Substitutions
Butter melted gently so the water evaporates and the milk solids sink, then poured or strained off as clear golden fat. Essentially pure butterfat.
What it does in a recipe: Butter flavour that will take real heat — with the water and burnable milk solids gone, the smoke point rises to around 450°F (230°C). Pick the swap that covers that job — the ratios below are written so you can act on them without doing any arithmetic.
Also called: Drawn butter, Butterfat
Quick answer
Ghee
1 cup clarified butter = 1 cup gheeAll substitutes, best first
1 cup clarified butter = 1 cup gheeThe same process taken slightly further, so the fat is identical and only the browned milk solids give it a different flavour.
Trade-offNuttier and more toasted, and a shade darker in the pan. Noticeable in a delicate hollandaise, an improvement in most savoury cooking.
1 cup clarified butter = 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) butter, melted and strainedAbout a fifth of butter is water and milk solids, so a quarter more butter yields a cup of clear fat once those are removed.
MethodMelt over low heat without stirring, skim the foam from the top, then pour off the clear fat and leave the milky layer behind in the pan. Straining through a coffee filter catches anything you miss.
Trade-offIdentical to the bought product, and cheaper. It keeps for months refrigerated because the water is gone.
1 cup clarified butter = 1 cup refined coconut oilClose to 100% fat and solid at room temperature, so it measures directly and tolerates reasonably high heat.
Trade-offNo dairy flavour at all, and a faint sweetness that sits oddly in a savoury sauce. Its smoke point is lower, so avoid it for the hardest sears.
Allergen checkThe usual dairy-free route, but coconut is grouped with tree nuts under US labelling and jars often carry shared-facility warnings. Check the label, and where a milk or tree-nut allergy has been diagnosed, take the decision to a clinician rather than a recipe.
1 cup clarified butter = 1 cup refined avocado or sunflower oilPure fats that comfortably match clarified butter's heat tolerance, so searing and frying behave the same.
Trade-offHandles the heat perfectly and contributes nothing in flavour, which matters in a butter sauce and not at all when searing a steak you will finish with butter anyway.
Clarified butter and ghee are the same idea at different stopping points — ghee is cooked on until the milk solids toast and flavour the fat. Neither is dairy-free, whatever the low lactose content might suggest.
At a glance
| Category | Fats & oils |
|---|---|
| Job in a recipe | Butter flavour that will take real heat — with the water and burnable milk solids gone, the smoke point rises to around 450°F (230°C) |
| Suits | Vegetarian, Gluten-free, Egg-free, Nut-free, Soy-free, Alcohol-free |
| Swaps available for | Alcohol-freeDairy-freeEgg-freeGluten-freeNut-freeSoy-freeVeganVegetarian |
| Number of substitutes | 4 |
Related
Cooking around an allergy? Diet tags here describe the ingredient itself, not any particular brand. Processed products change formulation without notice and shared production lines are common, so read the label on everything you use. A severe allergy is a medical matter — confirm with the manufacturer or your clinician rather than relying on a substitution chart.