Some days you want something to eat now.
Not a recipe with a shopping list and twelve steps. Not something that requires three bowls, a food processor and half an hour of your life.
You want to open the cupboard, see what you've got and make it taste good.
This is one of the reasons I think ghee earns its place on the kitchen bench. Potatoes, popcorn, nuts, even something as simple as toast can go from that'll do to ohhh, that's good with a spoonful of ghee.
Nothing complicated. Same food, same kitchen, just a really handy jar to have around.
Here are a few of our favourite ways to use ghee for quick snacks and sides.
Why ghee makes snacks better
For me, it comes down to two things: flavour and heat.
Properly cooked ghee has this beautiful rich, buttery, slightly nutty flavour that comes from slowly simmering butter for hours. You don't need much of it to make simple food taste really good.
And then there's the heat.
We make OMGhee by slowly simmering Australian certified organic, grass-fed butter until the water has evaporated and the milk solids can be meticulously filtered away.
Take those milk solids away and you've got a cooking fat that can handle temperatures of around 250°C without burning the way butter can.
That's why it's such a good kitchen all-rounder for roasting, frying and getting things properly golden and crispy.
Removing the milk solids also removes the lactose, which is why some people who avoid lactose use ghee as an alternative to butter.
A quick distinction here though: lactose intolerance and a milk allergy are not the same thing. Ghee is made from butter, so if you have a diagnosed dairy allergy, please check with your healthcare professional.
Ghee-roasted potatoes: the easy hero
If you only try one thing from this list, make it the potatoes.
Honestly, potatoes and ghee were made for each other.
Because ghee handles high heat so well, you can give your potatoes the heat they need to get properly golden and crispy without worrying about your cooking fat burning before your potatoes are done.
Roast them in it. Pan-fry them in it. Toss boiled potatoes through a little ghee before smashing and roasting them.
And you don't need a special “ghee potato recipe” either.
Use the recipe you already love and swap the cooking fat for ghee.
Your kitchen, your rules.
Spices that love ghee and potatoes
This is where you can raid the spice cupboard and use whatever you already have.
A few combinations we love:
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Cumin and smoked paprika
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Garlic and turmeric
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Chilli flakes and cracked black pepper
Or salt.
Seriously.
Crispy potatoes cooked in ghee with a good sprinkle of salt don't need much help.
Fast ghee snacks when hunger strikes
One of the very handy things about ghee is that it's shelf stable, so there's usually a jar sitting there ready to go when hunger strikes.
A few easy favourites:
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Spiced roasted nuts — warm a spoonful of ghee with cumin, chilli or turmeric, toss through your nuts and roast until golden.
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Ghee popcorn — drizzle a little melted ghee over freshly popped popcorn and add a good pinch of salt. Be warned, it's ridiculously easy to keep eating.
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Suji (semolina) — semolina cooked with ghee is a simple snack with roots in Indian cooking. There are sweet and savoury versions, and it's a lovely example of how ghee has traditionally been used to bring flavour and richness to very simple ingredients.
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Toast — yes, you can absolutely put ghee on toast. Keep your jar somewhere warm if you like it softer and more spreadable.
None of these require you to change the way you eat.
And that's rather the point.
Upgrade your snacking today
You don't need a new diet, a complicated recipe or a pantry full of special ingredients to make a better snack.
Start with the food you already eat.
Crisp your potatoes in ghee. Drizzle it over popcorn. Toss it through warm nuts. Spread a little on toast.
It's an easy swap that gives you the rich, buttery flavour we butter addicts don't want to give up, with the versatility of a high-heat cooking fat you can use right across the kitchen.
Same food. Same kitchen. Just change what you cook it in.
