified butter from which water, milk protein (casein) and milk sugar (lactose) have been removed by heating. What remains is almost pure butterfat (99.8 per cent). Used in India for over 3,000 years in Ayurvedic cooking, and known in France as “Beurre clarifié”, a standard in Michelin-starred restaurants.
Advantages over regular butter:
- Lactose-free (milk sugar is cooked out)
- Casein-free (milk protein is skimmed off)
- Heat-stable up to 250°C (butter smokes at 150°C)
- Keeps for months at room temperature (butter needs the fridge)
- More intense butter flavour (through caramelisation)
Quick method: 11 min Varoma vs. long method: 30 min
We use the quick method: heat 250 g butter for 11 minutes at Varoma on speed 1, then leave to cool for 10 minutes, and filter through a sieve lined with a kitchen cloth. Fast, simple, and it works.
Long method (Ayurvedic style): 500 g butter for 30 minutes at 100°C on speed 2 WITHOUT the measuring cup. The longer time at a lower temperature gives the ghee a lightly nutty flavour (through caramelisation of the milk solids). More effort, but more authentic.
Filtering: sieve with kitchen cloth or paper tea bag
After heating, a whitish sediment (milk proteins and minerals) collects at the bottom. This needs to come out. Method 1: line a fine sieve with a clean kitchen cloth (tea towel) and pour through. Method 2: coffee filter in the sieve. Method 3: empty paper tea bag in the sieve.
Important: after filtering, the ghee should be crystal clear and golden yellow. If it still looks cloudy, filter again. Cloudy ghee spoils faster because the remaining milk proteins become a breeding ground for bacteria.
Which butter: sweet cream or soured cream
Sweet cream butter (standard in supermarkets) produces mild ghee. Soured cream butter produces a slightly tangier ghee. Organic butter with a higher fat content (at least 82 per cent) is the premium choice. Budget butter works too, but the yield is slightly lower.
If you use hay-fed or grass-fed milk butter, the ghee takes on a lightly grassy, herby character. With standard commercial butter it is more neutral and buttery. For curry, both work well.
What to use ghee for
Indian cooking: The base for all curries, for toasting spices (mustard seeds, cumin, curry leaves). More authentic than vegetable oil.
Frying: High-heat frying of meat and fish. Does not smoke as quickly as butter, but still tastes like butter.
Eggs: Fried eggs, scrambled eggs, omelette: ghee gives a restaurant-quality butter flavour without burning.
Baking: Use instead of butter in shortcrust pastry or sponge cake. Adds an Indian note to sweet baked goods.
Bulletproof Coffee: 1 tsp ghee plus 1 tsp MCT oil blended into coffee. A ketogenic breakfast option.
Ghee keeps for months at room temperature
In a clean, sealed screw-top jar at room temperature, ghee keeps for 3 to 6 months. In the fridge, up to 1 year. Important: always use a clean spoon and do not let any water get in (it will go mouldy otherwise).
Signs of spoiled ghee: mould on the surface, a rancid smell, or a colour change from yellow to brown. With properly made ghee this is rare, because all milk protein has been removed. Ghee turning solid in the fridge is completely normal (cold ghee is firm, warm ghee is liquid).
Goes well with: Butter Chicken and Naan Bread.
