Deep Frying With Butter: Is It Safe?

Butter is a popular ingredient used in cooking to add flavour to dishes. It is often used to fry foods, but it has a low smoke point and can burn quickly, which can ruin a dish. This is because butter consists of three components: fat, water, and protein. When heated, the water evaporates, and the proteins, which are responsible for the distinct flavour of butter, begin to burn, causing the butter to smoke. While mixing oil and butter does not raise its smoke point, it can dilute the proteins and reduce the blackened flavour.

Butter has a low smoke point

The smoke point of butter is important to know if you're using it to fry foods. If you heat butter too much, it will burn and ruin your dish. This is why health-care professionals advise limiting how often you fry with butter. If you do fry with butter, make sure to use a moderate or low heat setting and add the food to the pan before the butter starts to turn brown.

You can also combine butter with canola or vegetable oil in a 2:1 ratio to increase the heat tolerance of the butter. This will give you the flavor of butter without it burning. However, it's important to note that mixing oil and butter does not actually raise the smoke point of the mixture; the milk proteins in the butter will still burn at the same temperature, but they will be diluted by the oil.

Clarified butter, which has had the milk proteins removed, can be heated to nearly 500°F before it starts to smoke. However, clarified butter does not have the same flavor as regular butter.

It can burn quickly

Butter has a low smoke point, which means it can burn quickly at high temperatures. This can ruin your dish. For this reason, health-care professionals advise limiting how often you fry foods in butter.

The low smoke point of butter is due to its milk proteins, which start to break down rapidly when they hit a range between 300 and 350°F (149-177°C). At 375°F (191°C), they vaporize and fly off in the form of smoke.

To avoid burning butter, it's important to fry on medium-low or medium heat. Never fry with butter on high heat. When frying with butter, it's also important to add the food to the pan once the butter has melted but before it begins to turn brown.

Combining butter with canola or vegetable oil in a 2:1 ratio can help to prevent butter from burning. This is because the oil dilutes the milk proteins in the butter, reducing the blackened flavor. However, this method will not raise the smoke point of the butter.

It's costly

Using butter for deep frying is costly. Firstly, butter has a low smoke point, which means it burns quickly. This is because butter contains milk solids, which burn at a low temperature, and the remaining butter or ghee will not carry much flavour. As such, a large quantity of butter would be needed to deep fry, and it would likely burn and be wasted.

Secondly, butter is expensive. While poaching in butter is possible, as the water content prevents the milk solids from burning, deep frying requires a higher temperature, and the milk solids will burn and create an unpleasant taste. Other fats, like tallow, lard, or duck fat, are more cost-effective and can be reused several times.

Thirdly, the flavour of the butter will not be noticeable in deep-fried foods. As one source states, "a steam layer is going to form around the meat, keeping any flavour from penetrating it." The same source goes on to say that the slight difference in taste likely isn't worth the extra cost.

Finally, while ghee (clarified butter) has a higher smoke point, it is still very expensive compared to other options. As such, using butter for deep frying is a costly endeavour that is not recommended by chefs or food enthusiasts.

It's not healthy

While it is possible to deep fry with butter, it is not a healthy option. Butter has a lot of fat, and while in moderation, it can provide healthy fats, frying with butter is not recommended by health-care professionals. Per tablespoon, butter has roughly 100 calories, 11 grams of fat, and 7 grams of saturated fat. This is not a healthy option when compared to canola or vegetable oil, which have around 120 calories per tablespoon, 14 grams of fat, and only 1.5 grams of saturated fat.

Deep frying with butter is also not a good idea because butter has a low smoke point and can burn quickly, which can ruin your dish. Even if you combine the butter with oil, the milk proteins in the butter will still burn and create a blackened flavor. This can overwhelm the flavor of the food you are frying, especially if it is something delicate like fish, chicken, or vegetables.

Additionally, the high cost of butter compared to other frying options means that it is not a cost-effective choice for deep frying.

For these reasons, it is not recommended to use butter for deep frying if you are looking for a healthy option. It is better to choose a different type of oil, such as canola or vegetable oil, which have higher smoke points and are healthier.

Combining butter with oil doesn't raise its smoke point

Combining butter with oil does not raise its smoke point. This is a common misconception, as butter has a low smoke point and can burn quickly, which can ruin your dish. Health-care professionals advise limiting how often you fry foods in butter.

Butter consists of three distinct phases: fat, water, and protein. When butter is heated in a skillet, it is the water content evaporating that causes foaming and sputtering. Once the water has evaporated, you are left with pure butterfat and protein. It is the protein that starts to smoke, breaking down and rapidly vaporizing at temperatures between 300 and 350°F.

When cooking with a mixture of oil and butter, the milk proteins will still burn, but they will be diluted, resulting in less of a blackened flavor. However, the proteins will react and smoke regardless of the cooking medium, so the smoke point remains the same.

There is an advantage to using a mixture of oil and butter when cooking certain foods. The dark milk proteins in butter accelerate the browning of meat, which some people prefer for steaks and pork chops. For fish, chicken, or delicate vegetables, a pure oil may be preferable to prevent the flavor of darkened butter from overwhelming the dish.

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