We Tasted 12 and Here are The Best Ghee Brands

We just taste-tested the 10 best ghee brands, even goat’s milk ghee. To make sure we had clean palettes we used coffee between each brand to be as scientific as possible. We measured the caramelized flavor, the texture, the “cow” flavor, and even the jar flavor. You know when you can taste that packaging something came in and it throws off everything? We measured seven different variables and here are the results.

I will admit by the end we had that “I can not eat any more ghee” feeling going on. If you have ever eaten as many bananas as possible you know our feelings. We persevered though, for science! I started eating ghee when I was on the keto train and while everyone else I ate bread I just ate the butter. Once you make fat bombs, which are basically butter with flavor, you just get comfy eating fat. When people thought it was weird I would respond, “but you’re eating butter, you’re just adding bread to it”. It was so much fun and even though I eat bread when it calls to me I still have a bite of the butter first. So creamy, so good.

I highly recommend whenever you make ghee or buy it to go ahead and have a taste yourself. Later on when you cook or bake with it try and see if you can taste that ghee. The more you try ingredients by themselves the more you can taste them in the final dish. This increased your intuition and even makes you a better chef.

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What is Ghee?

Lactose-Free

Ghee is most common to India and if you’ve had Indian food you have probably eaten ghee. Another term for ghee is brown butter, which isn’t yet ghee because the solids aren’t strained out, or clarified butter which is the same thing just less caramelized. Ghee is now commonly used in the Whole 30 and Paleo as well because the milk particles that can cause indigestion for some people are strained out. By heating the butter and letting the milk particles fall to the bottom you are creating lactose-free butter once it is strained. Lactose is usually what causes dairy intolerance so since you are straining out the milk solids ghee is usually easier to digest. Lactase is the enzyme that digests dairy and as we age we lose it. According to this article in Gut, this is common to mammals as they are weaned off of their mother’s milk.

High Smoke Point Cooking Fat:

The smoke point is the point at which an oil breaks down from the heat. This can cause the oil to release toxic elements. The smoke point might not be as important as other factors though. According to this study from Australia where they tested olive oil and other common oils at 240 degrees celsius and 180 degrees celsius for six hours:

“EVOO’s fatty acid profile and natural antioxidant content allowed the oil to remain stable when heated (unlike oils with high levels of polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs) which degraded more readily). This study reveals that, under the conditions used in the study, smoke point does not predict oil performance when heated. Oxidative stability and UV coefficients are better predictors when combined with total level of PUFAs. Of all the oils tested, EVOO was shown to be the oil that produced the lowest level of polar compounds after being heated
closely followed by coconut oil.”

How to Use Ghee:

Ghee can be used in a 1:1 ratio with butter. If you need it in baking and the recipe calls for cold butter then refrigerate your ghee first. If a recipe calls for coconut oil you can also use ghee at a 1:1 ratio. I love to add ghee to coffee, to fry pork chops with it, and even rub it on meat like with these air fryer turkey thighs. Ghee is delicious on cooked fruit as well, like with air fryer peaches. I have definitely gotten into air frying with my Ninja Foodi which is a pressure cooker, dehydrator, air fryer, and can bake or broil. It also steams things but I haven’t tried that just yet. Mochi is next on the Ninja Foodi experimentation list.

What We Tested To Determine The Best Ghee Brands

The seven metrics we are using for testing the best ghee brands are jar flavor, texture, nutiness, caramelized flavor, cow flavor, neutral level and overall epic level. This is what we mean by each one of the best ghee brands categories:

Jar Flavor:

Sometimes I open a bag of chips or can of food and it smells delicious. Then I take a bite and taste plastic. Anytime I eat something from a package a part of me is gauging if I can taste the packaging. To me, this is a bit of a warning sign that the packaging has seeped into the product itself. I have not checked the science of this but if I can taste it that’s not the best sign for me. Some of the jars we tested are glass and one of them still tasted a bit plasticky. Anywhere in the making of ghee, the flavor could have gotten in. Ghee is heated in a pan and then strained through cheesecloth so it can pick up the flavors anywhere. Most of the jars had no packaging flavor.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 is no packaging flavor and 10 is, “Am I eating straight plastic?”

Texture:

The best texture we found for ghee was smooth and completely solid. Some of the brands have ghee that’s half melted at room temp and half solid. Other ghees you could actually chew.

Pure Indian Foods says that gritty ghee is much like honey when it crystallizes. There is nothing wrong with the product and if you want it to be smooth just melt it and then pour it back in the jar. Apparently, grainy ghee is what you want because it means it was heated on low and the nutrients are still intact. “Some would say the granier the ghee the better”. Since ghee is used for warm food or to cook the gritty ghee is okay because it all melts the same.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 is a gross texture while 10 means the ghee is as smooth as butter and has a glorious texture.

Nuttiness:

The nuttiness flavor is equated to literally that flavor you get when eating a nut or even chickpeas. It’s that slightly earthy yet sweet flavor that I think should become a flavor profile just like sweet and salty.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 is not very nutty while 10 is “this is almond butter”. This 10 does happen on our last ranked ghee.

Cow Flavor:

Cow flavor is the wild taste you get from certain kinds of butter. You can taste the pasture where they grazed. Some people call this that funky flavor you get from grass-fed cows. This flavor can be so delicious and if you are not used to it you can acquire a love for it very quickly.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 is not at all cow flavored while 10 is you can hear the mooing it is so cow flavored.

Neutral Flavor:

Along the lines of cow flavor, the neutral category is for gauging how close the flavor it to being neutral or “flavorless”.

On the scale of 1 to 10, 1 is very neutral while 10 is not at all neutral-flavored and is very pronounces.

Caramelized Flavor:

According to some ghee that tastes caramelized was overcooked. I personally enjoy the flavor and think it comes down to preference. Caramelized is ghee is very similar to a brown butter flavor.

On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 is not very caramelized while 10 is super caramley.

Overall Epic Level:

How epic is the overall flavor of the ghee? This was our final question and has to do with a combined love or meh about the combined flavor categories.

Fried, Bread, and in Coffee Ratings

Best Ghee Fried on a Green Bean:

We rubbed the ghee on each individual green bean and then air fried them for 10 minutes. We rated based on how strongly you could taste the ghee on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being you could really taste the ghee and 0 not at all.

For most of the ghee brands you could barely taste the ghee and it left the food fried and delicious. There are a few that you could taste and you will find them below.

Best Ghee Brand in Coffee:

To test the ghee in coffee we went off the usual measurement for bulletproof coffee. In my keto days, I fell in love with rich, warm, buttery coffee. Buttery coffee assists with adrenals in regulation and creates a steady energy with less of a crash when you add ghee to coffee, or any fat.

We used 1 teaspoon of ghee per 1/4 cup of coffee and used a blender bottle to emulsify. We also used a 1-10 scale to rank how much you could taste the coffee and then ranked the overall delicious level. For how much you could taste the coffee 1 is minimal flavor and 10 is you could really taste that ghee. For overall delicious level 1 is “Imma just toss this into the sink now” and 10 is “I’m dreaming of cold days so I can sip you all day”.

On Bread:

We used a teaspoon of ghee on a bite of bread and gauged how strong the ghee was and took any notes on what we noticed.

Who Are the Taste Testers?

Aun, my life love partner, and myself, Sy went on this taste adventure.

Aun’s credentials: Moderately experienced. Has been to India and an Ashram in Texas and has been making ghee for seven years. (psssst he totally caramelizes it most of the time 😉 )

Sy’s credentials: Ish experienced. Eats a lot of ghee and butter straight and has made ghee for about about 6 years.

We are about the average level for people in America that have turned to a love of ghee. For some experienced advice on ghee feel free to watch the video above and check out their site. I found it very informative. Our opinions on ghee are entirely our own. We have pictures so you can also gauge for yourself the texture of the ghee and then check out our meters of the categories.

To ensure we had clear palettes after each ghee test we had coffee to sip on between each one. We used a spoon and tasted the ghee straight for maximum exposure.

Packaging of Different Ghee Brands

For those who are into packaging and sustainability this bit is for you. The Organic Valley and 4th & Heart Ghee we received from Thrive Market which has a neutral carbon impact with their boxes so they have more sustainable packaging.

Each ghee brand is touching its packaging. The Amber & Gold Co Ghee came with the safety packaging but that looked like it came from Amazon. The others were wrapped in packaging. Spring Sunrise was very impressive because it used a cardboard package with twine to keep the ghee safe.

Videos of us Tasting the Ghee Brands

We tried the first seven ghee brands in this video and the next three in the next video:

Best Ghee Brands out of Twelve:

(Second pic has the three we tasted later)

Our #1 Pick: Pure Indian Foods Cultured Ghee

Epic Level: 10

Price: $$$

Jar Material: Glass

“The depth and beauty of Pure Indian Foods ghee is like a delicious buttery forest.”

“That’s. That’s Divine.”

“It’s got depths of flavor. The taste keeps evolving on your tongue.”

Pure Indian Foods Ghee Review Ratings:

Jar Flavor: 0

Nutty: 2

Cow Flavor: 7

Caramelized: 3

Neutral: 5

Texture: 8

This ghee amazed us. Check out the video to watch our faces fall in love. The flavor complexity changed from beginning to end which is a major sign of quality to me. It’s like when you taste a summer berry from the vine rather than a clamshell. The flavor goes from caramelized butter to flowery.

We tasted the Pure Indian Foods cultured ghee. Cultured ghee involves the fermentation of the cream and adds a beautiful complexity to the overall flavor. According to the Pure Indian Foods website:

“During the culturing process of milk or cream, lactose is converted into lactic acid. This makes for a much more digestible product for many people. Remember, generally, ghee does not cause a problem with lactose intolerance. This is because, during the ghee making process, the lactose is removed even if the butter used to make the ghee was not made from cultured cream.”

Aun described Pure Indian Foods as not as funky as real cultured butter and more subtle. They said people that aren’t used to fermented foods like dry aged steaks should start their fermented experience with this ghee. Beautifully subtle and divine this is our top ghee choice.

On Bread: Sooo delicious. Strength level of five, on scale of 1-10, and a delicious level of 10. Quotes from our experience below (also in the video).

Aun: “I want to eat that all the time.”

Sy: “This is like being transported to a five-star restaurant”

“If you invited all your friends over, that were kind of friends, and you wanted them to be more of friends you should just put this in a giant bowl in the middle of the table and have them dip bread into it.”

#2: Organic Valley Ghee

Epic Level: 10

$$

Packaging: Glass jar

“It’s like super creamy butter”.

Organic Valley Ghee Review Rankings

Jar Flavor: 0

Texture: 10

Nutty: 1.5

Cow Flavor: 0

Neutral: 1

Caramelized: 0

We tried Organic Valley ghee before trying the three we tried weeks later: Gold Nugget, Thrive, and our now number one choice Pure Indian Foods. We left the review below the same 🙂

Organic Valley is the ghee we tried first and it set the highest standard for all of the ghee to come. Our review of Organic Valley ghee is that it is very creamy but not to the point that it is greasy. This blissful buttery jar of ghee stayed creamy and solid at room temperature. There was no flavor from the jar so it had a homemade taste vibe. Organic Valley ghee has high standards for their organic standard and have been a family farm since 1988. They started as a co-op in Coulee and were pioneers of organic. Read their full story on their website.

Overall the flavor was neutral and was the closest to butter out of all the brands.

On a Green Bean: Organic valley ghee brand added a little flavor (green beans are potent in their epicness) and was delicious.

In Coffee: Organic Valley Ghee in coffee is delicious. You could taste it at a 3.5 on a scale of 1-10 and the flavor was a solid 9 leaving the coffee smooth and creamy.

On Bread: 8 out of 10 on flavor. Tasted like butter with a hint of nutty caramel.

#3: Ancient Organics 100% Organic Ghee

Epic Level: 10

$$$

Packaging: Glass jar

“This ghee is like butter caramel.”

Amber & Gold Co Ghee Review Rankings

Jar Flavor: 0

Texture: 10

Nutty: 0

Cow Flavor: 3

Neutral: 7

Caramelized: 8

Ancient Organics ghee is deliciously caramelized without a strong cow flavor or nutty flavor. There’s a smoothness to it we love and it is strongly solid at room temperature. Ancient organics tastes like everything I love about popcorn and caramel combined. There’s little nutty flavor and a strong butter flavor that reminds me of how brown buttery tasting ghee should be.

As Ancient Organics says on their website: ” Ghee contains Omega 3 and Omega 9 essential fatty acids along with vitamins A, D, E and K. Ghee made from organic butter of pastured cows is one of the highest natural sources of CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid). 9 phenolic anti-oxidants, as well as numerous other minerals are present in ghee.”

They cook the ghee on an open flame in small batches and uses churned butter. Their dairy comes from Northern California where cows graze on wildflowers and grass. Their ghee is also 100% organic. On their website, you can see how much love ghee and really respect everything about it.

In Coffee: If you like cream in your coffee with a thick butteriness to it you’ll love adding Ancient Organics ghee to your coffee. The caramelized flavor blends with the roastiness of coffee. This is my favorite ghee in coffee at a 10/10.

#4: Amber & Gold Co Authentic Ghee

Epic Level: 8.5

$

Beautifully caramelized flavor

Amber & Gold Co Ghee Review Rankings

Jar Flavor: 1

Texture: 7.5

Nutty: 4.5

Cow Flavor: 9.5

Neutral: 6

Caramelized: 5

Amber & Gold ghee is close to my heart because it’s in our home state of Texas. Since I can be pretty neutral about Texas *cough* our governor *cough* I wouldn’t say this makes much of a bias. If Texas does know a few things though, one of them is cows. You can drive through Texas and spot cows grazing on endless green grass along the way. Make sure to take the back country roads if you come visit.

Our review of Amber & Gold Ghee Co is that it is delicious in a very different way from Organic Valley. This ghee brand is slightly caramelized flavored, slightly nutty, and has some cow flavor. When eating this ghee you can taste the land and even smell it. Aun and I both loved it as the cowy flavor was not overpowering even though it was definitely present.

We reached out to the company to check their cow treatment and they use grade AA butter.

On a Green Bean: The ghee flavor emerged in the fried bean and left a nutty flavor that was a little overpowering. Use sparingly in fried foods.

In Coffee: You could taste Amber & Gold ghee at about a 4 in coffee and it was incredibly delicious. This was our second favorite in coffee at a 9.2 rating.

On Bread: 8.5/10 Tasted very neutral on bread and milky with a slightly honey flavor.

Aun: “It has an almost stone fruit sweet flavor or like a stone fruit charred flavor”.

Sy: “It’s warm and rich like turning coffee into buttery espresso”.

#5: Gold Nugget Goat’s Milk Ghee

Epic Level: 8.5

$$

Packaging: Glass Jar

“It is also like silky lard with a goaty flavor to it. Just slightly more neutral.”

Gold Nugget Ghee Review Ratings

Jar Flavor: 0

Nutty: 0

Goat Flavor: 3.4

Caramelized Flavor: 0

Neutral: 2

Texture: 7.5

While Mt. Capra Goat’s Milk Ghee (our next pick) has a slightly stronger goat flavor, Gold Nugget. I’m really grateful that we went on this ghee taste because I know now the flavor of goat’s milk ghee. After you cook nearly everything with ghee a variety change is welcome.

Goat’s milk ghee has a very silky texture and a delicious goat’s milk flavor. If you like the flavor of goat’s cheese you will like goat’s ghee. Well, we did. Your palette could vary. It was definitely more my thing than Aun’s. Where I love edible flowers they love enchiladas. Admittedly we both enjoy edible flowers and enchiladas, I would just choose the flowers.

On Bread: Very neutral on bread and very delicious. You could taste it at a 4 and a delicious level of 8.

#6: Mt Capra Goat’s Milk Ghee

Epic Level: 8

$$$

Packaging: Glass Jar

“It’s like lard with goat flavor”.

Mt. Capra Ghee Review Rankings

Jar Flavor: 0

Texture: 9

Nutty: 0

Goat Flavor: 6

Neutral: 4

Caramelized: 0

When I saw goat’s milk ghee on Amazon I just had to put my money where my mouth was, by purchasing and then eating it. This ghee won the 2018 Good Foods Award, comes from grass-fed goats, and has no added chemicals or growth hormones according to their website.

Our Review of Mt. Capra Goat Milk Ghee is that it is very much like lard, not wild game lard but closer to pork lard. Pork lard and bacon grease are different; lard is more neutral-flavored. This Mt. Capra ghee tastes similar to goat’s cheese, not like chevre but closer to raw goat’s cheese. The texture is so silky and beautiful that it floats off the spoon. It’s like a cross between coconut oil and butter.

On a Green Bean: Fried into a green bean this ghee shone by adding extra dimensions of flavor but not overpowering the bean.

In Coffee: Surprisingly epic. You could taste the ghee at about a 5 and it was, smooth, creamy, and deliciously nutty. Even though the ghee was slightly goaty it was goaty in a “holy bliss I had no idea I’d love the flavor of goat in coffee” way. Imagine the first time someone said you should add a cow’s milk to coffee. Weird at first but then the phenomenon could not be stopped.

On Bread: 6/10 super goaty on bread.

#7: 4th & Heart Ghee

Epic Level: 8

$$

Packaging: Glass jar

4th & Heart Ghee Review Rankings

Jar Flavor: 0

Texture: 9

Nutty: 2

Cow Flavor: 8

Neutral: 7

Caramelized: 2

4th & Heart Ghee is very neck and neck with goat’s milk ghee. If you aren’t a goat flavor fan then count this as the solid third spot. Both Aun and I love a mouth adventure so goat outranks cow here.

4th & Heart has a gorgeous silky texture. The first time we got a jar the texture was separated and greasy, but after contacting them 4th & Heart sent a coupon and we got a jar that fits their more standard level of silk. We checked the surrounding jars at the store and it seems like our first experience was a defect. If it happens to you let them know so they can replace it. 4th & Heart customer service was friendly and super accommodating.

4th & Heart has a very neutral forward flavor and a very funky cow background flavor. While I tasted the background flavor Aun didn’t catch it at all so ranked it very neutral. For me, the funky cow flavor was strong when it reached our senses, even when cooked in a green bean. We do have the supertaster gene so I believe that’s how one of us tasted it and not the other. The funk was that right level of grassy and pasture that displayed this ghee comes from grass-fed cows.

This ghee really overpowered coffee in our coffee ghee test, for both of us, and is not recommended in coffee. On a green bean 4th & Heart Ghee is noticeable in a delicious way.

Overall 4th & Heart has a delicious funky flavor with a mostly neutral profile.

On a Green Bean: Not very noticeable when fried into the bean and the bean still tasted delicious.

In Coffee: Very noticeable, at a 10 level but it left the coffee at a 2.5 rating. The flavor was so waxy and intense it overpowered the coffee.

On Bread: 6/10 Funky tasting and overall fairly neutral. Like popcorn bread.

Besides regular ghee 4th & Heart is adventurous with their ghee life. My favorite is their chocolate ghee with dates. It’s thick, gooey in the right way, and can be eaten straight from the jar like ghee fudge.

#8: Vital Farms Ghee Butter in Squeeze Bottle

Epic Level: 8

$$

Packaging: Plastic squeeze bottle

Vital Farms Squeeze Ghee Rankings

Jar Flavor: 0

Texture: 3

Nutty: 0

Cow Flavor: 4

Neutral: 7

Caramelized: 3

Vital Farms is known for its delicious products and high standards. They work with small farms and use pasture raised animals to get the butter. The flavor itself is similar to Organic Valley ghee. The flavor is fairly neutral and delicious. There’s a hint of cow flavor and it has just the right amount of brown butter vibes. I also love that it’s in a plastic container but that you don’t taste the plastic.

What I don’t like is the squeeze bottle. The ghee spurts out so fast that it’s hard to get a precise amount unless you squeeze super slowly. Most things in squeeze jars, like ketchup, are thick. Because ghee has separation to it you get half liquid and half solid textures. When you’re using ghee to cook fish or steak or protein and just need to get ghee on your food to brush it the squeezing works. If you want to add it to a bowl that you’re tossing ghee with it also works. If you’re trying to measure the ghee out well…not so much.

Pros of a squeeze bottle:

• You don’t have to use a spoon every time you want to use ghee.
• You can easily squirt ghee into a bowl to toss with protein or veggies.

Cons of squeeze bottle:

• The ghee comes out pretty liquidy and if you leave it in the fridge the ghee doesn’t squeeze out.
• Less control over the amount of ghee since it squeezes out quickly so it’s hard to measure for recipes.
• The ghee texture isn’t very thick so it more spurts than squeezes out.

#9: Spring Sunrise

Epic Level: 6

$$

Packing: Glass Jar

Aun: “It’s got that margarine texture”.

Spring Sunrise Ghee Review Rankings

Jar Flavor: 3

Texture: 2

Nutty: 3

Cow Flavor: 0.05

Neutral: 0

Caramelized: 0.05

Spring Sunrise is very waxy in texture. The texture definitely clings to the tongue. For me, this was a con but Aun LOVED it like a ghee child and wanted to spread it on all the sandwiches. Overall the flavor is very neutral and the texture very firm with a hint of nutty. If you like thick ghee that spreads well this is for you.

On a Green Bean: Spring Sunrise ghee left a strong flavor in a fried green bean and it was delicious.

In Coffee: We could really taste this ghee, at a rating of 10, and it was very buttery and waxy to the point it left the coffee tasting below average at a 3. Very overpowering.

On Bread: 6.5/10 Like butter but more waxy. Pretty neutral in flavor.

#10: Thrive Market Ghee

$

Packaging: Plastic Jar

Thrive Market Ghee Review Ratings:

Jar Flavor: 7

Nutty: 8

Cow: 7

Caramelized: 6

Neutral: 9

Texture: 2

Unfortunately Thrive Market ghee had a really strong packaging flavor that came out in the ghee. The ghee was also very claggy and separated. When fried or baked with the ghee tasted like most others.

Overall though it was pretty disappointing. For the price, this is not a bad choice as it blends with flavors well.

On bread: One a scale of 1-10 it was a strength of 4. The flavor was pretty good on bread and a delicious level of 6.

#11: Indian Milk & Honey

Epic Level: 5

$$

Packaging: plastic jar

I wanted to love you but now I want to be in a long distance relationship.

Indian Milk and Honey Review Rankings

Jar Flavor: 3.5

Texture: 2

Nutty: 3

Cow Flavor: 0

Neutral: 0

Caramelized: 0.05

We realllly wanted to love this ghee because it says “made with love” and that it uses butter from family-owned dairies. Indian Milk and honey ghee has a grainy texture to the point you have to chew it to get through it. There was also a strong plasticy flavor as though the container leeched into the ghee. There is definitely some growing room for the ghee brand.

On a Green Bean: When fried into a green bean you could not taste the ghee and the bean still tasted delicious so it does not interfere with the flavor of fried foods.

In coffee: You could taste it at a 3 with an overpowering flavor that did not harmonize with coffee.

On Bread:8/10 Nutty and slightly sweet in all the right ways.

#12: Pure Ghee Co

Epic Level: 3

$

Packaging: Plastic and you can taste it a little.

“It’s like a honey texture”.

“Because my brain was thinking honey it tastes like honey”

“It’s like ghee light”.

The Ghee Co Review Rankings

Jar Flavor: 5.5

Texture: 8

Nutty: 7.5

Cow Flavor: 0

Neutral: 0

Caramelized: 0

Pure Ghee Co ghee is the least ghee like of all the ghee. The jar says the ghee is made the old fashioned way which is ironic because it was more like honey than ghee. If you don’t like the flavor of ghee but love the health benefits and the high smoke point this ghee might be what you’re looking for. Overall it tasted very liquidy and had a strong plastic flavor so we had to rank it last for those reasons.

Pure Ghee Co was very nutty and actually tasted like almond butter and honey overall. If you closed your eyes and tried this then ghee would not be the first thought.

On a Green Bean: The Ghee Co was not noticeable when used on a fried bean.

In Coffee: You could taste it at a 3 and it was very average tasting in the coffee at about a 4.

On Bread: 1/10. Very weird tasting. Just…did not work.

Have any ghee brands you love we haven’t tried yet? Let us know in the comments.

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Let us know in the comments how you use ghee and what your favorite brand is! Have a bliss full day!