Ghee — clarified butter, slow-cooked until golden, lactose-free, and shelf-stable — is Ayurveda’s most revered healing food. Why is ghee so wonderful? Well, it is tri-doshic, meaning it balances all three doshas. It carries the medicinal properties of whatever it is cooked with — herbs, spices, roots — deeper into our tissues than any other medium. It nourishes the nervous system, lubricates the joints, supports digestion, brightens the eyes and skin.
Ayurvedic physicians prescribed it in everything from eye drops to enemas to postpartum recovery tonics, and it is considered to be the supreme food for building ojas, the subtle essence of all our body tissues, that contributes to a feeling of well-being and vitality. Read on to learn more about ghee and get Insiya’s fail-safe Ayurvedic ghee recipe + ritual.
Ayurveda tells us that ghee is sacred and nourishing at the deepest, cellular level – and I love that Divya Alter, the founder of her namesake Ayurvedic Cooking School and restaurant in NYC exhorts her plant-based students to consider “becoming “gheegans” instead of vegan” because she believes so fully in the healing benefits of ghee.
What I believe: “Ghee is not a luxury. It is essential for real nourishment. It says, I am worth the slow work of care.”
And yet, for most of my twenties I stayed as far away from ghee as I possibly could. Through magazines, wellness culture and the insidious math of calories-in-calories-out — I had bought into the idea that fat was the enemy, that butter was indulgence. That the body was a problem to be managed, not a temple to be tended.
It took a journey back towards my roots – to Ayurveda – to teach me otherwise. It wasn’t overnight, but eventually I understood: the fear of fat is not a health principle. It is a cultural inheritance. And one that we should consider releasing..
What is Ghee?
Ghee is clarified butter, butter that has been gently cooked until all the water evaporates and the milk solids separate and are removed. What remains is pure butterfat — shelf-stable, lactose-free, with a smoke point high enough for sautéing, roasting, and deep frying. Nutritionally, it is rich in fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K), butyric acid (a short-chain fatty acid that feeds the gut lining), and conjugated linoleic acid, particularly when made from grass-fed butter.
It does not need refrigeration. In traditional Indian households, a pot of ghee sits on the counter for weeks without spoiling. My grandmother kept a container of it near the stove, my mother does the same – and I’m happy to share that you will always find a jar of ghee in my kitchen as well.
Making it yourself is both practical and so different from buying it. I love that the process of making ghee feels alchemical – you add heat to grass fed butter – and it turns into something more potent and pure, of a different chemical makeup. And the ritual of making ghee, because it is a ritual is slow enough to become a meditation. The resulting substance is something alive, golden and warm. It reminds me of caramel but also toasted nuts, but mostly, it takes me home.
Here’s the recipe I use. If you make it, please do share and tag me @insiyarasi on social!!! Thank you!
Insiya’s Ghee
Ingredients
- Unsalted grass-fed butter — 500 g 2 cups
- Heavy-bottomed saucepan — medium
- Fine mesh strainer and cheesecloth
- Glass jar with lid — 1 cup capacity
- Your presence — 30 min
Instructions
- Before you begin, take a moment to arrive. Set the pot on the stove with intention — this is an old practice, and it benefits from your presence. Medium-low heat. Slice the butter in wide pieces and place the butter in the pot. Let it melt completely without stirring.
- Once melted, the butter will begin to foam on the surface. This is the water evaporating. Do not stir. Simply observe. Adjust heat if necessary — you want a gentle, consistent simmer, not a boil.
- After 15–20 minutes, the foam will subside. White milk solids will begin to gather on the bottom of the pot and slowly turn golden. The ghee itself will become translucent and clear, a deep, rich amber.
- Watch carefully now. The milk solids will move from gold to a warm brown — this is where the flavour lives. The moment they are the colour of hazelnuts and smell faintly of caramel and toasted nuts, remove the pot from heat. Timing is of essence here: If you wait 30 seconds too long, they burn; if you take the pot off too soon, the ghee will not have its rich taste.
- Let it cool for 5 minutes. Pour through a fine-mesh strainer lined with a double layer of cheesecloth into a clean, sanitized, dry glass, stainless steel or brass jar. Discard the browned solids (or stir them into oatmeal, or make little laddoos with them, roll a mixture of some raw jaggery sugar in with the browned solids and form into little balls — my son loves them).
- Do not cover until completely cool. Store at room temperature, away from direct light, for up to three months.
The sad truth is, it might be good for us but it certainly isn’t good for all those cow mothers who have to suffer being eternally pregnant so we can steal their milk. Milk that should be nourishing their calves but who are taken from them at birth. The dairy industry is brutal. Veganism isn’t a diet, it’s a moral choice. A refusal to be a part of society that accepts the abuse and suffering of sentient beings as normal. This isn’t a personal attack but a plea from one loving souls to another. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Sending much love, Lou xxx
Dear Lou,
I have wrestled with this question for a long time and so I want to say that I hear you. What I have also come to realize after years of trial and error and testing out these concepts in my life – is that I do believe that we, as well as all beings are part of the cycle of life. I also believe that we have to source, very carefully what we put in our bodies – because it all has an impact. I can tell that you I look for the least harmful sources for milk and butter – because I do see how they have benefited my own son and his growth. I also can you tell you that I believe in an interdependence between humans, plants and animals – that I don’t condone modern farming methods that hit animals with violence – it is truly truly heinous. I also know that as someone who has been strictly vegan, but also has a very high VATA constitution, that I depleted myself significantly when I ate only plant foods. This is why I slowly – using principles from Ayurveda – started to incorporate things such as grass-fed, bone broth and ghee in my diet, to give me more resilience. I would say at this point in time, what I eat is about 80% plant based. I think that we are all entitled to our beliefs and philosophies – if I lived in a warmer climate – when I do, I would say I am pretty much vegan, but here in Canada, not my native environment, I have to consider what I need to fuel myself and be able to live better so I can also serve better in all my capacities. Lastly, I do want to say that I am happy that we are having a dialogue. And there are some good vegan alternatives to ghee. I used to cook a lot with coconut and sesame oil and of course olive oil. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and for writing!!!